Paulo Orlando slides home with the winning run in the 10th (photo/MLB)
Lorenzo Cain singled home pinch-runner Paulo Orlando in the 10th inning, and the Kansas City Royals rallied past the Seattle Mariners 4-3 Wednesday night to close in on their first division title in 30 years, by reducing their magic number to two. Minnesota beat Cleveland 4-2 to keep their faint hopes alive for at least one more day.
The Royals were down 3-1 and got a run back in the seventh, then tied the game in the ninth, when Jarrod Dyson’s sacrifice fly scored Cain, who singled and moved to third on Eric Hosmer’s broken-bat single. Alex Gordon snapped an 0-for-22 skid with a one-out single in the 10th. After Ben Zobrist was hit by a pitch from David Rollins, Orlando ran for Gordon. Cain’s winner was his third hit of the night.
Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura allowed three runs and six hits, four of them in the three-run fifth, over six innings.
