Danny Salazar fell apart following a strong first two innings and Cleveland's offense sputtered again in a 7-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals, dropping the Indians 4 1/2 games behind the Royals in a wild-card race that's all but over. Rookie Yordano Ventura (14-10) blanked Cleveland's punchless offense for seven innings as the Royals kept pressure on first-place Detroit in the AL Central. The hard-throwing Ventura allowed five hits and threw a 100 mph fastball on his 104th pitch as the Royals stayed one game back in the division. The right-hander, who sustained an unspecified hand injury on the team's recent road trip, was dominant in the early going. Salazar escaped a threat in the third, but he wasn't so fortunate in the fourth, when he walked Billy Butler and gave up a single to Alex Gordon before Omar Infante pulled a two-run double into the left-field corner. The Indians scored their only run in the eighth, ending a string of 19 straight scoreless innings. Indians: OF David Murphy has been limited to spot duty against right-handers as he deals with a nagging abdominal injury that landed him on the disabled list in August. LHP Jason Vargas (11-10), who has recorded the AL's third-lowest ERA (2.42) on the road, starts the series finale for the Royals, who oddly lost as the home team on Monday when they dropped a suspended game.