USA to have (runner-up Louisiana Tech) play in the Ar

DETROIT -- Salvador Perez homered to cap a cycle by Kansas Citys first four batters of the game, and the Royals went deep three more times to beat Detroit 12-9 Sunday and drop the Tigers in the AL wild-card race.The defending World Series champions avoided elimination from this years postseason race by chasing Detroit starter Matt Boyd (6-5) before he retired a hitter. Kansas City started the game with a single, a triple and a double before Perezs two-run homer made it 4-0.The Tigers fell 1 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the second wild-card spot. The loss cut Clevelands magic number to clinch the AL Central to one -- the Indians start a four-game series in Detroit on Monday night.The Royals led 7-0 after Cheslor Cuthbert and Raul Mondesi hit consecutive homers in the third.Dillon Gee (8-9) got the win in relief, and Wade Davis pitched the ninth for his 26th save in 29 chances. Miguel Cabrera came up as the tying run but lined out to shallow left field to end it.Plate umpire Dan Iassogna ejected somebody from the Detroit dugout during that final at-bat. It was not immediately clear whom.Victor Martinez hit a grand slam for Detroit in the third to make it 7-4, and the Tigers loaded the bases again that inning, chasing starter Edinson Volquez in the process. But Andrew Romines bunt attempt with two outs was fielded easily by reliever Peter Moylan, and the force at home ended the inning.Detroit tried several former starters in long relief -- Anibal Sanchez, Shane Greene and Mike Pelfrey all pitched -- in an attempt to keep the game close, but the Royals kept adding runs. Alex Gordons two-run homer in the sixth made it 11-5.Kansas City let the Tigers creep back into it by the end. Justin Upton hit a solo homer in the seventh, and Detroit also scored two runs on wild pitches, the second of which made it 11-9 in the eighth.The Royals held on, though, and theres still a mathematical chance they can catch the Orioles.Cameron Maybin had four hits for the Tigers.TRAINERS ROOMTigers: RHP Jordan Zimmermann, who has been dropped from the rotation as he struggles to come back from neck problems, pitched for the first time since Sept. 10. He pitched the last three innings in relief, allowing one run and four hits.UP NEXTRoyals: After an off day Monday, Kansas City starts RHP Ian Kennedy (11-10) against Minnesota RHP Jose Berrios (2-7) on Tuesday night.Tigers: Detroit sends RHP Buck Farmer (0-0) to the mound Monday against Cleveland RHP Corey Kluber (18-9). Nike Zoom Scontate Italia . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. Nike Zoom Offerta . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. http://www.nikezoomscontate.it/ . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. Nike Zoom Scontate . -- Ken Appleby made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 2-0 win over the Belleville Bulls on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. Nike Zoom Italia . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. The Heart of Dallas Bowl will be a rematch between two teams that played in October -- and one of them is heading into the game with a 5-7 record.Unusual? Yes. But scenarios like this simply come with the territory now.With 80 bowl spots to fill, some postseason games ended up with odd matchups this year. North Texas will play in the Heart of Dallas Bowl after going 5-7, and the game will be a rematch against an Army teams it met six weeks ago. Mississippi State is also going to a bowl at 5-7. The Bulldogs face Miami (Ohio) in the St. Petersburg Bowl.Were fortunate to have the opportunity, North Texas coach Seth Littrell said. At the end of the day, we didnt even feel like we could get in this way, but we did, and so were going to take it.Hawaii is also heading to a bowl with a losing record. The Rainbow Warriors (6-7) will play in the Hawaii Bowl against Middle Tennessee. The reason some sub-.500 teams were given a reprieve is because there werent enough eligible teams to fill all the spots.That shortage also allows Army (6-5) and South Alabama (6-6) to go to bowls even though both have multiple wins over FCS schools. Teams are only supposed to count one FCS win for bowl eligibility purposes, but since there were openings, the Black Knights and Jaguars are in.South Alabama faces Air Force in the Arizona Bowl. The Jaguars were supposed to play LSU in November, but that game was canceled when the Tigers needed to play a rescheduled game against Florida. South Alabama played Presbyterian instead and won, so that switch may have been the difference between reaching a bowl and missing the postseason.There were sub-.500 teams in bowls last season too, so this may be the new normal in college football. Last season, Nebraska, Minnesota and San Jose State were 5-7 going into their bowls, and all three of them won.North Texas and Mississippi State werent exactly apologizing Sunday. The Bulldogs Twitter account boasted that Mississippi State is one of only five Southeastern Conference schools to reach a bowl every season this decade.Since the Academic Progress Rate playss a role in which sub.dddddddddddd-500 teams play on, coaches can take pride in that.This is a great opportunity for one of the winningest senior classes in school history and for our program to build momentum for 2017, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said in a statement. It also speaks volumes of our student-athletes for their commitment in the classroom to qualify for a bowl based on our successful APR.North Texas lost four of its last five games in the regular season, but reaching a bowl -- no matter how it happened -- is still a big step forward after the Mean Green went 1-11 in 2015.North Texas won 35-18 at Army on Oct. 22. Regular-season rematches are rare in bowls, but there are some positives for the Heart of Dallas Bowl in this matchup. The bowl was supposed to match Conference USA against the Big Ten, but with one Big Ten team in the playoff and three more in New Years Six bowls, there werent enough left for every bowl with ties to the league.We know that Army is going to bring a large contingency because the Texas area is one of their hotbeds, said Brant Ringler, the bowls executive director.North Texas in Denton, of course, isnt far from Dallas. Ringler said that was appealing as well.In the past couple years, you probably have noticed, the Conference USA championship has occurred, we received usually the champion or the runner-up, and it was probably going to look to be that way possibly this year as well, Ringler said. But when we had an opening in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl game that we also control, we did work out an agreement with Conference USA to have (runner-up Louisiana Tech) play in the Armed Forces Bowl. Therefore, it allowed us to be able to slide in the University of North Texas into the Heart of Dallas Bowl, which is a win-win for all of us all around.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 .---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '