KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals whipped out the same formula that carried them to last year’s World Series to turn back the Houston Astros and tie their American League Division Series at a game apiece.

Some clutch hitting. Stingy defense. An unflappable bullpen.

Even a little help from replay.

“Just battling,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “That’s what this team does so well.”

Kansas City rallied from a three-run deficit Friday, getting a go-ahead single from Ben Zobrist in the seventh inning, and then watched Wade Davis and the bullpen make it stand in a 5-4 victory that brought back memories of the team’s nip-and-tuck postseason of a year ago.

The Royals knotted the game at four off Scott Kazmir and relievers Oliver Perez and Josh Fields in the sixth. They took the lead in the seventh when Alcides Escobar led off with a triple against Will Harris (0-1) and Zobrist followed with his single through the left side.

Kelvin Herrera (1-0) and Ryan Madson each tossed a scoreless inning for the Royals, and Davis came on to close it — though the real drama was only beginning.

Davis walked Preston Tucker with one out, and speedy Carlos Gomez came in as a pinch runner. Davis snapped a throw to Hosmer at first, and he neatly snagged it on one hop as Gomez made a dive back to the bag. Gomez was initially ruled safe, but the call was overturned upon review.

“That play that Hos made on the pickoff, I don’t know if there’s a lot of first basemen that can make that play,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “It was tremendous.”

Jose Altuve grounded out to end the contest.

It was a crucial victory considering what awaits Kansas City in Game 3 on Sunday: Astros ace Dallas Keuchel, who was 15-0 at home this season. Edinson Volquez will start for the Royals.

“We were in position to win that game. Their bullpen did a very good job of shutting us down,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ve got some work to do to win this series. It’s going to be a good series. These are two really good teams.”

Two starters acquired with October in mind, Kazmir and Royals counterpart Johnny Cueto, pitched mostly to a stalemate Friday. Kansas City’s relief corps was simply better, preserving the first win by a home team this postseason.

“They compete,” said Salvador Perez, who homered for the Royals. “Pretty good stuff.”

Colby Rasmus homered, doubled and drove in two runs for Houston, becoming the first player in major league history with an extra-base hit in his first six postseason games. George Springer had a pair of RBIs after hitting a solo shot in the series opener.

“Just to let it slip away late is kind of a downer,” Astros reliever Tony Sipp said. “We had a lead late and let it slip away. We had the momentum going.”

The Astros jumped on Cueto right from the start, just as they did Yordano Ventura in Game 1 on Thursday night. Rasmus doubled in a run in the first inning, and Springer added a two-run knock in the second as restless Royals fans began to shower their ace with boos.

Perez got one back for Kansas City with his homer to left in the bottom half, but Rasmus matched him with his third home run in three games this postseason.

Cueto finally settled in, but it looked as if it would be too late. Kazmir allowed a run in the third but otherwise had Kansas City off balance until the sixth inning.

Trailing 4-2, Lorenzo Cain got the Royals’ tying rally started with a double, and Hinch called for Oliver Perez. He allowed back-to-back singles and a walk to leave the bases loaded for Fields, who walked Salvador Perez on four pitches to tie the game.

When the Royals took the lead the following inning, their shutdown bullpen made it stick.

“I’m happy we’re going home,” Hinch said. “We’ve got home-field advantage for the rest of this series. We have to take care of business in our own yard.”

CORREA HOBBLED

Astros rookie Carlos Correa fouled a pitched off the inside of the back of his knee in the fifth inning, and for a while it appeared as if he might leave the game. He remained in and struck out but came back with a single off Herrera in the seventh.

UP NEXT

Keuchel threw six shutout innings in the Astros’ wild-card win over the Yankees and tossed eight shutout frames against the Royals in June. Volquez tossed two scoreless innings of relief in Kansas City’s regular-season finale in Minnesota to tune up for the playoffs.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Collin McHugh and the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals at their own game Thursday night, relying on sharp pitching and stingy defense for a 5-2 victory in the opener of their AL Division Series.

Pitching around a 49-minute rain delay, McHugh (1-0) allowed four hits, including a pair of solo homers by Kendrys Morales. He lasted six innings before turning the game over to his bullpen, which scattered three runners over the final three frames.

Tony Sipp, Will Harris and Oliver Perez got the game to Luke Gregerson, who was part of Oakland’s wild-card collapse in Kansas City last year. He handled the ninth to earn a save.

George Springer and Colby Rasmus went deep for the homer-happy Astros, but they also scored via the same sort of small ball the Royals used in reaching the World Series last season.

Game 2 is Friday, with lefty Scott Kazmir on the mound for Houston against right-hander Johnny Cueto in a matchup of pitchers traded during the season.

Yordano Ventura (0-1) yielded three runs on four hits and a walk in two innings for Kansas City, but did not come back following the delay. Chris Young served up Springer’s home run with one out in the fifth, but tossed four otherwise solid innings of relief.

The Astros, who struggled so mightily on the road this season, have apparently solved their woes just in time. They beat the Yankees 3-0 in New York in Tuesday night’s wild-card game, then took care of a Royals club built specifically for spacious Kauffman Stadium.

“That’s a young, athletic team, and they played really, really good defense,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said.

Houston’s win also made it the first time since 1970 that visiting teams won baseball’s first four postseason games, STATS said. The other two times it happened were 1906 and 1923.

The Astros wasted no time getting Ventura in trouble, loading the bases with nobody out in the first inning. Ventura settled down to retire the next three batters, but Rasmus and Evan Gattis provided RBI groundouts to give Houston a 2-0 lead.

Jose Altuve tacked on another run in the second with a single to right.

The Royals answered in the bottom half, just as rain started to fall, when Morales ripped McHugh’s 89 mph fastball down the right-field line.

The rain became a downpour as the inning progressed, and lightning sent fans scurrying for the concourse.

The tarp was pulled onto the field between innings.

When the game resumed, the Royals sent Young to the mound rather than Ventura.

“It was pushing 60 minutes there,” Yost said. “He was just settling in when it started to rain.”

Astros manager A.J. Hinch stuck with McHugh even though he hadn’t thrown a pitch for nearly an hour.

Morales got the better of McHugh again in the fourth, driving a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right. Morales became the first Royals player with two homers in a postseason game since George Brett against Toronto in the 1985 AL Championship Series.

Unfortunately for the Royals, Morales was the only hitter who could solve McHugh. That left Kansas City, the darling of last year’s postseason, facing a crucial Game 2 on Friday, when another defeat would leave the team on the brink of elimination.

Rasmus also homered in the wild-card game at Yankee Stadium. He has six homers and 11 RBIs in his last nine games.

Houston ranked second in the majors with 230 homers this year, two behind Toronto.

MAN DOWN

Even the Royals’ grounds crew had a rough night. One of the workers responsible for rolling out the tarp during the delay tripped and fell. The tarp kept rolling right over his legs, and he screamed in pain. There was no word on the extent of his injury.

UP NEXT

Two pitchers procured with October in mind square off in Game 2. The Astros send out Kazmir, obtained in a July trade with Oakland, to face a team he has dominated in the past. The Royals counter with Cueto, acquired from Cincinnati a few days later. Cueto has struggled in his previous postseason appearances.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — When the Houston Astros had recorded the final out in Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night, they flooded onto the field in a wild celebration, all their years of losing finally a memory.

It looked a whole lot like the scene in Kansas City a year ago.

Now, the long-suffering Astros will try to accomplish what the once-beleaguered Royals did by building on their wild-card victory over the Yankees. They visit Kansas City to begin a best-of-five AL Division Series against the Royals on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium.

“It kind of reminds us of us last year,” Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas said after a light workout Wednesday afternoon, “young and hungry and out there trying to prove to everybody that we deserve to be here.”

The Royals certainly accomplished that 12 months ago.

After ending a 29-year postseason drought, the plucky bunch of youngsters swept all the way to the World Series, where they fell in seven games to the San Francisco Giants. But it was the Royals’ dramatic, extra-inning victory over the Oakland Athletics in their AL wild-card game that instilled in them a belief that they could play with anybody in baseball.

Much like Tuesday night in the Bronx seemed to galvanize the young Astros.

They clowned around before the first pitch, then took care of New York when it was time to get serious, before resuming their playful antics with a rousing 30-minute postgame party.

“You know, we did it in a little more dramatic fashion than they did,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of the wild-card win, “but they played a very solid game, took advantage of mistakes, excellent pitching and defense. Both teams play with a lot of passion and energy.”

In other words, both teams have a whole lot of fun.

“I don’t know if anybody else picked up on that, just as a fan watching what they were doing last year,” said the Astros’ Collin McHugh, who will start Game 1. “You can tell they have a fun clubhouse. I think that’s probably the closest similarity I can see with our team.”

There are others, though. Both endured long periods of ineptitude, underscored by 100-loss seasons. Both were painstakingly built through the draft. Both clubs put a premium on speed and defense. And both have formidable bullpens and stout rotations, with the Royals sending out hard-throwing Yordano Ventura to face McHugh in the series opener.

The similarities are hardly lost on Astros manager A.J. Hinch, who played for the Royals in the early 2000s, when the organization was in the depths of despair.

“I think both teams sense the opportunity might be there to make a run in October,” Hinch said. “Certainly, they’ve been a year or two ahead of us in this, I guess, move to the middle of relevant baseball with their run last year. But both really good clubs.”

Really young clubs, too. The average age of Houston for its wild-card game was 28 years, 343 days. The Royals were an average of 29 years, 51 days on Game 1 of last year’s World Series.

“They’re a young, energetic team, as we are too,” said Royals outfielder Alex Rios, who is in the postseason for the first time after 1,691 games. “But they’re also a team that has a lot of talent, so we have to go out there and play the same game we’ve been playing all season.”

The Astros and Royals are not mirror images of each other. Houston pounds home runs at the expense of strikeouts, while the Royals play to contact and grind out runs. The Astros greedily accepts walks while Kansas City swings away, regardless of the count.

Then there is the difference in their ballparks.

Kauffman Stadium is cavernous, the kind of place where home runs anywhere else turn into routine fly balls. Minute Maid Park is a bandbox where pop flies often carry the wall.

Oh, and there’s one more difference: The Royals played in the World Series a year ago. It may not be much of an edge in postseason experience, but it’s at least something.

“We had a good run last year, but that was last year,” Moustakas said. “This is a new season now, the best team is going to win. We have to find a way to beat that club.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals will start hard-throwing youngster Yordano Ventura in Game 1 of the AL Division Series, regardless of whether Kansas City plays the Yankees or Astros on Thursday night.

Royals manager Ned Yost announced his starter before Tuesday’s workout at Kauffman Stadium. Johnny Cueto will pitch the second game and Edinson Volquez will start Game 3, with the rest of the rotation to be announced only if Games 4 and 5 are necessary.

“For us, the last two weeks, three weeks, all three of those guys have been throwing the ball good,” Yost said. “Ventura has been excellent in his last six, seven starts. And we wanted to keep everybody on five days’ rest. We thought that would work out best for us.”

The 24-year-old Ventura weathered a roller coaster year that saw him briefly banished to Triple-A Omaha. But the star of Game 6 of last year’s World Series rebounded down the stretch, flashing his 100 mph fastball while going 4-1 with a 3.14 ERA in seven starts in September.

He allowed one run and four hits over seven innings — striking out 11 — on Saturday in Minnesota.

That string of success earned Ventura the Game 1 nod over the 29-year-old Cueto, whom many expected to anchor the Royals’ playoff rotation when he was acquired from Cincinnati in July.

But while Cueto has pitched better his last four outings, he went through a long slump in late August and early September. Throw in the fact he is just 0-2 with a 5.19 ERA in three playoff starts with the Reds, and the decision to start Ventura in the opener became clear.

Volquez, who will start Game 3 on the road, has lost both of his previous postseason starts.

“Really, your ace is whoever is pitching that particular night. Everybody on your playoff roster is there to help you win games,” said Royals general manager Dayton Moore when asked about Cueto starting Game 2. “We’re going to need everyone in our rotation.”

Yost was still considering the rest of his playoff roster Tuesday, though he did say it would not depend on whether New York or Houston wins the AL wild-card game. The bigger issue for Yost was finding the right balance between speed and power off the bench.

“We like the speed aspect. You like to have the extra bat, too,” he said. “But sometimes you have to choose between one or the other. We’ll make a final decision on that probably tomorrow.”

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Salvador Perez added to his career-best home run total, Johnny Cueto tossed five solid innings and the Kansas City Royals secured home-field advantage throughout the postseason by beating the Minnesota Twins 6-1 on Sunday.

Perez hit his 21st homer in the third inning, one behind Kendrys Morales and Mike Moustakas for the team lead.

Cueto (4-7 with Royals, 11-13 overall) allowed one run over five innings, helping the Royals finish on a five-game winning streak.

The right-hander, whose transition to the AL since a trade from Cincinnati has hardly been smooth, surrendered six hits and four walks. Cueto struck out the last two batters to leave the bases loaded in the fourth after giving up an RBI single to Danny Santana.

The defending AL champion Royals (95-67) posted their best regular-season record since the 1980 team went 97-65.

Ricky Nolasco (5-2) started for the Twins for the first time since May 31 after a right ankle injury sidelined him for the summer, but he lasted only 2 2/3 innings. Alex Gordon hit an RBI double and Alex Rios followed with a two-run double in the second, sticking Nolasco with a career-worst 6.75 ERA, though he logged only 37 1/3 innings.

Max Kepler got his first major league hit for the Twins (83-79), who stayed in wild-card contention until the next-to-last day on the schedule and enjoyed a winning record for the first time in five years. Despite that, their attendance dipped this year, the product of an eroded season-ticket base. They drew 2,220,054 fans, an average of 27,408 per game. Last year’s average was 27,785.

STARTERS FINISH STRONG

Over their last eight games, covering 48 1/3 innings, the Royals rotation posted a collective 1.49 ERA.

HUNTER’S LAST HURRAH?

The Twins used a mostly forward-looking lineup that did not include Torii Hunter, but the 40-year-old right fielder took the microphone in front of the mound for a brief pregame pep talk to the crowd. First, he congratulated the Royals for winning the AL Central division. Then, he thanked the fans for the energy they provided the players this season. He also praised his teammates, who were gathered behind him.

“No matter what’s in store for me for the future, these are my little brothers, and I love `em,” said Hunter, who will be a free agent and has not yet declared his intent to continue his career or not. He came out of the dugout in the middle of the seventh to wave to the crowd, patting his heart during the ovation.

TRAINER’S ROOM

The Royals kept center fielder Lorenzo Cain out of the lineup for the third time in four games because of a bone bruise on his right knee, but manager Ned Yost said Cain should be ready for postseason action after a four-day break. Cain dealt with a similar injury last year in October and batted .333 in 15 postseason games.

UP NEXT

The Royals will begin their AL division series at home on Thursday and Friday against the winner of the wild card game between the Yankees and Astros. Yost has not yet announced his rotation, but Yordano Ventura is on track to start in Game 1, with Cueto likely following him in Game 2.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins’ surprising run for a playoff spot came down to the final innings on the next to last day of season.

Minnesota was eliminated from the AL wild-card race Saturday, getting stifled by Yordano Ventura for seven innings in a 5-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

Blaine Boyer (3-6) allowed two runs, one earned, while getting two outs for the Twins (83-78), who weren’t expected to contend this season with a young squad led by rookie manager Paul Molitor. But Minnesota began play Saturday two games back of Houston for the second wild-card spot.

“I think you’d have to say that overall, the curtain came down so to speak, but it was a pretty good show,” Molitor said. “Some of the acts were a little sketchy at times and we tried to move on to the next scene. But the body of work was good.”

The Twins tried to keep their performance going but committed two errors in a costly four-run seventh inning. Minnesota loaded the bases in the ninth before Wade Davis struck out Kennys Vargas and Eduardo Escobar for his 17th save in 18 chances.

“All the critics, all the analysts, all the sabermetrics, everything you can name said the Twins were going to be in last place,” outfielder Torii Hunter said. “You’re wrong. We did a great job. I give it a B-plus.”

Ventura (13-8) carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and struck out 11 to win his third straight decision for the Royals (94-67), who momentarily pulled ahead of Toronto (93-67) for home-field advantage through the postseason. The Blue Jays play at Tampa Bay later Saturday.

“Tomorrow’s going to be a meaningful game,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “We have to do everything we can to try to win tomorrow.”

Ventura, who could be in line to start Game 1 of the division series, lost just once in his final 14 starts of the regular season. He was 9-1 with a 3.03 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 89 innings since a loss on July 20.

“We’ve got him right where we want him, right where he needs to be going into next week,” Yost said. “And I feel like we as a team are right where need to be going into next week too.

TOMORROW FOR TORII

Hunter acknowledged he could be playing his final game on Sunday. The 19-year veteran who started his career with Minnesota in 1997, snapped Ventura’s no-hitter in the fifth and was cheered loudly by the hometown fans in his final at-bats.

Hunter isn’t sure what his future holds. He will be a free agent at the end of the season. Hunter has hit .277 with 353 home runs and 1,391 RBI in his career.

“I don’t know if it’s it,” Hunter said. “I can’t say that. I can’t do the farewell tour and all that stuff. I definitely think that there’s a chance for me to come back. Right now, I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ll make an announcement tomorrow, I don’t know if I’ll make one in January. So, we’ll just have to see. I don’t know.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Kendrys Morales was available as a pinch hitter but was held out again after he left Thursday’s game with tightness in his left quadriceps.

UP NEXT

Royals: Johnny Cueto (9-13, 4.95) will make the final start of the regular season for Kansas City. Cueto has allowed eight earned runs in his last 20 innings over his last three starts after giving up 28 earned runs in 26 1/3 innings between Aug. 21 and Sept. 13.

Twins: After Minnesota was eliminated, Molitor said RHP Ricky Nolasco (5-1, 5.97) will start Sunday. Kyle Gibson was slated to start if the Twins were still in contention. Nolasco will be making his first start after returning from almost four months on the disabled list. He allowed three runs in two innings of relief on Sept. 30.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins clubhouse, clouded so often this season by fog machines for the post-victory dance parties, was crystal clear and eerily quiet following the 160th game on the schedule.

This postseason bid by the upstart Twins took a big hit.

Ben Zobrist hit an RBI double in the eighth inning against struggling All-Star Glen Perkins, and the Kansas City Royals topped the Twins 3-1 on Friday night behind a strong start from Chris Young.

“You can feel it,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “It’s deflating for sure.”

Perkins, hampered by neck and back trouble that led to his removal from the closer role, spoiled a stellar performance by starter Ervin Santana (7-5) with a first-pitch fastball that Zobrist drove off the wall in right-center field. Zobrist then scored when right fielder Torii Hunter fumbled a single by Mike Moustakas, another blemish on an awful second half for Perkins.

“This is a hard one to swallow,” Hunter said.

The Twins began the day one game behind Houston and tied with Los Angeles in the AL wild-card race. With two days left to make up ground this was as devastating a defeat as they’ve had in 2015. The Angels beat Texas to pass the Twins, and the Astros played later at Arizona.

Here the Twins were, playing a game that mattered on Oct. 2, a testament to their resiliency under the rookie manager Molitor this season following four straight years of mostly bad baseball. The paid attendance of 31,534 wasn’t quite a postseason crowd, but there was a palpable energy in the ballpark, with a hearty standing cheer for Santana as he walked off the mound and doffed his cap in the eighth.

“Ervin had his good stuff tonight, man,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “You just knew it was going to be a tight game.”

Young was just as good, giving the defending AL champion Royals another reason to consider the 6-foot-10 right-hander for the postseason rotation. He allowed just an RBI single by Aaron Hicks in the third. The 36-year-old gave up four hits in 6 1/3 innings, retiring 15 out of 16 batters at one point.

In three starts against the Twins this season, Young surrendered just two runs and 11 hits in 18 innings.

“The weather, the sun setting early, it’s a fun time of year,” Young said, “and it’s fun to be a part of it.”

Louis Coleman (1-0), Ryan Madson and Wade Davis wrapped up the win, with Davis notching his 16th save in 17 attempts.

Santana didn’t join the Twins until July 4, due to the positive test for a performance-enhancing drug that made him ineligible for the postseason, but he gave them quite the push down the stretch while most of the rest of the rotation stumbled to the finish. Over his last seven turns, Santana logged 50 innings with a 1.62 ERA while the Twins went 5-2.

Santana only had more than one man on base in the third, when Jarrod Dyson hit a leadoff double and eventually scored on a grounder by Eric Hosmer.

“It was tough. They were pitching very good. Nothing we can do,” Santana said.

BAD AFTER THE BREAK

Perkins, a three-time All-Star who was 28 for 28 in save opportunities in the first half, has allowed at least one earned run in 11 of 22 appearances after the break for a 7.32 ERA.

“We’re all are aware that it’s not coming out quite the same,” Molitor said. “I think physically he’s fine.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Three banged-up regulars were held out of the lineup, with CF Lorenzo Cain (knee), DH Kendrys Morales (quadriceps) and C Salvador Perez (thumb) on the bench, but Morales entered as a pinch-hitter, Yost said Cain should be ready to play on Saturday, and Perez was rested with the afternoon game next.

Twins: Molitor indicated Santana would be summoned on shortened rest to pitch in a tiebreaker game, which he would be eligible for.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura (12-8, 4.20 ERA) will start on Saturday. He’s 8-1 with a 3.26 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 80 innings over his last 13 turns, and the only loss in that stretch was to the Twins at home on Sept. 7.

Twins: LHP Tommy Milone (9-5, 4.04) will take the mound in the middle game of the series, coming off a critical win at Cleveland on Monday following an 11-day break due to weakness around his shoulder.

— Associated Press —