A day after the Yankees’ Al Downing held Kansas City to four hits, Royals starter Bill Butler returned the favor, pitching a complete game as Kansas City picked up a 5-0 win at Municipal Stadium.

Butler evened his record at 7-7 as he walked two and struck out three. New York did not even have a runner reach third base until the eighth inning, when the Royals already had a comfortable lead.

Yankees starter Fritz Peterson matched Butler early on, as both pitchers started the game with three perfect innings. But the Royals finally broke through in the fourth. With one out, Paul Schaal doubled and Joe Foy walked. With two outs, Jerry Adair came through with an RBI single. Ellie Rodriguez followed with an RBI hit of his own and Kansas City held a 2-0 lead.

In the sixth, the Royals added a run. Foy singled with one out, and took second on a groundout. Adair came through again, this time with a double to center field to score Foy.

Then the Royals salted the game away with two more runs in the seventh. With two outs, Jackie Hernandez and Schaal singled. That set up Foy’s two-run double to left. With Butler cruising, the 5-0 lead was plenty. He worked around a walk and a single in the eighth, then got three easy groundouts in the ninth to finish out the game.

The win lifted the Royals to 50-71 on the season. They sat in third place in the AL West, 21.5 games behind Minnesota.

Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA196908200.shtml

Today’s birthday: Israel Sanchez (1963)