Yankees 4, Royals 2: Brian McCann delivered a three-run double and rookie Chase Whitley pitched seven strong innings for his first major-league victory to lift visiting New York in the opener of a four-game series.

Whitley (1-0) yielded two runs on five hits in his fifth career start before Dellin Betances struck out a pair in the eighth and David Robertson got the final three outs for his 14th save. Brian Roberts had an RBI single and Brett Gardner added two hits and scored a run as the Yankees beat Kansas City for the eighth time in the last 10 meetings.

Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez each recorded RBI base hits and Alex Gordon had two hits and scored twice for the Royals, who fell to 1-5 in their last six at home. Jeremy Guthrie (2-6) allowed four runs over seven innings to fall to 0-6 during an 11-start winless streak.

New York pushed across an early run against Guthrie when Mark Teixeira led off the second inning with a single, moved to second on a groundout and scored on Roberts' two-out single to center. Kansas City pulled even in the bottom of the inning when Gordon doubled and scored on Perez's one-out single.

The Yankees came right back at Guthrie in the third with leadoff singles by Jacoby Ellsbury and Gardner before Teixeira was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. McCann cleared the bases with a double to left for a 4-1 edge and the only response the Royals could muster was Cain's run-scoring double in the fifth.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 11 games with his second-inning single. ... The Royals have scored five runs in the last five starts by Guthrie, who hasn't won since picking up victories in his first two starts of the season. ... Gardner has hit safely and scored a run in four consecutive games.