CLEVELAND (AP) — Yan Gomes hit a three-run homer, Michael Brantley got three more hits and the Cleveland Indians stayed in the AL wild-card chase for at least one more day with a 6-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

A loss would have eliminated the Indians, but after blowing a 3-0 lead, they rallied and moved within 3½ games of Kansas City and Oakland in the wild-card standings. There are four days left in the regular season.

The Royals, who haven’t made the playoffs since 1985, fell two games behind first-place Detroit in the AL Central.

Zach McAllister (4-7) pitched 2 1-3 scoreless innings and Cody Allen worked the ninth for his 23rd save.

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.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Danny Duffy pitched six shutout innings for his first win in more than a month as the Kansas City Royals moved closer to the top of the AL Central 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, held the Indians to six hits. The left-hander had been sidelined since Sept. 6 with a sore shoulder.

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

Carlos Carrasco (8-6) couldn’t keep the momentum going for the Indians, who earlier completed a 4-3 win in 10 innings in a game suspended on Aug. 31 in Kansas City.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Nori Aoki hit a two-run triple, helping Jeremy Guthrie and the Kansas City Royals hold their AL wild-card spot by beating the Detroit Tigers 5-2 Sunday.

The Royals avoided a three-game sweep and moved within 1 1/2 games of the AL Central-leading Tigers. Kansas City began the day with a half-game edge over Seattle for the second wild-card spot.

Aoki’s triple in the fourth scored Omar Infante and Mike Moustakas to break a 2-all tie and end the day for Rick Porcello.

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

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. Greg Holland threw a perfect ninth for his 43rd save in 45 chances, but first since Sept. 3.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Max Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers won their appeal on a wild play, and Joe Nathan escaped a ninth-inning jam to hold off the Kansas City Royals 3-2 Saturday and boost their AL Central lead.

The Tigers increased their edge to 2 1/2 games over the Royals. Kansas City fell into a tie for the second wild-card spot with Seattle, which played later at Houston.

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

Scherzer (17-5) outpitched James Shields (14-8). The Royals put two runners on against Nathan, but he retired Nori Aoki and pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez on grounders for his 33th save in 40 tries.

It was 1-all in the sixth when a line drive and a wild throw led to an appeal toss and a pair of umpire discussions that wound up ruling a Royals runner had left third base too soon.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — 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.

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.

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.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lorenzo Cain hit a three-run homer, Nori Aoki kept up his tear at the plate and the Kansas City Royals roughed up Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale in a 6-2 victory Wednesday night that kept the pressure on Detroit in the AL Central.

The first-place Tigers led the Royals by 1 1/2 games at the start of the night.

Alcides Escobar also homered for a Royals offense that had been scuffling for weeks, and Aoki went 3 for 4 to finish with 11 hits in the series. Yordano Ventura (13-10) allowed three hits and two walks over seven innings, the lone run off him coming on a sacrifice fly.

Meanwhile, Sale (12-4) was cuffed for a season-high five earned runs on nine hits over five innings. It was arguably the three-time All-Star’s worst start since Aug. 23, 2013, when he gave up eight runs over seven innings in a loss to the Rangers.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis both gave up runs for the first time in nearly three months as the Kansas City Royals’ dominant bullpen was touched up Tuesday night in a 7-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Davis replaced Herrera with two on in the seventh inning and walked Jose Abreu to load the bases for Conor Gillaspie, who cleared them with a triple to right-center on a 2-2 pitch to give Chicago a 7-5 lead.

That ended Herrera’s scoreless streak at 30 2-3 innings, dating to June 24. Also snapped was Davis’ shutout streak of 31 2-3 innings, a club record for a reliever, with the first run charged to him since June 25.

The rare bullpen failure prevented Kansas City from gaining ground on AL Central leader Detroit, which lost at Minnesota. The Royals remained 1 1/2 games behind the Tigers, but still lead Seattle for the second wild-card spot.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pinch-runners Jarrod Dyson and Terrance Gore scored in the ninth inning as the Kansas City Royals rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.

Mike Moustakas doubled with one out in the ninth. Dyson ran for him and stole third and came around to score as Jake Petricka (1-5) threw a wild pitch.

After Nori Aoki, who had four hits, doubled with two outs, Gore ran for him and scored from second on Lorenzo Cain’s infield single.

Wade Davis (9-2) worked a scoreless ninth to pick up the victory, extending his scoreless streak to 31 2-3 innings.

White Sox starter John Danks pitched six scoreless innings and allowed just two singles, both by Aoki, before departing after 103 pitches. He struck out six and walked four.

The Royals scored all their runs off three White Sox relievers.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Daniel Nava hit a grand slam, Xander Bogaerts added a three-run shot and the Boston Red Sox rallied past the skidding Kansas City Royals 8-4 on Sunday.

Kansas City blew a four-run lead and dropped three of four to the last-place Red Sox.

The Royals fell 1 1-2 games behind Detroit, which beat Cleveland, in the AL Central. Kansas City is in the thick of the wild-card race.

The Red Sox chased Jason Vargas (11-9) with one out in the sixth after Mookie Betts and Bogaerts singled. Reliever Aaron Crow walked Yoenis Cespedes to load the bases and struck out Allen Craig.

Nava hit Crow’s next pitch into the Red Sox bullpen for his second career grand slam and a 7-4 lead.

Bogaerts homered in the third and got three hits. He also had a sacrifice fly and drove in four runs.

Joe Kelly (3-2) got the win.