Kansas city's Brian Bannister delivers against New York. The Royals defeated the Yankees, 5-2, on Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo.

Royals 5, Yankees 2

Kansas City, Mo. – Raw, windy conditions made things miserable for pitchers Tuesday afternoon. It must not have done Alex Rodriguez any good, either.

For only the fourth time in his career, Rodriguez struck out four times, and the Kansas City Royals beat the banged-up New York Yankees, 5-2, before a sellout crowd in their home opener.

Royals pitchers recorded 11 strikeouts altogether, including three by Wilson Betemit, who was subbing for hobbled All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter. Jeter will be out at least three games due to a strained left quadriceps.

In more bad news for the Yankees, catcher Jorge Posada was removed in the sixth inning and will undergo tests for a “dead arm.”

Brian Bannister (2-0) survived a shaky second inning and went five innings for the victory, just the Royals’ fourth in their last 23 meetings with the Yankees. Phil Hughes (0-1) went three innings plus two batters in the loss.

Rodriguez, who homered twice off Bannister last year, had not struck out four times in a game since Aug. 25, 2006.

He said he did not remember ever taking called third strikes three times in a game.

“That’s a first, I think. Someone said, ‘Go out and go 4-for-4,’ and I did,” Rodriguez quipped.

“He made some great pitches. There’s not much you can do. I can’t really look back and say that there were pitches I could hit or crush. Perhaps I could have fouled them off. Today he was much better than I was. Give him a lot of credit.”

Bannister allowed two runs and five hits with four walks and six strikeouts. In his first game this season, he threw seven shutout innings against Detroit.

“I completely respect who he is as a hitter, what he’s capable of,” Bannister said.

Indians 4, Angels 3

Anaheim, Calif. – Travis Hafner hit a two-run homer off Justin Speier with two outs in the ninth inning.

Orioles 8, Rangers 1

Arlington, Texas – Scott Moore and Luke Scott hit early home runs, and Baltimore ruined Texas’ home opener.

Athletics 9, Blue Jays 8

Toronto – Ryan Sweeney hit a tiebreaking triple in the ninth inning, and Oakland ended Toronto’s three-game winning streak. Kurt Suzuki singled up the middle off right-hander Jeremy Accardo (0-1) with two outs in the ninth. Sweeney then hit a triple to right. He finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Red Sox 5, Tigers 0

Boston – After opening with a three-country trip of nearly 16,000 miles, the Boston Red Sox returned to Fenway Park, received their World Series rings and beat winless Detroit behind Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Bill Buckner, a goat of the 1986 World Series collapse that helped extend the team’s title drought until 2004, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Mariners 6, Rays 5

St. Petersburg, Fla. -Erik Bedard, acquired in an offseason trade, struggled through six innings but got enough support from Seattle’s sputtering offense to ruin Tampa Bay’s home opener.