Houston ? James Shields kept the Houston Astros off-balance all night.

Then late in Thursday’s 5-1 win, the Kansas City ace really heated up. He struck out the side in the sixth and did the same in the seventh before striking out the first batter in the eighth to make it seven in a row. Astro after Astro simply watched the pitches zip past them — five players in that span struck out looking.

Shields finished with 12 strikeouts in eight innings as the Royals completed a three-game sweep of the Astros.

“He moved it around very effectively,” manager Ned Yost said. “He was locking guys in, was locking up guys down and away, just had it all going.”

Shields (1-2) gave up one run and four hits, all singles.

“We were pounding the strike zone and getting strike one and getting ahead of the hitters and that’s an aggressive team over there and when you get ahead in the count and make your pitches you’re successful,” he said.

His 12 strikeouts were his most as a Royal and the most by a Kansas City pitcher since Zack Greinke also struck out 12 on June 13, 2010, against Cincinnati. The seven straight Ks by Shields were one shy of the franchise record of eight in a row set by Blake Stein in 2001.

The right-hander got back to his winning ways after seeing his nine-game road victory streak snapped in his last start at Minnesota when sloppy defense led to six unearned runs in a 7-1 loss.

Scott Feldman (2-1) yielded four earned runs and nine hits in six innings. It was the first tough outing for the Astros newcomer after he had allowed just one run and seven hits combined in his first three starts.

“It seems like they found a lot of holes,” Feldman said.

The Royals were up by two when Alcides Escobar hit a two-run double in the fourth to make it 4-0. Salvador Perez added an RBI double in the fifth.

Kansas City scored 15 runs in this series after managing just five runs combined last weekend while getting swept by the Twins.