Salvador Perez's solo home run ignited a four-run fourth inning that sparked the Kansas City Royals to a crucial 4-2 win over the New York Yankees in Monday's Game 2 of the teams' American League DIvision Series.

Tommy Pham, Garrett Hampson and Maikel Garcia each delivered run-scoring singles during the big inning, while four Kansas City relievers kept the Yankees' potent bats largely quiet the rest of the way as the Royals evened this best-of-five series at 1-1.

Garcia finished 4 for 5 to tie a franchise record for hits in a post-season game.

The fifth-seeded Royals, making their first post-season appearance since 2015, will now host the next two meetings with Game 3 scheduled for Wednesday in Kansas City.

New York, the AL's top seed, got a ninth-inning home run from Jazz Chisholm but a shaky performance from starting pitcher Carlos Rodon, who held the Royals scoreless for the first three innings before getting hit hard in the fourth.

Perez, the last remaining member of Kansas City's 2015 World Series champion team, started the uprising with a long home run to left field that tied the game at 1-1.

Yuli Gurriel followed Perez's blast with a single and took second on Rodon's wild pitch before scoring the go-ahead run on Pham's one-out single.

Pham stole second and later crossed the plate on Hampson's two-out single that chased Rodon. Garcia then greeted reliever Ian Hamilton with a single to bring in Hampson, who advanced to second on the throw home to try to prevent Pham's run, for a 4-1 advantage.

Angel Zerpa (1-0) and John Schreiber threw a scoreless inning each to protect the lead before Kris Bubic worked the seventh and eighth to maintain the three-run cushion.

Lucas Erceg came on in the ninth and allowed Chisholm's lead-off homer, but retired the three of the next four Yankee hitters for his third save of these playoffs.

Rodon struck out seven in 3 2/3 innings, but was charged with all four runs while surrendering seven hits.

Cole Ragans threw the first four innings for Kansas City and issued four walks, but allowed just one run on three hits while striking out five.

New York's lone run against Ragans came in the third. Gleyber Torres drew a lead-off walk, moved to second on an Austin Wells single and came home on Giancarlo Stanton's single.

Carpenter's homer in ninth gets Tigers even with Guardians

In the AL's other Division Series, Kerry Carpenter's three-run homer off All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning broke a scoreless tie and lifted the Detroit Tigers to a much-needed 3-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians.

With two on and two out in the top of the ninth, Carpenter drove a slider from Clase over the right field wall to finally put Detroit ahead in a game dominated by pitching and defence to that point.

Beau Brieske then struck out two in a perfect bottom of the ninth to allow the sixth-seeded Tigers to send this best-of-five series to Detroit tied at 1-1. Game 3 will be held Wednesday at Comerica Park.

Clase, the AL leader with 47 saves during the regular season, retired the first two Detroit hitters in the top of the ninth before Jake Rogers extended the Tigers' half of the inning with a single. Trey Sweeney followed with a single before Carpenter delivered just the third home run Cleveland's usually dominant reliever has allowed in 2024.

The blast also ended Detroit's 17-inning scoreless streak to begin this series, which the second-seeded Guardians opened with Saturday's 7-0 victory. 

Clase had not permitted more than one run in any of his 75 previous appearances this season and yielded just five earned runs in a combined 75 1/3 innings going in.

Carpenter's homer made a winner out of Will Vest after the right-hander threw one scoreless inning in relief of Detroit ace Tarik Skubal, who held the Guardians to just three hits and struck out eight in seven innings.

Cleveland used five pitchers to keep the game 0-0 through eight innings, with former Tiger Matthew Boyd striking out five over the first 4 2/3 innings.

Both teams had scoring chances earlier in the contest, with the Tigers nearly taking the lead in the eighth after putting two on with two out. Wenceel Perez then greeted Clase with a sinking line drive that was caught by a diving Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan to end the threat.

Cleveland threatened in both the fifth and sixth, but came away empty both times as Skubal induced inning-ending double-play grounders with two runners on base on both occasions.

The Los Angeles Dodgers got a three-run homer from Freddie Freeman and a combined four-hit shutout from Yoshinobu Yamamoto and four relievers to hand the Atlanta Braves a potentially costly 9-0 loss on Monday.

Making his second start following a near three-month absence caused by a strained shoulder, Yamamoto scattered four hits and two walks in four innings. The Braves didn't record a hit against Evan Phillips (4-1), Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson and Brent Honeywell the rest of the way to fall one game back of the New York Mets for the National League's final wild card.

The Mets came through with a 2-1 win over the Washington Nationals on Starling Marte's run-scoring single in the 10th inning.

Shohei Ohtani knocked in two runs to help Los Angeles split this four-game series and move within a game of the Philadelphia Phillies for the NL's best record. The superstar slugger finished 0 for 4, however, and remained at 47 home runs and 48 stolen bases as he attempts to become MLB's first 50-50 player in a season.

The Dodgers didn't get a hit off Atlanta's Max Fried until the fifth inning but still managed to manufacture a run following a lead-off walk to Miguel Rojas in the third. Rojas advanced to second on a groundout, stole third and scored when Fried uncorked a wild pitch.

Tommy Edman collected Los Angeles' initial hit with a ground-rule double to begin the fifth and scored on Rojas' single. After a hit batter and a fly ball advanced Rojas to third, he came home on Ohtani's fielder's choice grounder for a 3-0 advantage. 

Fried (9-10) yielded just two hits and struck out seven in six innings despite being touched for three runs.

The Dodgers put the game away with a six-run seventh inning capped by the ex-Brave fan favourite Freeman's opposite-field homer.

After three walks by Atlanta reliever Daysbel Hernandez loaded the bases, Ohtani reached on a fielder's choice that plated Rojas for a 4-0 cushion. Mookie Betts brought in another run with a sacrifice fly and Teoscar Hernandez delivered an RBI single in front of Freeman's blast. 

Brewers trim magic number to two with win over Phillies

William Contreras and Joey Ortiz each drove in two runs to back a solid start from Aaron Civale as the Milwaukee Brewers moved closer to capturing the NL Central with a 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Brewers' fourth victory in five games reduced their magic number to two to claim their third division title in four years. Milwaukee also closed within three games of the NL-leading Phillies in the standings.

Civale (5-2) scattered seven hits and struck out six while limiting Philadelphia to one run in five-plus innings. Colin Rea closed out the win with 2 2/3 scoreless innings to notch his first career MLB save.

Contreras gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead with a third-inning double off Ranger Suarez that brought in Jackson Chourio and Blake Perkins, who reached via a walk and single, respectively.

The Brewers extended the margin in the fourth when ex-Phil Rhys Hoskins walked, advanced to third on Sal Frelick's double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Ortiz.

Suarez (12-7) lasted five innings and allowed three runs despite giving up just four hits and fanning five.

Brandon Marsh homered in the fifth for the Phillies' lone run off Civale, but Milwaukee scored twice in the sixth to increase their lead further.

Ortiz knocked in Frelick with a triple to put the Brewers up 4-1 before crossing the plate on Brice Turang's single.

Philadelphia got a run back in the top of the seventh when Bryson Stott singled and later scored on Kyle Schwarber's two-out single. The Brewers countered in their half of the inning, however, when Perkins singled and stole two bases before coming home on Gary Sanchez's sac fly.

Manzardo's homer lifts Guardians over Twins

Kyle Manzardo's go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning rallied the Cleveland Guardians to a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins in the opener of a key four-game series between American League Central contenders.

Cleveland overcame an early 3-0 deficit to earn its MLB-leading 40th comeback victory of the season, which increased the Guardians' lead atop the AL Central to five games over Kansas City.

The Royals were handed a 7-6 loss by the charging Detroit Tigers, who closed within 1 1/2 games of struggling Minnesota for the AL's final wild card. The Twins have lost seven of 10 and are 9-18 since Aug. 18.

Minnesota was clinging to a 3-2 lead when Josh Naylor led off the bottom of the eighth with a double off Twins reliever Griffin Jax. Two batters later, Manzardo clubbed the first pitch he saw from Jax into the right field seats to put the Guardians ahead.

Emmanuel Clase then retired the side in order in the ninth to record his 46th save, tying a Cleveland franchise season record.

The Twins got all of their runs in the third inning after loading the bases with one out on a Carlos Correa double and two walks issued by Cleveland starter Matthew Boyd. Correa scored the game's first run on a passed ball by Guardians' catcher Bo Naylor, and Byron Buxton knocked in two more with a single for a 3-0 advantage.

Minnesota's Pablo Lopez held Cleveland scoreless until the fifth, when he hit Brayan Rocchio with a pitch and allowed a double to Angel Martinez. Andres Gimenez followed with a single to drive in the Guardians' first run.

Lopez issued two walks around a Will Brennan single to allow Cleveland to inch closer in the seventh on Martinez's bases-loaded single which brought in Manzardo.

Martinez finished 3 for 4, while Brennan and Jose Ramirez each had two hits for the Guardians.

Lopez pitched 6 1/3 innings and permitted two runs on eight hits.