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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- James Shields would have been wise to pop some Dramamine, Ned Yost some antacids. The Royals ace survived six shaky innings mostly of his own doing Sunday, and the Kansas City offence supplied just enough offence against Hiroki Kuroda to squeak out a 2-1 victory. "Shields had to grind it out again and again," said Yost, his manager, who spent the entire game on edge, "and he made it through some choppy waters." Even without any motion-sickness medicine. The Royals have won the last seven games that Shields (7-3) has started, and hes earned the win in four of those. The veteran right-hander may have lasted only six innings in this effort, but he gave up only six hits to the punchless Yankees and allowed one unearned run. "Theyre always tough," said Shields, who faced the Yankees for the 30th time, more than any other club. "They make good at-bats. Its always a grind whenever you face them." Aaron Crow escaped a jam in the seventh inning, and Wade Davis recorded the 500th strikeout of his career during a perfect eighth before Greg Holland survived a shaky ninth for his 18th save. The All-Star closer gave up a leadoff single to Ichiro Suzuki and then sent him to second on a wild pitch. Holland kept his cool, retiring Brian Roberts on a fly out, pinch hitter Mark Teixeira on a groundout and then striking out Brett Gardner to end the game. "Shields battled his butt off," Crow said. "You want to make sure he gets the win." The Yankees failed to score more than four runs for the 10th consecutive game, though the not-so-aptly-named "Bronx Bombers" certainly had their share of chances. Not just in the ninth inning, either. New York stranded runners on first and second in the first inning. It loaded the bases with nobody out in the second and failed to score. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the third with a double and was left on third base. And Roberts was stranded after a fourth-inning double. "Somehow weve got to find a way to get it done," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. In all, 10 of the first 12 outs Shields recorded were with runners in scoring position. The Yankees finished 1 for 17 with runners in scoring position. "It was a game of missed opportunities," Derek Jeter said. "We had a lot of opportunities. Gives those guys credit. Weve seen Shields for years now and hes as good as they come, especially with guys on base. He bears down." While the Yankees were struggling to find a clutch hit, the Royals managed to string together the only real success they had against Kuroda (4-4) with two outs in the second inning. Hot-hitting Salvador Perez, who cracked a three-run homer in an 8-4 win Saturday night, got things going with a single. Cains base hit drove in the first run and Moustakas, in the throes of another major slump, added another single to make the score 2-0. That was all the Royals could muster against Kuroda, who had been unbeaten in his last six starts. He allowed five hits and two walks while striking out three in seven innings. New York finally scored in the sixth, when Yangervis Solarte hit a double and reached third base on a passed ball. Suzuki drove him in with a groundout to shortstop. But given a chance to tie the game, the Yankees kept coming up empty. Their failure in the ninth inning came after Gardner sent a triple to the wall with one out in the seventh. Crow rebounded to get Jeter on a ground out, and then struck out Ellsbury with a full-count pitch to leave the tying run 90 feet away. "When guys are scuffling it seems like they are scuffling in bunches. When you get hot it seems like a lot of guys are hot," Jeter said. "These are the times youve got to keep swinging. The only way to get out of it is swing out of it." NOTES: Davis has not allowed a hit in 15 appearances. ... The double by Roberts was actually a ground-rule double. A ball boy picked up his fair ball down the right-field line and gave it to a fan. ... Royals 2B Omar Infante ended a 0-for-19 slump with a single in the third. ... LHP Vidal Nuno starts the series finale Monday for New York. LHP Jason Vargas starts for Kansas City. Darius Slay Jr Jersey . Peter Dawson took his long before he started the job. "I was playing an American one year at Oxford Golf Club, and he introduced me to this travelling mulligan," Dawson said. Calvin Johnson Lions Jersey . 1-9 on TSN. With more than 65 hours of exclusive live coverage, TSN delivers all the action beginning with Draw 1 on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 2 p. http://www.lionsfanspro.com/Black-TJ-Hockenson-Lions-Jersey.html?cat=970 . -- Jerel Worthy and his Michigan State teammates charged across the field, holding four fingers in the air while celebrating another sweet victory over their biggest rival. Jarrad Davis Youth Jersey .Y. - Major League Soccers independent review panel has taken back the fine and one-game suspension it placed on Toronto FC forward Luke Moore earlier this week. Kerryon Johnson Youth Jersey . The 18-year-old Januzaj has made his breakthrough at United this season, including scoring twice in a 2-1 win over Sunderland before the recent international break. His performances have sparked a debate about where his international future lies.Charlie Nicholas runs the rule over the World Cup qualifiers, tipping England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to all win. Watch NOW TV Watch Sky Sports for just ￡6.99. No contract. England, Northern Ireland and Scotland are all odds-on favourites against Malta, San Marino and Lithuania respectively - and Charlie can see interim boss Southgate getting off to a flyer. Check out his full Sky Bet tips for the five clashes... England v MaltaWell this is a nice game for Gareth Southgate to start with, especially after my team softened [Malta] up!The big question is what he does and how many changes he makes. Will he play Wayne Rooney? Or will he want to play Dele Alli behind Daniel Sturridge or Jamie Vardy? Wayne Rooney has retained his England captaincy Ive got a feeling Southgate isnt the type to take a risk and will make changes once the side are a couple of goals up.I would like to see him try playing Alli close to Vardy instead of Rooney, and then Theo Walcott up next to the striker on the right-hand side, where hes been really successful for Arsenal this season. Watch England and Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli secretly nutmeg team-mate Eric Dier. Pictures courtesy of FATV If Im having a bet on this game Id be looking at England to score at least five goals and Walcott definitely to get in on the act.Charlie predicts: 6-0 and Walcott to score first (28/1 with Sky Bet)Northern Ireland v San MarinoThis looks like a good little opportunity for Northern Ireland to get a few goals in the bag for once, but these teams can be frustrating initially. Northern Ireland are expected to record a comfortable victory Kyle Lafferty had a pretty miserable Euros after being talked up and I think it could take a while for them to break San Marino down.ddddddddddddId be expecting late goals from Northern Ireland as theyre not used to going straight out and attacking but these sort of teams get tired late on, so it might take something from a set-piece to get them going, with Gareth McAuley their main threat.Charlie predicts: 3-0 and McAuley to score first (35/1 with Sky Bet)Scotland v LithuaniaThis for me is a must-win. A few of my colleagues arent so sure but you must win your home games to gather momentum, especially ahead of Tuesdays trip to Slovakia. Scotland started the campaign with a 5-1 win over Malta I covered this game a few years ago and we really struggled. Scotland are vulnerable defensively when they have to come out and attack as theyre used to playing on the counter. Former Scotland captain Gary McAllister says team spirit is very good as qualifying action resumes Leigh Grffiths isnt match-fit so Id probably start with Oliver Burke, who is attracting a lot of interest up here, supporting Chris Martin, then I can see Griffiths coming off the bench and bagging the winner. Charlie predicts: 2-1 to Griffiths score last (22/1 with Sky Bet)Follow all the World Cup Qualifier action with our live blogs on skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps.Watch Englands tour of Bangladesh, plus Premier League football and the Japan Grand Prix on Sky Sports. Upgrade now and enjoy three months at half price! Also See: Sky Live: Austria v Wales Sky Live: Rep of Ire v Georgia Malta: the Med minnows Stones: Rooney key for England ' ' '