After losing two out of three to Cleveland and the Chicago White Sox sweeping last place Minnesota, the Royals are sitting at 15-15 and six games behind the Sox.
The Royals lost to the Indians 5-4 on Sunday. Josh Tomlin won to improve to 5-0, the first Cleveland starter since 2011 to reach that feat.
Eric Hosmer homered, but Edison Volquez gave up homers to Carlos Santana and Mike Napoli.
The Royals were up 3-2 when Michael Brantley tied it with an RBI single in the fifth, and Lonnie Chisenhall’s bloop single gave Cleveland a 4-3 lead. Volquez pitched just 4.1 innings. Danny Duffy relieved Volquez and Marlon Byrd then made it 5-3 with a ground-rule RBI double.