CLEVELAND (AP) — Rookie Yordano Ventura blanked Cleveland’s punchless offense for seven innings as the Kansas City Royals kept pressure on first-place Detroit in the AL Central with a 7-1 win over the Indians on Tuesday night.

The hard-throwing Ventura (14-10) allowed four singles and threw a 100 mph fastball on his 104th pitch.

Salvador Perez’s two-out, two-run double off Danny Salazar (6-8) put the Royals ahead 5-0 in the fifth and they turned their attention to the left-field scoreboard to monitor the Tigers’ score. Kansas City entered one game out of first and with a grasp on one of the league’s two wild-card spots.

The Royals are closing in on their first postseason appearance since 1985, when they won their only World Series title.

At 86-71, Kansas City matched its win total from last season. It’s the first time the Royals have had consecutive seasons with at least 86 victories since 1977-78.

The Indians’ faint playoff hopes grew dimmer. Cleveland trails Kansas City by 4 1/2 games in the wild-card chase with four games remaining. The Royals have five games left.

Cleveland’s offense went into a funk at the worst time possible. The Indians scored an unearned run in the eighth, ending a string of 19 straight scoreless innings.

Ventura made his major league debut against the Indians last September, a performance Indians manager Terry Francona called “electric.”

“We’re not hoping for electric tonight,” Francona said.

Ventura didn’t have to be. The Indians are currently powerless.

With a chance to stay in the race in the season’s final week, Cleveland is collapsing.

Omar Infante’s two-run double in the fourth gave the Royals a 2-0 lead, and with the Indians’ offense sputtering, Ventura had more than enough cushion to notch his fifth win in six starts. He’s 7-1 with a 2.02 ERA in his last eight starts in the division.

In the fifth, Salazar, who struck out the side in the first two innings, got two quick outs before Eric Hosmer doubled and scored on Billy Butler’s double. Alex Gordon was walked intentionally and Perez drove in two with his shot to left-center, the ball just clearing lunging left fielder Michael Brantley’s glove.

Salazar was dominant in the early going, getting six strikeouts in the first two innings with each whiff coming on a wicked change-up that badly fooled the Royals hitters.

He escaped a threat in the third, but Salazar wasn’t so fortunate in the fourth, when he walked Butler and gave up a single to Gordon before Infante pulled his double into the left-field corner.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: OF David Murphy has been limited to spot duty against right-handers as he deals with a nagging abdominal injury that landed him on the disabled list in August. Francona said Murphy isn’t 100 percent and that he’s trying to “be respectful of him” by not playing him too much.

UP NEXT

LHP Jason Vargas (11-10), who has recorded the AL’s third-lowest ERA (2.42) on the road, starts the series finale for the Royals, who oddly lost as the home team on Monday when they dropped a suspended game. Trevor Bauer (5-8) goes for the Indians, who have lost each of his past four starts after winning four in a row and five of six.

— Associated Press —

CLEVELAND (AP) — Danny Duffy pushed the Royals a little closer to the top in the AL Central and nearer their first playoff appearance in 29 years.

Duffy pitched six shutout innings for his first win in more than a month as Kansas City moved within one game of first-place Detroit and kept some distance over Cleveland in the wild-card race, beating the Indians 2-0 on Monday night.

Duffy (9-11), who had thrown just one pitch in September before the start, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first and held the Indians to six hits. The left-hander had been sidelined since Sept. 6 with a sore shoulder.

“I wasn’t feeling any pressure,” Duffy said. “I tried to simplify things and not think about the race we’re in.”

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Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 44th save as the Royals, seeking their first postseason appearance since 1985, earned an unusual split and moved within one game of the Tigers, who lost 2-0 at home to the White Sox.

Earlier, the Royals lost 4-3 in 10 innings in a game suspended Aug. 31 in Kansas City.

“It was a good day for us,” manager Ned Yost said. “We wanted to get that suspended game behind us. We knew that was looming over our heads. It’s like we’ve been saying, nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Carlos Carrasco (8-6) couldn’t keep the momentum going for the Indians, who remain 3 1/2 games out in the wild card and are quickly running out of time.

“It’s not very often you don’t score and come away with a split,” manager Terry Francona said. “There’s not a lot of season left. Every time you lose a game, you’re disappointed, and now we’ll show up tomorrow, and it’s kind of simple. Just show up and try to win.”

Duffy survived a shaky first inning in which he threw 24 pitches. He gave up three hits in the first two innings but just three more over the next four. His previous start against Cleveland was the game that wound up being suspended.

Duffy’s performance — he was removed after throwing one pitch at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 6 — took a little pressure off the Royals, who entered the day holding one of the two wild-card spots. Kansas City picked up one-half game on Seattle and stayed comfortably ahead of Cleveland.

“The teams we needed to lose, lost tonight,” said first baseman Eric Hosmer, who hit an RBI single in the first. “We gained some ground, especially playing these guys. They’re a tough team. If we get a chance to put these guys away, we need to make the most of it.”

Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the fifth on Alcides Escobar’s RBI single that easily could have been ruled an error on Indians shortstop Jose Ramirez.

Cleveland’s first three hitters reached in the first, but the Indians came up empty as Duffy retired cleanup hitter Carlos Santana on a popup, struck out Yan Gomes looking and got Mike Aviles on a lazy fly to right.

Carrasco gave the Indians another solid outing, allowing two runs and seven hits with nine strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. The right-hander tossed a two-hitter last week in Houston for his first complete-game shutout.

After waiting 23 days, the Indians needed nine minutes to finish off the Royals in the first game and temporarily pulled within 2 1/2 games in a wild, wild-card race entering its last days.

Scott Atchison gave up a two-out RBI single to Nori Aoki in the bottom of the 10th — Kansas City was the home team on the road — before getting Omar Infante to pop out for his second save with the tying run at second.

SOFT SCHEDULE: After finishing their series in Cleveland, the Royals will conclude the regular season with four games in Chicago. Kansas City is 10-5 against the White Sox and 5-1 at U.S. Cellular Field.

BLANKED: The shutout was Kansas City’s first in Cleveland since July 29, 2011.

STRIKEOUT KING: Wade Davis recorded his 104th strikeout, setting a single-season club record for a Royals reliever. The previous mark was shared by Jim York (1971) and Greg Holland (2013).

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: Second baseman Jason Kipnis continues to be slowed by a sore right hamstring. He missed three games last week, and Francona wants to monitor him closely. Kipnis pinch hit in the eighth of the regularly scheduled game and grounded to short.

UP NEXT

Rookie RHP Yordano Ventura (13-10) makes his biggest start to date for the Royals. He leads all MLB rookies in wins. RHP Danny Salazar (6-7) pitches on four days’ rest for Cleveland after working 7 1/3 innings in his last start, against Houston.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Each win moves the Royals one step closer to the end of their long playoff drought, and Sunday was a big one.

Nori Aoki hit a two-run triple, and Kansas City beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2 to avoid a sweep in the weekend series between the AL Central’s top teams.

“Today’s game shows that we’re not going away,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “They have that feeling. They had that feeling this morning that they knew this was going to be a big game. They had a lot of confidence in themselves when they hit the field.”

Kansas City pulled within 1 1/2 games of Detroit for the top spot in the division. The Royals, looking for their first playoff appearance since they won the World Series in 1985, also stayed in position for a wild card.

The Tigers finish the season at home with seven games against Chicago and Minnesota.

“Hopefully we’ll come home and it’ll get loud,” Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said. “It’s going to be fun. It shouldn’t be hard to get pumped up. If you don’t have that adrenaline now you’re not human. You should check your pulse.”

Aoki’s tiebreaking triple in the fourth scored Omar Infante and Mike Moustakas, making it 4-2 and chasing Rick Porcello from the game.

“It would have been nice to get two or three wins (against Detroit), but one win means we’re still in good position,” Aoki said. “We’re going to play our best and leave it all out on the road.”

Porcello (15-12) is 0-4 in his past five starts. He yielded nine hits and walked two in 3 1/3 innings.

Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie (12-11) pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the second and was pulled after 81 pitches and 5 1/3 innings, yielding one earned run.

The Royals’ dominant bullpen trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland held the Tigers scoreless after Guthrie exited.

Davis struck out two, bringing his total to 103, tying a Royals record for a reliever. Holland threw a perfect ninth for his 43rd save in 45 chances, and his first since Sept. 3.

“We really needed that victory,” Holland said.

Alex Gordon added an RBI double in the seventh for Kansas City, snapping an 0-for-14 slump.

“It was a big game, but this team’s not going anywhere,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “We’ve been fighting all season, we’re not going to take one bad series at the end and fold.”

Ian Kinsler hit his 16th homer in the third for the Tigers.

J.D. Martinez scored in the fourth on an error by Moustakas at third base. Moustakas has committed six errors in the past 12 games.

“It’s hard to sweep and it’s difficult in their ballpark,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “I’m happy with two of three and now we’ll go home.”

FANS SHOW UP

All three games with the Tigers drew 37,000-plus, bringing the Royals’ home attendance to 1,915,482 for 81 dates. That’s the most fans the Royals have drawn since 1991.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: RHP Anibal Sanchez (right pectoral strain) pitched a three-inning simulated game. If he feels good Monday, he likely would be activated this week with a role to be determined.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy, who has missed his previous two starts with a sore shoulder, will return to the rotation Monday, starting at Cleveland.

UP NEXT

Tigers: Rookie LHP Kyle Lobstein, who has walked 11 and struck out 18 in 27 2/3 innings, will start the series opener at home against the White Sox on Monday night.

Royals: Kansas City will need to rally quickly when it plays in Cleveland on Monday. The teams will resume their game that was suspended by rain Aug. 31 in Kansas City, with the Indians leading 4-2 going to the bottom of the 10th. The Royals and Cleveland will then play their regularly scheduled game.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A rarely-used backup infielder who never even got into the game made the play of the day for the Detroit Tigers.

From the dugout, Hernan Perez spotted that a Kansas City runner failed to tag up. That set off a wild sequence Saturday that resulted in an out instead of the go-ahead score — plus a lot of discussion — as Detroit beat the Royals 3-2 to boost its AL Central lead.

Winning pitcher Max Scherzer said he’d reward the 23-year-old Perez, who spent most the year in the minors and has only three at-bats this season in the majors.

“Whatever he wants — dinner, lunch, breakfast, drinks, you name it,” Scherzer said. “That’s a one-in-a-million play. It’s unbelievable that we had someone on the bench be astute enough to see that.”

Joe Nathan escaped a ninth-inning jam as the Tigers increased their edge to 2½ games over the Royals.

Kansas City leads by a half-game for the second wild-card spot over Seattle, which lost to Houston later Saturday.

Detroit, seeking its fourth straight division title, has won 13 of 18 against the Royals this year, including eight of nine at Kauffman Stadium.

It was 1-all in the Royals sixth when things got crazy.

With Salvador Perez on third and Eric Hosmer on second with one out, Omar Infante lined out to second baseman Ian Kinsler. Trying for a double play, Kinsler threw to shortstop Eugenio Suarez and the ball sailed into left field.

Perez, who had been trying to get back to third after the catch, reversed course, headed home and appeared to score the tiebreaking run.

“I have to give credit where credit is due,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “Hernan Perez was the guy who initially noticed it, sitting on the bench watching the game.”

“That’s how it all started,” he said.

Scherzer (17-5) got back on the mound and made an appeal throw to third, saying that Perez never tagged up. Third base umpire and crew chief Larry Vanover called Perez safe, prompting Ausmus to ask for video review challenge.

“You have to appeal. They called him safe on the appeal. I told Larry Vanover, ‘We’re appealing that Perez never went back and touched the bag.’ ”

“There was some discussion on whether that’s a challengeable play, because a tag-up on a fly ball is not. This wasn’t a case whether a guy left early. This was a missed base, which is challengeable,” he said.

The umpires checked with the replay booth in New York, and were told the play was indeed not reviewable.

On the videoboard, meanwhile, a replay was displayed that clearly showed Perez never tagged up. The umpires gathered again and reversed their original call, ruling Perez out and ending the inning.

“We started talking about what happened,” Vanover said in a statement. “We walked through the play. We took a consensus of the information, out of that crew consultation, we came up with the answer that he didn’t tag up.”

“Originally, I thought he was coming back, so I ruled safe on the appeal, but now after the crew consultation we took a consensus of the information.”

Added Vanover: “The crew was like 75 percent that you can’t review that, but we weren’t 1,000 percent. And in that situation, I didn’t want to not go to the headset and ask to review it when I could have. I wanted to make darn sure I didn’t mess that up.”

Perez said it was a confusing sequence.

“I don’t know what the rule is there in that situation. I never see something like that before. It’s never happened to me before,” he said.

Royals manager Ned Yost said the team wouldn’t contest the call any further.

“You can’t protest a judgment call,” Yost said.

Pinch-hitter Tyler Collins and Rajai Davis hit RBI singles in the seventh off James Shields (14-8).

Jarrod Dyson and Alcides Escobar singled with one out in the Royals ninth. They moved up on Nori Aoki’s groundout and were stranded on pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez’s grounder, giving Nathan his 33rd save in 40 tries.

Torii Hunter opened the Tigers’ fourth with his 17th home run. He also singled in the sixth for his sixth straight multihit game, the longest streak of his career.

Escobar hit an RBI single in the fifth and Hosmer singled home a run in the eighth.

Aoki, who was 13 for 16 in the past four games, put down sacrifice bunts in first and third innings, but the Royals failed to convert that into a run off Scherzer.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: RHP Anibal Sanchez, who has not pitched since Aug. 8 because of a right pectoral strain, will throw a simulated game Sunday. … C Alex Avila remains sidelined with concussion-like symptoms and has not played since Sunday.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy, who has missed his past two starts with a sore shoulder, threw a bullpen session in the ninth inning Friday and is scheduled to rejoin the rotation Tuesday at Cleveland.

UP NEXT

Tigers: Sunday starter Rick Porcello is 2-1 with a 2.18 ERA in three starts this season against the Royals.

Royals: RHP Jeremy Guthrie gave up eight runs, six earned, on 10 hits and one walk in 2 2/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season, in a Sept. 8 start at Detroit.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Detroit Tigers insisted that they weren’t trying to make a statement.

They accomplished it anyway.

Ian Kinsler hit a two-run homer, everyone in the Detroit starting lineup had a hit by the fourth inning and the Tigers pounded Jason Vargas and the second-place Kansas City Royals 10-1 on Friday night to add another game to their AL Central lead.

The Tigers (85-68), who now lead the division by 1 1/2 games, have forged their advantage by dominating head-to-head matchups. They are 12-5 against the Royals his season.

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“We just went out there and did what we’re capable of doing,” Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said. “But there are no statements. Our intent is just to play the game.”

Justin Verlander (14-12) had all the support he needed by the end of the first inning, when the Tigers had shelled Vargas (11-10) for three runs on five hits. Detroit tacked on a run in the second, another in the fourth and then broke things open with a five-run fifth.

Lost amid the offensive onslaught was a fine performance by Verlander, who had struggled his last three times out. The 2011 Cy Young winner allowed one run on seven hits in 7 1/3 innings.

“He certainly seemed like he was up for this game,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “It was there up there with one of the best games he’s had all season.”

Vargas allowed five runs on nine hits in 3 1-3, his shortest outing since April 16, 2013.

“It’s my responsibility to set the tone,” he said. “They were hitting good pitches and I was leaving pitches up in the zone. I just wasn’t able to put us in the right direction.”

Now, it’s up to the Royals to change course in a hurry.

“There’s no carry-over,” manager Ned Yost said. “They whipped us, they beat us, they spanked us, whatever you want to say. We’ll show up again tomorrow and be ready to play.”

Kansas City came into the weekend off a momentum-building win over the White Sox, and a day off Thursday allowed anticipation of the series to swell. Fans snatched up every last ticket, pounding the plastic “thundersticks” given away at the turnstiles as the Royals opened arguably their most important set of games since the 1985 World Series.

It took about 15 minutes for silence to grip the ballpark.

Kinsler led off the game with a single, and after Hunter flied out, the Tigers rapped out three straight hits to take the lead. Hunter got his hit the next inning, an RBI double, and James McCann became the last Detroit player in the starting lineup with a hit in the fourth.

His single and ensuing stolen base were the first of McCann’s career.

Royals relievers Casey Coleman and Louis Coleman could do little to stop the bleeding as the Tigers pounded out 15 hits by the fifth inning. And those fans that had packed “the K” to see the first act of a pennant-chase drama? Many were already streaming for the exits.

Kinsler paced the Tigers’ offense with three RBIs, and Eugenio Suarez added a pair. Everyone in the starting lineup but McCann, J.D. Martinez and Rajai Davis drove in a run.

That included 35-year-old Victor Martinez, whose run-scoring single in the first inning gave him 100 RBIs to go with 31 home runs. The only players older than him to become first-time members of the 30-100 club have been Carlton Fisk (1985) and Edgar Martinez (2000).

“It’s nice,” Martinez said, “but at the same time, I don’t look at those numbers. We’re in the middle of a race. That’s all that matters.”

BLOWOUTS AT THE K

Detroit has outscored Kansas City 60-21 in eight games at Kauffman Stadium this season. “We love the backdrop,” Hunter said. “We love the stadium.”

CHECK THE BOX SCORE

With the game out of reach early, both managers substituted liberally, giving their stars a chance to rest with a noon first pitch on Saturday. They combined to use 31 position players.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: C Alex Avila remains sidelined with concussion-like symptoms. He tried working out Friday but again felt dizzy. … RHP Anibal Sanchez (strained chest muscle) had no issues after a bullpen session Thursday. He plans to throw a simulated game Sunday.

Royals: LHP Tim Collins was recalled from Triple-A Omaha. The Royals considered bringing him back a few weeks ago, but Royals manager Ned Yost said a back injury kept him in the minors.

ON DECK

Tigers: RHP Max Scherzer (16-5) tries to beat Kansas City for the second time in less than two weeks. He allowed one run over 6 1/3 innings in a 4-2 victory on Sept. 9.

Royals: RHP James Shields (14-7) beat Detroit at Comerica Park the following day, tossing seven shutout innings. He only allowed two hits and a walk in that game.

— Associated Press —