KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – One night later, Kansas City took another big lead against the New York Yankees. This time the Royals held on.

Jorge De La Rosa and Todd Wellemeyer combined on a shutout and Mike Mussina was hit hard in his return from a groin injury as the Royals romped 5-0 Wednesday night.

Emil Brown homered for the Royals, who wasted a 5-1, eighth-inning lead in a 12-5 loss in Tuesday’s series opener.

Derek Jeter was 1-for-5, extending his hitting streak to 16 games and leaving his average at .343, two points behind Minnesota’s Joe Mauer, who leads the American League.

New York was 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The Yankees, who lead the major leagues in scoring, were blanked for just the third time this season and their AL East lead was cut to eight games over second-place Boston.

Mussina (13-6), pitching for the first time since Aug. 20, gave up four runs and eight hits in five innings. He left after Brown’s leadoff homer in the sixth put the Royals ahead 4-0, and lost for just the second time in 10 decisions at Kansas City.

De La Rosa (2-2) got his second victory in 15 major league starts, leaving after 5 2-3 innings with a blister on the middle finger of his left hand. He gave up six hits, struck out four and walked two.

Todd Wellemeyer relieved with two on and two outs in the sixth. The runners advanced on a wild pitch – Alex Rodriguez appeared to be thrown out at third by catcher John Buck but replays showed umpire Greg Gibson appeared to blow a call for the second straight night. Pinch-hitter Jason Giambi hit a pair of long foul balls, then struck out, extending his hitless streak to 19 at-bats.

Wellemeyer struck out five and gave up three hits, getting his third career save, his first this year. Royals pitchers have fanned 21 in the first two games of the series.

Kansas City had not shut out the Yankees since an 11-0 victory at Kansas City on Aug. 13, 2003.

New York played a sloppy game, with right fielder Bobby Abreu dropping a fly ball, second baseman Nick Green making an error and Mussina failing to come up with a bunt.

Mike Sweeney’s RBI double gave the Royals a run in the first, and Buck hit into a run-scoring, double-play grounder in the fourth after Mussina allowed Shane Costa’s bunt to get by him on the third-base side, loading the bases with no outs. Andres Blanco followed with an RBI single.

Blanco doubled in the seventh off Sean Henn, who was recalled on Tuesday from Triple-A Columbus, and scored on Mark Grudzielanek’s sacrifice fly.

Notes: After Abreu dropped Buck’s fly, Ryan Shealy had to sprint to second after returning to first, thinking Abreu had made the catch. … The Yankees will have Jaret Wright skip a start to make sure the rotation stays on schedule with Thursday’s open date.