CHICAGO — The Kansas City Royals want to wait a week before deciding whether to shut down Lorenzo Cain. The outfielder may or may not agree.

The Royals’ 6-5 comeback victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night was overshadowed by the unknown future of their former All-Star.

Whit Merrifield hit a go-ahead two-run double in a three-run seventh inning and closer Wade Davis barely made it hold up in the ninth. The 2015 World Series champions remained four games back of Baltimore for the second AL wild card.

But being without Cain could dampen those postseason hopes.

Cain returned Friday from a sprained wrist, but was basically swinging one-handed. He was back sidelined Saturday, and while manager Ned Yost said before the game Cain will likely have to play through pain, Cain told Fox Sports Kansas City that it was “highly likely” he was finished for the season.

After the game, a team spokesman said Cain had received a stem cell shot that didn’t work and they wanted to wait a week to see if his wrist gets better.

At his locker after the game, the spokesman repeated that news to Cain before he addressed reporters.

Cain said nothing for a few seconds before declining to answer whether he thought he would return.

“I’ve go to talk to some more people because we talked about something earlier,” Cain said. “I’ll have to get back to you.”

Davis gave up a single to Tyler Saladino and a double to Adam Eaton to lead off the ninth before Melky Cabrera’s infield single cut the deficit to one.

With the tying run on third and one out, Davis struck out Jose Abreu and Justin Morneau for his 23rd save.

“He got himself into a little bit of trouble, but that what he does best,” Yost said. “He just buckles down when he needs to and got big outs.”

Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the first and Alex Gordon a solo shot in the fourth off White Sox starter James Shields. The struggling righty exited after six innings leading 4-3 before the Chicago’s bullpen faltered.

Chris Beck (2-2) was charged with three runs while giving up two hits and a walk and getting one out.

Davis was the last of five relievers after Edinson Volquez, who allowed four runs and nine hits over five innings.

Kevin McCarthy (1-0) got the last out of the sixth for his first major league win.

“I still haven’t wrapped my head around the whole being up here yet,” McCarthy said. “My head is still spinning.”

Shields, who helped the Royals reach the 2014 World Series, allowed three runs and four hits. He avoided his 18th loss despite moving into the major league lead with 37 home runs allowed.

“I gave up two homers, but the other two hits were kind of just really weak hits,” Shields said.

Morneau doubled twice and drove in a run in a two-run fifth as the White Sox went ahead 4-3.

Abreu drove in his 90th run and Saladino went 3 for 4 to leave him 9 for 12 in the past three games.

Volquez allowed the leadoff batter to reach in all five innings, but the Royals overcame Chicago’s 12 hits for their fourth win in 10 games.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: C Salvador Perez (wrist) returned after a two-game absence and went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

White Sox: Manager Robin Ventura said it’s unlikely 2B Brett Lawrie, who last played July 21, returns this season. Lawrie remains in Arizona dealing with nagging knee pain after originally being sidelined with a hamstring injury. “It’s become a long shot at this point just because he’s been out so long,” Ventura said.

MERRIFIELD’S YEAR

Merrifield, a 27-year-old rookie forced into duty thanks to Kansas City’s numerous injuries, has driven in 21 runs in 60 games.

“It was big,” Merrifield said. “Happy I came through right there.”

MORNEAU’S FUTURE

Morneau, signed in June to a one-year deal, will decide after the season whether to try to play in 2016. He’s 35.

“Oh, he’s got something left,” Ventura said. “He can play next year if he wants to.”

UP NEXT

White Sox ace Chris Sale (15-7, 3.07 ERA) faces RHP Ian Kennedy (10-9, 3.76) in the series finale Sunday.

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — While the Chicago White Sox face a near impossible task to reach the postseason, they have made life miserable this week for division rivals with better odds.

Carlos Rodon struck out a season-high nine over six innings, Adam Eaton doubled twice and scored two runs and the White Sox downed Kansas City 7-2 on Friday night.

The Royals lost for the sixth time in nine games and remained four games out of the second AL wild card. Detroit beat Baltimore to pull even with the Orioles for the final postseason berth.

The White Sox took two of three against the Tigers earlier this week.

“When you can beat division rivals and good, quality teams, it kind of shows the quality of team that we have here that we really haven’t produced on a consistent basis,” Eaton said. “I know I’ve been preaching consistency, but it’s truly what has lacked within our game.”

Rodon (7-8) ran into trouble in the sixth when he loaded the bases. Manager Robin Ventura kept him in, and he fanned Paulo Orlando on his 116th pitch for the third out and move to 5-0 in his last seven starts.

“It’s huge. It helps me build my confidence as well,” Rodon said. “I’m glad he trusts in me to get that last guy out. No matter how many pitches I’m at, I always want to get that last out.”

Eaton doubled to lead off the first and fifth innings off Yordano Ventura (10-10) and scored each time on Melky Cabrera RBI. Tyler Saladino had three hits and drove in two runs in Chicago’s third straight win.

Kendrys Morales had a two-run single in the first inning for Kansas City. Lorenzo Cain started for the first time since Aug. 30 following a wrist injury and reached base three times with a single and two walks despite pain when he squeezes the bat.

“That shows his value,” manager Ned Yost said. “He finds a way to produce.”

The 23-year-old Rodon struggled early this season and went on the disabled list after he sprained his left wrist slipping on the dugout steps. But the lefty has been sharp since returning.

“He was great,” Ventura said. “Innings where they started to get guys on and it got a little dicey, he’s finding a way to reach and find something else, another level.”

In his career-high 24th start, Rodon allowed two runs — one earned — and six hits while lowering his ERA to 1.85 ERA in his past seven outings, all quality starts.

Jose Abreu and Justin Morneau added RBI singles as Chicago had 13 hits.

Ventura allowed five runs — four earned — and 10 hits over seven innings in taking his first loss in seven starts.

Dan Jennings got five outs and Tommy Kahnle worked the ninth for the White Sox, who have won five of seven. They remain four games under .500, though, and eight games out of the final playoff spot.

“When you take three games from division rivals that are atop the division, it’s fun to do,” Eaton said. “It should instill confidence in us.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: C Salvador Perez (bruised right wrist) sat out a second straight game. “He still feels it a little bit when he swings,” Yost said. “We’ll shoot for tomorrow.” … LHP Matt Strahm left to attend his grandfather’s funeral and was expected back Saturday.

White Sox: Struggling RHP James Shields was cleared to start Saturday after complaining of a sore back in his last outing. Shields hasn’t missed a start since 2007. “I just want to post every five days and throw 200 innings,” Shields said. “I’m obviously not going to get (200 innings) this year for the first time in nine seasons, which is disappointing.”

HOT SOX

Abreu went 2 for 4 to improve to 22 for 50 (.440) with 16 RBI in his past 11 games. Saladino is 6 for 8 in the past two games.

TIRED SORIA

Yost said he’s been overusing struggling reliever Joakim Soria and planned to limit his appearances. Soria has six blown saves and eight losses.

UP NEXT

Shields (5-17, 6.07 ERA) will face Royals RHP Edinson Volquez (10-10, 5.02) on Saturday night.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Miguel Sano’s hustle led Minnesota to a pair of early runs and his RBI double tied the game in the decisive seventh inning, helping the Twins dodge a series sweep by beating the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Wednesday night.

Brian Dozier didn’t hit a home run for Minnesota, ending his club-tying record at five straight games, but he singled and stole second before scoring on Sano’s double off Joakim Soria (4-8). Dozier also started a dazzling double play to finish the fifth inning, with a diving stop of Eric Hosmer’s grounder and a glove flick to second base to get the ball out while he was flat on the dirt.

Alex Wimmers (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh in relief of Kyle Gibson to record his first major league victory. Brandon Kintzler gave up Jarrod Dyson’s two-out RBI single before finishing the ninth inning for his 14th save in 16 attempts.

Kendrys Morales had three hits, including his sixth home run in the last eight games, and Drew Butera also went deep for the Royals. Danny Duffy struck out 10 batters without a walk over six innings, but the bullpen cost Kansas City an opportunity to creep forward in the AL wild-card race. It stayed four games behind Baltimore, which holds the second spot.

Sano beat a relay throw in the first inning to stave off a double play after his bouncer back to the mound and later scored on Robbie Grossman’s single. In the fifth, the burly slugger ran fast enough after his routine grounder to shortstop that Alcides Escobar threw high to first for an error. Byron Buxton raced home from second base to score on the play, touching home plate as he hurdled Sano’s bat with a head-first dive to elude Butera’s tag.

Grossman and Buxton each homered for the Twins, who won for only the third time in their last 20 games.

MORALES OF THE STORY

Morales, who also drove in a run with a fourth-inning single, went deep to lead off the sixth. He has a 10-game hitting streak going, with 15 RBI and 17 hits in 42 at-bats for a .405 batting average during the stretch.

LESSON NOT LEARNED

Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando started the game with singles, but both of them were picked off first base with a quick throw by the right-handed Gibson, who had only six pickoffs in 93 previous major league starts.

PLOUFFE’S FAREWELL?

Twins 3B Trevor Plouffe was diagnosed with a strain of the intercostal and oblique muscles on his left side, his third injury this year to that area including a broken rib in July. This one will keep him out at least a few weeks, so with only 22 games to go he’s not likely to play again this season. Sano’s presence means Plouffe might have played his last game for the team that drafted him out of high school in the first round in 2004.

“If it happens that that was my last at-bat, it would be pretty sad. I hope it’s not,” said Plouffe, who is making $7.25 million with one more year of eligibility for salary arbitration. “My No. 1 thing, if I had my choice, would be to be back here.”

LONG WAY, MATES

The parents of Twins rookie James Beresford traveled 25 hours from their native Australia to surprise their son in a touching moment outside the clubhouse before the game that the team arranged. The 27-year-old Beresford, an infielder, played in 1,070 minor league games before being called up on Tuesday.

TRAINER’S ROOM

ROYALS: Butera played behind the plate for Perez, who was out with a bruised right wrist after being hit there by a pitch the night before. Perez could be back in the lineup by Friday.

TWINS: 1B Joe Mauer was given a day to rest his strained quadriceps muscles, an injury that has lingered for the last three weeks.

UP NEXT

ROYALS: After a travel day, Kansas City starts a three-game series on Friday in Chicago. RHP Yordano Ventura (10-9, 4.22 ERA) will take the mound, opposite LHP Carlos Rodon (6-8, 3.90 ERA) of the White Sox.

TWINS: Following an off day at home, Minnesota hosts division-leading Cleveland for three games. RHP Tyler Duffey (8-10, 6.24 ERA) pitches for the Twins, against RHP Danny Salazar (11-6, 3.78 ERA) of the Indians.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kendrys Morales has resumed his form as a feared power hitter. The Kansas City Royals hope it has come in time to push them back to the postseason.

Morales had two home runs, including a three-run blast in Kansas City’s seven-run ninth inning that propelled the Royals to a 10-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Morales hit a two-run shot in the first inning to help the Royals overcome the loss of catcher Salvador Perez, who left the game with a right wrist contusion after he was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning. It was his 17th career multihomer game and extended his hitting streak to nine games.

“It’s been some time now where I’ve been starting to feel really, really good,” Morales said through an interpreter. “Now I’m, really comfortable at the plate and I’m making good, hard contact.”

Brian Dozier hit his 39th home run of the season for the Twins, moving him into a tie with Rogers Hornsby (twice) and Alfonso Soriano for fourth-most home runs by a second baseman in a season. He has homered in five straight games, tying Harmon Killebrew and Marty Cordova for the longest streak in Twins history.

Former Twin Drew Butera’s bases loaded single off Brandon Kintzler (0-2) broke a 3-3 tie and got the Royals rolling in the ninth.

Morales has five homers in his last seven games.

“He’s swinging the bat real well right now, that’s for sure,” manager Ned Yost said. “The second (homer) was huge. We were trying to keep (reliever) Wade (Davis) out of the game.”

The Royals started the day two games behind the second wild card in the AL, but with five teams ahead of them. The margin of error is getting slimmer by the day, and a loss to the team with the worst record in the majors certainly would not have helped their cause.

After giving up three homers to Dozier on Monday night, Royals starter Dillon Gee fell behind 0-2 in the first inning and left a fastball up in the zone. Dozier hit it an estimated 395 feet into the second deck in left field, giving him 25 home runs since the All-Star break. Three of those were hit as a DH, but his 22 as a second baseman surpassed Hall of Famer Joe Gordon’s 21 for the most ever by an American League second baseman.

GEE’S START

Gee gave up three runs and eight hits and struck out two in six innings. Kelvin Herrera (2-4) pitched one inning for the win.

Yost said he thought he might have to get a tired bullpen up early when Gee served up long balls to Dozier, Trevor Plouffe and Eddie Rosario in the first two innings. But the right-hander settled in after that and allowed just two hits over the final four innings before yielding to the bullpen.

“Everything he was throwing was elevated in the zone and his location was off but after the second inning he came in and made an adjustment and got in a groove and did a phenomenal job of getting us through six innings and keeping us right there in the game,” Yost said.

ROSTER MOVES

Royals: Recalled INF Christian Colon and selected the contracts of OF Daniel Nava and RHP Kevin McCarthy from Triple-A Omaha. OF Reymond Fuentes and RHP Nick Tepesch were designated for assignment to make room.

Twins: Recalled RHP Tyler Duffey, 1B Kennys Vargas and INF James Beresford from Triple-A Rochester. Manager Paul Molitor said Duffey would return to the starting rotation on Friday against Cleveland.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Lorenzo Cain missed his sixth straight game because of left wrist inflammation. He is listed as day to day.

Twins: Plouffe had to leave the game in the middle of an at-bat in the eighth inning with a left oblique strain. Plouffe left after falling behind 1-2 and was replaced by Vargas. … LHP Tommy Milone (left biceps) and RHP Trevor May (back) threw simulated games on Tuesday. Molitor said both would likely be activated on Friday.

UP NEXT

The Royals send LHP Danny Duffy (11-2, 3.13) to the mound to face Twins RHP Kyle Gibson (5-9, 5.31) in the series finale. Duffy has been dominant for most of the season, but has allowed at least eight hits in three straight starts. Gibson has been largely disappointing in his Twins career, but is 5-4 with a 3.10 ERA in 10 starts against Kansas City.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Coming off a disappointing homestand, and on the edge of the AL wild-card race, the Kansas City Royals can’t afford to let too many more opportunities slip away.

The defending World Series champions regained their winning touch Monday, despite Brian Dozier hitting three home runs for Minnesota. The Royals got homers from Kendrys Morales and Eric Hosmer to pull away from the Twins 11-5.

Jarrod Dyson had three hits and scored three times for Kansas City, which won for the second time in six games.

“We put ourselves in a tough position, but we still believe that we can pull this thing off,” Hosmer said.

Kansas City started the day four games out of the second wild-card spot.

The Royals went 2-4 in their last six games with New York and Detroit, with each of the losses a close one.

“We could be talking about a major run right here. We quite possibly could have been 6-0 at home,” manager Ned Yost said. “We still feel that we’re not out of this thing by any stretch of the imagination.”

Dozier homered on the first pitch from Ian Kennedy (10-9), then hit a two-run shot in the third and a solo drive into the upper deck in the eighth. Dozier became the sixth Minnesota player to hit three home runs in a game, and the first to do it at home.

Dozier has eight home runs in seven games and 38 this season, the most by a Twins player since Harmon Killebrew hit 41 in 1970. Dozier’s 10 home runs against Kansas City this year are the most ever by a Royals opponent.

“It would be better to be on the winning side of it,” Dozier said.

Kennedy struggled with command, allowing four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings but is 4-0 in his past five starts.

Morales hit a three-run drive off Jose Berrios (2-5) in the fifth for a 5-4 lead. Hosmer, who had four RBI, hit a three-run homer in the eighth.

Berrios was called up from Triple-A to start. The Royals tagged him for five earned runs on nine hits in five innings.

Considered the Twins’ top pitching prospect, Berrios allowed 21 earned runs in 22 innings over five August starts before being sent down.

Dozier has hit a majors-most 24 home runs since the All-Star break. He’s connected 36 times as a second baseman and twice as a designated hitter. The AL record for homers in a season by a second baseman is 39 by Alfonso Soriano in 2002 for the Yankees.

“The best way to (get him out) is don’t throw fastballs down the middle and that’s what we did,” Yost said.

Dozier became the second Twins player with a three-homer game this year. Rookie Max Kepler did it at Cleveland.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Lorenzo Cain missed his fifth straight game because of left wrist inflammation. He was allowed to swing a bat Monday and remains day to day.

Twins: Kepler got the day off. Kepler, who leads AL rookies in home runs (16), RBI (59) and walks (37), has played in all but one game since July 28. He struck out five times Sunday. “We talk about young players and the challenge of playing September baseball for the first time,” said manager Paul Molitor. “We’ll try to keep them fresh as we can.”

UP NEXT

Dillon Gee (6-7, 4.33) is scheduled to start for Kansas City on Tuesday against Ervin Santana (7-10, 3.54). Gee was 2-2 with a 3.94 ERA in five August starts and pitched an inning of relief Friday. Santana is 3-1 in his last five starts with a 3.09 ERA.

— Associated Press —