KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Perez slashed a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning to give the Kansas City Royals a 2-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night.

Neil Ramirez (0-3) retired the first two hitters in the 10th before he walked Aldaberto Mondesi, who stole second and third to reach 30 steals on the season. Alex Gordon also walked before Perez hit Ramirez’s first pitch into left field to score Mondesi for the walk-off win.

Mondesi also homered for the Royals (57-102), who are no longer in danger of matching the franchise record of 106 losses, set in 2005.

Jason Hammel (4-14) worked a scoreless 10th, following three Kansas City relievers who pitched four scoreless innings.

The AL Central champion Indians (89-70) got their only run in the first. Francisco Lindor led off with a single, took second on a botched pickup attempt and went to third on a balk by Royals starter Glenn Sparkman. Lindor scored on Jose Ramirez’s one-out sacrifice fly.

Sparkman worked a career-high five innings, allowing five hits with no walks and two strikeouts.

Josh Tomlin went 4 2/3 innings for the Indians, allowing Mondesi’s homer in the third.

The Indians had runners at second and third with two out in the eighth when Yandy Diaz chopped a slow roller between third baseman Hunter Dozier and shortstop Mondesi, who made a quick scoop and an off-balance throw to get Diaz.

HITS LEADER

The Royals’ Whit Merrifield had two hits and moved into the major league lead with 188, one ahead of Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman. Merrifield has 53 multi-hit games on the season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: The Royals are healthy except for four players on the long-term disabled list — 3B Cheslor Cuthbert (strained lower back), OF Jorge Soler (fractured toe), RHP Jesse Hahn (elbow surgery) and RHP Nate Karns (elbow inflammation). LHP Danny Duffy (shoulder inflammation) also has been shut down for the season.

Indians: INF Erik Gonzalez entered the concussion protocol after getting hit in the head by a pitch against the White Sox on Wednesday. Manager Terry Francona said Gonzalez experienced some nausea after getting beaned, but “is doing much, much better.” Gonzalez traveled with the team but there is no timetable for his return. … 1B Yonder Alonso got the day off. … Francona said OF Michael Brantley, who left Tuesday’s game after fouling a pitch off his right calf and then returned to the lineup Wednesday, sat for his regular day off and has no lingering effects.

UP NEXT

Indians RHP Mike Clevinger (12-8, 3.07 ERA) will make his final start of the regular season opposite Royals RHP Ian Kennedy (3-8, 4.59) as Francona gets his rotation set for the playoffs.

— Associated Press —

CINCINNATI (AP) — Talk about finishing with a flourish.

Rookie Heath Fillmyer struck out a career-high nine, collected his first major league hit and run batted in, and the Kansas City Royals wrapped up their road schedule with a 6-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.

The only run Fillmyer allowed was Jose Peraza’s 14th homer in the first inning. Fillmyer (4-2) retired 11 straight batters in one stretch against a Cincinnati team that has scored three or fewer runs in 13 of its last 14 games.

“My curveball was working well against lefties, and I had a real nice slider against righties,” Fillmyer said. “I was able to keep them off-balance.”

He allowed four hits and two walks while tying his career high with 7 1/3 innings.

“He threw the ball well,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He spotted it well and changed speeds well. He did a nice job of executing the game plan. When he makes a mistake lately, they don’t seem to hurt him. He was down in the zone and changed speeds.”

Fillmyer also chipped in to the Kansas City offense with a sixth-inning RBI double.

“If I missed that one, I was never going to get a hit,” he said. “It was right down the middle. It was nice to get the monkey off my back.”

Adalberto Mondesi tripled, scored two runs and stole two bases to spark the Kansas City offense. Whit Merrifield, who went into the game tied for the American League lead in hits and leading in stolen bases, extended his season-high hitting streak to 16 games with a third-inning single. He also stole two bases.

Alex Gordon tacked on a solo home run to help Kansas City to a third straight win and fourth in its last five games.

The Royals finished with a 26-55 road record. They need one win in their last four games to avoid matching their single-season record of 106 losses, set in 2005.

The Reds have lost five straight games, all to teams with worse records, and six of their last seven. Cincinnati’s offensive struggles date to the start of a 10-game road trip in Chicago on Sept. 14.

“We may have looked flat because we didn’t get a lot of hits and there was no activity, but we have been doing all our preparations before the games and trying to finish strong,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “Since Chicago, we haven’t got good results. We didn’t score a lot of runs in Chicago either, but we had better at-bats.”

After lasting six innings in his previous start, a win at Miami, Reds starter Cody Reed (1-3) could manage just 3 2/3, giving up six hits and three runs with two walks and two strikeouts.

“I wasn’t as sharp,” Reed said. “I didn’t have the back-foot slider to righties that I had the last two games. I rushed myself a little warming up before the game, but I felt fine.”

40-40 MAN

Merrifield is the first player since Houston’s Jose Altuve in 2014 with at least 40 doubles and 40 stolen bases in the same season. The only other Royal with that combination is Johnny Damon in 2000.

CHANGEUP

RHP Michael Lorenzen (3-2) now is scheduled to start Cincinnati’s game on Saturday against the Pirates. Sunday could be a bullpen day with RHP Sal Romano (8-11) starting, Riggleman said.

ELUSIVE WIN

The Reds lost their last seven interleague games to finish 10-10 against AL teams. They fell one win short of matching their single-season record for interleague wins. Kansas City finished 6-14 against NL teams.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Glenn Sparkman (0-3) makes his fourth start in the opener of a season-ending, four-game series against division champion Cleveland.

Reds: RHP Anthony DeSclafani (7-7), originally scheduled to start on Saturday, was moved up to start Friday against Pittsburgh in place of RHP Luis Castillo, who was shut down for the season.

— Associated Press —

CINCINNATI (AP) — Hunter Dozier’s quiet night turned into a clutch, game-winning effort for the Kansas City Royals.

Dozier led off the ninth inning with a tie-breaking home run, then teamed with shortstop Adalberto Mondesi for a key out in the bottom of the inning as the Royals beat the slumping Cincinnati Reds 4-3 Tuesday night.

“It felt like a quiet night until the ninth,” said Dozier, who snapped a 0-for-17 skid with his homer to left field. “A lot happened in a short amount of time.”

Dozier’s 11th homer of the season, off Raisel Iglesias (2-5), left Kansas City needing two wins in its last five games to avoid tying the franchise record of 106 losses in a season, set in 2005. The Royals (55-102) have won three of their last four games, after a five-game losing streak.

The Reds had runners on first and second with one out in the ninth against closer Wily Peralta, but Mondesi fielded Scott Schebler’s grounder and threw to Dozier at third, forcing Brandon Dixon. Jose Peraza followed with a hard grounder that Dozier was able to knock down with a diving backhand stop, leaving the bases loaded. Joey Votto grounded out harmlessly, and Peralta earned his 14th save.

“They made some good plays,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “I was shocked that Dozier got to that ball. I thought it was down the line and would at least tie the game.”

Kansas City manager Ned Yost felt Dozier’s play on Schebler’s grounder to Mondesi was more difficult than it looked.

“He went for the ball at first,” Yost said. “He had to peel back to get to the bag. His athleticism allowed him to do that.”

Kevin McCarthy (5-4) walked the first batter he faced to lead off the eighth and the Reds ended up loading the bases with no outs on Votto’s checked-swing dribbler up the third base line. But Eugenio Suarez grounded into a force out at the plate, Scooter Gennett struck out and Phillip Ervin hit a fielder’s-choice grounder to Dozier, ending the threat.

Cincinnati went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and now are 8-for-75 (.107) in that situation over their last 13 games. The slumping Reds (66-92) have lost four straight, all against teams with worse records than their own. The Reds have also lost five of six, and their interleague losing streak reached seven games.

Ryan O’Hearn hit his 12th homer of the season, a two-run shot off Matt Harvey, in the fourth inning, to give the Royals a 3-0 lead. The Reds’ Dilson Herrera delivered a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the fifth before Gennett tripled and Ervin drove him in with the game-tying run in the seventh

Harvey overcame a 51-minute rain delay with one out in the bottom of the third inning. He lasted five innings and gave up six hits and three runs with six strikeouts. The former Mets’ right-hander didn’t allow a walk. He has a 7-7 record and 4.46 ERA in 23 games with the Reds, and a 4.92 ERA overall in 2018.

“It was frustrating,” Harvey said. “I was pretty sharp in the first three innings. After the delay, I wasn’t as sharp.

The delay cost Eric Skoglund a shot at his second win of the season and first since April 28 against the White Sox. The Royals rookie, making his 12th start of 2018 and fourth since missing three months with a strained ulnar collateral ligament, didn’t return when play resumed.

ROCKY TOP

The Reds announced that they were resuming an affiliation with Double-A Chattanooga. The Reds and Lookouts were affiliated from 1988 through 2008.

IT’S LORENZEN

RHP Michael Lorenzen (3-2), trying to convince the Reds that he can make the conversion from reliever to starter, will get his third and final chance this season against the Pirates in Sunday’s series finale.

NEW HIGH

Whit Merrifield singled with one out in the fifth inning to extend his hitting streak to a season-high 15 games. The streak is the fourth of at least 12 games this season for Merrifield, the AL’s hits and stolen base leader going into Tuesday.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Heath Fillmyer (3-2) will make his first career start against the Reds in his final 2018 start.

Reds: LHP Cody Reed (1-2) makes his first career start against the Royals, who made him their second-round pick in the June 2013 draft.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — When the Kansas City Royals acquired Brad Keller during last winter’s Rule 5 draft, they committed themselves to keep him on the roster all season.

As it turned out, that hasn’t been a problem.

Keller pitched seven strong innings as the Royals held on to beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 on Sunday.

Keller (9-6) allowed one run on three hits, walking three and striking out two. He improved to 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA in his last eight starts.

“The first three or four innings, he was dead-on mechanically and just banging in strike after strike,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “After that, he was still fighting it a bit, but he hung in there and gave us seven more strong innings.”

Keller has only allowed more than two earned runs once since August 7.

“I was attacking them with my fastball, mostly,” he said. “They were sitting on my slider a little, so I went after them with the heater.”

The teams split the four-game series that finished Detroit’s home season. The Royals won the season series 11-8.

The Tigers finished 38-43 at home, four games better than 2017, but drew 1.86 million fans — the fewest since they had 1.37 million while losing 119 games in 2003.

“We wanted to win this one for our fans,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We’ve got 90-some losses, but they were still standing and cheering until the last pitch.”

The Royals led 3-1 in the ninth. Niko Goodrum led off the inning with a bunt single off Wily Peralta. Ronny Rodriguez added a one-out base hit, and Grayson Greiner walked to load the bases.

Victor Reyes hit a sacrifice fly to pull the Tigers within 3-2 before Peralta struck out Jim Adduci to earn his 13th save.

“Wily makes it a tightrope walk, but he’s 13-for-13,” Yost said. “They got a perfect bunt and a big walk, but he didn’t panic. He just kept making pitches.”

Daniel Norris needed 98 pitches to complete five innings, allowing one run on six hits and two walks. He struck out three.

“I didn’t have any kind of command, so I was in three-ball counts on almost every hitter,” he said. “The only thing I could count on was my slider, so I just kept trying to spin that in there to get out of trouble.”

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first on Adalberto Mondesi’s 12th home run and could have added to the margin in the third. Kansas City loaded the bases with one out, but Hunter Dozier grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Kansas City stranded two more batters in the fourth but had pushed Norris’ pitch count to 84.

“That’s the thing with Daniel — he might get into trouble, but he’s always going to give everything he’s got to get out of it,” Greiner said. “We were trying to find pitches that would work.”

Jeimer Candelario led off the fourth with a single — Detroit’s first hit — and Christin Stewart moved him to third with a hit-and-run single before Nicholas Castellanos tied the game with a sacrifice fly.

The Royals regained the lead with two runs in the sixth off Drew VerHagen (3-3). With two out, Alcides Escobar and Rosell Herrera singled before Herrera stole second. Cam Gallagher blooped a ball to shallow left, and Stewart couldn’t make a sliding catch.

“When (Keller) is dominating like that, you just want to get him some runs,” Gallagher said. “I hit that ball pretty weakly, but it got down in front of the outfielders. That’s how this works.”

GET IN THERE

Harold Castro made his major league debut, entering as a pinch-runner for Greiner in the ninth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: CF JaCoby Jones missed the game after aggravating a shoulder injury while attempting a diving catch on Saturday.

UP NEXT

Royals: Start a two-game series in Cincinnati on Tuesday. Eric Skoglund (1-5, 5.60 ERA) starts the opener against Matt Harvey (7-9, 4.92).

Tigers: Begin a three-game series in Minnesota on Tuesday, with Spencer Turnbull (0-1, 10.80) taking the mound.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — This time, the Kansas City Royals had enough hitting and pitching.

Ian Kennedy pitched three-run ball into the eighth inning, and the Royals stopped a five-game slide by holding off the Detroit Tigers for a 4-3 win on Friday night.

Alex Gordon had three hits for the Royals, who hit four homers in 11-8 loss in the series opener. Rosell Herrera had two hits and drove in a run.

“We made a couple mistakes on 0-2 pitches, and they cost us runs,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Other than that, our pitching was fantastic.”

The sloppy Tigers committed three errors while losing for the eighth time in 11 games.

“We just played terrible baseball,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We made errors and we made bad decisions.”

Kennedy (3-8) won his second straight start, permitting two earned runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings. He struck out six and walked none.

“I’ve been executing in the last three games — that’s literally the only thing that has changed,” Kennedy said. “I’m throwing good pitches, and in meaningful spots, I’m throwing strikes.”

Wily Peralta worked a shaky ninth for his 12th save. Ronny Rodriguez led off with an infield single, but James McCann bunted into a 1-6 forceout at second.

“Wily’s more athletic than he looks,” Yost said. “He bounded off the mound and made a great throw to second.”

Jeimer Candelario then drew a pinch-hit walk before Peralta struck out Dawel Lugo and Jim Adduci.

Detroit left-hander Francisco Liriano (5-11) was charged with four runs, one earned, and six hits in six innings. He has a 1.88 ERA in his last four starts.

Kansas City jumped in front on Detroit’s first defensive mistake. With one out in the first, Adalberto Mondesi singled and took off on a 1-1 pitch to Gordon.

Gordon looped a single to shallow left, and Mondesi took a big turn at third and kept going when rookie Christin Stewart lobbed the ball into second.

“I kept my head up on the play, and I’m always looking to make a play,” Mondesi said. “When I saw he was going to make the short throw, I went hard.”

Stewart, a hitting prospect not known for solid defense, was making his 12th major league appearance.

“That will be a learning experience for the kid,” Gardenhire said. “He’s got to be quicker getting to the ball, and he’s got to get rid of it. If he makes a faster play and hits the cut-off man, everything is fine.”

Gordon added an RBI single in the third, and the Royals scored two more runs in the fourth, aided by errors by first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Stewart.

“We’re going to be working on defense a lot in spring training,” Gardenhire said. “We’ll have our whole group together and we’re going to improve some of these things.”

Rodriguez homered in the fifth for the Tigers, and Nicholas Castellanos doubled home a run in the sixth.

Kennedy left after Pete Kozma reached on an error, and Castellanos made it 4-3 with a two-out double off Kevin McCarthy. Victor Martinez, playing in his next-to-last major league game, grounded out to first to end the inning.

Martinez received an ovation before the at-bat.

“I wish I could have gotten a hit there for the fans,” he said. “They are like a family to me. Families fight, and there have been some times when they let us know we weren’t playing well, but they are always here for us.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: With INFs Niko Goodrum (quad) and Candelario (back) still bothered by injuries, Harold Castro was promoted from Triple-A Toledo. Castro hadn’t arrived by game time, and the Tigers ended up with Saltalamacchia playing first base for the first time since 2016.

ETIQUETTE QUESTION

In the eighth inning, McCarthy rode in on the Comerica Park bullpen cart and didn’t know what to do at the end of the ride.

“I had never done that before, so I wasn’t sure if I should tip the driver,” he said.

ONE MORE GAME FOR MARTINEZ

Martinez announced before Friday’s game he will finish his 16-season career on Saturday against the Royals. Martinez will sit out Sunday’s series finale and accompany the team on its final road trip without playing.

“I feel like I owe it to the fans to have my final at-bats here,” said Martinez, who will be honored in a pregame ceremony.

UP NEXT

The teams play the third game of their series on Saturday night, with Detroit’s Jordan Zimmermann (7-8, 4.41 ERA) facing Jakob Junis (8-12, 4.42 ERA).

— Associated Press —