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

KANSAS CITY, Mo. 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. 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 with four 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.

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.

“You just try to keep that on the back burner and really stay focused on what you’re doing and try to win games every single day and in the end we’ll see where we’re at.”

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 61/3 innings.

That streak ended in the first, a busy frame that got off to a cheerful start for the season’s 20th sellout crowed, 38,167, at Kauffman Stadium when shortstop Alcides Escobar made a nifty back-to-the-infield grab of Jose 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 Alex Rios’ glove and went to the wall for a triple. The hit scored two Jason Kipnis opened the game with a single but Santana was stranded at third.

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

They rocked Medlen, who departed after 32/3 innings, and the bullpen didn’t provide much relief.

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

Ben Zobrist homered in the first, 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.

Pecking away continued in the fourth. Kendrys Morales got things started with a one-out single and moved to third on Mike Moustakas’ opposite field ground-rule double. Perez’s double scored them both, and he came around to score when Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis couldn’t handle Escobar’s grounder up the middle. The ball caromed off his 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 more in the sixth that created distance and by then the Royals had stopped scoring and hitting. Escobar’s RBI was Royals’ final hit of the night.

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