Royals 5, Astros 1: James Shields struck out 12 in eight innings and Alcides Escobar drove in two runs as visiting Kansas City swept the three-game series with Houston.

Norichika Aoki and Alex Gordon each had two hits and scored twice while Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas drove in one run apiece for the Royals. Shields (1-2), who allowed one run and four hits, and struck out seven straight batters at one point, including the side in the sixth and seventh.

Houston's Scott Feldman (2-1), who yielded a total of one run in his first three starts covering 20 2/3 innings, allowed five runs (four earned) and nine hits in six frames. George Springer, who went 1-for-5 in his highly anticipated major league debut Wednesday, was 1-for-4 and made an error as the Astros fell to 3-11 in their last 14 games.

After the Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Hosmer's RBI groundout, Kansas City produced three straight singles to begin the second, with Moustakas driving in Gordon to make it 2-0. The Royals extended the lead to 4-0 in the fourth when Escobar's two-out double to right-center knocked in Gordon and Billy Butler.

Kansas City tacked on another in the fifth as Aoki led off with a single and scored on Perez's double to center three batters later. Shields retired 10 straight Astros before Chris Carter walked to lead off the fifth and after Matt Dominguez singled to center, Alex Presley delivered a sacrifice fly for Houston's run.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Feldman was reinstated from the bereavement list Wednesday after attending funeral services for his father, who died unexpectedly last week. ... Shields improved to 18-8 in 40 career April starts. ... Houston has a major league-worst .188 batting average while CF Dexter Fowler is 5-for-40 since going 4-for-8 in his first two games as an Astro.