AL wild-card roundup: Blue Jays move 1.5 games back of Guardians

The American League wild-card picture won't be clearing up anytime soon.

Entering the weekend on a seven-game win streak and two games above .500, the Cleveland Guardians have suddenly lost two straight games to the red-hot Kansas City Royals and lost ground to a pair of AL East rivals.

The Guardians' step back has been a boon for the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, who gained ground for the second straight day with their respective wins.

Toronto used a comeback victory over the Seattle Mariners to move 1.5 games back of Cleveland, while Baltimore moved to a single game back with another win over the Athletics.

Elsewhere in the race, the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins saw their losing streaks extended to four and the Mariners droped a third straight contest.

Further down the standings, the Detroit Tigers stayed on the fringes of the chase with a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Toronto: vs. Seattle, 1:37 p.m. (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+) Houston: at New York Mets, 3:10 p.m. New York Yankees: vs. Boston, 1:35 p.m. (Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+) Baltimore: at Athletics, 4:05 p.m. (Sportsnet+) Boston: at New York Yankees, 1:35 p.m. (Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+) Texas: at Milwaukee, 2:10 p.m. Cleveland: vs. Kansas City, 1:40 p.m. Minnesota: vs. Chicago White Sox, 2:10 p.m. Seattle: at Toronto, 1:37 p.m. Detroit: vs. L.A. Dodgers, 1:40 p.m.

TORONTO — Alejandro Kirk drove in the tiebreaking run with a two-out single in the sixth inning and Toronto beat Seattle.

José Soriano (11-7) struck out six in seven innings to win for the second time in three starts. Soriano allowed three runs and three hits.

Tyler Rogers struck out two in the eighth but left after walking Julio Rodríguez. Josh Naylor singled off Mason Fluharty to advance Rodríguez to third, but Fluharty struck out Cal Raleigh to preserve the lead.

CLEVELAND — Josh Rojas had his second career game with four RBIs, Salvador Perez hit two doubles and Kansas City defeated Cleveland for their 12th win in 13 games.

Rojas came into the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning. He lined a two-run single to left to extend Kansas City’s lead to 6-2 and added a two-run homer in the eighth. Rojas’ other game with four RBIs was with Arizona in 2022.

Cleveland’s Angel Martínez had two hits, including a two-run homer, and drove in three runs. The Guardians have dropped their last two after a seven-game winning streak.

Anthony Gose (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings as five Royals relievers combined to allow one run and two hits in 5 2/3 innings.