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CLEVELAND -- The Kansas City Royals reign as AL Central champions is officially over. If they are to defend their World Series title, it will have to occur as a wild card.Right-hander Ian Kennedy surrendered three runs and a season-high 10 hits Wednesday night, allowing the Cleveland Indians to beat Kansas City 4-3. The defeat eliminated the Royals from the division race.All-Star catcher Salvador Perez homered, singled and had two RBI for the Royals, who trail Baltimore by five games for the final AL wild card spot with 10 games to play.We had a lot of injuries, man, all season, Perez said. We just kept losing guys, so it was a tough year for us, but thats no excuse. We cant do anything about it now, but were going to continue to play hard until the end, no matter what happens.Kennedy (11-10) lasted 5 2/3 innings in losing for the first time since July 25, a span of 10 starts and five wins. He went 2/3 in five outings against AL Central leader Cleveland, which holds a 7 1/2-game lead over Detroit.Kendrys Morales and Perez had RBI singles in the third to put Kansas City in front 2-1, but the Indians took the lead for good in the fifth on run-scoring doubles by Jose Ramirez and Jason Kipnis.The Indians are a very good team and have been all year, which is why theyre winning the division, Kennedy said. They just grind out at-bats over and over, and really make you work on the mound.The Royals shared first place with Cleveland on June 15, but are 42-44 since and now own the 10th-best record in the AL.Last season, the Royals won their first World Series since 1985 by beating the Mets in five games. They were favored to repeat in the division before losing Perez, third baseman Mike Moustakas, outfielders Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain, and closer Wade Davis for extended time with injuries.Kansas City qualified for the playoffs as a wild card in 2014, advancing to the seventh game of the World Series before losing to San Francisco.Indians right-hander Corey Kluber (18-9) allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings, while Cody Allen gave up a solo homer to Perez in the ninth before earning his 28th save.The Royals put the potential tying run on against Allen, but pinch-runner Terrance Gore was thrown out by Roberto Perez while attempting to steal second base. It was Gores first career caught stealing in 18 regular season tries.That was perfect execution by Allen and Perez, which is the only way youre going to get Gore out, Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. Hes one of those guys who can steal a base when everyone in the ballpark knows hes going to try, but they just executed it perfectly.COMEBACK KIDRoyals LHP Jason Vargas, who underwent reconstructive elbow surgery last July, will be on a 60-65 pitch count Thursday. He threw 52 pitches Saturday in his first big league game since July 21, 2015. Jason worked very diligently to come back this quickly, Yost said. We appreciate it, so we want to get him 10-15 innings going into the offseason.UP NEXTRoyals: Vargas returned from Tommy John surgery and pitched three innings on Sept. 17 against the White Sox, allowing one run on two hits with a strikeout.Indians: RHP Mike Clevinger makes his first appearance against Kansas City. The rookie is 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA in seven games, including four starts, at Progressive Field.Wholesale Mets Jerseys . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. 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Lee held the overnight lead but mixed three birdies with two bogeys for a 70.West Coast coach Adam Simpson concedes his Eagles side are short of being premiership material after falling over the line against Carlton on Sunday.West Coast led all day on their way to a seven-point win over the inexperienced Blues.It would have been a comfortable success without a late Carlton rally that threatened West Coasts hold on the game.While the Eagles fell short of a percentage-boosting win that was in the offing when they led by 33 points in the third quarter, Simpson said he was satisfied.Were happy. We got a win, he said.We had a fair bit of the play and didnt capitalise with shots on goal.(If we) kicked straight a bit earlier on and it might not have been so tight later on.Jack Darling was a chief goalkicking culprit, spraying his efforts to finish with 0.5.While the Eagles ran out winners for the fourth-straight mmatch and sit outside the top four on percentage, Simpson said he didnt see a team that could currently mix it with the best.ddddddddddddWere not elite, he said.Were not assuming were playing to the form of the top two or top four sides.But we can keep ticking over the wins, qualify for finals and then have a good crack at finishing as high as we can. Thats our focus.Jeremy McGovern incurred a painful thumb injury in the second term but both player and coach said they didnt expect it would mean sitting out future games after he played out the match.Hes a very important player for us, Simpson said.Hes had thumb issues for the last couple of years and hes managed to play with us. Well see how he pulls up. ' ' '