Alcides Escobar was going to take the first pitch that Neftali Feliz threw him, no matter what. After that, the Royals shortstop decided to keep taking pitches until he saw a strike.

Turns out he never got to see one.

Escobar walked on four pitches with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning Friday night, giving Kansas City a 2-1 victory over the Texas Rangers in the opener of an important three-game series between teams in the playoff race.

”We had the utmost confidence he was going to get it done right there and he had a great at-bat,” said Royals manager Ned Yost, who chose to stick with Escobar despite his .238 batting average and the fact that he had walked just 18 times in more than 600 plate appearances.

Make that 19 times.

”I’m frustrated that I wasn’t able to locate where I wanted to, but I understand that’s part of the game,” Feliz said. ”I need to keep my head up and try it again tomorrow.”

The Rangers dropped a half-game behind the Indians, which beat Houston 2-1 in a rain-shortened game, for the second AL wild-card spot. The Royals were three games behind the leading Rays, who were locked in an extra-inning game with the Orioles.

”These games are all going to be like this,” said Yost, whose Royals (81-72) are already assured of their first non-losing season since 2003. ”They’re all going to be nail-biters. They’re all going to be close.”

This one was so close the Rangers and Royals scored matching runs in the second inning, and then started tossing up zeros the rest of the way.

The Royals finally broke through when Lorenzo Cain and Mike Moustakas hit consecutive two-out singles off the Rangers’ Jason Frasor (4-3) in the eighth. Pinch-hitter David Lough drew a walk on a full-count pitch, and Rangers manager Ron Washington brought in Feliz.

He promptly walked Escobar as a crowd of 30,000 roared.

Luke Hochevar (5-2) earned the win in relief of Ervin Santana, who allowed one run on five hits in 7 1-3 innings. Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 44th save.

”It stinks when you get taken out and you’ve got to rely on someone else. It’s hard to sit there and watch,” Frasor said. ”It’s a tough spot for Neftali.”

The Rangers actually jumped out to an early lead when Adrian Beltre, whose .374 average coming into the game was the best of any current player at Kauffman Stadium, roped a single to lead off the second. It was followed by a double by A.J. Pierzynski for a 1-0 advantage.

The Royals answered in the bottom half when Salvador Perez led off with a double and Justin Maxwell, getting the start in right field, hit a two-out double to tie the game.

Kansas City kept wasting chances in the early innings, though.

Billy Butler grounded into a double play to end the first, and Moustakas grounded into another in the second. The Royals worked back-to-back walks in the fourth before Escobar flied out to center field to end yet another scoring threat.

The most egregious mistake came in the sixth, when Maxwell walked and Escobar was hit by a pitch from Rangers starter Martin Perez. Maxwell took off for third base with Alex Gordon at the plate, and he was easily thrown out by catcher Geovany Soto to end the inning.

Asked whether he was running on his own, Yost replied: ”Yeah.” Good idea? ”Nope.”

None of those jams was as tight as the one Santana worked out of in the fifth.

After retiring the first two batters, David Murphy doubled, Leonys Martin singled and Ian Kinsler drew a walk to load the bases. Santana recovered to strike out Elvis Andrus.

The Rangers had another opportunity in the eighth, but Hochever got Andrus to fly out to left and Alex Rios to ground out to first to leave Kinsler standing on first base.

”Every game is so big, and that’s what makes it fun,” Hochevar said. ”The intensity, the electricity in the ballpark that we’ve had during this push, it’s been awesome.”

— Associated Press —

Manager Ned Yost’s faith in Bruce Chen paid off for the Kansas City Royals.

Chen worked five innings and Salvador Perez doubled home two runs and the Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 7-2 on Wednesday night.

The Royals, who have not made the playoffs since 1985, are 2½ games back in the wild-card standings, while the Indians are a half-game behind.

“I felt really good about Bruce being on the hill for us,” Yost said. “I just felt his veteran experience was going to be crucial in a big game like this. My mindset was to get him through the lineup twice and if we had any lead at all, to do some maneuvering.

“A game of this magnitude, you don’t play around. We’ve got 10 games left. You don’t play (around) with 10 games left especially when they are this big. You get it out of the way and then you worry about tomorrow tomorrow.”

Yost did some bullpen maneuvering to keep the lead.

“Every single game is a must-win,” Chen said. “We’re behind. We’re trying to catch up. The bullpen did an outstanding job. We have the best bullpen in the American League.”

Chen was pulled in the sixth after giving up a single to Michael Bourn and walking Nick Swisher to lead off the inning.

“He does what he does,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Chen. “He’s up, down, in, out. Nothing the same speed. He takes the sting out of your bat. He really knows how to pitch.”

Francisley Bueno replaced Chen and recorded two outs with three pitches.

After Jason Kipnis advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, Bueno kept the runners put when Carlos Santana grounded out to third baseman Mike Moustakas. Louis Coleman came in and retired Ryan Raburn on a fly to right to strand the runners.

Royals relievers Tim Collins, Will Smith and Greg Holland preserved the lead, allowing just one hit, to keep the team’s playoff chances alive.

The Royals broke the game open with three runs off four Indians pitchers in the eighth. Alcides Escobar had a two-run single on a full count off Carlos Carrasco, while Jarrod Dyson walked with the bases loaded.

“The last at-bat, that’s one of my best at-bats of the year,” Escobar said. “I was just trying to put ball in play, ground ball, fly ball, anywhere. I was really concentrating. I was trying to put the ball in play and got the base hit.”

Rookie Danny Salazar (1-3), who had allowed just one run in 13 2/3 innings in his first three September starts, took the loss, giving up four runs and six hits in six innings.

The Royals jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first with Perez’s two-out double, scoring Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler. Perez went to third on the throw home and scored on a Salazar wild pitch.

The Indians scored a pair of runs in the third. Yan Gomes came home after center fielder Dyson had trouble picking up Michael Brantley’s double. Brantley wound up scoring on Bourn’s sacrifice fly.

The Royals used a double steal in the fifth for their fourth run. Escobar avoided the tag of catcher Gomes to steal home, while Alex Gordon, who was initially caught in a rundown, stole second. Escobar became the first Royal to steal home since Jeff Francoeur on Aug. 11, 2012, at Baltimore.

“I was kind of looking to take him back to third base and peaked (at the other runner) and when I did that he kind of dropped and went under my tag,” Gomes said.

— Associated Press —

Terry Francona likened the atmosphere at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday to a playoff game in October. The crowd was into it. Every pitch mattered.

The Indians manager is hopeful the outcome will propel his team into the actual playoffs.

Asdrubal Cabrera drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and Cleveland rallied off the stingy Kansas City Royals bullpen for a 5-3 victory Tuesday night that evened their series.

The win allowed the Indians to remain a half-game back of Texas and Tampa Bay in the AL wild-card race. The Royals are 3 1/2 games adrift after the Rangers beat the Rays earlier in the night.

”That was a fun game to be part of, two teams that really want to win bad were competing a lot,” Francona said. ”We did enough to win.”

The Indians were shut out until the sixth by Yordano Ventura, who made an electric major league debut. They tied the game 3-all in the seventh off reliever Kelvin Herrera, and Cabrera’s double off Wade Davis (7-11) in the eighth scored Drew Stubbs and gave Cleveland the lead.

Michael Bourn added a homer in the ninth to provide a cushion.

”It’s not always going to be pretty but we have to find a way to get it done,” said Nick Swisher, whose sacrifice fly in the seventh tied it. ”We have a scrappy group in here, and we’re not done. We’re going to keep pushing because we want this. We want it bad.”

Cody Allen (6-1) was among six Indians relievers who kept Kansas City off the scoreboard the final 4 1-3 innings. Chris Perez handled a perfect ninth for his 25th save.

”It happens sometimes,” Royals catcher Salvador Perez said of the collapse. ”We have to keep going, keep playing hard through the last day of the season.”

Ventura had already been saddled with the nickname ”Ace” before Monday night, but in the first inning he looked more like a different film character: Rick ”Wild Thing” Vaughn.

He erratically walked Bourn on four pitches to lead off the game, and earned a roar when he finally threw a strike to Nick Swisher. The roar grew when Ventura got him to ground into a double play, and reached a crescendo when he struck out Jason Kipnis to end the inning.

The 22-year-old flame-thrower settled in after that, mixing his curveball and changeup with straight gas that touched 101 mph on the radar gun at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals gave him a lead on Hosmer’s double in the first inning. They added two more in the third, thanks in large part to Emilio Bonifacio getting into the head of starter Corey Kluber.

After a single, Bonifacio swiped second even as Kluber tried to pick him off. Bonifacio kept dancing around second base, and the Indians right-hander proceeded to walk Hosmer and Billy Butler to load up the bases. Salvador Perez’s sacrifice fly and Mike Moustakas’s double made it 3-0.

The Indians finally started to rally in the sixth. Swisher’s single and a pair of two-out singles by Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley made it 3-1 and drove Ventura from the game – he received a standing ovation. Cabrera walked to load the bases before Ryan Raburn struck out.

It may have been a wasted opportunity, but Cleveland atoned for it the next inning.

Yan Gomes was plunked in the back by Herrera, and then Bourn ripped an RBI triple into the gap. Swisher followed with a sacrifice fly to left field that knotted the game 3-all.

”The hit batsman was crucial at that point with Bourn coming up and hitting a triple right behind it,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”Those are things late in the season in games of this magnitude you really want to try to stay away from.”

Those are the things that set the stage for Cabrera to finish off the comeback.

”Tonight was one of the more gratifying wins,” Francona said. ”We kept fighting, and that’s a good feeling to be part of that, and watch those guys do that.”

— Associated Press —

Royals ace James Shields peered in at the Indians’ Yan Gomes, who had stepped to the plate with two runners aboard in the fourth inning of a nip-and-tuck game between playoff contenders.

When Gomes swung and missed at strike three, Shields roared like a lion as he stalked off the mound, the intensity of meaningful September baseball etched across his face.

Shields wound up going six innings Monday night, and Salvador Perez led a scrappy Kansas City offense that eventually pulled away for a 7-1 victory in the opener of a pivotal three-game series.

Shields struck out a season-high 10 for the Royals (79-71), who moved within 2 1/2 games of the AL’s second wild-card berth. The Indians (81-69) remained a half-game back of Texas, which lost to Tampa Bay earlier in the night in a matchup of teams leading the wild-card race.

”Every game is important,” Shields said. ”This is what we live for, this is what we play for, September baseball, and hopefully we have a chance to go to the playoffs.”

Shields (12-9) allowed only Lonnie Chisenhall’s solo homer before turning the game over to his stingy bullpen. Wade Davis, Luke Hochevar and Tim Collins did the rest in a steady drizzle.

Perez finished with three hits and was among six different players to drive in a run for Kansas City, which is chasing its first postseason berth since winning the 1985 World Series.

”We have the talent to compete each and every night,” said Lorenzo Cain, who drove in one of the runs. ”You need a little luck every now and then, but we have the talent to compete.

Scott Kazmir (8-9) gave up four runs in 5-plus innings for the Indians. He didn’t get a whole lot of help from his offense, which racked up a season-high 17 strikeouts.

”I did everything I could,” Kazmir said. ”I battled my butt off to get where I was.”

Accustomed to pitching in important games, Shields kept the Indians guessing all night. He fanned three in the fifth after Chisenhall went deep, and the only other time he was in trouble was the first, when Shields stranded runners on second and third.

”He knows how to handle his emotions and channel it to his benefit, but he also knows how to transfer it to his teammates,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He knows what’s at stake and he’s getting after it. He’s into it.”

Billy Butler started the scoring by driving in Emilio Bonifacio with a two-out single in the first, and then Kansas City tacked on another run in the third thanks to some hustle.

Alex Gordon struck out swinging but raced to first base when Kazmir’s wild pitch went to the backstop. He reached third on Eric Hosmer’s single and scored on Perez’s two-out base knock.

”When Scott left the game, we’re still in striking distance,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. ”We didn’t finish a couple of plays and it got away from us.”

That happened in the sixth, when Perez and Cain opened the inning with back-to-back triples for a 3-1 lead, and David Lough added a pinch-hit single to provide the Royals with another run.

Alcides Escobar reached base when shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera fielded his grounder and threw wide of first for an error, and then Bonifacio hit a dribbler toward Chisenhall at third that he mishandled for another error. The second in a span of three batters resulted in a 5-1 game.

The Royals added a pair of runs in the seventh inning to put it away.

”They put it on us tonight,” said the Indians’ Jason Giambi, who was 0 for 3 with a pair of strikeouts. ”They played great baseball. They just out played us tonight.”

— Associated Press —