Jeremy Guthrie pitched seven strong innings, and David Lough hit a two-run homer to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night.

One day after being eliminated from the postseason, the Royals earned their 84th win, their most since 1993.

The Royals’ 6-0 loss to Seattle on Wednesday, combined with victories from all three teams ahead of them in the AL wild-card standings, officially eliminated them from playoff contention.

Guthrie (15-12) became the Royals’ third 15-game winner since 1997. He gave up two runs and four hits, striking out four and allowing one walk. Guthrie already surpassed his career best win total when he won his 12th on Aug. 5 against the Twins.

Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn hit solo homers for the White Sox, who have lost 21 of their 27. The White Sox are 35 games under .500 (62-97) for the first time since ending the 1970 season 56-106 and must win once in this series to avoid finishing with 100 losses, which would be the fourth-most in franchise history.

White Sox starter Andre Rienzo (2-3) pitched six-plus innings and allowed three runs, two earned, and four hits.

Royals closer Greg Holland pitched a scoreless ninth for his 46th save in 49 chances as the Royals ended a two-game losing streak. Holland set a franchise record in saves, surpassing Dan Quisenberry (1983) and Jeff Montgomery (1993).

Trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning, Lough hit a two-run homer, snapping a streak of 21 scoreless innings for the Royals. The last time the Royals scored was in the 12th inning of a 6-5 victory at Seattle on Monday.

Dunn tied the game in the sixth with a long home run to right. It was his 33rd of the season and it was measured at 442 feet.

In the seventh inning, Justin Maxwell led off with a single and advanced to second on Lough’s bunt, then he came around to score after catcher Bryan Anderson fielded George Kottaras’ sacrifice bunt and threw it down the right-field line to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.

Konerko, who missed Wednesday’s game at Cleveland after fouling a pitch off his knee on Tuesday, homered in the first inning. It was his 12th of the season. Konerko is possibly playing his last series with the White Sox. He is a free agent after the season and has been a member of the club for the last 15 seasons.

— Associated Press —

Needing wins in Seattle to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, the Kansas City Royals’ offense went into a slump.

Hisashi Iwakuma pitched eight scoreless innings in Seattle’s 6-0 win against Kansas City on Wednesday, eliminating the Royals from the playoff hunt.

It was the second straight night the Mariners shut out Kansas City as the teams ahead of the Royals in the wild-card race – Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Texas – won. The Royals haven’t scored since the 12th inning of Monday’s 6-5 win.

”Back-to-back shutouts, you’re not going to win any games scoring zero runs,” Alex Gordon said. ”It’s kind of a tough way to go out.”

Mariners catcher Mike Zunino homered twice, Michael Saunders also homered and Kyle Seager hit a two-run double for Seattle, which has won three of four.

Zunino and Saunders hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the eighth inning, the 14th time this season Mariners have hit consecutive home runs.

The Royals entered Wednesday four games behind Cleveland for the second wild-card berth with five games to play and needed a victory.

Iwakuma made sure they didn’t get one.

”We put ourselves in the situation to maybe find a way to sneak in, but we just came up a little short,” Gordon said. ”It’s unfortunate, but we’ve got four more games and we’re going to try to finish the season strong.”

Iwakuma (14-6) finished his season without allowing a run in three straight starts, a streak of 23 scoreless innings.

Against the Royals, he gave up four hits and never allowed more than one base runner in an inning. He didn’t walk anyone until the eighth. He had nine strikeouts, the 13th time in 33 starts he struck out at least seven.

”He handcuffed us, we couldn’t do anything,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Iwakuma’s 2.66 ERA is third-best in the American League, and he finishes the season 4-0 in his final eight starts.

”It sort of caps off the year he had,” Zunino said. ”He just keeps getting stronger. Every start is getting better and better.”

Ervin Santana (9-10) matched Iwakuma and kept the Mariners scoreless for the first four innings before Seattle broke through. Santana went six innings, allowing four runs and five hits with two strikeouts and four walks.

Zunino broke the scoreless tie leading off the fifth inning, taking Santana’s first pitch deep to left field.

The blast sparked more scoring for the Mariners. With one out, Brad Miller doubled and Nick Franklin walked. With Seager at the plate, Santana’s pickoff attempt to second ended up in center field, putting runners on second and third. Seager then laced a double down the right field line to give Seattle a 3-0 lead.

The Mariners added a run in the seventh. Dustin Ackley led off the inning with a double, and Yost walked out to the mound to signal Santana’s night was done.

”I just told him, ‘You know Erv, you had a great year. Real proud of you.’ That was it,” Yost said.

Miller pushed a bunt up the first base line and reliever Will Smith’s throw to first baseman Eric Hosmer was wide, allowing Ackley to score.

The Royals’ best offensive chance came in the fifth, when Mike Moustakas doubled with one out and took off running when Jarrod Dyson hit a line drive which looked as if it might reach the outfield.

Instead, Miller at shortstop timed his jump and snared the ball, then jogged to second to double off Moustakas and end the inning.

The Royals, who were six games below .500 at the All-Star break, head to Chicago to finish up the season with a four-game series against the White Sox.

Even without a shot at the playoffs, Kansas City (83-75) is assured of its first winning season in a decade, and one more win will give them their best record since they finished 84-78 in 1993.

”We’ve had a real good second half,” Billy Butler said. ”We have one more series and we get to build on this for next year. We had a good run, and the guys in here played hard.”

Yost said he’ll have a chance to give some young players an opportunity over the final four games, but doesn’t expect any letdown despite no longer having a shot at the postseason.

”I think we’ve made a lot of progress as an organization,” Yost said. ”It was a giant step forward for us, and it was a step we definitely needed to take this year.”

— Associated Press —

Justin Smoak hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning and the Seattle Mariners beat Kansas City 4-0 on Tuesday night, putting the Royals’ postseason hopes in serious jeopardy.

Mariners rookie left-hander James Paxton (3-0), making just his fourth major league start, worked a career-high seven innings, allowing four hits, walking none and striking out a career-high 10.

The playoff picture looks as bleak as it can be for the Royals (83-74). They are four games behind Cleveland for the second wild-card berth with five games to play.

The Royals’ three competitors for the two wild-card spots – Tampa Bay, Texas and Cleveland – all won Tuesday. The Royals need to win every game and have both the Indians and Rangers completely collapse.

It was the 13th shutout for the Mariners and the ninth time the Royals have been shut out.

Seattle touched Bruce Chen (8-4) for a run in the first when Brad Miller reached on an infield single followed by Abraham Almonte’s single to center. Almonte has reached base in all his 18 games to start his career, 16 with a hit.

With one out, Kendrys Morales singled to left, driving in Miller.

Chen worked five innings, allowing seven hits and four runs. He walked three and struck out five.

The Royals could not respond against Paxton. They put together two singles in the first inning but a double play eased him out of trouble. He didn’t allow more than one baserunner in any inning after that and at one point he retired 12 straight.

The Mariners blew the game open in the fifth with three runs – all with two outs. Morales, who had three hits, doubled to deep center. Franklin Gutierrez walked and Smoak hit a 0-2 fastball over the wall in left field.

Smoak has 19 home runs but it was just his second right-handed. The other was Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels.

— Associated Press —