Salvador Perez is on a power surge and the Kansas City Royals keeping hanging on in the wild-card race.

Perez hit a two-run homer off Justin Verlander and the Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Saturday night.

Perez drove a two-out pitch over the left-field wall to put the Royals ahead 4-2. He is hitting .347 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs in his past 21 games.

”Soon as I hit it, I knew the ball was gone,” Perez said. ”I hit it pretty good.”

Verlander (12-11) is 0-3 with three no-decisions in six starts since an Aug. 6 victory at Cleveland.

The Tigers have dropped his past six starts and are 13-17 in his 30 starts this season.

”I think he did a great job,” Tigers catcher Brayan Pena said. ”The pitch to Perez it was a pitch down. He struck out a lot of guys and he kept the ball down. It was just one pitch that hurt us.”

The Royals have won all five games Verlander has started against them this season. Verlander allowed four runs and eight hits in seven innings, while walking one and striking out seven.

”You can say what you want, but Verlander is tough as nails,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He’s as good as they come. And we’ve done very well against him. They’ve all been nip-and-tuck, one-run games for the most part, but we’ve come out on top and that’s all that matters.”

Wade Davis (7-10), the second of five Kansas City pitchers, picked up the victory on his 28th birthday, entering with the bases loaded and allowing just one runner to score when he walked Miguel Cabrera with the bases loaded after being down in the count 0-2.

”I’m comfortable in that situation, keeping a low heart rate,” Davis said. ”I’ve faced him (Cabrera) a lot. I knew what he was trying to do. I wasn’t going to give in and give him something to whack off the wall or over it. That was just a walk, but hey it paid off.”

Greg Holland worked a perfect ninth for his 39th save in 42 chances.

Cabrera, who leads the American League with 133 RBIs, also singled home another run in the seventh.

Royals left-hander Danny Duffy failed to pitch deep into the game in back-to-back starts. Duffy, who walked four in 3 2-3 innings in his previous start, walked five Tigers in 4 1-3 innings.

”I didn’t have my best command, but the stuff was there,” Duffy said. ”As long as we’re shaking hands after the game, that’s good with me.”

Duffy walked two in the first inning and that led to a run when Price Fielder’s single scored Austin Jackson, who led off the game with a four-pitch walk.

”Duffy was a little wild, which we were hoping for, but we just couldn’t come up with a big hit,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

Duffy allowed a Nick Castellanos infield single in the fifth, and with one out, walked Roman Santiago and Jackson on eight pitches to load the bases. Davis replaced Duffy and walked Cabrera to score Castellanos.

”It took Duffy about five hitters to find his slot,” Yost said. ”Once he found it, he was pretty good from the second, third and fourth and started to lose it in the fifth. That’s when we brought Wade in and man what a great job he did.

”Danny did a great job of keeping us in the game. Your pitch count can get up, but you can’t let the game get away from you. Every time Danny has gotten big pitch counts or struggled with command, his stuff is so good, it keeps us in the game.”

Emilio Bonifacio’s bunt single in the third scored Alcides Escobar with the first Kansas City run.

”That’s part of my game – bunting,” Bonifacio said. ”I had that in mind soon as Escobar got to third.”

Escobar’s single in the fifth scored Jarrod Dyson, who walked and stole second.

When Pena threw out Bonifacio stealing second in the first inning, it ended the Tigers streak at 24 without catching a runner attempting to steal. Bonifacio had been perfect in his first 13 stolen attempts in 23 games since joining the Royals.

— Associated Press —

Mike Moustakas hit two balls that had chances to go deep.

The first one was just foul down the right-field line, but the second was fair as Moustakas homered to lead off the 13th inning, lifting the Kansas City Royals to a 7-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.

Moustakas homered to right on an 0-2 pitch from Chance Ruffin (0-1), who had not pitched in the majors since 2011.

”I knew it was going to get out, but I knew it was going to be foul soon as I hit it,” Moustakas said of the first shot. ”I got a little too out in front of it.

”The second one I knew was going to stay fair. I hit it pretty good. I kept my hands in pretty good. It was pretty special with the race we’re in right now.”

The Royals entered the game 5 1/2 back in the wild-card standings.

”Soon as Moose hit the first one, I was hoping it would stay fair,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”When it didn’t, I turned to Hos (Eric Hosmer) and said, ‘Why is fate tempting us, teasing us like this. Why?

”Normally when somebody hits a long foul ball homer and they’ve got two strikes on them that’s it. I can’t remember one time I’ve ever seen a guy back it up and hit one fair. So when he hit it fair, it was wow, pretty special.”

Ruffin retired the first five batters he faced, striking out three.

”I was trying to get the fastball down and in,” Ruffin said. ”He turned on it pretty good. The one he hit out was supposed to be in. I left it in the middle.”

Louis Coleman (3-0), the eighth Royals pitcher, retired the only batter he faced in the top of the 13th.

Kansas City led 6-5 in the ninth inning before Raul Ibanez homered off Greg Holland into the Mariners’ bullpen with two outs to tie the score. It was Holland’s first blown save since May 6 to end his streak of 31 consecutive saves.

”He throws 100 (mph) and he has a really good slider,” Ibanez said. ”I was trying to swing easy, thinking base hit, a single. He threw a slider and I got it in the air to right field. Sometimes if a guy is not throwing too hard you might look to do some damage, but when a guy is throwing that hard you can’t try to do too much.”

The Royals play their next 12 games against the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians, the two teams in front of them in the AL Central.

”Every game is crucial and extremely important,” Yost said. ”We’ve seen our players do this the majority of the year. They don’t believe if we’re down by five we’re out of it or we’re going to lose the game.”

Billy Butler went 5 for 5, matching his career high in hits for the Royals, while Emilo Bonifacio went 4 for 6 for his first four-hit game since July 4, 2009.

”It’s not easy to come back from a five-run deficit,” Butler said. ”That shows the resiliency of this team. Every game at this point is a must win.”

The teams combined to use 44 players, including 14 pitchers.

The Mariners threatened in the 11th when Dustin Ackley singled and Nick Franklin walked. Kelvin Herrera, the sixth Royals pitcher, replaced Tim Collins and struck out Franklin Gutierrez and Mike Zunino to end the inning.

Butler drove in the tying run with his fourth single in a three-run seventh. Justin Maxwell’s sacrifice fly scored Butler to put the Royals up 6-5.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez went 3 for 3 with a double and RBI, but left in the fifth with dizziness. He took a foul shot from Dustin Ackley off his mask in the top of the fifth.

Mariners left-hander Joe Saunders was staked to a 5-0 lead, but could not make it through the fifth inning.

Saunders gave up a two-run homer to Alex Gordon and an RBI single to Salvador Perez in the fifth. When Justin Maxwell walked to load the bases, Saunders was replaced by Brandon Maurer, who struck out pinch-hitter Carlos Pena on three pitches to end the inning.

Saunders allowed three runs and 11 hits and a walk in 4 2-3 innings. In his past six starts, he is 1-3, allowing 50 hits, including six home runs, in 31 2-3 innings.

Maurer, however, gave up four consecutive hits to start Kansas City’s three-run seventh.

Justin Smoak hit a two-run homer in the Mariners’ three-run first. It was Smoak’s third home run in 13 at-bats off Royals right-hander Jeremy Guthrie. Kendrys Morales singled home Abraham Almonte, who had doubled, with the first Seattle run.

Hosmer’s fielding error in the third allowed Kyle Seager to score another run. The Mariners made it 5-0 in the fourth on Brad Miller’s sacrifice fly.

Guthrie was pulled after six innings, allowing five runs and seven hits and two walks. He is 1-3 with a 5.11 ERA in his past six starts, yielding 53 hits and 21 earned runs in 37 innings.

— Associated Press —

Kendrys Morales had the big hit in the ninth inning, but the spotlight was on Taijuan Walker, the Seattle Mariners’ young right-handed starter.

Morales hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Mariners to a 6-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

Morales hit his 18th home run to straight away center on a 1-2 pitch from Aaron Crow (7-5) with Franklin Gutierrez, who had walked, aboard.

The Royals used eight pitchers, tying a club record for a nine-inning game.

Walker, who became the youngest Mariners starting pitcher (21 years, 17 days) to pick up a victory in his major league debut on Friday at Houston, struck out two in the first inning, his fastball touching 97 mph.

The 6-foot-5 Walker, who was a basketball star in high school with a 21-point average, did not allow a hit over the first three innings, but yielded four runs, four hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly in the fourth to tie the score.

Manager Eric Wedge opted to send Walker out for the fifth and he responded with a 1-2-3 inning.

”In the fourth, he just came up in the zone a little bit,” Wedge said. ”I was glad to see him get through it. And then I was really happy to see him out there in the fifth and pitch another inning for us. I felt it was important to go out in the fifth. That proves something to him. We know he can do it.

”I love his repertoire of pitches and the way he works, his cutter and his breaking ball off his fastball. The changeup will continue to come, too.”

Walker was glad to get a chance to return for another inning.

”I thought the fifth inning was real big for me,” Walker said. ”I wanted to have a clean inning and keep my team in the game. I was a little shocked I was going back out because they are monitoring my innings and it was a close game. I’m glad he sent me back out and I’m glad to go out and have a clean inning.”

Walker threw 79 pitches.

”You can see what all the hype was about,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He’s got a free and easy power arm. He’s a good talent.”

Lucas Luetge (1-2) worked two perfect innings to earn the victory. Danny Farquhar worked a perfect ninth for his 12th save in 15 opportunities.

”You’ve got different options there,” Yost said of Morales’ homer. ”You can go down and away, bust him inside or go back foot. You just don’t want to go there. But it wasn’t Morales as much as Gutierrez. That’s the guy you want to go for there so you don’t get to Morales.”

Crow had Gutierrez down in the count 1-2 before walking him.

”I’ve got to put him away there and Morales doesn’t get up,” Crow said. ”I just left it up to Morales and it hurts more so because the home run lost us the ballgame.”

Jarrod Dyson’s two-out, two-run single made it 4-4 in the fourth, but that was it for the Kansas City offense. Salvador Perez’s sacrifice fly scored Eric Hosmer, who had singled for the first Kansas City hit. Billy Butler singled home Emilo Bonifacio, who led off the inning with a walk, for the first run.

The Mariners, who had scored just four runs in losing their previous three games, scored four runs in the first four innings and chased Royals right-hander Ervin Santana.

Gutierrez’s single in the third scored Nick Franklin, who had doubled. Brad Miller’s sacrifice fly scored Mike Zunino with the first run.

The Mariners made it 4-0 in the third. Franklin laced an RBI-single to center, while Dustin Ackley scored on a wild pitch by Wade Davis.

Santana failed to make it through the fourth, charged with four runs, seven hits and three walks in 3 1-3 innings, his briefest outing of the year.

— Associated Press —

Salvador Perez drove in Mike Moustakas with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Kansas City Royals survived after blowing a three-run lead to beat the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Billy Butler had just grounded into a double play against Seattle reliever Yoervis Medina (4-4) when Moustakas legged out a double to center in the eighth. Perez followed with a single to left, and Moustakas had just enough time for a headfirst slide ahead of Endy Chavez’s throw to home.

Luke Hochevar (4-2) got two outs earlier in the eighth to leave runners stranded on second and third, and Greg Holland pitched a perfect ninth for his 31st straight save and 38th on the year.

Perez also homered and finished with three hits for the Royals, who have won three straight and eight of their last 10 to climb back into AL wild-card contention. Alex Gordon also hit a solo shot and Billy Butler drove in a run for Kansas City.

Kyle Seager hit a two-run shot for the Mariners, who have lost three straight.

The Royals took the lead on the first pitch of the game, which Gordon sent sailing over the outfield wall for the 12th leadoff homer of his career. The shot broke a tie with David DeJesus and Willie Wilson for the most leadoff home runs in franchise history.

Perez made it 2-0 with his solo shot in the fourth inning, and the Royals manufactured another run in the fifth. Emilio Bonifacio followed up his base hit by swiping second, and then came home when Butler hit a grounder through the left side of the infield.

That was all Seattle starter Erasmo Ramirez allowed in 6 1-3 innings. After getting recalled from Triple-A Tacoma, Ramirez scattered seven hits and three walks while striking out three.

Bruce Chen was just as stingy for the Royals early in the game.

The soft-tossing left-hander allowed four weak singles through the first five innings before Franklin Gutierrez ripped a crisp base hit to lead off the sixth. Seager followed with his home run to right field, which cleared the visiting bullpen and landed deep in the seats.

Seattle tied the game up in the seventh inning. Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera gave up a pair of singles, and Brad Miller’s groundout off relief pitcher Tim Collins knotted the game 3-all.

The Mariners threatened again when they put runners on second and third with one out against Collins in the eighth inning. Hochevar struck out Mike Zunino and got Chavez on a fly ball to center to end the inning, and walked off the field to a standing ovation.

— Associated Press —

It was a rough day for Danny Duffy. Fortunately for the Kansas City Royals, Will Smith was terrific.

Smith replaced Duffy in the fourth inning and had a career-high eight strikeouts in a dominant relief performance, helping Kansas City beat the Seattle Mariners 3-1 on Monday.

Smith (2-1) allowed one hit in 4 1-3 innings. He finished with the most strikeouts by a Royals reliever since Tom Gordon struck out eight over 4 2-3 innings against Detroit on July 9, 1993.

”Will was phenomenal, outstanding, great,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”Man, what a job he did. It was evident from some of the swings they were taking they just had a real hard time picking up the ball. His pitches had action, deception and location.”

While Smith shined, Seattle ace Felix Hernandez lost his fourth consecutive start. The ace right-hander allowed three runs and six hits in 6 2-3 innings.

Hernandez departed after his back cramped up while he was pitching to Alex Gordon.

”The second pitch to Gordon I felt it cramping,” Hernandez said. ”It’s just a cramp. It’ll be OK.”

Mariners manager Eric Wedge said trainer Rick Griffin told him he did not think it was serious.

Five of Smith’s strikeouts took only three pitches. Kyle Seager, who had three of the Mariners’ seven hits, doubled off Smith with two out in the seventh, but it was a fly ball that center fielder Jarrod Dyson lost in the sun.

”The slider was working and the curveball, too,” Smith said. ”It’s one of those days where everything was clicking. I just kept putting zeros up.”

Greg Holland pitched a one-hit ninth for his 37th save in 39 opportunities.

The Royals scored two runs in the fifth to open a 3-1 lead. Dyson led off with an infield single and advanced to third on Alcides Escobar’s hit-and-run single to right. Dyson scored on a wild pitch, and Escobar came home Emilio Bonifacio’s sacrifice fly.

”Speed can do a lot,” Dyson said.

Hernandez (12-9), who has a 7.84 ERA in his losing streak, struck out Mike Moustakas in the sixth to reach 200 strikeouts for the fifth straight season.

Duffy, who had elbow surgery last year, departed after 3 2-3 innings and 91 pitches. He was charged with one run and five hits with four walks and four strikeouts.

”I didn’t have it today,” Duffy said.

Seattle got its run when Brad Miller drove in Abraham Almonte with a two-out triple in the fourth.

The Royals tied it on consecutive singles by Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler and Moustakas in the bottom half.

”It was tough luck,” Hernandez said. ”A lot of ground balls to the outfield, it happens. I commanded the fastball better.”

Duffy threw 68 pitches in the first three innings and stranded six runners. He struck out Kendrys Morales and Justin Smoak swinging to end the first with two runners on.

Michael Saunders led off the second with a bunt single and Duffy walked Mike Zunino on nine pitches before retiring the next three batters.

The Mariners went 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals won’t have much hope in the wild-card race without a strong September from veteran pitcher James Shields.

One game into the regular season’s final month, he’s off to an excellent start.

Shields pitched seven innings of three-hit ball to win his fourth straight decision, Eric Hosmer drove in two runs and the Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.

”It just seems like he’s getting stronger and stronger as the year goes on,” manager Ned Yost said of Shields, who went 4-1 in August.

The Royals, who entered play 6 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay in the race for the second AL wild-card berth, won for the sixth time in eight games.

”We’re fighting right now,” Shields said. ”Today was a big game.”

Twelve of Kansas City’s final 26 games are against Cleveland and Detroit, the two teams ahead of them in the AL Central.

Shields, who played on the Tampa Bay team that overturned a nine-game deficit in the final month to reach the 2011 playoffs, understands that ”anything can happen.”

”We’ve got a lot of games against Detroit, we’ve got a lot of games against Cleveland left,” Shields said. ”We’ve got some room to catch up.”

Outfielder Jarrod Dyson said the Royals remain confident that a postseason spot is within their grasp.

”We’re still pushing for it,” Dyson said. ”We’re not going to let up. We’re going to give it all we’ve got.”

Hosmer had two hits and two RBIs. It was his 51st multihit game of the season, tying him with five other players for the major league lead.

Former Blue Jays infielder Emilio Bonifacio had two hits, scored twice and stole two bases for the Royals. He’s 11 for 11 in stolen base attempts since joining Kansas City on Aug. 14.

Shields (10-8) improved to 4-0 with a 1.53 ERA in his past five starts. The right-hander walked one and matched a season-high with nine strikeouts.

”I was mixing my pitches up as well as I can and trying to keep them off balance,” Shields said.

In shutting down the Blue Jays, Shields also extended his recent run of road success. He’s 7-0 with a 1.71 ERA in his past eight starts away from home, and 8-3 with a 2.11 ERA in 16 total road outings.

”He’s always tough,” Toronto shortstop Jose Reyes said of Shields. ”He’s one of the best pitchers in the game. When his team scores some runs early, he’s going to get tougher and tougher.”

Luke Hochevar worked the eighth and Greg Holland finished as the Royals recorded their 10th shutout of the season.

Shields set down the first 11 batters in order before Edwin Encarnacion singled in the fourth. Adam Lind followed with a walk but Brett Lawrie grounded out.

Kansas City took the lead in the first when Bonifacio walked, stole second, went to third on catcher J.P. Arencibia’s throwing error and scored on Eric Hosmer’s grounder.

The Royals benefited from an interference call in a four-run, bat-around third. Dyson led off with a single and stole second, but appeared to be caught in a rundown after trying to advance on Alcides Escobar’s grounder. But Reyes was called for interference after Dyson ran into him.

”I wasn’t going to stop right there and just let him tag me because he was in my way,” Dyson said.

Even though Dyson was initially ruled out, Reyes said he was waiting for another ump to overturn the call.

”Kind of a tough day,” Reyes said. ”I didn’t mean to do that.”

The call putting runners at the corners for Alex Gordon, who hit an RBI single. Bonifacio followed with an RBI single and stole second before Hosmer hit a two-run single to right.

”It was a play that helped us break that inning open a little bit,” Yost said of Dyson’s escape. ”It worked out great.”

Rajai Davis hit a one-out triple in the fifth but Shields fanned Anthony Gose and Kevin Pillar to end the threat.

Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ (3-5) lost his third straight start, allowing five runs, three earned, and six hits in four innings. He walked one and struck out three.

”He was kind of in and out of the zone a little bit,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. ”It’s a consistency thing.”

Toronto second baseman Ryan Goins went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, snapping an eight-game hitting streak to start his career.

— Associated Press —

Aaron Crow lost command of the strike zone at the worst possible time for the Kansas City Royals.

Crow issued consecutive bases-loaded walks during Toronto’s three-run eighth inning, sending the Royals to a 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday.

”Throwing eight straight balls, it’s a terrible way to lose a game,” Crow said.

The Royals, who trailed Tampa Bay by 6 1/2 games for the second AL wild-card slot at the beginning of the day, lost their second straight following a five-game winning streak.

Kansas City failed to capitalize on a strong start by right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, who allowed one run and eight hits in seven innings.

”Tremendous game from him,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He was still strong going into the eighth inning.”

Rather than stick with Guthrie, who was at 92 pitches, Yost turned it over to his relief corps, who came in with an AL-best 2.56 ERA and had allowed just one run in their past 14 2-3 innings.

”My mindset is, ‘OK, we’ve got a one-run lead, we’ve got the best bullpen in the American League, let’s get three outs and get to (closer Greg Holland),”’ Yost said. ”It just didn’t work out, we couldn’t get it done.”

Instead, the Blue Jays batted around while scoring three unearned runs against four relievers. Kansas City shortstop Alcides Escobar helped the Blue Jays with a key error.

Pinch hitter Munenori Kawasaki led off with a single against Kelvin Herrera (5-7), and went to second on a bloop hit by Jose Reyes. Will Smith came on to face Ryan Goins, who hit a potential double-play grounder that Escobar couldn’t handle, allowing Kawasaki to score from second.

Escobar said his line of sight was blocked by Kawasaki on the crucial play.

”I make that play all the time,” Escobar said. ”I didn’t see the ball, that’s why I missed that. The guy blocked me.”

Edwin Encarnacion walked to load the bases and Crow came on to face pinch hitter Mark DeRosa, who struck out on three pitches. Brett Lawrie and Rajai Davis each followed with four-pitch walks, giving the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead.

”We can’t be coming in and doing that at this time of year,” Yost said. ”We’ve got to command the ball a little better in these crucial situations. Aaron does, anyway.”

Upset at the ball four call to Davis, Yost was ejected for arguing with plate umpire Will Little when he came out to replace Crow with Tim Collins, who retired pinch hitter J.P. Arencibia to end the inning.

”I’d just seen enough,” Yost said. ”You don’t miss a pitch in a crucial situation like that. If he throws a ball, OK. But I think the replay will show it was definitely a strike.”

Yost, who was ejected for the first time this season, also argued with Little over a call at first base in Friday’s 3-2 loss.

The late rally made a winner of knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (11-12), who allowed two runs and seven hits in eight innings.

”I changed speeds quite a bit today,” Dickey said. ”I was able to keep the slower knuckleball down and get some outs with it. Anytime you can add and subtract speed in the strike zone, you’re going to have a better chance of your opponent mis-hitting balls.”

Casey Janssen finished for his 26th save in 28 chances, with pinch runner Chris Getz thrown out trying to steal second for the final out.

Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer went 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI in his 50th multihit game of the season. Among AL players, only Mike Trout and Adrian Beltre have more.

Royals outfielder Alex Gordon had two assists, throwing out Goins at third in the first and getting Josh Thole at second in the seventh. Gordon boosted his major league-leading total to 14. It’s the fifth time he’s had two assists in a game.

Kansas City opened the scoring in the second. Salvador Perez drew a one-out walk, moved up on Jarrod Dyson’s single and scored on a base hit by Escobar.

The Royals made it 2-0 in the third when former Blue Jays infielder Emilio Bonifacio led off with a triple and scored on Hosmer’s single through the left side.

The Blue Jays ran into another out on the bases in the third when Reyes was thrown by right fielder David Lough as he tried to stretch a single into a double. Escobar made a diving tag to retire Reyes for the second out.

Toronto broke through against Guthrie in the seventh when Rajai Davis hit a two-out double and scored on Josh Thole’s single. The inning ended when Gordon threw out Thole trying to stretch his hit into a double.

”We’re lucky that didn’t come back to bite us,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

— Associated Press —

Mark Buehrle’s stomach wasn’t feeling too good. His arm, however, was in exceptional shape.

Buehrle pitched seven shutout innings to win his sixth straight decision and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Kansas City 3-2 on Friday night, ending the Royals’ winning streak at five games.

Buehrle didn’t stick around to speak to reporters after the game, citing an upset stomach. But all those who remained had plenty of praise for the veteran left-hander.

”We just couldn’t get any hits off him, couldn’t get anything rolling,” Kansas City outfielder Alex Gordon said.

Adam Lind drove in two runs for the Blue Jays, who have won 10 of 14 meetings with Kansas City dating to 2011. Second baseman Ryan Goins made a diving play for the final out with two runners aboard.

The Royals, who came in six games behind Oakland for the second AL wild-card berth, lost for the first time since Aug. 24 against Washington, the final defeat in a seven-game skid.

”This one’s not overly frustrating,” manager Ned Yost said. ”You don’t ever want to lose at this time of year, but it was a good game. We fought to the end, it just didn’t happen.”

Buehrle (11-7) allowed four hits, walked one and struck out five to match his longest winning streak since 2005, when he won a career-best nine consecutive decisions. He’s 6-0 with a 1.93 ERA in his past eight outings and has gone 8-2 with a 2.72 ERA in 14 home starts this season.

”He’s got so many different weapons,” Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia said. ”He’s so good at executing a plan.”

Thanks to Buehrle’s brisk, efficient outing, the game was completed in 2 hours, 24 minutes.

”He works quick, and once he gets in a groove he just gets in that rhythm,” Gordon said. ”You look up and it’s the eighth inning and it’s 8 o’clock.”

Arencibia said Buehrle isn’t bothered when opposing batters try to disrupt his pace by stepping out of the box.

”A lot of teams try to take their time, call timeout and try to get him off his rhythm,” Arencibia said. ”It doesn’t faze him, really. It’s funny because I see teams try to do that and I know he doesn’t care. He’s just ready to pitch.”

Brett Cecil and Sergio Santos worked the eighth before Casey Janssen finished for his 25th save in 27 chances.

Mike Moustakas hit a leadoff single in the ninth and was replaced by pinch-runner Chris Getz. Pinch-hitter David Lough popped out before Jarrod Dyson singled. Pinch-hitter George Kottaras lined out sharply to center, and Janssen ended it by getting Gordon to ground out, with Goins diving for the ball and throwing from his knees.

Goins went 1 for 4 and has hit safely in all seven games he’s played since being promoted from Triple-A Buffalo.

”He’s done a terrific job,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. ”There’s no panic with the kid. He carries himself like he belongs.”

Ervin Santana (8-8) was the hard-luck loser. He allowed three runs, two earned, and four hits in seven innings, extending his winless streak to five starts. The right-hander walked two and struck out six.

Toronto took the lead with a two-run first. After leadoff batter Jose Reyes flied out on the first pitch, Goins reached on an error by former Blue Jays infielder Emilio Bonifacio at second base. Goins went to third on Edwin Encarnacion’s double, and Lind followed with a two-run single.

”The pitch to Lind wasn’t a bad pitch,” Yost said. ”It was kind of middle-away a little bit and he just served it up the middle for the two runs.”

Toronto made it 3-0 in the fifth when Anthony Gose hit a leadoff triple and scored on Goins’ infield single, a hot shot that Moustakas couldn’t handle cleanly at third.

The Royals rallied with two runs off Cecil in the eighth. Alcides Escobar singled and went to third on a base hit by Gordon, then scored on Bonifacio’s sacrifice bunt. Replays showed that Bonifacio beat the throw to first, but he was called out by umpire Will Little, bringing Yost out for an argument.

”He wasn’t doing much talking, I was,” Yost said when asked what kind of explanation Little offered.

Eric Hosmer chased Cecil with an RBI single before Santos came on to end the threat. He got some help from third baseman Brett Lawrie, who made a spectacular barehanded catch and throw on Billy Butler’s chopper for the second out.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals are hoping to make another push for a playoff spot, and their latest successful series at Target Field is definitely going to help.

Bruce Chen bounced back with a solid start and the Royals earned their fifth consecutive win with a 3-1 victory over Minnesota, sending the slumping Twins to their fifth straight loss.

”This was a nice series for us,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. ”We did everything really well, we pitched well, swung the bats well, played solid defense.”

The Royals outscored Minnesota 17-3 in the three-game set to finish the season series with a 15-4 record against their AL Central rival. Kansas City has won seven straight at Target Field.

”They’ve probably had our number in the past, so it’s tough to say anything bad about them,” said second baseman Chris Getz, who had one of Kansas City’s three RBI singles.

Coupled with Oakland’s 7-6 loss in Detroit, the Royals are six games back of the A’s for the AL’s second wild-card slot.

”I couldn’t even tell you who’s ahead of us,” Yost said. ”My focus is if we win everything else takes care of itself.”

Getting Chen back on track certainly helps.

Chen (6-2), who is good at deception and changing speeds, gave up one run and five hits in 5 2-3 innings. In his past two starts, he allowed 13 runs in nine innings. Before those two, he had allowed just three earned runs in 38 2-3 innings over six starts.

”I went back and tried to be more aggressive,” Chen said. ”I wanted to make sure I pound the strike zone.”

Kelvin Herrera and Will Smith combined for 2 1-3 innings of scoreless relief. Greg Holland pitched a scoreless ninth for his 36th save in 38 chances.

”It was a total team effort,” Chen said. ”We won collectively.”

The Twins hit just 15 for 91 (.165) in the series. Brian Dozier homered for Minnesota, which has totaled just six runs during its skid.

Minnesota is one game ahead of last-place Chicago in the division.

”It’s a tough time of the year,” said bench coach Terry Steinbach, who filled in when manager Ron Gardenhire was ejected in the second inning. ”They don’t call it the ‘Dog Days of August’ for nothing, and whether you’re in first place or last place or somewhere in the middle, as players and as organizations and teams you’ve got to figure out a way to get through this stuff.”

Justin Maxwell was hit by a pitch – the ninth batter plunked this season by Twins starter Samuel Deduno – and both benches were warned by plate umpire Alan Porter. Gardenhire came out to protest and was tossed for the fourth time this year.

Maxwell was hit by a pitch in Wednesday night. Salvador Perez homered twice in that game for the Royals and had a fastball come in high and tight.

”I don’t think they were trying to hit me on purpose,” Maxwell said. ”I’m just glad it helped lead to a big inning.”

Getz, Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon singled home runs in the second.

Deduno (8-8) allowed three runs in three innings before leaving because of soreness in his right shoulder. An MRI is scheduled for Friday.

He said he felt a little pain when trying to throw his fastball hard.

”I wanted to be aggressive. That’s when I felt it,” he said. ”I wanted to keep pitching, but they told me they want to see what’s wrong with my shoulder.”

Deduno had been bothered by biceps tendinitis in his throwing arm earlier this month but told the team he was feeling fine.

Dozier homered in the sixth to make it 3-1. His 14th homer tied him with Tim Teufel (1984) for most homers in a season by a Minnesota second baseman.

Already playing short-handed because outfielder Oswaldo Arcia was unavailable with a sore wrist, Minnesota lost right fielder Wilkin Ramirez in the fifth inning after he fouled a ball off his left shin. He was scheduled for an MRI later Thursday.

— Associated Press —