HOUSTON — Whit Merrifield, Hunter Dozier and Emmanuel Rivera all homered as the Kansas City Royals roughed up Cristian Javier early and held on for a 7-4 win over the Houston Astros.
Javier had allowed one hit in 14 innings over his last two starts. But the Royals got to him almost immediately.
Merrifield sent Javier's third pitch into the seats in left field.
Dozier had a two-run shot later in the inning.
Brad Keller allowed five hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings and the Royals' bullpen shut the Astros down the rest of the way to snap Houston's major league-best eight-game winning streak.
