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 —

TORONTO (AP) — Marcus Stroman pitched seven innings to win for the first time in six starts, Darwin Barney hit a two-run homer and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 on Tuesday night.

Kansas City outfielder Alex Gordon’s solo home run off Ryan Tepera in the eighth was the 5,694th of this major league season, breaking the record set in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era. The record was broken with just less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.

There were 5,610 homers last year, an average of 2.31 per game, and this year’s average of 2.53 entering Tuesday projects to 6,139. That would be up 47 percent from 4,186 in 2014.

Barney went 2 for 3 with three RBI as the Blue Jays opened their final homestand on a winning note.

Stroman (12-8) allowed one run and four hits for his first victory since Aug. 16 against Tampa Bay.

Tepera pitched the eighth and Roberto Osuna finished for his 37th save in 47 chances.

Barney reached second base on a one-out throwing error by third baseman Mike Moustakas in the third but appeared to forget how many outs there were and was doubled off on Teoscar Hernadez’s liner to center.

That was the first of seven consecutive batters retired by Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy, a streak that ended when Ryan Goins singled to begin the sixth. Barney fell behind 2-0 against Kennedy, then fouled off three straight pitches before homering into the left field bullpen.

Making his first start since Sept. 8 after missing a turn because of a sore shoulder, Kennedy (4-12) allowed two runs and three hits in five-plus innings. He walked none and struck out two.

Winless in nine starts, Kennedy is 0-6 with an 8.29 ERA since his last victory, July 26 at Detroit.

Toronto pulled away with a three-run seventh. Russell Martin hit a two-run double off Scott Alexander and Barney greeted Brandon Maurer with an RBI single.

Jose Bautista struck out twice, giving him 159 for the year and matching Jose Canseco (1998) and Kelly Johnson (2012) for the highest season total in Blue Jays history.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: C Salvador Perez (pulled side muscle) and OF Lorenzo Cain (rest) returned to the lineup after sitting out Sunday’s loss at Cleveland. Moustakas (right knee), who was limited to pinch-hitting duties Sunday, also started for Kansas City.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (7-2, 4.15) is 4-0 with a 2.35 ERA over his past seven starts. Junis has won five straight decisions and is unbeaten since June 29 at Detroit.

Blue Jays: LHP Brett Anderson (3-3, 5.73) was bothered by a blister during his previous outing, Sept. 14 at Minnesota, but was able to throw a bullpen session Sunday.

— Associated Press —

CLEVELAND (AP) — There was champagne chilling on ice for them, bottles and bottles of bubbly and beer.

But before the Cleveland Indians partied after winning a second straight AL Central title, there was work to be done to complete a week none of them will ever forget.

They could have taken the easy route and phoned it in.

Not this team.

“We want to win,” Corey Kluber said.

Cleveland’s ace pushed to the front of the Cy Young race with another dominant start and Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run homer as the Indians, who officially clinched the division crown a day earlier, kept on rolling with a 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Kluber (17-4), who has lost once since July 4, allowed three singles in seven innings and has not given up a run in 22 straight. The right-hander set the tone on a day of celebration which began with the Indians standing together in front of their dugout to watch a flag rise beyond the center-field wall commemorating their latest division title.

The Indians were going to have a good time — win or lose — but they didn’t want to disappoint another sellout crowd or fans captivated by their recent record 22-game winning streak.

“When we come out here and it’s time to play, we want to win,” Kluber said. “Nobody in that clubhouse likes losing, so regardless of whether we clinched or not, we were going to come out and try to win the ballgame and here’s what we’re going to do from here on out.”

Encarnacion homered in the fourth off Danny Duffy (8-9) as the Indians improved to 33-5 since Aug. 11 despite getting only three hits.

The Royals closed to 3-2 in the eighth on a two-out, two-run single by Brandon Moss off Tyler Olson. Cody Allen finished the inning and then worked out of a two-on jam in the ninth for his 28th save.

As they left the field, the Indians were handed AL Central championship T-shirts, caps and swimming googles to put on before heading to their clubhouse. Moments later, champagne corks popped and the room was turned into a free-for-all of sudsy spray.

Last year, the Indians celebrated their division, playoff and AL Championship Series wins on the road. Being at home made this one more special.

“It never gets old,” said pitcher Josh Tomlin, who has been with the Indians since 2010. “This is why you play the game — to win. And to be able to celebrate victories like this or little milestones like this.”

Kluber could be on his way to a second Cy Young Award win, following 2014’s. The right-hander is 10-1 in his last 10 starts. Despite missing nearly a month, he leads the league in wins (17), ERA (2.35), shutouts (3) and complete games (5).

In the major statistical categories, Kluber trails only Boston’s Chris Sale, his closest competition for the pitching award, in strikeouts.

“He’s a tough draw,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s a premier guy. The year he won the Cy Young is the way he looks now. He’s in the conversation again this year.”

CENTER OF ATTENTION

Jason Kipnis didn’t embarrass himself in the outfield. He didn’t do anything, really.

The Indians’ two-time All-Star second baseman made his debut in center but didn’t have a chance. He had been on the disabled list since Aug. 6 with a hamstring injury.

“It was good. I didn’t touch a ball all day offensively or defensively,” said Kipnis, who struck out twice. “I had nothing, but it was fun. Obviously, I had some nerves.”

As soon as Kipnis left the game, two balls were immediately hit to center.

ANOTHER STREAK

The Indians have allowed four runs or less in 24 consecutive games, the longest such streak since the St. Louis Cardinals had a 25-game run in 1942-3.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: C Salvador Perez (pulled side muscle) and OF Lorenzo Cain (rest) sat out but are expected to return Tuesday for the series opener in Toronto.

Indians: All-Star 2B Jose Ramirez (hamstring) was rested for the second day in a row as a precaution. … Team president Chris Antonetti said there is still no clarity on whether OF Michael Brantley will return this season. He’s been out since Aug. 9 with an ankle injury. … Rookie OF Bradley Zimmer (broken hand) is keeping up with his conditioning and maintaining his arm strength after surgery. Zimmer had a plate and nine screws inserted into his hand, which he broke on a headfirst dive into first.

UP NEXT

Royals: Either RHP Ian Kennedy or Sam Gaviglio will start against the Blue Jays. Kennedy missed his last turn in the rotation with shoulder fatigue. Gaviglio has started twice since being claimed on waivers from Seattle.

Indians: RHP Mike Clevinger will look for his 11th win on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game series in Los Angeles. He was drafted by the Angels in 2011 and traded to Cleveland in 2014.

— Associated Press —