CHICAGO (AP) — After two errors nearly cost the White Sox, two great throws by Avisail Garcia helped them hold on for a victory.

Matt Davidson drove in three runs with his 26th homer and a double, Yoan Moncada hit a two-run drive and Chicago overcame a four-run deficit to beat the Kansas City Royals 7-6 on Friday night.

Juan Minaya pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save as rookie Reynaldo Lopez won his third straight straight. Minaya was aided by a sharp double play that ended the game and dropped the Royals 4 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the second AL wild card with nine games left.

With Whit Merrifield on second and one out, Lorenzo Cain singled to right. Garcia threw out Merrifield at the plate — despite Garcia slipping first — then Cain was thrown out trying to advance to second on two crisp relays.

“I just tried to throw the ball as quick as I can because he’s a fast runner,” Garcia said. “So, that’s what I did. “Just stand up and throw because when you think about it, that’s when you throw the ball somewhere else.”

Garcia also threw out Alex Gordon at the plate in the sixth, preventing the tying run from scoring from second base on Merrifield’s single.

“We need all these games down the stretch,” Cain said. “To lose that one that way the one we did, it’s tough. That’s just how the season has been going for us.”

Alcides Escobar lined a solo drive and Eric Hosmer singled for two RBI in a six-run, third-inning inning for the Royals. White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson made his major-league leading 27th error, and Moncada couldn’t handle a grounder at second, leading to four unearned runs in the third.

“It was a pretty exciting finish to a ballgame that kind of got a little ugly early on,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said.

Lopez (3-3) allowed six runs — two earned — and 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings. Jason Hammel (8-13) allowed seven runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings, raising his ERA to 5.32.

“Embarrassingly bad,” Hammel said after being hit hard for his third straight start. “I gave that one away. It’s just garbage.”

Davidson, who returned after sitting out Thursday with a low-grade fever, and Moncada each hit two-run drives in a five-run fourth as the White Sox took a 7-6 lead.

Chicago held on to move past Detroit and out of the AL Central cellar for the first time since before the All-Star break.

YOST TO RETURN

Manager Ned Yost said he planned to return for 2018, the final season on his contract and his ninth with Kansas City. “Was there ever a question about it?” the 63-year-old Yost said. “One more year, two more years, we’ll see what happens.” Yost has the most wins among Royals managers at 624.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: C Salvador Perez left with soreness in his jaw after being hit by a foul tip in the fourth.

White Sox: Manager Rick Renteria doesn’t know whether RHP Carson Fulmer, who left Thursday’s game in Houston in the first inning with a blister on his right index finger, will be able to make his next scheduled start.

UP NEXT

Royals LHP Danny Duffy (8-9. 3.71) is to face White Sox RHP Dylan Covey (0-6, 8.18) on Saturday night. Duffy will make his second start since returning from the disabled list (left elbow impingement). It will be Covey’s third start since being reinstated from the DL (strained left oblique) on Aug. 15.

— Associated Press —

TORONTO (AP) — Jason Vargas and four relievers combined on a two-hitter, Melky Cabrera had three hits and the game’s only RBI, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 on Thursday night.

Vargas (17-10) struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings to win his third straight start. None of the three batters he walked advanced beyond first base.

The Blue Jays did not have a runner reach scoring position. Kendrys Morales hit a leadoff single in the second and was promptly erased on a double play, with Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar using his glove to flip the ball to second baseman Whit Merrifield. Darwin Barney had the only other hit off Vargas, a leadoff single in the fifth.

The Royals, who have 10 games remaining, began the day 3 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the second AL wild card spot. Los Angeles and Texas are both ahead of Kansas City.

Kansas City’s run came in the third against Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ (9-11). Alex Gordon walked with one out and advanced to second on a two-out single by Lorenzo Cain before Cabrera hit an RBI single to center.

The inning ended with Eric Hosmer at the plate when Cabrera was caught stealing. Cain broke for home as Cabrera got in a rundown, but first baseman Justin Smoak tagged Cabrera before Cain could cross home plate.

Happ allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings to lose for the first time in four September starts.

Vargas left after Morales grounded out to begin the seventh. Peter Moylan got one out and Ryan Buchter came on to retire pinch hitter Rob Refsnyder.

Joakim Soria pitched the eighth. Mike Minor retired Josh Donaldson, Justin Smoak, and Jose Bautista in the ninth to earn his second career save.

Bautista struck out swinging to end the sixth. It was his 160th strikeout, breaking a tie with Jose Canseco (1988) and Kelly Johnson (2012) for the Blue Jays’ single season record.

Hosmer was called out to end the eighth when he accidentally kicked his own infield chopper into foul territory while running to first.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jason Hammel (8-12, 5.05) starts the opener of a three-game road series against the Chicago White Sox. Hammel is 4-6 with a 5.14 ERA on the road this season. RHP Reynaldo Lopez (2-3, 4.84) starts for the White Sox.

Blue Jays: RHP Marco Estrada (9-8, 4.84) starts the opener of Toronto’s final home series, a three-game set against the New York Yankees. Estrada, who is 5-1 with a 3.75 ERA in his past 10 starts, signed a $13 million deal Wednesday to stay with Toronto in 2018. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (12-11, 4.73) starts for New York.

— Associated Press —

TORONTO (AP) — Mike Moustakas hit his 37th home run of the season, breaking Steve Balboni’s Royals record, Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield also connected and Kansas City routed the Toronto Blue Jays 15-5 on Wednesday night.

Rookie right-hander Jakob Junis (8-2) allowed four runs, two earned, in 6 1/3 innings, improving to 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA over his past eight starts.

Moustakas went 3 for 4 and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle. He eclipsed Balboni’s 1985 record with a solo blast to right off Carlos Ramirez in the sixth.

Merrifield also had three hits and drove in a pair of runs as the Royals snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the second time in their past seven.

Kansas City came within a run of matching its season high. The Royals scored 16 against Detroit twice within a seven-day span in late July.

Leading 1-0, the Royals exploded for eight runs and seven hits in the second, chasing Blue Jays left-hander Brett Anderson and sending 12 batters to the plate. Alcides Escobar had a two-run single, Merrifield hit an RBI single, Eric Hosmer ended Anderson’s night with a two-run double, and Perez greeted reliever Luis Santos with his 26th home run, a two-run drive to left.

Anderson (3-4) left his previous start at Minnesota in the fifth after being bothered by a blister on his index finger. Against the Royals, he allowed eight runs and seven hits in 1 1/3 innings. Anderson was caught by TV cameras ripping his cap apart as he sat in the dugout after coming out of the game.

Kansas City added four more against Ramirez in the sixth, snapping the rookie’s streak of 47 2/3 scoreless innings in the minors and majors. He had pitched 10 shutout innings to begin his big league career.

Merrifield ended the streak with a leadoff homer, his 18th, Cabrera hit an RBI double, Perez drove in a run with a groundout and Moustakas added a two-out homer.

Raffy Lopez homered in the ninth for the Blue Jays.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Perez took a foul ball off his left elbow in the bottom of the seventh. Perez finished the inning but was replaced by pinch hitter Drew Butera in the eighth.

UP NEXT

Royals: LHP Jason Vargas (16-10, 4.19) pitched five innings to beat the Indians in his previous start as Kansas City snapped Cleveland’s 22-game winning streak.

Blue Jays: LHP J.A. Happ (9-10, 3.76) is 3-0 with a 2.50 ERA in three September starts.

— Associated Press —