KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Matt Stairs and Emil Brown got Buddy Bell off to a good start, collecting two hits apiece and leading the Royals to a 5-3 victory over the Yankees last night in Bell’s debut as Kansas City’s manager.

Bell, introduced just hours earlier as Kansas City’s 14th manager, watched his new team break a six-game losing streak. Run-starved Zack Greinke (1-6) won for the first time in 15 starts.

The Yankees, who have lost three straight, were under the direction of bench coach Joe Girardi. Manager Joe Torre watched the game on television in the clubhouse while serving a onegame suspension.

Kevin Brown (4-5) lost for the first time in five decisions as the major league-worst Royals (14-37) beat the Yankees for just the second time in 10 meetings.

Greinke, winless since beating Detroit last September 9, was removed after the fifth inning with a 5-3 lead. The right-hander, who had averaged only one run of support in his 10 starts, gave up three hits, including Hideki Matsui’s two-run homer. He walked three and struck out two.

Mike MacDougal pitched the ninth for his third save in five opportunities.

Matsui snapped a career-worst span of 180 homerless at-bats when he hit Greinke’s pitch 416 feet over the fence in right, putting the Yankees ahead 2-0 in the second.

The Royals got a run back in the bottom of the inning on Ruben Gotay’s RBI single, then took a 3-2 lead in the third on Brown’s RBI double and Terrence Long’s fielder’s choice grounder.

The Yankees’ other hits off Greinke came in the fourth, when Bernie Williams hit the first of his two doubles and scored on Jason Giambi’s RBI single.

Gotay walked with one out in the fourth and eventually scored on a throwing error by second baseman Robinson Cano for a 4-3 lead.

Stairs doubled leading off the fifth and Long’s sacrifice fly made it 5-3.

The Yankees, who had won six straight series openers, got the first two batters on base in the seventh. But Tony Womack’s grounder forced Derek Jeter at second and Mike Wood picked Womack off first. Reliever Andrew Sisco then retired pinch-hitter Gary Sheffield on a deep fly to center.

This was the first game in a 12-game road trip for the Yankees, their longest in two years. After Kansas City, the team will travel to Minnesota, Milwaukee, and St. Louis.

Bell, a five-time All-Star, was bench coach with the Cleveland Indians. He managed Detroit from 1996-98 and Colorado in 2000-02, compiling a record of 345-462.

The 53-year-old former third baseman takes over a struggling franchise that hasn’t made the postseason since winning the 1985 World Series and is on pace to have one of the worst seasons in modern baseball history.

Bell has had plenty of experience with struggling teams. In his first year with the Tigers, Detroit lost 109 games. But Bell rebounded the next year to go 78-83, a 26-game improvement that had him second in voting for AL manager of the year.

“It’s going to take some time to figure this out,” Bell said in a news conference at Kauffman Stadium yesterday. “Right now we are looking for small victories.”

Yankees right-hander Paul Quantrill was suspended for three games, and manager Joe Torre was given a one game ban after the reliever threw at Detroit’s Jason Smith last week.

Quantrill decided not to appeal and he and Torre began their suspension last night in Kansas City. Torre was surprised he was given permission to be with the team. He watched the game on television in the visiting manager’s office.