CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians can return to clinching their division and playoff preparations.
Their historic winning streak is, well, history.
Cleveland had its AL record run stopped at 22 straight games on Friday night as the Indians were beaten 4-3 by the Kansas City Royals, who became the first team to conquer the defending league champions since Aug. 23.
Jason Vargas (16-10) pitched into the sixth and Brandon Moss homered off Trevor Bauer (16-9) as the Royals ended baseball’s longest win streak in 101 years. The Indians set a new league mark and came within four of matching the overall record held by the 1916 New York Giants.
Following a magical, walk-off win in extra innings on Thursday night, the Indians couldn’t muster another late rally and fell for the first time in more than three weeks.
When Francisco Lindor struck out with a runner on first to end it, the packed crowd gave the Indians a prolonged standing ovation. Manager Terry Francona and the Cleveland players came out of the dugout to salute their fans.
Yankees 8, Orioles 2
NEW YORK — Didi Gregorius hit a tiebreaking two-run homer and drove in four runs, leading the New York Yankees over the reeling Baltimore Orioles 8-2 Friday night for their fifth win in six games.
Luis Severino (13-6) allowed three hits in eight innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. He made one big mistake, Welington Castillo’s opposite-field, two-run homer to right that put the Orioles ahead 2-1 in the second. Severino is 8-2 with a 2.09 ERA in 12 starts since the All-Star break.
David Robertson finished with a hitless ninth.
Gregorius hit a sacrifice fly in the first, homered against Miguel Castro for a 4-2 lead in the fifth and added another sacrifice fly in a three-run seventh. He has set career highs with 22 homers and 77 RBIs.
Greg Bird added a home run into the right-field second deck, giving the Yankees 141 runs in 17 games against Baltimore this season.
New York, which began the night three games behind AL East-leading Boston, matched its season high of 15 games over .500, set in mid-June. The Yankees started three games ahead of Minnesota for the top AL wild card.
New York (81-66) needs one victory to ensure its 25th straight winning season, the second-longest streak in big league history behind the Yankees’ 39 in a row from 1926-64.
Baltimore (72-76), which began 5 1/2 games behind the Twins, lost for the eighth time in nine games.
Gabriel Ynoa (1-2) allowed three runs — two earned — and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked Aaron Judge with one out in the fifth and the score 2-2, and Castro gave up a two-out homer to Gregorius. The major leagues’ most-used reliever in the second half of the season, Castro has allowed runs in four straight appearances.
Errors by first baseman Chris Davis and second baseman Jonathan Schoop led to three unearned runs.
Reds 4, Pirates 2
CINCINNATI — Zack Cozart hit two of Cincinnati’s four solo home runs and the Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 on Friday night.
Joey Votto and Scott Schebler both homered, sending the Pirates to their third straight loss and eighth in the last nine games.
Chad Kuhl gave up all four home runs, a single-game career high for the second-year right-hander. He previously hadn’t allowed more than two in any game and yielded only four over a combined 12 starts in July and August.
The Reds reached Kuhl (7-11) for eight hits with three walks and six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Homer Bailey allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings for his first win in six starts since Aug. 11. Bailey (5-8) gave up five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. He also hit a batter.
Dodgers 7, Nationals 0
WASHINGTON — Alex Wood threw six shutout innings, Corey Seager hit a three-run homer during a five-run second and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ rebound continued with a 7-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday.
Wood (15-3) allowed three hits with eight strikeouts and one walk for Los Angeles, which has won three in a row after losing 11 consecutive games and 16 of 17.
The teams entered the highly anticipated three-game series having clinched playoff berths and owning the top two records in the National League. The Dodgers lowered their magic number to clinch the NL West to six.
Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig homered in the Dodgers’ first Washington appearance since winning Game 5 of the NL Division Series last October.
The NL East champion Nationals fell six games back of Los Angeles in the chase for home-field advantage in the playoffs.
Relievers Pedro Baez and Brock Stewart kept the shutout intact against the NL’s top-scoring team.
The Dodgers scored all seven runs over the first three innings against Edwin Jackson (5-6).
Turner hit his 20th homer of the season in the first. Los Angeles battered Jackson for four extra-base hits in the second, starting with Puig’s solo homer and ending with Seager’s 3-run blast to center.
Andre Ethier was credited with a RBI ground-rule double in the second. His fly ball bounced into the stands after right fielder Jayson Werth lost track of its flight. Chase Utley had a run-scoring groundout in the third.
Jackson only lasted 2 1/3 innings, surrendering seven runs and six hits in his third consecutive loss.
Wood also entered with back-to-back losses as his breakout season took a wrong turn during the Dodgers’ slide. The All-Star left-hander had allowed nine runs in 11 innings over his previous two starts.
Wood struck out All-Star Daniel Murphy three times, including in the third with two outs and two runners on.
A’s 4, Phillies 0
PHILADELPHIA — Daniel Mengden was dominant in a two-hitter, Matt Olson and Matt Joyce each hit two-run homers and the Oakland Athletics beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 on Friday night.
Mengden (1-1) struck out seven and walked none to record his first career shutout in his 18th start. J.P Crawford had both hits off Mengden.
The 24-year-old righty cooled down Rhys Hoskins and a hot-hitting lineup that scored 27 runs in a three-game sweep over Miami. Hoskins, who hit 18 homers in his first 34 games, was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts.
Phillies starter Mark Leiter Jr. (3-6) allowed four runs and seven hits, striking out nine in six innings.
Olson hit a shot four rows shy of the third deck in right-center in the first inning, giving the A’s a 2-0 lead on his 19th homer. The blast was estimated at 483 feet.
Joyce drove his 24th homer out to right-center in the second for a 4-0 lead.
The old-school Mengden, with his handlebar mustache, kept the Phillies off-balance using his herky-jerky delivery and a heavy dose of offspeed pitches and low 90s fastballs. He entered the game with a 2-10 record and 6.59 career ERA.
He also got his first career hit, a single off Crawford’s glove in the shortstop hole before Joyce connected.