CLEVELAND -- Jose Ramirez had three of Cleveland's six doubles, and Corey Kluber struck out nine in 6 1/3 innings in winning his 18th game as the Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Wednesday night at Progressive Field.

The loss officially eliminates the Royals from the American League Central Division race, and the win for Cleveland reduces the Indians' magic number for clinching the division to five.

Kluber (18-9) gave up four consecutive singles and two runs in the third inning, but no runs and two hits in the other 5 1/3 innings he pitched. In his last 14 starts Kluber is 10-1 with a 2.32 ERA. The 18 wins matches Kluber's career high set in 2014, when he was 18-9 and won the American League Cy Young Award.

Kluber was removed from the game after Cheslor Cuthbert hit Kluber's 102nd and final pitch of the game for a double with one out in the seventh inning. Andrew Miller relieved Kluber and retired the next two batters to end the inning.

Bryan Shaw pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Cody Allen pitched the ninth to pick up his 28th save, although Allen gave up a leadoff home run in the ninth to Salvador Perez that cut the Cleveland lead from 4-2 to 4-3.

Kansas City starter Ian Kennedy (11-10) pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

The Indians scored a run in the second inning, two in the third, and one in the eighth on an RBI single by Carlos Santana, his fourth hit of the game. That was plenty for Cleveland's pitchers, who held Kansas City to one run on two hits over the last six innings.

The Indians took an early lead in the second inning. With one out, Jose Ramirez doubled and scored on a single by Lonnie Chisenhall.

Kluber retired eight of the first 10 batters he faced, but with two outs and nobody on in the third inning, the Royals struck for two runs on four consecutive singles. Whit Merrifield, Eric Hosmer, Kendrys Morals and Salvador Perez all singled, with the hits by Morales and Perez driving in runs and giving the Royals a 2-0 lead.

Cleveland had great opportunities to score off Kennedy in the third and fourth innings, but the Indians went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position in the two innings. Roberto Perez and Carlos Santana led off the third with singles. But with runners at first and second and nobody out Kennedy struck out Jason Kipnis, retired Francisco Lindor on a fly out and struck out Mike Napoli to end the inning.

In the fourth, Ramirez led off with another double, but Kennedy retired Chisenhall and Rajai Davis on infield popups. Kennedy intentionally walked Tyler Naquin and got Perez on a groundout to end the inning.

In the fifth inning, the Indians' leadoff hitter reached base for the fourth time in five innings, and this time they turned it into two runs. Santana led off with a double off the right field wall, his third hit of the game. Kipnis followed with a double to center field, scoring Santana with the tying run.

Kipnis moved to third on a fly out to right by Lindor for the first out. Napoli popped out to first for the second out, but Ramirez clubbed his third double of the game into the gap in left-center field, scoring Kipnis and giving Cleveland a 3-2 lead.

NOTES: With five home games remaining, the Indians had a .658 winning percentage at home (50-26). That would be highest home winning percentage for a full season by Cleveland since the pennant-winning 1954 team was 59-18 (.766) at home. ... In 21 appearances with the Indians since he was acquired in a trade with the Yankees, LHP Andrew Miller is 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA, with 37 strikeouts and two walks in 24 1/3 innings. ... Royals SS Alcides Escobar played in his 161st consecutive game Wednesday night. That's the longest active streak in the majors. ... 1B Eric Hosmer (97 RBIs) is bidding to drive in 100 runs as a first baseman for Kansas City for the first time since 2000, when 103 of Mike Sweeney's 144 RBI came while playing first base.