Tampa, Fla. – Ryan Pepiot struck out six in five hitless innings and Christopher Morel had three hits and an RBI as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Cleveland Guardians 4-2 on Thursday night.

Carson Williams also drove in two runs for Tampa Bay, which won its season-high seventh straight game and for the 10th time in 12 games.

With the victory, the Rays move within two games of idle Seattle in the race for the final AL wild-card spot – the closest they have been to a playoff spot since July 26, when they were 1 1/2 games back.

Pepiot (11-10) walked two in the victory and a combined no-hit bid was spoiled after 5 2/3 innings when José Ramírez singled off Bryan Baker.

Pete Fairbanks allowed consecutive homers by Ramírez and Kyle Manzardo in the top of the ninth before getting the next three outs to close out the victory.

Junior Caminero, Brandon Lowe, and Jake Mangum also had hits for Tampa Bay.

Logan Allen (7-11) allowed six hits and four runs with four strikeouts in the loss for the Guardians, who have lost four of their last five games and slipped 3 1/2 games back in the wild-card race.

Witt’s homer helps K.C. avoid sweep

Kansas City, Mo. – Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-out solo home run in the eighth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 on Thursday night to avoid a sweep in a three-game series.

The Royals hit four solo homers in a game where all seven runs came on home runs.

Lucas Erceg (7-4) struck out two in one inning and Carlos Estévez picked up his major league-best 37th save.

Angels starter Kyle Hendricks allowed two runs on three hits in six innings, while Kansas City starter Noah Cameron allowed three runs on five hits in five innings.

The Royals answered in the second on Adam Frazier’s home run, the 1,000th hit of his MLB career. Vinnie Pasquantino connected on his 29th home run of the season leading off the fourth inning to trim the deficit to 3-2.

The Royals tied it when Salvador Perez hit his 24th home run of the season, leading off the seventh inning.

Royals place Lugo on injury list

Kansas City, Mo. – The Kansas City Royals placed right-hander Seth Lugo on the 15-day Injured List on Thursday because of a lower back strain. The move is retroactive to Monday.

Originally scheduled to start Thursday night against the Los Angeles Angels, Lugo (8-7) was was scratched Wednesday because of back discomfort.

“He came out and tried to play catch today,” manager Matt Quatraro said Thursday. “His back was still pretty stiff, so we’re going to put him on the IL.”

Right-hander Stephen Kolek took Lugo’s roster spot. He was expected to start Saturday against Minnesota.

Skenes pitches six scoreless innings

Pittsburgh – Paul Skenes pitched six scoreless innings and earned his 10th win of the season as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Thursday night to complete a three-game series sweep.

Skenes (10-9) allowed two hits, struck out eight, and walked one. The right-hander finally got his record above .500 for the first time this season and lowered his ERA to a major league-best 1.98.

Skenes, last season’s NL Rookie of the Year who was 4-8 this season for the last-place Pirates, has won six of his last seven decisions.

The Dodgers were held to five hits and had their division lead cut to two games over idle San Diego.

Mookie Betts broke up the Pirates’ shutout bid with a leadoff home run in the ninth inning, and RBI singles by Pedro Pages and Miguel Rojas cut the deficit to 5-3. However, Colin Holderman struck out Ben Rortvedt to end it for his first save of the season.

Dodgers starter Blake Snell (3-4) was tagged for five runs and nine hits in five innings.

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