AL Playoff Roundup (July 31): Yankees Blow Lead Late, Fall to Royals on Perez Homer

New York Yankees closer Clay Holmes hasn't given up a home run all year, but that changed on Sunday when Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez hit a three-run homer off of him in the ninth inning to give the Royals a stunning 8-6 win. Here is Sunday's American League playoff roundup, with Monday's schedule and a look at the playoff pairings if the season ended today.

Clay Holmes has been very good at the back end of the New York Yankees bullpen this season, but he got roughed up in a big way on Sunday, giving up a three-run homer to Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez in the ninth inning, giving the Royals at 8-6 victory.

It was the first homer that Holmes had allowed all season, through 181 batters. The comeback was also very rare —  for both teams. Before Sunday, the Yankees were 55-1 when leading after eight innings and the Royals were 1-55 when trailing after eight.

“Every win is important,” Holmes said. “It’s not a good feeling, especially when you blow the game there at the end. I’m going to make sure it doesn’t happen again, especially the same way.” 

Here are Sunday's summaries, a look at Monday's schedule and a breakdown of what the AL playoff pairings would look like if the postseason started today.

Sunday's summaries

• ROYALS 8, YANKEES 6: Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning off of All-Star closer Clay Holmes to give the the Royals a stunning 8-6 winning, avoiding a sweep. It was the first home run that Holmes has allowed all year through 181 batters. 
• ASTROS 3, MARINERS 2: Yordan Alvarez singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Houston a 3-2 win over Seattle. He got the hit off of Mariners reliever Brennan Bernardino, who was making his major-league debut. Houston got a great start from Jake Odorizzi, who pitched seven scoreless innings and allowed just two hits. 
• PADRES 3, TWINS 2: San Diego got to Twins starter Dylan Bundy and reliever Emilio Pagan for two runs in the sixth inning to grab a 3-2 win. The Twins were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and have lost four of their last five games.
• BLUE JAYS 4, TIGERS 1: Matt Chapman hit a two-run homer for Toronto, and starter Jose Berrios pitched seven innings of one-run ball as the Blue Jays beat the Tigers 4-1. Toronto won three of the four games in the series and are now 7-2 since the All-Star break.
• GUARDIANS 5, RAYS 3: Tampa Bay's Shane McClanahan had the worst outing of his career, giving up five earned runs for the first time ever in a regular season game in the Guardians' 5-3 win.
• RED SOX 7, BREWERS 2: Jackie Bradley Jr. and J.D. Martinez both had two doubles and Boston exploded for five runs in the fifth inning to beat Milwaukee 7-2. Aaron Ashby took the loss for the Brewers, and is now just 2-9 on the season.
• REDS 3, ORIOLES 2: Pinch-hitter Brandon Drury hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning off of Felix Bautista to give Cincinnati a 3-2 win over Baltimore. Orioles starter Austin Voth pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just four hits.
• WHITE SOX 4, ATHLETICS 1: Dylan Cease pitched six strong innings for Chicago, picking up his 11th win of the year in the 4-1 victory. Jose Abreu and Eloy Jimenez hit home runs for the White Sox. 

Monday's playoff contender schedule

• Seattle Mariners (Marco Gonzales 6-10, 3.66 ERA) at New York Yankees (Domingo German 0-1, 8.22 ERA), 7:05 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN-Plus)
• Arizona Diamondbacks (Zach Davies 2-4, 3.94) at Cleveland Guardians (Cal Quantrill 7-5, 3.97), 7:10 pm. ET
• Detroit Tigers (Tarik Skubal 7-8, 3.67) at Minnesota Twins (TBA), 7:40 p.m. ET
• Boston Red Sox (Nathan Eovaldi 4-3, 4.43 ERA) at Houston Astros (Luis Garcia 8-6, 3.81 ERA), 8 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN)
• Baltimore Orioles (Spenser Watkins 3-1, 4.03 ERA) at Texas Rangers (Jon Gray 7-5, 3.62), 8:05 p.m. ET 
• Kansas City Royals (Brad Keller 5-11, 4.18 ERA) at Chicago White Sox (Michael Kopech 4-6, 3.16 ERA), 8:10 p.m. ET 
• Note: The Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays are off on Monday, but they start a two-game series in St. Petersburg on Tuesday night. 

If the playoffs started today ...

• No. 1 seed — The New York Yankees (69-34, AL East leader, would get first-round bye) lead Houston by two games for the top seed, and are 11.5 games ahead of Toronto in the AL East race.
• No. 2 seed — The Houston Astros (67-36, AL West leader, would get first-round bye) lead Minnesota by 13 games for the first-round bye and are 12 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners in the AL West. 
• No. 3 seed — The Minnesota Twins (53-48, AL Central leader, would host No. 6 seed in best-of-three first-round series) have a one-game lead over Cleveland and a two-game lead over Chicago in the AL Central race. 
• No. 4 seed — The Toronto Blue Jays (57-45, wild-card leader, would host No. 5 seed in a best-of-three first-round series) lead the wild-card chase by 2.5 games.
• No. 5 seed — The Seattle Mariners (55-48, second wild-card team, would play at No. 4 seed Toronto in a best-of-three first-round series). They are a half-game ahead of the Tampa Bay for the No. 5 spot. 
• No. 6 seed — The Tampa Bay Rays (54-48, third wild-card team, would play at No. 3 seed Minnesota in a best-of-three first-round series). They are just 1.5 games ahead of Cleveland for the final playoff spot.

Outside looking in

• Cleveland Guardians: The Guardians are 52-49, and are 1.5 games behind Tampa Bay for final wild-card spot, picking up a game in the standings after winning two of three games in St. Petersburg over the weekend.
• Chicago White Sox: The White Sox are 51-50, and are 2.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the final wild-card spot.
• Baltimore Orioles: The Orioles are 51-51, and are three games behind Tampa Bay for the final wild-card spot.
• Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox are 51-52, and are 3.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the final wild-card spot.

Too far back

• Texas Rangers (46-55, 7.5 games out)
• Los Angeles Angels (43-59, 11 games out)
• Detroit Tigers (41-62, 13.5 games out)
• Kansas City Royals (41-63, 14 games out)
• Oakland Athletics (39-65, 16.5 games out)