MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Randy Dobnak pitched 5 1/3 innings for his first major league win, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Friday night.

Minnesota won for the sixth time in eight games to maintain its four-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central. It reduced its magic number to clinch the division title to five with eight games to play.

Marwin Gonzalez hit a two-run double for the Twins, and Miguel Sano had a run-scoring triple.

Kansas City has dropped seven of eight to fall to 56-99. It is one defeat away from its second consecutive 100-loss season and No. 6 in franchise history.

The Royals could give the majors four 100-loss teams in a single season for only the second time.

Dobnak (1-1) surrendered one run and three hits in his fourth start and eighth major league appearance overall. He has surrendered two earned runs in 10 1/3 innings over his past two outings.

Trevor May struck out the side in his second save of the season.

Eric Skoglund (0-2) gave up two runs and three hits in four innings for Kansas City.

Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Nelson Cruz hit a sacrifice fly, and Sano tripled home Jorge Polanco.

Kansas City got one back on Alex Gordon’s RBI double in the sixth, but Gonzalez responded with his two-run double in the bottom half.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Nelson Cruz hit two of Minnesota’s four home runs and matched his season high with five RBIs, igniting another impressive power display by the first-place Twins during an 8-5 victory on Thursday night over the Kansas City Royals to keep their American League Central lead at four games – with nine games to go.

Miguel Sano homered and hit the tiebreaking RBI double in the fifth following the ejection of Royals starter Mike Montgomery, who started that inning by giving up a home run to Mitch Garver. The Twins have 293 homers, one more than New York in the chase for the major league record set last season by the Yankees with 267.

Far more importantly in the pennant race, the Twins trimmed their magic number for clinching the division to six, meaning any combination of their wins and Cleveland losses would give them the title. The Indians completed a three-game sweep of Detroit on Thursday.

Sano, who reached the third deck above left field for the second time in three games, has 31 home runs, as does Garver. Cruz pushed his team lead to 39 homers with a two-run shot in the seventh that landed halfway up the wall of junipers that make up the batter’s eye behind center field. Cruz now has 399 career home runs, tied for 57th place on the all-time list with Andres Galarraga and Al Kaline.

Cruz, who has played in just 113 games due to two stints on the injured list for a strained left wrist, joined Eddie Rosario above the 100-RBI mark. The Twins also set their single-season club record with 885 runs and counting.

The home run derby helped struggling Twins starter Kyle Gibson out. He walked in back-to-back runs in the second inning before being removed with a 3-0 deficit. Dealing all year with ulcerative colitis, a digestive track disease, Gibson has faltered down the stretch, bad timing with the absence of Michael Pineda after his suspension for a banned diuretic.

Lewis Thorpe (4-2), the second of six relievers, worked four innings for the win. Taylor Rogers recorded his 28 saves with two strikeouts in a perfect ninth.

THE FOUL MONTY

Montgomery allowed seven hits and five runs in four innings. During a visit to the mound by pitching coach Cal Eldred after Garver’s home run, home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez came out to urge them to wrap it up. Montgomery had words for Gonzalez, who warned the left-hander before giving him the heave-ho after Montgomery kept jawing at him. He chucked the ball toward the plate on his walk off the mound and slammed his glove against the bench upon reaching the dugout.

Jacob Barnes (1-3) relieved him and gave up the double to Sano that center fielder Erick Mejia nearly caught after a long run but had pop out of his glove.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins RF Max Kepler (left shoulder soreness) was rested for the fifth straight game and the eighth time in the last 10 games.

UP NEXT

Royals: LHP Eric Skoglund (0-1, 8.36 ERA), who has taken the place of RHP Jakob Junis in the rotation, will pitch on Friday night for his first start since Aug. 30. Junis was shut down at 175 1/3 innings as a precaution due to his season workload. Skoglund pitched four innings in relief on Sunday.

Twins: Manager Rocco Baldelli declined before the game to declare his starter for the second game of the series, but rookie RHP Devin Smeltzer remained a strong possibility for the opening created by Pineda’s suspension. Smeltzer pitched three scoreless innings on Saturday.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Mark Canha knew it was just a matter of time before the right pitch would come. He waited, and his patience paid off.

Canha hit an RBI double with two outs in the 11th inning and the Oakland Athletics edged the Kansas City Royals 1-0 Wednesday to hold their lead atop the AL wild-card race.

The Athletics, who have won seven of eight, began the day two games ahead of Tampa Bay for the top wild-card spot. Cleveland was a half-game behind the Rays.

Canha was sitting on a hard sinker down and away that he’d seen Royals reliever Jesse Hahn use effectively.

“I was expecting it early,” Canha said. “He mixed in a couple of sliders and I finally got the pitch I was looking for.”

Canha connected on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, driving a 1-2 sinker down the right field line.

The A’s gave away Mark Canha T-shirts that he saw fans waving in the outfield during the game.

“It was a fun day,” Canha said. “I couldn’t have written a better story myself.”

Starters Homer Bailey of the A’s and Danny Duffy of the Royals each pitched seven sharp innings. Bailey, who was traded from Kansas City to Oakland in July, allowed three hits and struck out 11 while Duffy gave up two hits and fanned six.

“Both starters were extremely good,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Homer was much more consistent with his split, now. He just doesn’t miss against lefties. Just unbelievable. His curve was good, and he spotted his fastball extremely well. I didn’t see him miss a location all day long and it was the same with Danny. I thought this was one of Danny’s better games that he’s pitched all year long.”

Jurickson Profar drew a leadoff walk from Hahn (0-1) in the 11th and stole second. After striking out Marcus Semien and Matt Chapman, Hahn intentionally walked Matt Olson to face Canha.

J.B. Wendelken (3-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. He struck out Jorge Soler with the bases loaded and two outs in the 11th.

Bailey is 4-0 with a 1.88 ERA over his last seven starts. The Royals struck out 19 times and are three defeats away from reaching the 100-loss plateau with nine games left.

“The finish line’s in site,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “You can talk about games leading up, you can talk about series earlier in the season, but teams play differently now and each game’s more important and guys step up. It’s a different animal right now.”

FANCY FIELDING

A’s left fielder Chad Pinder saved at least a run with a diving catch on a flare off Ryan O’Hearn’s bat with runners at first and second with two outs in the seventh to keep the game scoreless.

Soler doubled off Bailey with one out and would have scored easily. Alex Gordon, who was issued an intentional walk ahead of O’Hearn’s at bat, likely would have scored, too.

MORE FANCY FIELDING

Royals left fielder Gordon crashed into the wall making a running catch to rob Canha of extra bases with one out in the seventh.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis has been shut down for the remainder of the season due to concerns about his workload, manager Ned Yost said. Junis has pitched 175 1/3 innings in 31 starts. . LHP Eric Skoglund will take Junis’ spot in the rotation.

Athletics: RHP Mike Fiers, who experienced nerve irritation in his right arm in his last start, will take his regular turn in the rotation on Friday, when Oakland opens a three-game series against Texas. Fiers lasted just 1 2/3 innings on Sept. 14 against the Rangers in Arlington. He has experienced the injury intermittently over the past two seasons. Fiers had MRI earlier this week and was cleared after throwing a bullpen session without issues, manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ll continue to monitor him, but this has kind of popped up for before, hasn’t been an issue for him later on,” Melvin said. “He’s pretty routine-oriented, so we’ll keep him on schedule.” . RHP Blake Treinen will be shut down for at least two weeks with a back injury. RHP Chris Bassitt will move from the rotation to the bullpen, replacing Treinen.

UP NEXT

Royals: LHP Mike Montgomery (3-9, 4.70 ERA) will pitch Thursday’s series opener against Minnesota. He’s 0-4 with a 4.85 over his last five starts (14 earned runs, 26 innings).

Athletics: Fiers (14-4, 4.09 ERA) will pitch Friday’s series opener against the Texas Rangers. Oakland’s most reliable starter for most of the season has given up 12 earned runs in 2 2/3 innings over his last two starts and has an 18.78 ERA in three September starts (16 earned runs, 7.2 innings pitched).