Surging Royals Scuttle Rangers 2-1

Whatever it is that’s suddenly turned the Kansas City Royals into winners under Buddy Bell, Joe Torre and the New York Yankees would surely love a piece of it. Matt Stairs homered, Runelvys Hernandez pitched six solid innings and the lowly Royals beat visiting Texas 2-1 Friday night for their first four-game winning streak since September 2003.

All four have come under Bell, who was hired as manager Tuesday just a few hours before Kansas City began this surge with the first win in a stunning three-game sweep of the slumping Yankees.

“To be honest with you, I really haven’t done a whole lot,” said Bell, the bench coach in Cleveland before taking over the team with the worst record in the major leagues. “I enjoy being here. Maybe they like the smile on my face every once in a while.”

Nobody in pinstripes is smiling these days – and demanding owner George Steinbrenner is downright upset.

Seeking answers after his $200 million team was swept by the Royals this week, The Boss requested a conference call Friday afternoon with Torre and general manager Brian Cashman. They characterized it as a “state-of-the-team” discussion and said no decisions were made at the conclusion.

“He wants to see improvement yesterday,” Torre said. “And so do we all.”

But it certainly didn’t help the Yankees on the field – they squandered a three-run lead and lost 6-3 in Minnesota for their first six-game losing streak since dropping seven straight in September and October 2000 (they recovered to win the World Series that year).

New York (27-27) has scored three runs or fewer in every game of the skid and is 0-19 this season when doing so.

“We’re frustrated, disappointed,” starter Mike Mussina said. “We certainly aren’t proud of the way we’re playing.”

In other AL games, it was: Boston 7, Los Angeles 4; Detroit 5, Baltimore 3; Chicago 6, Cleveland 4; Toronto 6, Oakland 2; and Tampa Bay 6, Seattle 1.

Lew Ford homered, tripled and drove in three runs for the Twins, who won their third in a row and sixth in their last eight.

Mussina (5-4) fell to 20-4 in his career against Minnesota.

Brent Abernathy hit his first homer since May 2002 to start the Twins’ comeback in the fourth, and Kyle Lohse (5-3) settled down after a rocky start to get the win. Joe Nathan earned his 16th save in 18 chances.

“That’s the problem we’ve been having,” Torre said. “When we get behind, we try to play catch-up. We’re not very patient.”

Bell joined Whitey Herzog as the only Royals managers to win their first four games.

Stairs connected off Pedro Astacio (2-6) for his second homer in two games. The Rangers, who swept the Royals at home last week, became the last team in the majors to lose three straight.

Rookie left-hander Andrew Sisco (1-1) got his first major league win. Mike MacDougal, selected by Bell as the closer, pitched the ninth for his fifth save in seven opportunities.

“I felt like this team was due for something like this to happen,” said catcher John Buck, whose soft flare to left drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh. “Buddy coming in here just completed that. Whether he gave us a final little nudge, someone coming from outside, seeing what’s going on in the clubhouse and saying, `You know what – you guys aren’t that bad off. You ain’t that far off.’

“Maybe that was what we needed to get us over the hump.”

Red Sox 7, Angels 4

At Boston, Johnny Damon’s three-run double broke an eighth-inning tie, and the Red Sox rallied with six runs in the seventh and eighth against Brendan Donnelly and Scot Shields (4-3) to win the matchup of first-round opponents from last year’s AL playoffs.

Keith Foulke struck out Steve Finley with the bases loaded for his 12th save, his first since May 20.

White Sox 6, Indians 4

At Chicago, Orlando Hernandez (6-1) came off the disabled list to get his first win since May 11 and Dustin Hermanson got his 12th save in 12 chances. Jake Westbrook (2-8) took the loss.

Tigers 5, Orioles 3

At Detroit, Ivan Rodriguez homered and hit a tiebreaking double, and Jason Johnson (4-4) pitched into the ninth inning. Detroit (26-26) has won six of seven, including a three-game sweep last weekend at Baltimore, to reach .500 this late in the season for the first time since Sept. 8, 2000.

Blue Jays 6, Athletics 2

At Oakland, Calif., Roy Halladay pitched seven sharp innings to earn his AL-leading ninth win, and Toronto snapped Oakland’s season-high four-game winning streak.

Frank Catalanotto went 4-for-4 with a solo homer and Orlando Hudson added a two-run single.

That was more than enough for Halladay (9-2). The 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner is 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA in his last five starts and has tied Florida’s Dontrelle Willis for the major league lead in wins.

Devil Rays 6, Mariners 1

At Seattle, Aubrey Huff hit his second homer off Aaron Sele (4-5) in less than a week, helping Tampa Bay break a five-game losing streak and improve to 4-21 on the road in Lou Piniella’s return to Seattle.

Doug Waechter (2-3) won in relief. He took over in the fourth inning after starter Casey Fossum left with tightness in his left groin.