Indians slip past Royals, 6-4

? They’re alive, barely, but it beats the alternative. The Indians’ playoff hopes are fragile, and they’re doing all they can to keep them from shattering.

Yan Gomes hit a three-run homer, Michael Brantley had three more hits, and Cleveland stayed in the AL wild-card chase for at least one more day with a 6-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

A loss would have eliminated the Indians, but after blowing a 3-0 lead, they rallied and moved within 31/2 games of Kansas City and Oakland in the wild-card standings. There are four days left in the regular season.

“We said all year long as long as we have life, we’re going to keep battling, and that’s exactly what we did tonight,” outfielder David Murphy said. “We’ve had some good moments. We’ve had some bad moments this season, but hopefully we’re going to be going into the last series of the season still alive.”

The Royals, who haven’t made the playoffs since 1985, fell two games behind first-place Detroit in the AL Central.

Zach McAllister (4-7) pitched 21/3 scoreless innings, and Cody Allen worked the ninth for his 23rd save as the Indians kept their season relevant.

They’re off today, but the Indians will closely monitor Kansas City’s game in Chicago and Oakland’s visit to Texas.

“It has all to do whether or not we have life coming into Friday,” Murphy said, “so regardless we’re going to come ready to play, but hopefully we’re going to be playing for something.”

Brantley has hit safely in 15 straight games and needs one more hit to be the first Indians player with 200 in a season since Kenny Lofton in 1996.

The Indians took the lead in the fifth off rookie Brandon Finnegan (0-1) on Carlos Santana’s RBI groundout. Cleveland added a run in the sixth on Murphy’s pinch sacrifice fly.

Cleveland entered the unusual series — the teams completed a suspended game on Monday — 31/2 games behind the Royals, and the Indians ended in the same place. Unfortunately for them, they wasted a chance to pull closer and now have to win their final three games and hope for help from other teams to play in the postseason.