Kansas City is slipping in the American League Central Division race.

After running a close second to Cleveland for a stretch of the Major League Baseball regular season, the Royals were third in the division entering Thursday’s interdivisional road meeting with Oakland. They also had gone 2-8 in their last 10 ballgames.

The stretched started June 9, when the Royals fell 6-5 to Seattle at Kauffman Stadium to conclude a three-game home series. Kansas City then dropped three of four at Kauffman to the New York Yankees, who lead the AL East.

Kansas City avoided a sweep by the Yankees with a 4-3 comeback victory June 13. The Royals scored two runs in the fourth inning, allowed three in the eighth and rallied with two runs in the ninth, capped by Maikel Garcia’s two-run double.

Starting pitcher Alec Marsh tossed a one-hitter through seven innings for Kansas City. He threw a no-hitter through six.

Reliever John Schreiber gave up three runs in the eighth. Reliever James McArthur pitched a scoreless top of the ninth in getting the win.

The Royals lost two of three in a weekend road series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After falling 4-3 in the opener, they cruised 7-2 June 15.

Seth Lugo led the Royals to victory, picking up his 10th win of the season as their starter. He spread six hits, struck out four and allowed two earned runs through six innings. Left fielder MJ Melendez led the offense with two hits, including a go-ahead, sixth-inning grand slam.

Kansas City then dropped the series finale 3-0 Sunday. They lost their first two to Oakland, falling 7-5 Tuesday and 5-1 Wednesday.

The Royals will conclude their latest road trip with a weekend series with Texas.