MLB Wild Card roundup: Royals, A’s win

Rookie Yordano Ventura blanked Cleveland’s punchless offense for seven innings as the visiting Kansas City Royals kept pressure on first-place Detroit in the A.L. 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.

Kansas City remains one game out of first. Manager Ned Yost knows his club almost has a wild-card berth locked up. However, he’s got his sights on a bigger prize.

“I’m not really interested in the wild card right now,” Yost said. “That (magic) number doesn’t mean much to me. The wild card has always been Plan B. We’re in good shape right now. Our focus is on winning this division.”

Tigers 4, White Sox 3

Miguel Cabrera’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth lifted Detroit to a key victory over visiting Chicago.

The win kept Detroit a game ahead of Kansas City atop the American League Central and dropped their magic numbers to five for the division and two for the postseason.

Ian Kinsler started the bottom of the ninth by bouncing a single over Conor Gillaspie’s head at third, and Jake Petricka (1-6) walked Torii Hunter. Cabrera then lined a single to left, with Kinsler scoring from second.

Angels 2, Athletics 0

Gordon Beckham homered and visiting Los Angeles dropped Oakland into a tie for the top A.L. wild- card berth.

Sonny Gray whiffed Mike Trout three times among his career-best 12 strikeouts, one month to the day after Jon Lester fanned the Angels slugger three times at the Coliseum. But Gray had nothing to show for it as the Athletics were shut out for the seventh time since Aug. 1.

Oakland and Kansas City are tied for the two wild-card spots at 86-71, three games ahead of Seattle with five to play.

Pirates 3, Braves 2

Gerrit Cole retired the final 17 hitters he faced, and surging Pittsburgh clinched a spot in the playoffs with a victory at Atlanta.

The Pirates’ win combined with Milwaukee’s loss to Cincinnati assured Pittsburgh of no worse than an N.L. wild card. The Pirates wrapped up their berth exactly one year after clinching a place in the 2013 playoffs.

Dodgers 4, Giants 2

Justin Turner homered twice and Matt Kemp had a two-run shot in a testy first inning, helping host Los Angeles beat second-place San Francisco to stretch its N.L. West lead to 4 1/2 games.

The Giants’ seventh loss in 10 games kept them from clinching a playoff berth after Milwaukee lost at Cincinnati.

The Dodgers can win the division title behind ace Clayton Kershaw with a win in the series finale tonight.