CHICAGO (AP) — Seiya Suzuki and Miguel Amaya hit solo homers, helping Kyle Hendricks and the Chicago Cubs beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Sunday.
Chicago, in position to claim of the NL's three wild cards berths, won two in a row after losing the series opener. Jordan Lyles (3-14) became the major leagues' first 14-game loser as Kansas City fell for the fourth time in five games and dropped to 40-86, better only than Oakland among the 30 major league teams.
Hendricks (5-6) won for the first time since July 25, allowing one run and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. He retired 10 in a row before his lone walk, to Matt Beaty in the fifth inning.
Mark Leiter Jr. got two outs in the seventh, Julian Merryweather pitched a perfect eighth, and Adbert Alzolay got his 18th save in 19 chances after allowing pinch-hitter Maikel Garcia's run-scoring single and Matt Beaty's RBI groundout. With a runner on second, Dairon Blanco hit a game-ending groundout.
Lyles gave up four runs — two earned — and five hits in his third complete game this season. Lyles has pitched four games this season in which he has thrown at least eight innings and lost.
After Michael Massey's RBI single in the first, the Cubs went ahead in the bottom half when center fielder Kyle Isbel allowed Ian Happ's single to bounce by for a run-scoring, two-base error and Cody Bellinger followed with a sacrifice fly.
Suzuki hit his 12th home run of the season in the fifth and Amaya hit his fourth in the eighth inning.
WEB GEM
Royals SS Bobby Witt Jr. made a sliding backhanded catch in the outfield grass to rob Mike Tauchman of a hit in the third inning.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: Garcia missed his second consecutive star. He is dealing with upper-body soreness on his left side. Royals manager Matt Quatraro expects Garcia to be ready for Monday night's game at Oakland.
UP NEXT
Royals: Start a three-game series Monday at Oakland.
Cubs: RHP Javier Assad (2-2) is scheduled to start Monday at Detroit, which goes with RH ALex Faedo (2-4, 5.16). Assad is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA since rejoining the rotation on Aug. 5.
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