Miguel Cabrera had four hits, including a homer during a five-run sixth inning, and the Detroit Tigers held off the Kansas City Royals 6-3 Monday night to clinch the AL Central title.

Gerald Laird added a bases-loaded double, Rick Porcello (10-12) pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning and Jhonny Peralta went deep off Bruce Chen (11-14) to help Detroit reach the postseason in consecutive years for the first time since 1934-35.

”We wanted to win this game. That was our goal, to win this one,” Cabrera said. ”We did it.”

After hanging over the dugout railing the entire ninth inning, the Tigers streamed onto the field and behind the pitchers’ mound to celebrate their accomplishment the moment Jose Valverde got Alcides Escobar to ground out to shortstop with a runner on second for his 35th save in 40 chances.

The Tigers (87-73) will have the worst record among AL division champions, which means they’ll open the playoffs Saturday at home against the division winner with the second-best mark.

Not that when and where matters much to Jim Leyland’s bunch.

They’re just glad to be back in the playoffs.

”It was a rocky road, it was a tough season, but in this business, you have to be able to take some hits,” Leyland said. ”This isn’t a place for the faint-hearted. Hell, we took a lot of punches, a lot of them justified, some of them maybe not. But hey, we can take a punch.”

After winning the division by 15 games last season and signing Prince Fielder in the offseason, the Tigers entered spring training with lofty expectations. But they got off to a surprisingly slow start and were below .500 in early July. They were still well behind Chicago early last month.

The White Sox faltered, though, and the Tigers took advantage.

”It wasn’t easy,” said Fielder, who also had four hits, ”but we got it done.”

Now, with Cabrera closing in on baseball’s first Triple Crown since 1967 and Justin Verlander in contention for a second straight Cy Young Award, Detroit is the hottest team in the majors.

Right-hander Anibal Sanchez has been terrific down the stretch, Fielder and Austin Jackson are having big years at the plate, and the shoddy fielding that could have forced the Tigers to sit home in October has improved to the point that they’ll be pressing on into the postseason.

”You get that kind of momentum, usually it ends up very good,” team owner Mike Ilitch said.

The improved fielding was never more evident than in the fifth inning Monday night, when the Royals had loaded the bases. Escobar hit a hard grounder just to the side of second base, and Omar Infante made a nice glove-flip to Peralta covering the bag to end the inning.

The play allowed the Tigers to cling to a 1-0 lead, provided by Peralta’s homer in the fifth inning, until they could tack on five more runs in the sixth.

Cabrera broke a tie with the Rangers’ Josh Hamilton for the major league lead in homers with his 44th, a solo shot to right, and two fielding mistakes by David Lough in center led to another run.

Laird’s bases-loaded double knocked Chen from the game, and effectively knocked the White Sox out of the playoffs, though they didn’t do much to help themselves down the stretch.

Chicago beat the Indians 11-0 Monday night for just its third win in 13 games.

Meanwhile, the Tigers have won seven of their last eight as they surged to the division crown, including five straight against the Royals, who have dropped eight of their last nine.

Porcello kept the Royals off the scoreboard until the sixth, when Alex Gordon’s homer to right field finally gave Kansas City some life. Leyland wasted no time lifting his right-hander, who’d done enough to end a string of six straight losses and pick up his first victory in nine starts.

Cabrera had singles in the fourth, seventh and ninth in addition to his homer in the sixth, pushing his AL-leading average to .329, ahead of the Angels’ Mike Trout and the Twins’ Joe Mauer. Cabrera also moved his astonishing RBI total to 137, by far the best in the majors.

Cabrera was only part of the party Monday night, though, slapping backs and exchanging high-fives with the rest of his teammates as Detroit locked up its place in the postseason.

He could be the center of the celebration when the regular season ends Wednesday night.

”He’s unbelievable. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime player,” Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said. ”I talked to him and he said, ‘The Triple Crown is important, but it’s not the most important thing. I want to win a championship.”’

— Associated Press —

Asdrubal Cabrera knew a fastball was coming.

He hit it for a grand slam.

Cabrera capped a 10-run fifth inning with his second career grand slam and the Cleveland Indians routed the Kansas City Royals 15-3 Sunday.

”It was a fastball and I was not surprised,” said Cabrera, who had three hits and scored three runs as Cleveland improved to 2-1 with interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr.

”They pitched me the same way every time this series,” Cabrera said. ”First pitch, curveball, then a changeup and then fastball. So I hit it.”

Zach McAllister (6-8) benefited from the Indians tying a season high in runs and hits, 19. It was their ninth double-digit hit total in 10 games. They’ve won six of them, including a 15-4 victory in Kansas City a week ago.

McAllister pitched five-hit ball over 6 2-3 innings, allowing three runs.

”It was nice to have all those runs,” said the right-hander, who won for the first time in nine starts since beating Boston on Aug. 11. The rookie started 4-1 with a 3.17 ERA in eight starts after being called up from Triple-A Columbus. Then he was part of Cleveland’s second-half struggles.

”It’s been a big learning year, both good and bad,” said McAllister, who has yielded three runs or fewer in 16 of 22 outings. ”Today, I didn’t have my best stuff, but got through it.”

The Indians are 5-2 after a disastrous 12-41 stretch dropped them out of the AL Central race and cost manager Manny Acta his job. General manager Chris Antonetti will interview Alomar and former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona soon for the fulltime position and expects a few other candidates to be in the search process.

The 10-run inning was Cleveland’s first since doing it in Kansas City in a 19-1 win on May 16, 2011. The Indians had not scored 10 in an inning at home since an 11-run first inning against the Royals on Aug. 13, 2006.

Cleveland went 9 for 20 with runners in scoring position after stranding 20 men on base in a 7-6 loss in 14 innings on Saturday.

”That’s baseball,” Alomar said. ”We took what they gave us and kept the line moving, tried not to do too much.”

Royals starter Luke Hochevar (8-16) was tagged for nine runs over 4 2-3 innings.

”It got away in a hurry,” manager Ned Yost said after the Royals’ seventh loss in eight games. ”A 10-run fifth is not good for your business.”

Lou Marson’s two-out RBI single put Cleveland ahead 1-0 in the second.

Cleveland broke it open in the fifth. Shin-Soo Choo doubled to start the rally and later had a two-run single. Jason Kipnis and Jack Hannahan each had RBI doubles. Other runs scored on a forceout by Casey Kotchman and when Jason Donald was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Cabrera had a bunt single in the midst of the rally before connecting for his slam off lefty reliever Everett Teaford.

”The third baseman was playing back, so I took it,” Cabrera said of the bunt. ”I just wanted to get on base and keep it going.”

Hochevar dropped to 1-7 in 11 starts since beating the Indians on July 31. The right-hander gave up nine hits and three walks in his final start of a wildly inconsistent season. In 21 outings, he had a 2.88 ERA. In 11 other starts, he lasted only a total of 48 innings and had a 13.88 ERA.

Alex Gordon hit a two-run homer, his 13th, in the sixth for Kansas City. Tony Abreu’s RBI single made it 11-3 in the seventh.

Matt LaPorta had a two-run double in the Indians’ seventh and Cord Phelps a bases-loaded RBI single in the eighth when another run scored on a wild pitch by Louis Coleman.

— Associated Press —

Doug Fister was breezing along after striking out nine straight batters and setting an American League record.

Detroit led by four runs in the eighth inning — but for the 2012 Tigers, nothing has come easy.

The Tigers nearly wasted Fister’s dazzling streak, blowing a big lead late before beating Kansas City 5-4 on Thursday. They kept their advantage in the AL Central when Alex Avila drove home the winning run in the ninth with a bases-loaded grounder.

Detroit’s lead in the AL Central grew to two games when the slumping Chicago White Sox lost to Tampa Bay 3-2.

“Getting a win is big,” Avila said. “We have to be able to win tight games like this. It’s the only way we’re going to be able to get in the playoffs and go far in the playoffs.”

Detroit finished 50-31 at home this season — and will now try to wrap up the division on the road. The Tigers play three games at Minnesota, followed by a season-ending three-game series at Kansas City.

Fister came within one strikeout of matching Tom Seaver’s major league record of 10 in a row. He struck out Salvador Perez to end the top of the fourth, starting a streak that didn’t end until Perez grounded out to the shortstop on a two-strike pitch in the seventh.

“It’s crazy, to go through a whole lineup and strike everybody out,” Royals outfielder Jeff Francoeur said. “And I don’t think he threw more than four pitches to any of the batters.”

The AL record of eight consecutive strikeouts had been accomplished several times, most recently by Kansas City’s Blake Stein on June 17, 2001.

After Perez grounded out for the third out of the seventh, first baseman Prince Fielder put his arm around Fister as they headed back to the dugout.

“I said, `Congratulations, man. You made history.’ He was like, `What are you doing?” Fielder said. “He was locked in so it was kind of like, `Get away from me.’ I was like, `All right, they’ll tell you.”

At that point, Fister had retired 16 straight hitters and Detroit led 4-0 — but he was oblivious to the strikeout record.

“Honestly, I had no idea,” Fister said. “(Fielder) was yelling at me to step off during the inning, and I kind of looked at him. Normally, he’ll do that, to slow me down, if I’m getting too quick. … I thought that was kind of what he was doing there. He just said, `Hey, step off.’ I look at him, and he kept looking at me, and he said, `Aw, I’ll tell you later.”

Fister’s performance almost went for naught. The Royals scored three runs in the eighth, and Billy Butler tied it in the ninth with a solo homer off Joaquin Benoit (5-3).

Fielder led off the Detroit ninth with a chopper that went past the mound and charging shortstop Tony Abreu. The hefty slugger made it all the way to second for a double on a ball that only ended up a few feet beyond the infield.

Delmon Young was intentionally walked, and pinch-hitter Ramon Santiago bunted into a forceout at third, leaving runners at first and second. Kelvin Herrera replaced Tim Collins (5-4) on the mound and got Jhonny Peralta to hit what looked like a potential double play grounder to third, but Mike Moustakas misplayed it for his third error of the game — and Kansas City’s fifth.

Avila hit a full-count pitch to first baseman Brayan Pena, who made a diving stop and touched the bag, but had no play at home.

“Pena still made a great play on that one,” Fielder said. “Baseball is really hard because even if you’re good, you have to be a little lucky, too.”

Fister finished with 10 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings. He allowed two earned runs and five hits.

Kansas City’s Luis Mendoza allowed two earned runs in seven innings.

Francoeur hit an RBI double in the eighth, Johnny Giavotella added an RBI groundout, and Abreu, pinch-hitting, drove in a run with a single to make it 4-3.

Detroit took a 4-0 lead thanks in part to four Kansas City errors in the first two innings.

Moustakas was charged with two errors on one grounder by Quintin Berry — one for mishandling it and another for a bad throw. Fielder drove in a run later in the first with a single, advancing to second on an error by left fielder Alex Gordon.

Young hit a sacrifice fly, and Gordon threw Fielder out at home on a single by Andy Dirks to end the inning.

Berry’s two-run triple in the second made it 4-0.

— Associated Press —

While Cleveland Indians slugger Carlos Santana is finishing strong, the Kansas City Royals will again be watching the playoffs.

Santana hit two homers and drove in five runs as the Indians routed Kansas City 15-4 Sunday in their highest-scoring game of the season.

Santana connected for a two-run shot in the sixth inning off Jake Odorizzi, who lost in his major league debut. Santana added his team-leading 18th homer, a three-run drive during a seven-run ninth.

“Carlos had a great day,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “That two-run homer was huge. It gave us the lead. I’m happy for the day he had. For a moment there, I was thinking we weren’t going to have one guy with 75 RBIs on the whole team. He did it, and it looks like (Jason) Kipnis with 70 might able to do that, too.”

Santana, who has 13 home runs and 45 RBIs in 65 games since July 15, matched his career high with five RBIs. It was his third career multihomer game.

“It was a very good day for me and the pitchers,” Santana said. “The key for us is to finish strong.”

The loss officially eliminated the Royals from playoff contention and assured them of another losing record. Kansas City has not made the postseason since winning the 1985 World Series, the longest active playoff drought in the majors.

David Huff (2-0) held the Royals to one run on three hits over 5 2/3 innings.

Santana’s first homer put the Indians ahead 3-1. Cleveland added five runs in the seventh and pulled away in the ninth.

The Indians spoiled the day for Odorizzi (0-1), one of four players acquired in the 2010 trade for Zack Greinke.

Odorizzi limited Cleveland to a pair of singles by Shin-Soo Choo for the first five innings. After retiring Choo to lead off the sixth, Odorizzi allowed three runs on four consecutive hits.

“I thought he did an outstanding job for his first start,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s got all the intangibles. He fields his position. He commands the baseball. He changes speeds. He’s got great composure and a great competitive nature.”

Kipnis tripled and scored on Asdrubal Cabrera’s single before Santana’s homer.

The Indians combined four singles, three walks and two Kansas City errors in the seventh. The Royals used three relief pitchers with Vin Mazzaro retiring none of the four batters he faced.

Casey Kotchman and Jack Hannahan hit RBI singles and Cabrera drove in a run with a groundout. The other two Cleveland runs that inning scored after throwing errors by right fielder Jeff Francoeur and catcher Adam Moore.

The Indians added six of their seven runs in the ninth off Jeremy Jeffress, who threw only 18 strikes in 40 pitches. He walked three, including Choo with the bases loaded.

Moore, who was making his Royals debut, homered in the third. It was his first homer since Sept. 7, 2010 while with Seattle.

Francoeur had three hits and drove in a run. Billy Butler contributed a run-producing double, upping his RBIs total to 101.

— Associated Press —

Luis Mendoza felt terrible for much of the week, then quickly got into trouble when he returned to the mound Friday night.

Once he wiggled out of that first-inning jam, it was mostly smooth sailing from there.

Mendoza pitched into the seventh in his first start since a bout with strep throat, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 6-3 victory over the struggling Cleveland Indians.

Mike Moustakas and Brayan Pena each drove in two runs for the Royals, who have won three straight and four of six. Mendoza (8-9) allowed two runs and eight hits in six-plus innings.

The Indians have lost 40 of 52 games since July 26 when they were 50-49 and trailed AL Central-leading White Sox by 3 1/2 games. They have lost six straight against Kansas City and eight of nine overall in the season series.

Mendoza (8-9), who was scratched from a Wednesday start with the illness, got off to shaky start. Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Kipnis singled with no outs in the first and moved up on Asdrubal Cabrera’s sacrifice.

Mendoza then struck out Carlos Santana and issued an intentional walk to Michael Brantley before Travis Hafner grounded out to end the inning.

”He did a great job of getting out of it,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”Striking out Santana was a huge out and he ended up getting out of it.”

Mendoza was sick for much of the week.

”On Monday, I felt terrible, all my body hurt,” he said. ”I just came to the field and tried to get something to feel better. Tuesday I came in early, I started feeling better. Tonight, I felt good, felt 100 percent.”

Kansas City pushed across two runs in the second on RBI singles by Pena and Irving Falu. Moustakas tacked on a sacrifice fly in the third and a run-scoring groundout in the fifth.

Mendoza departed after Ezequiel Carrera led off the seventh with a bunt single. Tim Collins hit Choo with a pitch and yielded a two-out, two-run single to Santana.

Kansas City responded with two runs in the eighth to make it 6-3. Eric Hosmer, who had the winning RBI single in Thursday’s victory over Chicago, hit a sacrifice fly and Pena doubled in Jeff Francoeur.

Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 15th save in 18 opportunities.

”The eighth inning was big after it got back to a one-run lead, to get two more runs and get Holland some breathing room,” Yost said. ”He came in for the third night in a row and was fantastic.”

Mendoza earned his first victory since Aug. 11. He was 0-1 with four no-decisions since his previous win.

”Offensively, we continue to struggle, especially with situational hitting,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. ”The first inning we had a situation where we could just take the lead, and who knows what would happen after that. But, we failed to drive in a run with a runner on third and the infield back.”

Justin Masterson (11-15) lost his third straight start. He was charged with four runs and seven hits in six innings.

Brantley singled home Cabrera in the third inning for Cleveland’s first run.

— Associated Press —

The Chicago White Sox have no more games left against the Kansas City Royals, and that’s a good thing for the AL Central leaders.

Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez threw out Alex Rios at the plate and picked off Alexei Ramirez at third base, and the White Sox kept missing chances Thursday night in a 4-3 loss to the Royals.

Eric Hosmer singled home the winning run on a 0-2 pitch with two outs in the ninth inning.

Chicago stayed two games ahead of Detroit, which lost in the afternoon to Oakland, with 13 games remaining. The White Sox went 6-12 against the Royals this year, including one stretch of six consecutive losses.

”We’ve played them tough all year,” Hosmer said. ”It’s baseball. Certain teams match up well against other teams.”

After going 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position in Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Kansas City, the White Sox went 1 for 8 in those situations and stranded seven runners. Chicago is hitting .190 with runners in scoring position over the past 19 games.

”If you keep shooting yourself in the foot it’s going to come back to bite you,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. ”If you keep having opportunities and not taking advantage, a team like this will beat you.”

Rios tried to score with one out in the third when Jeremy Guthrie’s pitch rolled a few feet behind Perez. But Perez’s toss to Guthrie cut down Rios at the plate.

”Alex thinks he can go, then he hesitates,” Ventura said. ”That one’s an instinct play, you go or you stop. It’s little things like that we have to stop doing.”

Rios’ out became more magnified when Kevin Youkilis singled to left two pitches later.

”If you hesitate and don’t get a good read, bad stuff happens when you do that,” Rios said. ”You have to be aware of the situation, with one out I could have scored on a fly ball. It was a tough read, a bad angle. I hesitated. I’ve got to go without hesitating.”

Perez nabbed Ramirez in the fourth for his fifth pickoff, most among major league catchers.

”I don’t know if they’ve got quicksand around third, but we’ve been losing guys over there,” Ventura said.

Chicago wasted an early 3-0 lead and lost to the sub-.500 Royals for the ninth time in their last 11 meetings.

Billy Butler led off the Royals ninth with a single against Jesse Crain (2-3). Pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson stole second with two down and Jeff Francoeur was walked intentionally. Matt Thornton relieved and Hosmer singled down the third-base line.

Greg Holland (7-4) worked a scoreless ninth for the victory.

Alejandro De Aza, Adam Dunn and A.J. Pierzynski singled in the first to put the White Sox in front 1-0.

Guthrie committed a throwing error in the second that led to two unearned runs. He walked Dan Johnson and gave up an infield single to Ramirez, then made a wild throw to first on Gordon Beckham’s sacrifice that allowed a run to score. Dewayne Wise added an RBI grounder.

Guthrie allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings. The right-hander is 4-0 with a 1.75 ERA in his past nine starts, all of which the Royals have won.

”I didn’t have great command or great stuff, but I relied on defensive plays,” he said. ”Sal made three great plays. I don’t think I really settled in. Really each pitch seemed like a struggle, not many at-bats did I feel like I was in control. It was a real struggle. I didn’t have a feel for much of what I was doing.”

Francisco Liriano held the Royals to one hit in the first four innings, but gave up a two-run triple to Johnny Giavotella in the fifth.

”Gio’s hit turned it around,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”We were doing absolutely nothing until then.”

Billy Butler doubled in Alex Gordon in the sixth, tying it at 3. Butler has 99 RBIs, the most by a Royals player since Carlos Beltran’s 100 in 2003.

— Associated Press —

Bruce Chen had already pitched out of trouble each of the first three innings when the Royals left-hander issued a pair of walks and served up a base hit to Alex Rios in the fourth.

The bases were loaded, there was nobody out and the White Sox – one of the hottest teams in baseball and winners of five straight – were poised to deliver the crushing blow.

It never happened.

Never even came close.

Chen managed to retire three straight batters without a ball getting out of the infield, and then carried on into the seventh inning. Billy Butler’s sacrifice fly and a two-run double by Alex Gordon was enough to give the Royals a 3-0 victory over the AL Central leaders Wednesday night.

”Bruce Chen was right on top of his game,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”I told him after he was done, ‘You did a great job of pitching yourself into trouble in the fourth inning and even a better job of pitching yourself out of it.’ Bruce did a phenomenal job.”

Chen (11-12) scattered five hits and three walks over 6 2-3 innings to win for just the second time in six starts. The crafty veteran also stranded a runner on second in the sixth before getting some help from reliever Kelvin Herrera to escape more trouble in the seventh.

Herrera then pitched around two base runners in the eighth, and Greg Holland yielded a two-out double in the ninth before finishing for his 14th save in 17 chances.

”We didn’t panic,” Chen said. ”We stuck to our game plan.”

Alcides Escobar finished with three hits, all of them off Chicago ace Chris Sale (17-7), and the Royals who staved off official elimination for one more day. The White Sox (81-67) had their lead in the division trimmed to two games over the Detroit Tigers.

”This one stinks and you have to move on,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said.

Chicago will be happy to move on from playing the Royals and start rooting for them.

Kansas City improved to 8-2 in their last 10 meetings by evening the three-game series, and a win in the finale Thursday night would make the Royals 6-1 in the teams’ last seven series.

They could become Chicago’s biggest ally down the stretch, though. Kansas City plays seven of its final 13 games against second-place Detroit, beginning with a four-game series Monday.

”We’re going to have to win no matter what. We have to take care of our business,” Ventura said. ”It’s difficult when you play like this.”

The White Sox wasted another strong start by Sale by going 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position, stranding four at third base, four more at second and three at first.

Chicago also went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position in winning the series opener.

Meanwhile, the Royals scratched out a run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Butler, and then bore down behind Eric Hosmer’s leadoff double and Escobar’s intentional walk in the seventh.

After a brief visit at the mound, Sale remained in the game to face Gordon, and he walloped a pitch to the wall in left. It appeared that Viciedo would have room to make the catch, but the ball fell onto the track for a double, allowing two runs to cross and giving Kansas City a 3-0 lead.

”Our approach is not to try to do too much against Sale with his kind of stuff, his deceptive delivery,” Gordon said. ”Just stay simple and make something happen.”

The three runs were enough to give the 23-year-old Sale his third loss against Kansas City – he’s only lost four other times this season. He’s also just 2-5 over his last seven road starts.

”Chen came out and threw as well as he’s ever pitched tonight against us,” Sale said, his voice barely above a whisper. ”He out-pitched me tonight.”

— Associated Press —

Gavin Floyd is healthy again and hoping to help the Chicago White Sox get back to the playoffs.

Floyd pitched seven crisp innings, Alex Rios hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh and the White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Tuesday night for their fifth consecutive win.

Alejandro De Aza and Gordon Beckham also went deep for AL Central-leading Chicago, which maintained a three-game advantage over Detroit and improved to 6-10 against the Royals. Chicago had lost seven of eight against Kansas City.

Floyd (10-10) gave up two runs in the first inning and nothing after that. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out three, throwing 52 strikes in 78 pitches.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander was making his second start since coming off the disabled list after being sidelined with an elbow flexor strain. He also missed time earlier in the year with right elbow tendinitis.

”I felt good out there,” he said. ”I just wanted to make as few pitches out there and let the defense work. It’s great especially after sitting for 15 days and more than that before. It’s nice to get back out there and just be part of the team and contribute.”

Floyd reached double-figures in victories for the fifth consecutive season as the White Sox (81-66) moved 15 games above .500.

”We’re no way content,” Floyd said. ”We’re content in the place that we are, but there’s still a lot of baseball left. It’s fun to be in the position we’re at. We’ve just got to keep pushing.”

De Aza drove Luke Hochevar’s second pitch over the wall in right for his eighth homer of the season. De Aza had been slumping, hitless in his previous nine at-bat and 2-for-21 in his previous five games.

First-year manager Robin Ventura did not play the outfielder in the past two games, but thought the timing was right to get him back in the lineup.

”I know what I’m doing,” Ventura joked. ”He looked out of synch in Minnesota.”

Hochevar (8-14), who is 1-5 in his last nine starts, allowed just one single the next four innings before Beckham led off the sixth with his 16th home run. Beckham is hitting .333 with four home runs and 14 RBIs in his past 17 games.

”He’s in a better position to hit,” Ventura said. ”He’s more confident. He’s getting his hands back and getting through it. He’s hit some homers, but for me he’s keeping the ball on a line a little bit more than he has all year long.”

The White Sox upped their home run total to 198, which ranks second in the majors. They have 13 homers in their past 14 road games.

”I’m not going to be critical how we get them,” Ventura said. ”This is a big ballpark. You’ve got to find a way to get some runs other than just sitting back and waiting for a home run. I’m glad we hit them, but this isn’t a ballpark you can sit back and do that.”

Rios’ 24th homer came with one out in the seventh and matched his career high. Rios also played a key role in Chicago’s 5-4 win over Detroit on Monday when he broke up a potential double play with a hard slide that led to an errant throw that allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to score.

Hochevar allowed seven hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked none.

Kansas City got off to a fast start when Billy Butler hit a two-run single in the first inning to give him a career-high 97 RBIs.

The Royals did not have a baserunner after Jeff Francoeur’s fourth-inning double.

”He (Floyd) settled in really nice,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”They retired our last 16 batters. We had trouble centering anything up against them.”

Matt Thornton retired all four batters he faced. Addison Reed got the final two outs for his 28th save in 32 chances.

— Associated Press —

The Los Angeles bullpen had no room for error the final 3 1-3 innings Sunday. The Angels also have no margin for error in the final 15 games of the season if they hope to make the playoffs.

Mark Trumbo hit a three-run homer and Dan Haren pitched effectively into the sixth inning as the Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Sunday.

After Haren departed, the Royals managed just one hit off Angels relievers Nick Maronde, Garrett Richards, Scott Downs, Jordan Walden and Kevin Jespen.

”Our bullpen came in and just got out after out in a game where they’ve got some guys that can drive the ball on their side where one mistake can tie the game,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ”These guys are pitching with their backs against the wall and did a great job.”

The Angels are third in the AL wild-card standings, where the top two qualify – two games behind Oakland and Baltimore.

”We’re in a situation where we have to pay attention to the standings,” Scioscia said. ”Everything is not totally in our control, but if we keep winning you keep pressure on the teams.

”Forget winning series. We’re talking about winning every pitch. That’s where we are. The only thing we control is how we play. We need to bring it for the last 15 games. It’s getting to the point of the season, where we’re going to have to get some help. Cause if every team wins out and we win out, we’re on the outside looking in.”

Trumbo, who had hit just .177 with 62 strikeouts in his previous 37 games to drop his average from .306 to .268, homered off Will Smith (5-8) in the second inning.

Haren (11-11) improved to 3-1 in his past four starts, holding the Royals to three runs, two earned, and five hits, while walking one and striking out five. He also moved to 4-0 in five career starts at Kansas City.

”The amount of games we can lose is very limited, so every loss hurts,” Haren said. ”It’s not that we’re not trying to catch Texas. For us rather than scoreboard watch, our games are so important. We just can’t lose that many games. Every game is so magnified right now.”

Torii Hunter, who has 17 RBIs in his past 18 games, singled home Erick Aybar, who had doubled, in the first inning.

After closer Ernesto Frieri gave up two home runs in the ninth Saturday to blow a save and take the loss and throwing 30 pitches in a game Friday, Jespen was summoned in the ninth and picked up his second save in four chances. Jespen has held opponents to one earned run in 11 2-3 innings in his last 12 outings.

The Angels got a major scare in the fourth inning when outfielders Mike Trout and Hunter collided while chasing Billy Butler’s double to right-center. Scioscia and the trainer came out, but both remained in the game. Butler wound up scoring on Howie Kendrick’s throwing error after Jeff Francoeur’s infield single, trimming the Angels’ lead to 4-3.

Tony Abreu led off the Kansas City third with his first home run in nearly two years. Abreu’s previous home run was Sept. 26, 2010, while with Arizona against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Salvador Perez, who had the walk-off homer Saturday, doubled to lead off the second, advanced to third on Mike Moustakas’ ground out and scored on Jeff Francoeur’s ground out for the Royals’ first run.

Smith gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks in five innings.

”It didn’t start out the way I wanted to,” Smith said. ”Trumbo’s homer was a two-seamer right down the middle. He’s a good hitter. He did what he’s supposed to do with it.

”After the home run I started to dial it up. I need to do it in the first inning, not the third inning after giving up four runs.”

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals seem as though they’ve been a team on the rise for years, with each crop of hot young prospects supposedly the group that is going to drag the franchise up from the depths of the AL Central.

Billy Butler is hoping this latest batch of fresh faces will finally help them finish the job.

Butler had three hits and three RBIs, and the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen picked up struggling starter Luke Hochevar with four scoreless innings in a 10-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

”I just think it’s good for our young guys to get confidence. I think every year I’ve been here we’ve had good Septembers, but we got a good August and September,” Butler said. ”Outside of a 12-game losing streak earlier in the season we’ve played really good baseball. … We’ve been really consistent after that, and it’s something we can build on in the offseason and it might make us ready sooner.”

Salvador Perez homered and drove in two runs for the Royals, who sent 10 batters to the plate in their five-run fifth and another nine in a four-run eighth.

The Royals went 17-11 in August and have won four of their last five games to improve to 6-6 in September. But they remain a few front-of-the-rotation arms away from being a legitimate threat.

Hochevar was supposed to be one of those guys, but he continues to underwhelm. He got behind 1-0 in the first on Wednesday night after a leadoff triple from Span, walked three straight batters in the third, including Doumit with the bases loaded, and gave up two more runs after the Royals handed him a 6-3 lead in the fifth.

”He hasn’t won a game in his last seven starts and I wanted to get him over that hump,” manager Ned Yost said. ”He was working hard out there, maybe a little too hard. He was trying with everything that he had to get over that hump, too. I was bound and determined to give him every opportunity to do it.”

Hochevar (8-13) won for the first time since July 31, but he gave up five runs on six hits with four walks and four strikeouts in five innings. Tim Collins pitched two innings before Kevin Herrera and Francisley Bueno finished the game.

”Of course that wears on you,” Hochevar said of his skid. ”Regardless of that, I’m going to go out and fight for every pitch, I’m going to go out and compete to the best of my ability. Tonight, our offense picked me up.”

P.J. Walters (2-4) gave up six runs on seven hits in four innings and Twins left fielder Ryan Doumit was charged with three errors in the eighth to help the Royals put the game out of reach.

Joe Mauer missed his second straight game because of back spasms for the Twins.

Doumit, who has primarily served as the backup catcher to Mauer, has been working his way into left field more often recently to try to keep his bat in the lineup. The acclimation turned ugly in the eighth when he dropped a fly ball from Johnny Giavotella after a long run to the gap, then booted a hard-hit single by Alcides Escobar that allowed a run to score. Doumit’s throw also allowed two runners to advance, giving him a third error in the inning.

It was the second time this season, and fourth since 2010, that a player has committed three errors in one inning, according to STATS LLC. Oakland first baseman Brandon Moss did it in the sixth against San Francisco on June 23.

”It’s part of the learning curve,” Doumit said. ”It’s part of all that. It’s embarrassing, but I’m going to learn from it and go out and get ’em tomorrow.”

— Associated Press —