KANSAS CITY, Mo.: Kansas City's Kendrys Morales hit two home runs and had five RBIs to power the Royals to a 5-0 win against regional rival St. Louis in Friday's clash of the leading teams in the American League and National League respectively.

The victory kept the Royals two games clear atop the AL Central division ahead of Detroit, which beat Houston.

Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Dodgers prevailed in a tight struggle against San Diego, and Washington continued its hot form with a narrow victory against Philadelphia.

Kansas City's Morales, who leads the AL with 37 RBIs, hit a three-run homer with two outs in the first. He homered again in the third to match the Royals' season high of five RBIs.

Royals starter Chris Young (4-0) pitched six scoreless innings that included 13 outs from flyballs. In his four starts this season, he has allowed only one run total across 22-1/3 innings.

Detroit's J.D. Martinez hit a three-run homer to lift the Tigers to a 6-2 win against Houston.

Tigers starter Alfredo Simon (5-2) pitched seven strong innings, allowing only four hits and one walk. He used his slow curveball effectively, throwing it so softly once that it didn't register a speed on the radar gun.

Los Angeles' Joc Pederson homered in the eighth inning and the Dodgers' anemic offense mustered just enough to beat San Diego 2-1.

Pederson's 11th home run of the season landed in the pavilion beyond right field off Joaquin Benoit (4-2).

It was the Dodgers' eighth one-run victory over the Padres at home since June 3, 2013.

Washington's Bryce Harper hit another home run as the Nationals edged Philadelphia 2-1 for their sixth straight win.

Harper's 11th homer in 14 games tied the score 1-1 in the second inning and Ian Desmond's double drove in Max Scherzer with the go-ahead run in the sixth.

Scherzer (5-3) allowed one run and one walk over eight innings with six strikeouts. Over his last four starts, Scherzer is 4-0 with 33 strikeouts.

Arizona beat the Chicago Cubs 5-4 in 13 innings, with Nick Ahmed coming up with the winning hit after Paul Goldschmidt had kept the Diamondbacks in the game with a two-out, two-run homer in the 10th.

Tuffy Gosewisch doubled off Zac Rosscup (1-1) with one out in the 13th, then Ahmed — who earlier hit his second career home run — lined a shot into the left-field corner to give the Diamondbacks their fifth straight victory.

Pittsburgh's Gerrit Cole struck out 10 over 8 1-3 dominant innings to steer the Pirates to a 4-1 win against the New York Mets.

Cole (6-2) gave up just six singles and one walk to lower his season ERA to 2.05.

Mets rookie starter Noah Syndergaard (1-2) struck out the first four batters he faced but surrendered four runs in six innings, while New York's only run of the game came on a wild pitch.

Chicago's Jeff Samardzija allowed only three hits in eight innings to guide the White Sox to a 3-2 victory over Minnesota.

Samardzija (4-2) settled down after a two-run first, retiring 17 straight at one point. He struck out a season-high nine and gave up only one walk

J.B. Shuck delivered the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth, and the White Sox opened the weekend series on a winning note after dropping three in a row.

Texas' Prince Fielder launched two long homers and drove in four runs as the Rangers held off the New York Yankees and won 10-9.

Quickly down 7-0 and still trailing 10-5, New York rallied in the eighth inning when Garrett Jones hit a three-run homer.

A Mark Teixeira homer narrowed the lead to one run, and Chase Headley was walked by journeyman reliever Ross Ohlendorf with two outs. Stephen Drew followed with a comebacker that glanced off Ohlendorf, and Rangers second baseman Tommy Field swooped in to get the out at first to end it.

Los Angeles' Chris Iannetta and Erick Aybar homered in a nine-run fifth inning that delivered a 12-5 victory to the Angels at Boston.

San Francisco's Brandon Belt homered into the third deckof the stands while Ryan Vogelsong threw six scoreless innings and also doubled as the Giants hung on to beat Colorado 11-8.

Seattle's Nelson Cruz hit his big league-leading 17th home run of the season and Felix Hernandez became the first seven-game winner in the majors as the Mariners won 4-3 at Toronto.

Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria hit a three-run homer to help the Rays beat Oakland 5-2.