Royals fall to Indians 9-5, lose edge in race for postseason home-field advantage

No team has the advantage in the race for home-field advantage in the American League playoffs.

The Royals on Saturday dropped their second straight game after clinching the Central Division title, 9-5 to the Cleveland Indians.

That outcome, along with the Toronto Blue Jays’ win over the Tampa Bay Rays earlier in the day, evens the records of the Royals and Blue Jays at 89-65.

Eight games remain for both teams. They each wrap up their home schedule on Sunday and finish the season on the road next week.

The Royals visit Chicago to meet the Cubs in a rescheduled game on Monday, then take on the White Sox. They end the season with a series at Minnesota.

The Blue Jays, who have clinched their first playoff appearance since 1993, finish the year against East Division rivals, with four games at Baltimore and three at Tampa Bay.

And Toronto is the hotter team. On July 26, the Blue Jays stood 50-50. They’re 39-15 since then. The Royals’ September record dropped to 9-15.

If the teams end up with the same record, the Blue Jays get the nod. They hold the tie-breaker advantage over the Royals after winning four of the seven games between the teams this season.

The Texas Rangers, leading the West Division, aren’t out of the race, standing five games behind the Royals and Blue Jays.

The team with the league’s best record will open the AL Division series at home against the Wild Card Game winner and have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, including the World Series by virtue of the AL’s victory in the All-Star Game.

“It’s worth something,” Royals manager Ned Yost said before the game. “Yes, it’s a goal of ours, something we want to try to accomplish. But if you get caught up and worry about what other people are doing this time of year, it can turn out in a negative way for you.”

Afterward, nothing changed.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in this group,” Yost said. “We just worry about ourselves. We have to go out and win baseball games. That will take care of everything.”

On Saturday, the Royals played from behind all evening.

Starter Kris Medlen had never surrendered a run to the Indians in two career starts, one for the Atlanta Braves and a Sept. 15 assignment in Cleveland, where he zipped through 6  1/3 innings.

That streak ended in the first, a busy inning that got off to a cheerful start for the crowd of 38,167 — the season’s 20th sellout at Kauffman Stadium — when shortstop Alcides Escobar made a nifty back-to-the-infield grab of José Ramirez’s pop.

But the next two hitters, Francisco Lindor and Carlos Santana treated Medlen rudely, with Lindor’s smash between first baseman Eric Hosmer’s legs hit so hard that it was ruled a double.

Santana followed with a sinking line drive that got under right fielder Alex Rios’ glove and went to the wall for a triple. The hit scored two — Jason Kipnis opened the game with a single.

The Indians’ runs came in bunches, with two more in the third and fourth innings and three in the sixth, when they took a 9-5 lead.

They rocked Medlen, who departed after 3  2/3 innings, and the bullpen didn’t provide much relief.

“I could not get comfortable on the mound,” Medlen said. “It was a big contrast from how I felt leaving the pen. I felt great. Once I got out there, I don’t know. The hitters tell you a lot about how your stuff is that night. And up and flat is how it felt tonight.”

For a while, the Royals were responding to the Indians’ runs.

Ben Zobrist homered in the first inning, his 13th of the season and seventh since the Royals acquired him on July 28.

The Royals added another in the third when Alex Gordon’s single to right brought home Escobar, who had tripled.

The pecking away continued in the fourth inning. Kendrys Morales got things started with a one-out single, and moved to third on Mike Moustakas’ opposite-field, ground-rule double. Salvador Perez’s double scored them both, and Perez came around to score when second baseman Kipnis couldn’t handle Escobar’s grounder up the middle. The ball caromed off Kipnis’ glove and far enough away for third-base coach Mike Jirschele to wave Perez home.

The Royals’ deficit stood at 6-5, but they drew no closer. The Indians added three runs more in the sixth that created distance, and by then the Royals had stopped scoring and hitting. Escobar’s RBI was the Royals’ final hit on a night in which they lost their grip on the AL’s best overall record.

Indians 9, Royals 5

1-ran for Chisenhall in the 3rd. 2-ran for K.Morales in the 8th.

E: L.Cain (10). LOB: Cleveland 4, Kansas City 4. 2B: Jo.Ramirez (13), Lindor (21), A.Almonte (7), Moustakas (31), S.Perez (24). 3B: Jo.Ramirez (3), C.Santana (2), A.Escobar (4). HR: Y.Gomes (12), off Medlen; Zobrist (13), off Tomlin. RBIs: Kipnis (51), Jo.Ramirez (23), Lindor 2 (47), C.Santana 3 (80), Y.Gomes (44), A.Gordon (45), Zobrist (54), S.Perez 2 (68), A.Escobar (47). SB: Lindor (9). CS: C.Santana (2). S: Aviles. SF: Lindor.

Runners left in scoring position: Cleveland 3 (Chisenhall, Kipnis, C.Santana); Kansas City 1 (Zobrist). RISP: Cleveland 3 for 9; Kansas City 3 for 5. GIDP: Moustakas. DP: Cleveland 1 (Kipnis, Jo.Ramirez, C.Santana).

F.Morales pitched to 2 batters in the 6th.

Inherited runners-scored: McAllister 1-0, Guthrie 1-0, F.Morales 1-1, Hochevar 2-2. HBP: by McAllister (A.Gordon), by Crockett (K.Morales). WP: Medlen.

Umpires: Home, Mike Estabrook; First, Ed Hickox; Second, Paul Nauert; Third, Dana DeMuth. Time: 3:03. Att: 38,167.

AP-WF-09-27-15 0218GMT

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 9:21 PM with the headline "Royals fall to Indians 9-5, lose edge in race for postseason home-field advantage."