Kansas City remains in the thick of the American League (AL) playoff race, despite going 4-6 in its last 10 games.

The Royals were 66-55 and held the position of the final wild card spot entering this weekend’s three-game interleague road series with Cincinnati. Their 4-6 stretch began with a split of the final two games of a road series with Detroit.

After that, Kansas City dropped two of three to Boston and split a two-game interleague series with St. Louis, all at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals then dropped two of three to Minnesota this week at Target Field.

The Royals opened their series with Minnesota by falling 8-3 Monday. The Twins took control with six runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Sparked by a three-run first, Minnesota thumped Kansas City 13-3 Tuesday. Royals pitchers Seth Lugo, Chris Stratton, Will Smith and James McArthur got touched for a combined 15 hits in the AL Central Division defeat. Lugo, who started, yielded nine hits and seven earned runs through four innings in taking the loss.

Kansas City avoided a sweep with a 4-1 victory Wednesday. Adam Frazier and Paul DeJong powered the Royals with three hits each. One of DeJong’s hits was a solo home run.

Other contributors included Bobby Witt Jr. and Freddy Fermin, who had two hits each. Witt’s hits included a solo homer.

Starting pitcher Cole Ragans got the win. Ragans struck out eight, spread five hits and allowed an earned run through seven innings.