Kansas City, Mo. ? Zack Greinke did not put up the numbers he did last season, but he pitched well enough Thursday night to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays for the first time in his career.

Greinke pitched seven sharp innings and the Kansas City Royals beat Tampa Bay, 3-2, leaving the Rays and New York Yankees tied for the AL East lead.

The Rays and idle Yankees, who have both clinched playoff spots, are even at 94-65 going into the final weekend. Tampa Bay plays three more times at Kansas City while the Yankees have a three-game series at Boston.

If Tampa Bay and New York are tied after Sunday, the Rays win the division title because they won the season series against the Yankees.

Greinke (10-4) gave up two runs and four hits while striking out nine. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner with a 16-8 record, Greinke had won only one of his previous seven starts. He’d been tagged for 13 runs and 19 hits in 92/3 innings in losing his prior two outings.

“We know what Zack is,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “It makes us all feel better. We want Zack to pitch well and get a win for him. It wouldn’t change anything we’re trying to do or change any direction we are trying to go if he didn’t have a good start, but believe me we much rather have him have the start he had.”

Greinke finished with a 4.19 ERA after his last start of the season. He had a 2.16 ERA last year.

“I don’t know how I’ll look at it in the long run, but right now it wasn’t great,” Greinke said of his season. “A lot more things could go wrong than they did. It just wasn’t great.”

Greinke called Jarrod Dyson the player of the game with two superb catches in center.

“I don’t remember seeing anyone run after balls like that,” Greinke said.

Joakim Soria worked the ninth for his 43rd save, which is a career high, in 45 opportunities. Soria has earned saves in his past 36 opportunities since his last blown save on May 6 at Texas.

Soria also has pitched 232/3 consecutive scoreless innings, a Royals record for a relief pitcher, in his past 24 appearances.

Matt Garza (15-10) gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings.