The Kansas City Royals struck early, but needed to hold against a late rally attempt by the Houston Astros, ultimately downing the hosts 7-5 Monday, May 12 at Daikan Park.

Michael Massey opened the scoring with a solo home run to right-center field. That sparked a four-run second inning, including RBIs from Jonathan India off a single, a triple from Bobby Witt Jr, and then a single from Vinnie Pasquantino. The Royals kept the pressure up in the third with RBI singles from Drew Waters and India, followed by Witt’s sacrifice fly. The runs provided ample support for Michael Wacha, who got into some trouble in the seventh after allowing an RBI double to Zach Dezenzo and sacrifice fly to Jeremy Peña.

Wacha wrapped up the night with two runs on eight hits, with two walks and three strikeouts over six-and-a-third innings to pick up the win. Steven Cruz struggled in his eighth-inning appearance, allowing three runs on two hits with a strikeout being his only recorded out. Cruz also hit a batter with a pitch, then threw a wild pitch before Yainer Diaz scored on a fielding error by Waters. Lucas Erceg completed the inning, allowing Carlos Estévez to pitch a one-hit ninth for his 12th save of the season.

The Royals advance to 25-18 on the season, keeping pace with Cleveland for second in the AL Central, two-and-a-half games behind Detroit. The Royals send Kris Bubic to the mound for game two of the series Tuesday evening. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m., with pregame at 6:30 p.m., on KMMO-FM 102.9.