KANSAS CITY, MO. — The Twins and Royals are far from having wild card berths sealed up. But with the rest of the American League struggling to gain much ground in recent days, both look to be in good position, even with their recent difficulties.

While a playoff spot may not be on the line this weekend, this series — the last regular-season meeting between the two teams — could figure heavily into playoff positioning. The Twins entered the day with a half-game advantage over the Royals. After the first game of the series, a 5-0 loss for Minnesota at Kauffman Stadium, it now trails both Kansas City and division-leading Cleveland.

In one of their most important games of the season to date, their offense was held completely silent by Royals starter Cole Ragans (11-9) and a trio of relievers. Ragans, who early in the game reached the 200-strikeout mark, was barely touched in his six-inning outing. He allowed just four hits — two in the first inning — and another two more in the fourth.

The latter represented the Twins’ best chance to score, but their hopes were dashed when Kyle Farmer was thrown out at the plate trying to score on an Austin Martin double — the Twins’ last hit of the game — to end the inning.

It took a perfect relay from Kyle Isbel in left to shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who aired it out to nab Farmer. While the Royals’ superstar was held hitless in the game, he still made his presence felt, both with the relay throw and on the bases, where Witt beat out a throw on a potential double-play ball. He then came around to score later in the fifth inning on a Hunter Renfroe two-run single off of rookie Zebby Matthews.

Matthews (1-3) lasted five innings in his start and gave up four runs, three of which came with two outs in the inning.

The first run of the game scored after Matthews uncharacteristically walked a batter — No. 9 hitter Isbel — before allowing a double to Tommy Pham. The second scored on a Michael Massey solo home run, which came after a pair of strikeouts to start the inning. Renfroe’s single then seemed to seal the Twins’ fate.

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It didn’t look good for Hill-Murray through one half on Friday.

Fresh off a season-opening shutout loss to Becker, the Pioneers — a Class 4A state entrant a year ago who possesses similar aspirations this fall — trailed St. Agnes 13-7 in Maplewood through two quarters.

The Pioneers were seemingly in need of a spark.

It came on the very first play of the third quarter. Hill-Murray forced a fumble on the Aggies’ opening kick return, and recovered the loose ball around the St. Agnes 25-yard-line. The Pioneers parlayed the turnover into a touchdown, as Jackson Reeves hit Jacob Dornan for an 8-yard scoring strike, shortly after Reeves connected with John Pietruszewski on a critical 4th-down play to keep the drive alive.

Reeves got into the end zone on his own on Hill-Murray’s ensuing drive via a quarterback sneak from a yard out, and the Pioneers were well on their way to a 28-13 home victory.

St. Agnes is a Class 2A program in St. Paul with just a handful north of 300 kids. But the Aggies proved Friday they’re capable of punching above their weight class. Stacked with 19 seniors — a number that would make many larger programs in the state jealous — St. Agnes figures to feature heavily into the state equation this season.

Trailing 7-0 early, Reeves hit Austin Williams for a 3-yard touchdown pass to cap a game-opening drive that took nearly seven minutes of clock, St. Agnes responded with a 64-yard rushing touchdown from Joshua Lopez. Then, early in the second frame, Lopez hit Danny Plamann for a 94-yard touchdown on a fly route on 3rd and 20 to put the Aggies (1-1) in front.

But St. Agnes made a few too many mistakes — penalties, fumbles and botched snaps — to hang with the Pioneers (1-1) over the course of four quarters, especially on a night when the Aggies lost a couple key players to injury, including starting running back Evonson Plamann. Even Lopez exited the game slowly with 39 seconds to play after a roughing the passer penalty.

By the fourth quarter, Hill-Murray seemed to have worn the Aggies down. While the Reeves-and-Pietruszewski powered passing game did most of the damage for the Pioneers throughout the evening, it was Xavier Daniels who effectively sealed the game midway through the final frame with a 45-yard touchdown run to put the Pioneers up two scores.

Pietruszewski finished with nine catches for 107 yards.

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Lakeville North had to overcome deficits twice Friday night — including a two-touchdown hole early before the Panthers’ offense even touched the ball.

But on each occasion, senior running back Sam Ripplinger and his teammates proved equal to the task.

Ripplinger rushed for a pair of touchdowns, including one with 9:02 remaining that put the Panthers on top to stay in a 24-21 victory over Rosemount before a big crowd at Lakeville North High School.

The Panthers improved to 2-0, though that seemed in doubt in the first quarter. The Rosemount running game — which came up big in a win over Eastview a week ago — was effective again early Friday.

On the game’s third play from scrimmage, Irish junior Ja’khi Hollie rumbled 74 yards for a touchdown. Then, after Rosemount recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, senior quarterback Gavin Caswell kept the ball himself on a 10-yard scamper to put the Irish on top 14-0.

Lakeville North did manage to stem the tide with a 28-yard field goal by senior Drew Kolander on its first possession, then the Panther defense found its groove — forcing two-straight Rosemount punts.

It was after the second of those that senior quarterback Riley Grossman led his team 90 yards to score on a 1-yard run by Ripplinger that cut the gap to 14-10 with 1:55 to play before halftime.

The Panthers’ defense then came up big, recovering a fumble at the Rosemount 32-yard line with under a minute to go.  From there, Grossman connected with senior Caleb Pedersen on a 9-yard touchdown pass to put Lakeville North on top 17-14 at halftime.

The Irish didn’t roll over, though, retaking the lead at 21-17 on a 3-yard touchdown run by senior Finn Biegel with 2:03 to play in the third quarter.

But on their next possession, a 27-yard pass from Grossman to senior Ayden Forsgren helped set up a touchdown run by Ripplinger from just outside the 1-yard line.

The Panthers then drove all the way to the Rosemount 4 on their final possession to run out the clock.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Napheesa Collier scored nine of her 26 points in the third quarter, Bridget Carleton made three 3-pointers in the final four minutes and the Minnesota Lynx overcame a 25-point night by Caitlin Clark to snap Indiana’s five-game winning streak with a 99-88 win over the Fever on Friday night.

The Lynx trailed 50-45 at halftime before Collier scored nine of their opening 20 points of the third quarter for a 65-57 lead.

Collier blocked Clark’s shot in the paint and Courtney Williams made a jumper from the free-throw line at the other end to extend Minnesota’s lead to 70-60. Clark went to the bench and Myisha Hines-Allen scored the next three points to give Minnesota a 13-point lead.

Indiana made just three field goals in the third quarter before making three in the opening two minutes of the fourth to get back in it.

The Fever were within 81-80 before Carleton sank a 3-pointer from the corner. She added a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 87-80 and she grabbed an offensive rebound on the Lynx’s next possession, leading to Williams’ 3-pointer.

Carleton’s third 3-pointer of the frame gave Minnesota a 96-85 lead.

Clark, coming off her second career triple-double on Wednesday, continued her record-breaking season for Indiana (18-17). She made one 3-pointer in the first quarter to become the franchise leader for made 3-pointers in a single season, passing Kelsey Mitchell (102). Clark was 5 of 10 from 3-point range and has made 107 this season.

Mitchell added 23 and Aliyah Boston scored 20 for Indiana. Mitchell has scored 20-plus points for the eighth time in her last nine games.

Carleton scored 16 points for Minnesota (25-9). Williams added 15 points, to go with seven rebounds to go over 1,500 for her career. Collier also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Carleton closed the first half on a 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left off a nice pass from Hines-Allen. Then the Lynx scored the opening nine points of the third quarter for a 52-50 lead, their first since 7-6.

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