The Twins led Chicago by a half-game when play began, but thanks to a bunch of missed chances by the batters and a letdown by the bullpen they faced another white-knuckle night keeping tabs on the White Sox - who hosted Cleveland later Saturday.

The loss was Minnesota's 74th of the season, one more than Chicago had going its game Saturday night. So if the White Sox win out, they win the division title.

Perhaps the Royals could petition to represent the division in the playoffs. They've won 13 of their last 15 games, including eight straight on the road. Their 18 victories in September are the most in the season's final month since the 1985 World Series champions, and the current winning streak away from home is the longest since 1975.

Gil Meche (14-11) pitched into the seventh, getting two innings to end on double plays. The Twins left 11 runners on base and grounded into two more against Royals relievers.

In the eighth, Carlos Gomez's drive to left-center with two outs and two on hung in the air a little too long and Mark Teahen caught it to end the inning.

Joakim Soria pitched the ninth, walking Denard Span and Alexi Casilla. Joe Mauer bounced into - what else? - a double play. With a runner at third, Justin Morneau flied out to Teahen to end the game. Soria earned his 42nd save.

In the second season of his $55 million, five-year contract, Meche has thrived in the second half - going 11-3 with a 3.09 ERA over 134 innings and 21 starts since June 10.

Meche had runners on in each inning except the sixth, but he escaped and struck out seven with only two runs allowed - one of them earned. The seventh inning was the most egregious waste of opportunity for Minnesota, when Gomez reached on a throwing error by third baseman Alex Gordon and Span followed with a walk.

Casilla, who hit the winning single in the 10th inning of Thursday's 7-6 comeback win over the White Sox, popped up his bunt attempt for the first out after John Bale relieved Meche. Mauer walked to load the bases, but Morneau - 3-for-20 on the homestand - hit a bouncer to shortstop on the first pitch he saw for a routine double play. The Twins left eight runners on against Meche.

The bullpen, after throwing 10 1-3 scoreless innings during one-run wins over the White Sox on Wednesday and Thursday, reverted to its unreliable ways. Boof Bonser gave up four singles before an out was recorded in the sixth, though Teahen's tying hit was a fluke - off the pitcher's glove and slowly rolling past Casilla when the second baseman had vacated his spot to cover the bag.

After leaving the bases loaded by getting the last two outs of the sixth, Matt Guerrier (6-9) gave up consecutive singles to start the seventh and Shealy's bloop over a diving Morneau's head down the first-base line drove in two to make it 4-2 Royals.

Twins starter Glen Perkins did well on eight days of rest. September struggles led the team to skip his last turn, but he gave up only one run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Mike Aviles.

Notes: Twins starter Kevin Slowey's bruised right wrist was still stiff on Saturday, casting further doubt on his ability to recover in time to take the mound for a potential one-game tiebreaker against the White Sox on Tuesday. Nick Blackburn would be the other candidate. ... The Royals have shut down David DeJesus, who left Wednesday's game with tightness in his right hip flexor muscle. DeJesus was one of Kansas City's best all-around players this year, batting .307 with 12 homers and 73 RBIs. He played all three outfield spots, mostly in CF.