Royals clinch AL Central by beating Mariners 10-4

AMERICAN LEAGUE

ROYALS 10, MARINERS 4

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — 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) was 0-5 in his previous six starts. Logan Kensing (1-1) took the loss.

RANGERS 8, ATHLETICS 1 Cole Hamels pitched six innings to earn his fifth consecutive victory, Prince Fielder hit his 22nd home run and visiting Texas beat Oakland to complete a threegame sweep. The Rangers moved a season-high 14 games over .500 and extended their lead to 3½ games over the idle Astros in the AL West. Texas heads to Houston to begin a pivotal threegame series on Friday.

YANKEES 3, WHITE SOX 2 Carlos Beltran hit a three-run homer off White Sox ace Chris Sale, leading Michael Pineda and host New York past Chicago in their push for a playoff spot. The Yankees closed within three games of idle Toronto in the AL East. New York cut its magic number to six for clinching at least a wild-card slot.

RAYS 4, RED SOX 2 Erasmo Ramirez pitched seven solid innings, and Evan Longoria’s solo home run sparked a three-run sixth to lift

visiting Tampa Bay to a victory over Boston. Longoria’s home run was his 20th, giving him seven seasons with at least that many. He also had a double and single. Kevin Kiermaier also hit a solo home run for the Rays.

INTERLEAGUE

ORIOLES 5, NATIONALS 4 There were no beanballs and no brawl, just another victory for visiting Baltimore, which completed a three-game sweep by beating Washington thanks to Matt Wieters’ two-run home run in the eighth inning. Nationals star Bryce Harper did not have his best day at the plate: He went 0 for 3, grounding into a double play and walking twice. The front-runner for NL MVP honors has gone hitless three games in a row for the first time this season.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CARDINALS 7, BREWERS 3 Jhonny Peralta and Stephen Piscotty hit back-to-back home runs and combined for seven RBI to power St. Louis to a victory over visiting Milwaukee. St. Louis has a four-game lead over Pittsburgh for the NL Central lead. Michael Wacha (17-6) worked five innings and allowed three runs. St. Louis, a major league-best 97-56, went 41 games over .500 for the first time.

METS 6, REDS 4 Daniel Murphy had three hits, including a tiebreaking triple in the seventh inning, and New York closed in on its first playoff appearance in nine years by beating host Cincinnati.

Combined with Washington’s loss to Baltimore, the Mets’ magic number for clinching the NL East title was reduced to three.

MARLINS 1, PHILLIES 0 J.T. Realmuto’s RBI triple in the seventh inning broke a scoreless tie and Miami held on for a victory over visiting Philadelphia. Bryan Morris (5-3) picked up the victory by retiring both batters he faced. A.J. Ramos pitched the ninth for his 29th save in 35 chances. Ramos hit Odubel Herrera with a pitch to lead off the inning, but retired the next three batters.

DODGERS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 3 Chris Heisey hit a grand slam during the Dodgers’ sixrun fifth inning, and host Los Angeles trimmed its magic number to four for the NL West crown and a postseason berth with a victory over Arizona. Clayton Kershaw (15-7) had 9 strikeouts while yielding 6 hits and 3 runs over 5 innings.

PIRATES 5, ROCKIES 4 Pedro Alvarez hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the eighth inning, and visiting Pittsburgh earned their 10,000th victory since joining the National League, beating Colorado. Starling Marte collected four singles and finished 13 for 20 in the four-game sweep. It’s the most hits in a four-game series for a Pirates player since Pie Traynor had 13 in 1928.