Kansas City, Mo. ? Dillon Gee kept the Royals’ momentum going with six sharp innings, Alcides Escobar hit a three-run homer and Kansas City beat New York on Monday night to open their three-game set.

Gee (6-7) allowed only four hits and a run in the latest impressive start by the Royals’ staff, helping the reigning World Series champions win for the 18th time in 22 games.

Lorenzo Cain, Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon drove in runs off Michael Pineda (6-11) during a five-hit salvo in the first inning. Pineda then retired 15 straight before getting into a two-on, no-outs jam in the seventh that led to Escobar’s homer off reliever Blake Parker.

Starlin Castro drove in two runs for the Yankees, the second in a four-run eighth inning that forced Kansas City manager Ned Yost to summon fill-in closer Kelvin Herrera.

He retired Mark Teixeira to get out of that jam, then put runners on the corners in the ninth before striking out Castro for his 11th save.

The Royals (69-62) were seven games below .500 on Aug. 6, nearly left for dead 11 games back in the AL Central. But their impressive run fueled by sharp pitching, timely hitting and a dominant back of the bullpen has thrust the scrappy bunch back into the playoff chase.

They are 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the division and just two behind the second wild card.

It was a frustrating night for the Yankees, who had elbowed their own way back in the playoff chase. They were a half-game behind Kansas City at the start of the night, but their second straight loss on the heels of a four-game winning streak was costly against a fellow contender.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi’s frustration was evident when he was tossed by plate umpire Brian O’Nora for arguing balls and strikes with the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth inning.

Didi Gregorius proceeded to deliver a two-run double, and the Yankees tacked on two more runs against the Kansas City bullpen before Herrera put a stop to their rally.