RK TEAM REC PTS TREND
1 Alabama(60) 4-0 1523 —
2 Georgia 4-0 1422 —
3 Clemson(1) 4-0 1409 —
4 Ohio State 4-0 1363 —
5 LSU 4-0 1238 1
6 Oklahoma 4-0 1201 1
7 Stanford 4-0 1143 —
8 Notre Dame 4-0 1067 —
9 Penn State 4-0 1001 1
10 Auburn 3-1 987 1
11 Washington 3-1 946 1
12 West Virginia 3-0 923 —
13 UCF 3-0 727 3
14 Michigan 3-1 698 5
15 Wisconsin 3-1 662 3
16 Miami 3-1 571 5
17 Kentucky 4-0 541 NR
18 Texas 3-1 308 NR
19 Oregon 3-1 297 1
20 BYU 3-1 270 5
21 Michigan State 2-1 256 3
22 Duke 4-0 244 NR
23 Mississippi State 3-1 241 9
24 California 3-0 118 NR
25 Texas Tech 3-1 106 NR

Dropped from rankings: Virginia Tech 13, Oklahoma State 15, TCU 17, Texas A&M 22, Boston College 23

Others receiving votes: Colorado 83, Boise State 58, Virginia Tech 55, South Florida 50, Oklahoma State 44, Texas A&M 41, Iowa 31, South Carolina 31, Florida 29, NC State 28, Syracuse 25, TCU 24, Cincinnati 10, North Texas 10, Utah 9, Missouri 7, Ole Miss 7, Maryland 6, Buffalo 6, San Diego State 5, Arizona State 4

DETROIT (AP) — When the Kansas City Royals acquired Brad Keller during last winter’s Rule 5 draft, they committed themselves to keep him on the roster all season.

As it turned out, that hasn’t been a problem.

Keller pitched seven strong innings as the Royals held on to beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 on Sunday.

Keller (9-6) allowed one run on three hits, walking three and striking out two. He improved to 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA in his last eight starts.

“The first three or four innings, he was dead-on mechanically and just banging in strike after strike,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “After that, he was still fighting it a bit, but he hung in there and gave us seven more strong innings.”

Keller has only allowed more than two earned runs once since August 7.

“I was attacking them with my fastball, mostly,” he said. “They were sitting on my slider a little, so I went after them with the heater.”

The teams split the four-game series that finished Detroit’s home season. The Royals won the season series 11-8.

The Tigers finished 38-43 at home, four games better than 2017, but drew 1.86 million fans — the fewest since they had 1.37 million while losing 119 games in 2003.

“We wanted to win this one for our fans,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We’ve got 90-some losses, but they were still standing and cheering until the last pitch.”

The Royals led 3-1 in the ninth. Niko Goodrum led off the inning with a bunt single off Wily Peralta. Ronny Rodriguez added a one-out base hit, and Grayson Greiner walked to load the bases.

Victor Reyes hit a sacrifice fly to pull the Tigers within 3-2 before Peralta struck out Jim Adduci to earn his 13th save.

“Wily makes it a tightrope walk, but he’s 13-for-13,” Yost said. “They got a perfect bunt and a big walk, but he didn’t panic. He just kept making pitches.”

Daniel Norris needed 98 pitches to complete five innings, allowing one run on six hits and two walks. He struck out three.

“I didn’t have any kind of command, so I was in three-ball counts on almost every hitter,” he said. “The only thing I could count on was my slider, so I just kept trying to spin that in there to get out of trouble.”

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first on Adalberto Mondesi’s 12th home run and could have added to the margin in the third. Kansas City loaded the bases with one out, but Hunter Dozier grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Kansas City stranded two more batters in the fourth but had pushed Norris’ pitch count to 84.

“That’s the thing with Daniel — he might get into trouble, but he’s always going to give everything he’s got to get out of it,” Greiner said. “We were trying to find pitches that would work.”

Jeimer Candelario led off the fourth with a single — Detroit’s first hit — and Christin Stewart moved him to third with a hit-and-run single before Nicholas Castellanos tied the game with a sacrifice fly.

The Royals regained the lead with two runs in the sixth off Drew VerHagen (3-3). With two out, Alcides Escobar and Rosell Herrera singled before Herrera stole second. Cam Gallagher blooped a ball to shallow left, and Stewart couldn’t make a sliding catch.

“When (Keller) is dominating like that, you just want to get him some runs,” Gallagher said. “I hit that ball pretty weakly, but it got down in front of the outfielders. That’s how this works.”

GET IN THERE

Harold Castro made his major league debut, entering as a pinch-runner for Greiner in the ninth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: CF JaCoby Jones missed the game after aggravating a shoulder injury while attempting a diving catch on Saturday.

UP NEXT

Royals: Start a two-game series in Cincinnati on Tuesday. Eric Skoglund (1-5, 5.60 ERA) starts the opener against Matt Harvey (7-9, 4.92).

Tigers: Begin a three-game series in Minnesota on Tuesday, with Spencer Turnbull (0-1, 10.80) taking the mound.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs have a transcendent young quarterback and are unbeaten through the first three weeks after beating San Francisco. The 49ers are headed the other way, their defense in tatters and their offense in question after a likely season-ending knee injury to Jimmy Garoppolo. C.J. Beathard is expected to take over going forward.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Miles Mikolas won his fourth straight start, Matt Carpenter hit his NL-leading 36th homer and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 9-2 to complete a three-game sweep and remain on track for the NL’s second wild card. St. Louis has won three straight games and six of seven. The Cardinals remained 1½ games ahead of Colorado and two games behind Milwaukee, the wild card leader. St. Louis hosts the Brewers in a three-game series starting Monday. Mikolas is 17-4.

DETROIT (AP) — Rookie Brad Keller pitched seven strong innings, Cam Gallagher broke a sixth-inning tie with a two-run single and the Kansas City Royals held on to beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2. The teams split the four-game series that finished Detroit’s home season. The Royals won the season series 11-8. Keller allowed one run on three hits. The Tigers scored once in the ninth and had the tying run on base, but couldn’t get it across against Wily Peralta.

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Jay Simpson scored his first two goals of the season to help the Philadelphia Union beat Sporting Kansas City 2-0. Philadelphia has won six of its last eight games, which include a loss and draw. Sporting KC had won three of its prior four road games. Simpson, a 29-year-old English forward making his first start this season, scored on a volley in the 71st minute after Alejandro Bedoya headed a free kick to the penalty spot. Bedoya got past the defense and headed to an open Simpson in the 89th.

National Headlines

UNDATED (AP) — After a season-high seven ranked teams lost, the back half of the AP college football poll is getting a makeover. Five teams entered the Top 25, including No. 17 Kentucky for the first time since 2007. At the top it was mostly status quo. Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Ohio State stayed the top four teams. LSU moved up to No. 5. It swapped places with Oklahoma after the Sooners needed overtime to get by Army.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced yesterday that shortstop Didi Gregorius tore cartilage in his right wrist while scoring the run that clinched a postseason spot on Saturday. Boone said he was unsure if Gregorius would be able to return in time for the postseason. Gregorius has delivered 27 home runs and 86 RBIs this season.

ATLANTA (AP) — Tiger Woods ended a five-year victory drought and Justin Rose captured the FedEx Cup crown and the $10 million bonus, both coming in the PGA Tour Championship. Woods led by as many as five shots in the final round before completing a two-stroke victory over Billy Horschel. Rose birdied his final hole to finish in a fourth-place tie, good enough for the FedEx Cup.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Steve Stricker won the inaugural Sanford International for his third PGA Tour Champions title of the year. Stricker closed with a 3-under 67 for a four-stroke victory over Tim Petrovic and Jerry Smith. Brandt Jobe fell into a tie for fourth after owning a share of the lead heading into Sunday’s round.

Sunday Scores

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Final Carolina 31 Cincinnati 21
Final OT New Orleans 43 Atlanta 37
Final Baltimore 27 Denver 14
Final Tennessee 9 Jacksonville 6
Final Buffalo 27 Minnesota 6
Final Kansas City 38 San Francisco 27
Final Philadelphia 20 Indianapolis 16
Final Miami 28 Oakland 20
Final Washington 31 Green Bay 17
Final N-Y Giants 27 Houston 22
Final L.A. Rams 35 L.A. Chargers 23
Final Chicago 16 Arizona 14
Final Seattle 24 Dallas 13
Final Detroit 26 New England 10
Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay 8:15 p.m. Monday

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Final Chi Cubs 6 Chi White Sox 1

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Baltimore 6 N-Y Yankees 3
Final Tampa Bay 5 Toronto 2
Final Kansas City 3 Detroit 2
Final Houston 6 L-A Angels 2
Final Texas 6 Seattle 1
Final Minnesota 5 Oakland 1
Final Cleveland 4 Boston 3, 11 Innings

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Miami 6 Cincinnati 0
Final Milwaukee 13 Pittsburgh 6
Final N-Y Mets 8 Washington 6
Final Atlanta 2 Philadelphia 1
Final St. Louis 9 San Francisco 2
Final L-A Dodgers 14 San Diego 0
Final Colorado 2 Arizona 0

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes was flushed from the pocket and scrambled all the way to his left, only to realize that just about everybody wearing a Chiefs helmet was on the opposite side of the field.

It was a rookie mistake by the second-year pro, one he turned into more early season magic.

Mahomes quickly reversed field against the pursuing San Francisco defense, ran all the way to the other side and threw a dart to Chris Conley in the back of the end zone. It was one of three TD passes he threw in a 38-27 victory over the 49ers on Sunday — and easily the most impressive .

“That,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid acknowledged with a smile, “was a good one.”

Mahomes finished with 314 yards passing in his first regular-season start at Arrowhead Stadium, and his touchdown throws to Conley, Demetrius Harris and Sammy Watkins gave him 13 this season without an interception. That total broke the NFL record of 12 for the first three weeks of a season, set by Peyton Manning during the 2013 campaign.

More importantly, all those touchdown tosses have the Chiefs 3-0. They are the third team to score at least 38 points in each of the first three games, joining 2007 New England and the 1967 Baltimore Colts.

“We’ve got a bunch of weapons,” said Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, who added his first two touchdown runs this season, “and Pat is just a competitor. I knew that from the day we met, when we got drafted together. We said one day we were going to take over the Chiefs Kingdom.”

The Chiefs have clearly found their long-term answer at quarterback.

The 49ers? They have a whole lot of questions now.

Jimmy Garoppolo left late in the fourth quarter after his left knee buckled during a scramble to the sideline. He was crushed on his throwing shoulder by the Chiefs’ Steven Nelson, but the damage was already done, and the 49ers’ franchise quarterback was carted off to the locker room.

“We fear an ACL,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We’ll find out for sure tomorrow.”

The 49ers (1-2) trailed 35-7 late in the first half before rallying behind Garoppolo, who threw for 251 yards and two touchdowns. Matt Breida added 90 yards rushing and Alfred Morris scored on the ground as San Francisco clawed to within 35-24 late in the third quarter.

It was still 38-24 when the 49ers produced a grinding, 17-play drive that wiped out more than half the fourth quarter. But it ended in a strange sequence that began with Garoppolo taking the shot from Nelson along the sideline, rather than stepping out of bounds and avoiding the hit.

“I think that was his fault,” said Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston, who was trailing the play. “I pray he’s not hurt, it’s nothing serious, but as a quarterback you should step out of bounds. It’s only an inch. An inch wouldn’t have made a difference. You got the yardage. You need to be smart.”

C.J. Beathard came in on third-and-goal and threw what appeared to be a touchdown pass to George Kittle, but it was wiped out by offensive pass interference with 5:17 left in the game.

Rather than go for it on fourth down at the Kansas City 25, Shanahan elected to kick a field goal — keeping it a two-possession game. Then the 49ers kicked it deep rather than try an onside kick, and the Chiefs picked up a first down by penalty before Hunt churned for two more and put the game away.

“That’s our time in the game,” Reid said. “You take a lot of pride in it. They’re going backward and we’re going forward and it’s all good.”

MORE ON GAROPPOLO

Shanahan acknowledged a quarterback move is likely, though Beathard is line to start next week in Los Angeles. The 49ers’ only other QB is Nick Mullins, a member of the practice squad. “I just talked to (Garoppolo) in the training room,” Beathard said. “I told him I’ll be praying for him and I love him and he just told me to lead these guys.”

FOSTER’S FRUSTRATION

49ers LB Reuben Foster had a rough return from a two-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct and substance abuse policy. Foster was hit with a personal foul for hitting Mahomes as the QB was sliding in the first half, Kelce beat him in pass defense, and the young linebacker left early in the fourth quarter when he was shaken up on a tackle.

INJURIES

49ers: The defensive backfield was in tatters by the fourth quarter. CB Richard Sherman left with a calf injury, FS Adrian Colbert hurt his ankle and backup CB Tarvarius Moore left with a wrist injury. SS Jaquiski Taylor was already inactive with a shoulder injury.

Chiefs: LB Dee Ford left with a groin injury in the fourth quarter. He will have an MRI exam Monday … Conley briefly left with a right ankle injury, though he returned to make his TD catch. … SS Eric Berry (heel) remained inactive for the third straight week.

UP NEXT

49ers: Play the Chargers in Los Angeles next Sunday.

Chiefs: Visit the AFC West-rival Broncos next Monday night.