The American League wild-card race remains a rollercoaster.
Toronto is now one game behind Cleveland for the final wild-card spot again. The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker between the two teams after winning the season series last week.
The Baltimore Orioles fell three games behind the Guardians with their loss to the Blue Jays.
Here is how the American League standings look after Saturday’s games:
New York Yankees: vs. NY Mets, 1:35 p.m.
Toronto: vs. Baltimore, 1:37 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Houston: at Rays, 1:40 p.m.
Cleveland: at Minnesota, 2:10 p.m., Sportsnet+
Chicago White Sox: at St. Louis, 2:15 p.m.
Boston: vs. Kansas City, 3:05 p.m.
Texas: vs. Arizona, 4:10 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
TORONTO — Alejandro Kirk hit a two-run home run, Brett Bateman added a solo shot and Toronto beat Baltimore.
Pete Alonso hit his 35th home run for Baltimore, a two-run blast off Paul Sewald in the seventh inning, but the Orioles lost for the eighth time in 11 September games.
Kirk had two hits and drove in three as the Blue Jays won for the second time in six games and ensured they would not lose ground in the AL wild card race. Toronto entered two games behind Cleveland for the final playoff spot.
Kirk and Bateman both connected off Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish (7-14) in the third.
Bateman’s first career home run came in the ninth inning of Friday’s 7-4 loss. Saturday’s was his second.
MINNEAPOLIS — Emmanuel Rodriguez homered in his first career at-bat to spark a four-run inning and Minnesota held off Cleveland.
Andrew Morris, Kody Funderburk and Jeff Hoffman combined for 2 2-3 innings of scoreless relief before A.J. Minter earned his first save since May 13, 2024, with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Travis Bazzana, Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan had RBIs for the Guardians, now one game behind Chicago in the American League Central Division.
Cleveland is one game up on Toronto for the final AL wild-card spot, with Minnesota 4 1/2 games behind.
NEW YORK — Francisco Lindor hit a leadoff homer and added a grand slam in the eighth inning as the New York Mets chased Gerrit Cole early and pounded the crosstown Yankees 12-2 on Saturday.
Luis Torrens added a two-run homer in the second and an RBI double in a five-run eighth at Yankee Stadium. Rookie Carson Benge had a solo drive and an RBI single in the fifth that chased Cole (8-9), who was tagged for five runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Juan Soto homered in the seventh as the Mets totaled 13 hits and won for 22nd time in 35 games since the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Jared Young also homered for the Mets, who slugged six homers against the Yankees for the first time.
Mets rookie Zac Thornton (4-5) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings during an impressive Subway Series debut. He ended his outing by getting a double-play grounder from Anthony Volpe.
Cody Bellinger homered and hit an RBI single off Thornton as the Yankees’ four-game winning streak ended.
The Yankees (85-63) lost for the eighth time in their past 25 games.
In his last three Subway Series starts, Cole is 0-3 with a 10.92 ERA and has permitted 10 homers.
DETROIT — Hao-Yu Lee doubled and tripled in a seven-run eighth inning as Detroit rallied for a win over Colorado.
Detroit extended its winning streak to three games and handed Colorado its ninth straight road loss.
Trailing 7-4, Lee and Gleyber Torres started the eighth with back-to-back doubles off Jaden Hill (1-4), and Riley Greene followed with an RBI single. Eduardo Valencia’s single put runners on the corners, and Max Clark walked to load the bases.
Hill left, not having recorded an out, and was replaced by Jordan Romano. He walked his first two batters, Spencer Torkelson and Ben Malgeri, to give the Tigers an 8-7 lead. John Peck added a sacrifice fly, and Lee lined a two-run triple off the right-field wall.
Beau Briske (1-0), the fourth Tigers pitcher, got five outs before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth.
The Tigers stranded 12 runners over the first seven innings. Detroit loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Peck grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
CHICAGO — Alex Bregman scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning when Gregory Soto hit Nico Hoerner with a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs, and Chicago rallied to beat Pittsburgh.
Before Hoerner’s at-bat, Soto walked pinch-hitter Matt Shaw to force in Pedro Ramirez from third to tie it at 3 as the Cubs won their second straight. Soto relieved after seven strong innings from Paul Skenes, who left with a 3-2 lead.
Skenes settled in after giving up solo shots to Michael Busch and Ramirez off high fastballs as the Pirates dropped a second straight after winning nine of 11. Ramirez led off the eighth with a double off Soto (6-5), who allowed two runs on one hit, two walks and hit two batters.
Ryan Rolison (9-1) got five outs for the win. Ryan Zeferjahn got the final out of the ninth for his sixth save.
Ryan O’Hearn hit his career-best 18th homer of the season, a three-run drive in the sixth, to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. O’Hearn connected for the first time since being reinstated on Friday following six weeks on the injured list (left quad strain) and upped his career-high RBI total this season to 72.
Skenes allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings while striking out four and walking one.
NATIONALS 6, ANGELS 5, 10 INNINGS
WASHINGTON — Andrew Alvarez pitched seven innings of one-hit ball and Washington earned a 10-inning victory over Los Angeles when CJ Abrams scored on an error despite another bullpen collapse.
Andrés Chaparro’s single off Ben Joyce tied it in the ninth. Abrams scored against José Fermín (4-3) when shortstop Zach Neto could not handle Harry Ford’s grounder with the infield in.
Before that, the Angels rallied to a 5-4 lead while handing Washington’s bullpen an MLB record-extending 39th blown save. Vaughn Grissom connected for a two-run homer during a three-run eighth against Brad Lord, and Wade Meckler, Denzer Guzman and Moisés Ballesteros also had RBIs.
Jack Sinclair (1-0) retired four batters for his first career win.
SAN FRANCISCO — Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. each hit solo homers, Mason Miller pitched a flawless ninth inning and San Diego beat San Francisco.
Michael King (11-9) worked around solo homers from Rafael Devers and Shay Whitcomb to pitch three-run ball over seven innings, but the Giants rallied against reliever Bradgley Rodriguez. Drew Cavanaugh led off with his first career homer, and Drew Gilbert added a two-run shot to get within a run.
Miller stifled the Giants from there, striking out two on 19 pitches for his 36th save.
BOSTON — Ranger Suarez struck out eight in seven innings of one-run ball, Wilyer Abreu hit a tiebreaking two-run double and Boston beat Kansas City to halt a three-game skid.
Nick Sogard had an RBI double, and Adley Rutschman and Caleb Durbin each added a run-scoring single for the Red Sox, who are comfortably in the second of the AL’s three wild-card spots.
Carter Jensen hit his 24th homer for Kansas City, which won the series opener Friday night.
Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. reached 40 stolen bases for the second time in his career when he swiped second in the first inning.
MIAMI — Kyle Tucker hit his sixth career grand slam and fell a double shy of the cycle as Los Angeles beat Miami to stretch their season-best winning streak to eight games.
Tucker connected on a 1-1 sweeper from reliever Cade Gibson for a 6-1 lead in the seventh. He singled in the first and tripled in the sixth.
Max Muncy had three hits and a walk and Will Smith added a run-scoring single for the NL West-leading Dodgers.
Blake Snell (4-1) allowed one run and struck out eight while scattering four hits over 5 2/3 innings.