American League wild-card roundup: Blue Jays fall three games back

After a loss to the Royals combined with a Guardians win over the Angels in extras, the Blue Jays now find themselves three games back of the final wild-card spot in the American League.

The Blue Jays were also jumped in the standings by the Orioles (64-68), and are now in a three-way tie with the Mariners and Twins at 64-69.

Wednesday also brought yet another change to the AL West picture, as the Astros jumped back into first place in the division with a victory over the Yankees. Meanwhile, the Rangers fell out of first and now find themselves out of a playoff spot after falling to the White Sox.

Toronto: vs. Kansas City, 7:07 p.m. (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+) Houston: at New York Yankees, 7:05 p.m. (Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+) New York Yankees: vs. Houston, 7:05 p.m. (Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+) Boston: at Miami, 6:40 p.m. Texas: at Chicago White Sox, 7:40 p.m. Cleveland: at Los Angeles Angels, 4:07 p.m. Baltimore: at St. Louis, 7:45 p.m. Minnesota: at Athletics, 9:05 p.m. Seattle: vs. Philadelphia, 4:10 p.m. Detroit: vs. Tampa Bay, 6:40 p.m.

TORONTO — Salvador Perez drove in two runs, Seth Lugo gave up one run in five effective innings, and Kansas City beat Toronto to extend its winning streak to nine games.

The last time the Kansas City Royals won nine straight was in July 2017.

Lugo (6-7) allowed six hits while striking out five to help the Royals take the first game of the three-game series.

Perez drove in the first run of the game despite grounding into a double play, then tacked on a go-ahead RBI single in the fifth for a 2-1 Kansas City lead. Kyle Isbel added insurance with an RBI sacrifice bunt, and Carter Jensen had a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

John Rave capped the scoring for the Royals with an RBI single in the ninth inning.

Max Scherzer (1-7) worked five innings, surrendering two runs on four hits for the Blue Jays. He struck out four and walked five while tying a season-high with 92 pitches. Scherzer is now within nine strikeouts of Gaylord Perry for ninth in major league history.

CHICAGO — Tristan Peters hit a two-run double off Jacob deGrom during Chicago's six-run first inning, and the White Sox held off the Texas Rangers 11-7 on Tuesday night.

Peters also went deep in the sixth, extending his career-high homer streak to four games. The All-Star outfielder had three of Chicago's 14 hits and walked twice.

Brenton Doyle added two hits and two RBIs as the AL Central-leading White Sox (69-63) improved to 3-3 on a seven-game homestand.

Texas had won four of five, including an 11-2 victory over Chicago on Monday night. The Rangers (66-67) dropped into second in the sluggish AL West, a half-game back of Houston.