KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals clinched the AL Central for their first division title in 30 years, beating the Seattle Mariners 10-4 Thursday night.

Johnny Cueto picked up his first victory in nearly six weeks, and the win, coupled with the Minnesota Twins’ 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians, ensured a title. The Royals have dominated the division, leading by as many as 14 games.

It’s the Royals first division title since 1985, when they won the AL West en route to their only World Series championship.

The Kauffman Stadium announced crowd of 32,244 cheered when the Twins’ final score was shown on the scoreboard in the top of the ninth.

Kansas City became the first team to wrap up a division title this year. St. Louis and Pittsburgh have secured playoff berths in the NL.

Cueto (3-6), who was acquired in a July 26 trade with Cincinnati, allowed three runs on seven hits in seven innings while striking out five and walking two. He was 0-5 in his previous six starts since an Aug. 15 victory.

Mike Moustakas went 3-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs, three runs and walked twice.

Lorenzo Cain’s two-run two-out sixth-inning single broke a 3-3 tie. Cain’s ground-ball single to left scored Alex Gordon, who had walked, and Ben Zobrist.

Moustakas led off the second with his 21st homer, which is a career high. He drove in two more runs with a single in the eighth.

Eric Hosmer hit a solo shot to center in the fifth to tie the score at 3.

The Mariners used seven pitchers, with Logan Kensing (1-1) taking the loss.

The Royals padded their lead with two more runs in the seventh behind Alex Rios and Alcides Escobar RBIs.

Mark Trumbo hit a two-run double in the fourth for the Mariners. Brad Miller doubled home Trumbo in the second for the Mariners’ first run.

Logan Morrison led off the Mariners’ ninth with his 17th home run.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: LHP James Paxton left after 33 pitches and nine batters with a broken fingernail.

Royals: RHP Greg Holland has a torn right elbow ligament and will see Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles next week. Surgery appears probable depending on the second opinion.

UP NEXT

Mariners: LHP Vidal Nuno, who was acquired in a June 3 trade with Arizona, will make his eighth start Friday at the Angels.

Royals: RHP Edinson Volquez, who starts the series opener against the Indians, is 8-3 with a 3.41 ERA in 15 Kauffman Stadium starts.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lorenzo Cain singled home pinch-runner Paulo Orlando in the 10th inning, and the Kansas City Royals rallied past the Seattle Mariners 4-3 Wednesday night to close in on their first division title in 30 years.

The victory reduced the Royals’ magic number to two for clinching the AL Central crown. They can lock it up Thursday night with another victory over Seattle and a Minnesota loss to Cleveland.

The defending AL champions have not won a division since taking the AL West in 1985 and going on to win the World Series.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Robinson Cano wasn’t focused on the distance. He was just happy to see the ball clear the fence.

Cano homered twice and drove in four runs and Hisashi Iwakuma struck out a season-high 10 as the Seattle Mariners romped past the slumping Kansas City Royals, 11-2 Tuesday night.

The Mariners muscled out five home runs, with Cano’s 433-foot three-run shot in the seven-run third his longest in more than two years.

“I knew it was a good swing but I didn’t think it was going to be that far,” Cano said. “But for me it doesn’t matter how far it goes if it goes over the wall.”

Kauffman Stadium is not a friendly park for power hitters, but it was not too big for the Mariners.

“It doesn’t usually play this small,” Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. ” I thought the ball jumped, really jumped in early BP tonight and I think it carried over into the game.”

The AL Central-leading Royals have dropped 12 of 17. Their magic number for clinching the division remained three.

Cano and Kyle Seager each hit solo homers in the first inning for Seattle, which has the league’s best record in September at 13-6 but is still three games under .500 (74-77). It was Seager’s 25th home run and his seventh in 23 games.

Brad Miller and Jesus Montero also connected for Seattle.

Cano hit a three-run shot in a seven-run third inning for his 15th career multihomer game. Cano’s next hit will be the 2,000th of his career.

Iwakuma (9-4), who is 7-2 in his past nine starts, curbed the Royals on three singles over seven scoreless innings. He has allowed one run and 10 hits in 13 innings in his past two starts, while striking out 19 and walking one.

Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie (8-8) was pulled after Miller homered with one out in the third. Guthrie retired only seven of the 17 batters he faced, allowing nine runs on nine hits, four home runs.

“When he missed location, they didn’t miss it,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Guthrie is 1/3 with an 8.07 ERA in seven starts since the All-Star break, allowing 58 hits, including 12 home runs, and walking 11 in 35 2/3 innings.

Yost said he would “sleep on it” when asked if Guthrie would make another start.

Montero hit a two-run shot in the fourth off rookie right-hander Miguel Almonte for the final Seattle runs.

Alcides Escobar had three of the Royals’ hits, scored a run and drove in a run. Alex Rios doubled in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: RHP Felix Hernandez, who exited in the sixth inning Sunday with elbow tightness, played catch Tuesday and said he would not miss a start.

Royals: RHP Greg Holland, with lingering elbow issues, was replaced by RHP Wade Davis as the closer. … 2B Omar Infante has a left oblique strain and is probably out two to four weeks. … SS Alcides Escobar returned after missing the previous two games with a bruised left elbow after being hit by a pitch Friday.

NEWEST MARINER

Mariners 1B Logan Morrison was absent to be with his wife, who gave birth to the couple’s first daughter, Sophia. Montero replaced Morrison in the lineup and went 2 for 5 with a home run. He is hitting .500, 12 for 24, in six games at Kauffman Stadium.

UP NEXT

Mariners: LHP Roenis Elias is 1-1 with a 6.46 ERA in three career starts against Royals.

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura has won eight of his past nine decisions.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Greg Holland is out and Wade Davis is in as the Kansas City Royals’ closer.

With Holland continuing to nurse a sore elbow, Royals manager Ned Yost said before Tuesday’s game against Seattle that Davis would close games for the remainder of the season and the playoffs.

“You know what you’ve got with Wade,” Yost said. “With Holly you don’t know from one day to the next how his elbow is going to respond, if it’s going to be tight or sore or stiff.

“You’ve got to pretty much know what you’re going to put out there, especially when you get in the playoffs,” he said. “It’s just decisions we have to make, but they are not easy decisions, trust me. But we just have other options.”

Holland, an All-Star in 2013 and ’14, when he saved 93 games in 98 chances, has 32 saves in 37 opportunities this year with a 3.83 ERA.

He was charged with a blown save and a loss Friday at Detroit, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks in the 12th inning. Holland’s velocity had dipped from the mid-90s in terms of of miles per hour to the upper 80s and low 90s.

“Rest isn’t going to help him,” Yost said. “He’s been functional through it all year long. It’s getting a little more sore the last month or so and he continues to go out, pitch through it and he’s been successful for the most part.”

Davis has 13 saves in 14 opportunities and a 7-1 record with a 0.88 ERA.

“He knows he can handle the ninth inning,” Yost said.

Also, second baseman Omar Infante, who has not played since Friday, has a grade one-plus oblique strain.

“Those things are generally from two weeks to four weeks,” Yost said. “So there’s still hope he can heal up and be ready for the back end of the playoffs.”

Infante hit .220 with a .234 on-base percentage in 124 games. Ben Zobrist has replaced him at second base and is hitting .308 with a .389 on-base percentage in 47 games with the Royals after being acquired in a July 28 trade with Oakland.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — The Kansas City Royals signed Kendrys Morales last offseason to add some power to what had been a fairly punchless offense in 2014.

“We expected him to have a great year,” manager Ned Yost said.

Morales has indeed been productive, and on Sunday he enjoyed what might have been the best offensive game of his big league career, hitting three home runs in a 10-3 win over the Detroit Tigers. Morales also hit a triple and set a team record with 15 total bases.

The Royals lowered their magic number to three to clinch the AL Central, which would be their first division title in 30 years. Christian Colon had a career-high four hits, and Paulo Orlando also homered for Kansas City.

Morales homered in the third, fourth and eighth innings, becoming the first Kansas City player to go deep three times in a game since Danny Tartabull against Oakland on July 6, 1991. Morales ended up scoring five times on the day, but he was on deck when Eric Hosmer flied out and ended the top of the ninth.

The Royals won the American League pennant last year, but they finished last in the majors in home runs. They’ve shown more pop in 2015, thanks in part to Morales, who took over the team lead in homers Sunday with 21. Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez have 20 each.

“It’s not about competition, it’s just about putting up good ABs and everybody doing their part,” Morales said through a translator.

Kris Medlen (5-1) allowed three unearned runs and five hits in five innings for Kansas City, which leads second-place Minnesota by 11 games in the division.

Detroit’s Alfredo Simon (13-10) allowed eight runs and 13 hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Danny Duffy pitched four innings for his first career save.

Morales became the second player with 15 total bases in a game this season. Yoenis Cespedes of the New York Mets did it at Colorado on Aug. 21.

George Brett held the previous Royals record of 14 total bases. He did it in a 16-inning game in 1979.

The Royals scored two runs in the first, and Morales homered to lead off the third. Orlando’s two-run homer later that inning made it 5-0.

Detroit scored three runs in the third, but Morales answered that with a solo homer the following inning. His third home run of the day was also a solo shot, easily clearing the wall in right off reliever Jeff Ferrell.

“They had 19 hits, so it wasn’t just him, but yeah, that was obviously a pretty good show,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “He’s a switch-hitter who can hit the ball over 400 feet from both sides of the plate and he’s a run producer.”

BASERUNNING GAFFES

The Royals might have scored even more if not for baserunning mistakes in each of the first three innings. With men on first and third in the first, Lorenzo Cain got caught in a rundown between first and second when Simon made a pickoff throw to first. During the rundown, a throw hit Cain, but Detroit 2B Andrew Romine was able to grab the ball out of the air and make the tag.

With men on first and second in the second, Hosmer hit a single to right. Ben Zobrist tried to go from first to third, but Colon — the runner in front of him — stopped at third. The Tigers trapped Zobrist between second and third, and when Colon broke for home, they threw him out at the plate.

Colon was also picked off first in the third.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: SS Alcides Escobar (elbow contusion) sat out a second straight game after hurting himself Friday night.

Tigers: All-Star SS Jose Iglesias (broken right middle finger) remained out of the lineup. He hasn’t played since Sept. 3.

UP NEXT

Royals: Return home to face Seattle on Tuesday night. Jeremy Guthrie (8-7) starts for Kansas City against Hisashi Iawkuma (8-4).

Tigers: Host the Chicago White Sox in a doubleheader Monday. Detroit’s Kyle Ryan (2-3) faces Jeff Samardzija (9-13) in the opener, and Randy Wolf (0-3) starts for the Tigers against Erik Johnson (2-0) in the second game.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — Ian Kinsler homered in the 11th inning to give the Detroit Tigers a 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Kinsler led off the 11th against Miguel Almonte (0-1) and hit a 1-2 curveball into the Tigers’ bullpen for his second walk-off homer against Kansas City this season. He also hit one on August 6.

Tom Gorzelanny (2-0) got the win with two innings of scoreless relief.

The celebration at home was Kinsler’s second in three innings, but this one counted.

Kinsler was initially called safe at home on a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, setting off a mob scene at the plate. However, a replay review showed Royals catcher Salvador Perez caught Jarrod Dyson’s off-line throw and caught the tip of Kinsler’s shoe with a diving tag to end the inning.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — The Tigers and Royals had just about everything on Friday night.

The start of the game was delayed by 23 minutes when a light tower malfunctioned, and there was another delay in extra innings because of a problem with the mound. Detroit took a two-run lead in the eighth, only to blow it in the ninth.

Finally, the Royals took a lead in the 12th only for Dixon Machado’s bases-loaded single off Greg Holland to give the Tigers a 5-4 victory.

“That’s a couple of games where the guys have fought back, this time after being down in extra innings,” said Tigers manager Brad Ausmus. “We fought back and got a great win.”

The game — which lasted 4 hours, 9 minutes — wouldn’t have been able to go much longer, as heavy rains hit Comerica Park about 20 minutes after the final out.

The Royals took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 12th after Salvador Perez singled and pinch-runner Terrance Gore stole second, took third on Jarrod Dyson’s bunt and scored on Paulo Orlando’s groundout.

“Dyson and Gore are a great pair of weapons,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “VerHagen’s delivery to the plate was 1.29 seconds, and (James) McCann’s throw was outstanding and in a perfect spot, and Gore still stole the bag and got us into scoring position.”

However, Anthony Gose led off the bottom of the 12th with a single off Holland (3-2), and after Ian Kinsler popped out, Miguel Cabrera singled and took second when no one covered the bag as Gose went to third. Holland intentionally walked J.D. Martinez to face Victor Martinez with the bases loaded.

Holland got the strikeout he needed, but walked Tyler Collins to force in the tying run. Machado then lined a 2-2 slider down the left-field line for the winning run.

“I knew I couldn’t take a deep breath when I got Victor, because if you relax in a situation like that, you are going to implode,” Holland said. “I just couldn’t consistently get the ball where I needed it in the zone, so I walk Collins and then hang a two-strike slider to Machado.”

Justin Verlander allowed one run and four hits with a walk, and has posted a 2.02 ERA in his last 11 starts. In that stretch, he has walked 14 batters and struck out 69 in 80 1/3 innings.

Ausmus pulled him to tremendous boos with a 3-1 lead and two out in the ninth after Eric Hosmer’s single. Perez crushed Alex Wilson’s second pitch for a game-tying homer.

“I’m a big believer in positive energy, and I don’t think that was a good situation to boo,” Verlander said. “We had a lot of good things going; here comes our reliever in to a bunch of boos. Obviously, they weren’t for him, but I’m a believer in positive vibes.”

Royals starter Johnny Cueto also got a no-decision, allowing two runs on eight hits and a walk in seven-plus innings. He gave up a first-inning run for the fourth straight start, but settled down for his best outing since allowing one run in eight innings against the Angels on Aug. 15.

“I take a lot of pride in what I did tonight, because I threw the ball really well,” Cueto said through an interpreter. “I got myself into a rhythm and finally felt the way I’m supposed to feel out there.”

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first on Cabrera’s double, but he was easily thrown out at the plate by Orlando on Victor Martinez’s two-out single.

Orlando tied the game with a two-out double in the fifth, but Kinsler prevented a second run by making a sliding stop of Alcides Escobar’s grounder, then threw Escobar out from his knees.

Cueto and Verlander dueled until the bottom of the eighth, when Gose led off with a double. That brought Wade Davis into the game, and after almost hitting Kinsler with his first pitch, he allowed a single on the second.

Cabrera then lined a sacrifice fly to right, bringing home Gose with the go-ahead run. Kinsler took third when Davis threw away a pickoff attempt, and J.D. Martinez drew a walk.

Victor Martinez followed with another sacrifice fly to right, making the first run Davis had allowed in over a month, ending a string of 13 scoreless outings that started on Aug. 18.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: 2B Omar Infante left the game in the fifth inning with a left oblique strain and was replaced by Zobrist. Infante, who had 7 RBI in Thursday night’s win over Cleveland, will be evaluated tomorrow. . Alcides Escobar left the game after being hit with a pitch in the 10th inning, but is expected to play Saturday.

Tigers: 3B Nick Castellanos was out of the starting lineup for the second straight game with a groin strain, but pinch-hit in the 11th inning. . SS Jose Igleisas was undergoing tests on his broken finger to see if he will be cleared to play before the end of the season.

UP NEXT:

The teams continue their three-game weekend series on Saturday night, with Edinson Volquez (13-8, 3.59) facing Detroit’s Matt Boyd (1-5, 8.02). Boyd has an 8.50 ERA in his last four starts, once against Kansas City, having allowed 17 runs on 22 hits in 18 innings.

— Associated Press —

CLEVELAND (AP) — As Omar Infante prepared for a postgame TV interview, teammate Salvador Perez dumped a bucket of Gatorade over his head, soaking Kansas City’s second baseman to the bone.

Well, that finally cooled him off.

Infante drove in a career-high seven runs and the Royals overcame some early sloppiness for an 8-4 win over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night.

A veteran infielder making his first start in 11 days, Infante hit a three-run homer in the second inning off Corey Kluber (8-14), added a two-run double in the fifth after the Indians pulled their ace and hit a two-run single in the seventh.

Infante also had a sacrifice and nearly matched the offensive output of teammate Mike Moustakas, who set a team record with nine RBI on Saturday against Baltimore. Needing a triple to hit for the cycle, Infante lined out to center field in the ninth.

Afterward, he treated his big night like it was nothing unusual.

“I’m grateful for the chance to play,” Infante said. “It felt good.”

Yordana Ventura (12-8) went five innings, retiring struggling All-Star Jason Kipnis with the bases loaded to end the fifth as the AL Central-leading Royals, who had three errors in the first three innings and four overall, split the four-game series. Kansas City won for just the fourth time in 13 games.

Infante has hit two homers this season — both in Cleveland.

“I get lucky in this park,” he said, laughing. “I put some good swings on the ball here.”

The Indians didn’t make up any more ground in the wild-card race. They came in trailing Houston by four games for the second spot.

Cleveland loaded the bases in the ninth, prompting Royals manager Ned Yost to bring in closer Greg Holland, who gave up a sacrifice fly but got his 32nd save.

Kluber started for the first time since Aug. 29 after being sidelined with a hamstring injury. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner allowed two runs and five hits in four innings, settling in after Infante’s homer.

But as soon as Kluber left, the Royals pounced on left-handed reliever Kyle Crockett, who gave up Eric Hosmer’s RBI double that put Kansas City up 4-2. Jeff Manship came on for Cleveland but walked Alex Rios, and Infante followed with his double to make it 6-2.

Infante’s second double pushed Kansas City’s lead to 8-3 in the seventh.

“We just made some mistakes to Infante tonight,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “When we got it where we needed to we were OK, but when we didn’t he killed us.”

With a large lead in the division, the Royals have been on cruise control lately and not playing as well as they did earlier in the season.

They didn’t start out smoothly in the series finale, committing three errors — two on pretty routine grounders — in the first three innings.

“We didn’t play great baseball tonight,” Yost said. “We swung the bats, but defensively we had some lapses. We’ve got to get this little streak turned around and get back to playing good baseball.”

Kluber’s return was surprisingly short.

On Wednesday, Francona joked that he might limit the right-hander to “140-150” pitches, but wound up pulling Kluber after 61.

Infante’s second homer of the season gave the Royals a 3-0 lead in the second.

Salvador Perez led off with a routine grounder, but reached safely on third baseman Giovanny Urshela’s throwing error. Rios singled before Infante turned on a 1-0 fastball, driving it onto the home run porch in left. His other homer came in Cleveland on July 27.

HOT HOSMER

Hosmer went 1 for 5 but is batting .359 (23 for 64) with 20 RBI this season against the Indians.

PEREZ’S SHOULDER

Perez was struck on the right shoulder by a wicked foul tip off Urshela’s bat in the fourth inning. Kansas City’s All-Star catcher stayed in the game, but later took a shot off the chest protector and was replaced in the ninth.

“It might have killed you and me, but he’s a tough guy,” Yost said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals OF Lorenzo Cain got the night off after going 0 for 4 on Wednesday. He’s been slowed by an assortment of nagging injuries, and those coupled with a .192 career average against Kluber kept Cain on the bench.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Johnny Cueto has dropped five straight starts for the first time in his career. He’ll start the series opener in Detroit. The first inning has been an issue for Cueto, who has been touched for a combined seven runs and 10 hits in the first over his past three outings.

Indians: RHP Cody Anderson opens a three-game series against the White Sox. He’s won back-to-back starts for the first time after defeating Detroit in his previous outing.

— Associated Press —

CLEVELAND (AP) — While Francisco Lindor makes a late run for AL Rookie of the Year, he might be accomplishing something even more important for the Cleveland Indians.

“He keeps getting better and better,” manager Terry Francona said. “He’s impacting games almost every night.”

Lindor was 3 for 4 with a home run and four RBI, and also made an outstanding defensive play at shortstop to help the Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 Wednesday night.

The win also helped Cleveland remain in contention for the Amercan League’s second wild-card spot.

“It’s fun to watch,” Francona said. “For him to impact games the way he has is pretty special.”

Lindor downplayed his night, saying, “It felt great. We won. That’s the biggest thing.”

Danny Salazar (13-8) took a three-hit shutout into the seventh before Mike Moustakas started the inning with a home run. The right-hander allowed one run and struck out six in seven innings as the Indians (72-72) got back to .500.

Danny Duffy (7-8) allowed four runs in 2 1/3 innings for Kansas City, which has dropped nine of 12.

Lindor, who matched his career high in hits and RBI, had a solo homer in the first for his 100th hit since being called up from the minors on June 14. He added a two-run single in the second and an RBI single in the fourth, but the moment that meant the most to him may have come the following inning.

Lindor impacted the game defensively in the fifth. He dove to his left to come up with Alex Rios’ ground ball and made a one-hop throw to first from his knees for the out. He showed his ever-present smile after the play as he watched the scoreboard replay.

“It looked great,” he said. “I’ve never been a fan of a guy who makes a great play and acts like he’s done it 10,000 times. Smile, man. That’s what we play for.”

Duffy was impressed.

“I honestly think Lindor has already arrived,” he said. He’s going to be a heck of a player.”

Lindor drove a 1-0 pitch several rows deep in the left-field bleachers in the first. Following Jason Kipnis’ RBI single in the second, the switch-hitter punched a hit through the right side for a 4-0 lead.

Lindor’s first two hits came from the right side against the left-handed Duffy. His fourth-inning single was off right-hander Jeremy Guthrie. Lindor, 21, was Cleveland’s first draft pick in 2011, No. 8 overall. He began the season at Triple-A Columbus.

Cleveland is four games behind Houston, but also trailed Minnesota and Los Angeles in the wild-card race.

Kansas City was a season-high 31 games over .500 (82-51) on Sept. 3 before its recent rough stretch. The Royals were still 10 games ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central.

HOW MANY?

Reigning AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber, who has been out since late August with a strained hamstring, will start against the Royals on Thursday. Asked if Kluber will be on a pitch count, Francona joked, “Yeah, probably 140-150.” Francona then said there won’t be a fixed number of pitches for the right-hander.

HEARD IT THIS TIME

A Progressive Field technician mistakenly set off fireworks when Rios homered Tuesday night. Francona said the explosion shocked him a little and then admitted he’d never heard the fireworks go off when an Indians player hit a home run.

“I did (hear it),” Francona said of the fireworks after Lindor’s homer. I kind of checked it out.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Lorenzo Cain was in the lineup after being removed in the ninth inning Tuesday. He was hit on the leg by a pitch earlier in the game and twisted his ankle Monday.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura has won three of his last four road starts, raising his season mark in away games to 4-3 with a 5.15 ERA.

Indians: RHP Corey Kluber returns to the mound for the first time since Aug. 29. He’s 1/3 in four starts this season against the Royals.

— Associated Press —

CLEVELAND (AP) — The spark came from Alex Rios. The sparklers were courtesy of the Indians.

Kansas City’s Kris Medlen allowed five hits over 6 1/3 innings and Rios connected for a home run off Josh Tomlin that launched some unintentional fireworks, leading the Royals to a 2-0 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.

Medlen (4-1) shut out the Indians before Royals manager Ned Yost turned things over to his top-ranked bullpen. Ryan Madson struck out two in the seventh, Wade Davis got through the eighth and Greg Holland worked around a two-on, no-out mess he created in the ninth for his 31st save.

The Royals won for just the third time in 11 games and moved a little closer to wrapping up an AL Central title.

Rios put the Royals ahead 2-0 with two outs in the fifth off Tomlin (5-2) by hitting his fourth homer, a shot onto the pedestrian patio in left that prompted an accidental celebration in Progressive Field. As Rios rounded first, fireworks exploded above the ballpark, a tradition usually reserved for any homer hit by an Indians player.

TV cameras caught the distraught fireworks technician with his hands clutching his head after his quick-trigger mistake, which prompted a chorus of boos from the small crowd.

“It was nice,” Rios joked about the unexpected explosion. “It’s the first time that’s happened to me in a road game. When I heard all the screams, it crossed my mind that they somehow called it foul. It shook me a little bit. It caught me off-guard. When I was rounding second, I heard people screaming and that’s when I thought something happened, but it’s all good.”

The Indians, who pulled back to .500 for just the second time since April by winning the series opener, fell to 13-6 since Aug. 25.

It was a hard-luck loss for Tomlin, who had won his previous five starts. The right-hander gave up two runs and four hits in his second complete game this month. After giving Rios’ homer, Tomlin retired 13 of 14.

Tomlin didn’t take any satisfaction in his strong outing.

“It doesn’t feel good,” he said. “I’m glad I was able to keep the team in the game, don’t get me wrong, but we need wins, and that’s the bottom line. It doesn’t matter how well I pitch, if their guy does better than me on the other side then it’s still a loss. And that’s not what we need right now.”

Medlen, who was making just his fifth start since bouncing over from the bullpen last month, improved to 3-0 on the road. The right-hander missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery.

“We needed that,” Yost said. “We needed a good pitching performance. We needed to get to the bullpen in the seventh inning with the lead and that’s exactly what Kris provided for us.”

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the second on Perez’s RBI single after the Indians failed to catch Mike Moustaskas’ foul pop behind the plate with two outs.

Catcher Yan Gomes yanked off his mask and looked skyward but couldn’t locate the high pop, which fell untouched about 15 feet from the batter’s box as Tomlin and third baseman Giovanny Urshela helplessly looked on. Moustakas made the Indians pay by following with a double off the center-field wall and scored on Perez’s clutch hit.

The Royals entered batting .280 with two outs — 37 points higher than the major league average.

HOLLAND’S HEALTH

Yost went to the mound with a trainer in the ninth to check on Holland, whose velocity has noticeably dropped.

“There’s a little bit of concern there,” Yost said. “You have to look at a closer’s mentality. He has that. He’s got the heart of a lion.”

Yost said Holland was surprised by the visit, and told his manager, “I got this. I’m fine.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: Ace Corey Kluber has been cleared to start Thursday’s series finale against Yordano Ventura after being sidelined with a right hamstring injury. Kluber did some infield drills before Tuesday’s game and was cleared by Cleveland’s medical staff. The reigning Cy Young Award winner has been out since Aug. 29.

UP NEXT

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy had his shortest outing this season against the Indians, who knocked him out with a four-run first inning on May 6. Duffy is allowing lefties to hit just .132 against him in his last 10 starts.

Indians: RHP Danny Salazar will make his third start this season against the first-place Royals. He’s 1-1 with a 5.54 ERA. In his last start, Salazar surpassed 175 strikeouts, the third Cleveland pitcher to reach that plateau in 2015.

— Associated Press —