The American League wild-card picture won’t be clearing up anytime soon.
Entering the weekend on a seven-game win streak and two games above .500, the Cleveland Guardians have suddenly lost two straight games to the red-hot Kansas City Royals and lost ground to a pair of AL East rivals.
The Guardians’ step back has been a boon for the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, who gained ground for the second straight day with their respective wins.
Toronto used a comeback victory over the Seattle Mariners to move 1.5 games back of Cleveland, while Baltimore moved to a single game back with another win over the Athletics.
Elsewhere in the race, the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins saw their losing streaks extended to four and the Mariners droped a third straight contest.
Further down the standings, the Detroit Tigers stayed on the fringes of the chase with a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Here’s how the standings look after Saturday’s results:
Toronto: vs. Seattle, 1:37 p.m. (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+)
Houston: at New York Mets, 3:10 p.m.
New York Yankees: vs. Boston, 1:35 p.m. (Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+)
Baltimore: at Athletics, 4:05 p.m. (Sportsnet+)
Boston: at New York Yankees, 1:35 p.m. (Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+)
Texas: at Milwaukee, 2:10 p.m.
Cleveland: vs. Kansas City, 1:40 p.m.
Minnesota: vs. Chicago White Sox, 2:10 p.m.
Seattle: at Toronto, 1:37 p.m.
Detroit: vs. L.A. Dodgers, 1:40 p.m.
TORONTO — Alejandro Kirk drove in the tiebreaking run with a two-out single in the sixth inning and Toronto beat Seattle.
José Soriano (11-7) struck out six in seven innings to win for the second time in three starts. Soriano allowed three runs and three hits.
Tyler Rogers struck out two in the eighth but left after walking Julio Rodríguez. Josh Naylor singled off Mason Fluharty to advance Rodríguez to third, but Fluharty struck out Cal Raleigh to preserve the lead.
Louis Varland finished for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Seattle lost its third straight and dropped to 27-41 on the road.
CLEVELAND — Josh Rojas had his second career game with four RBIs, Salvador Perez hit two doubles and Kansas City defeated Cleveland for their 12th win in 13 games.
Rojas came into the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning. He lined a two-run single to left to extend Kansas City’s lead to 6-2 and added a two-run homer in the eighth. Rojas’ other game with four RBIs was with Arizona in 2022.
Cleveland’s Angel Martínez had two hits, including a two-run homer, and drove in three runs. The Guardians have dropped their last two after a seven-game winning streak.
Anthony Gose (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings as five Royals relievers combined to allow one run and two hits in 5 2/3 innings.
NEW YORK — Juan Soto, activated from the 10-day injured list before the game, had the go-ahead RBI single a pitch after fouling a ball off his right leg Saturday, leading New York to a victory over Houston.
Soto was tended to by manager Andy Green and a trainer before his hit off Cristian Javier (1-5) capped a seven-pitch battle and sparked a three-run fifth for the Mets, who halted a three-game skid.
Soto returned to the last-place Mets after missing 31 games with a grade 2 strain of his left calf. It was the second IL stint of the season for Soto.
Jared Young added a two-run triple later in the fifth and finished with three hits and a career-high three RBIs. Francisco Alvarez hit a two-run double in the eighth,
MILWAUKEE — Jackson Chourio and William Contreras homered in the first inning and Milwaukee stayed ahead the rest of the way to defeat Texas.
The MLB-leading Brewers won their fourth in a row and handed Texas its fourth straight loss. The Rangers remained two games behind AL West leader Houston, which lost 6-2 to the New York Mets earlier Saturday.
Brandon Nimmo hit a two-run homer and Cody Freeman added a solo shot for Texas.
Rangers starter Cal Quantrill gave up homers to two of the first four batters he faced.
Chourio’s 20th homer of the season came on a night when fans received cereal bowls bearing his name as they entered American Family Field. Quantrill was a strike away from getting out of the inning before Contreras connected on a 2-2 pitch and sent a 409-foot shot to left.
DETROIT — Javier Báez made huge ninth-inning plays in the field and at the plate to set up Kevin McGonigle’s game-ending single as the Detroit Tigers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 on Saturday.
The Dodgers nearly took the lead in the top of the inning, but with two outs, Báez sprinted over from left field to run down Teoscar Hernández’s drive to the deepest part of the ballpark.
He then led off the bottom of the ninth with a double and took third on Max Clark’s sacrifice bunt. Jack Dreyer (5-2) intentionally walked Gleyber Torres, but then walked Hao-Yu Lee unintentionally to load the bases.
McGonigle then hit a deep fly to left-centre field that hit the warning track and bounced into the Dodgers bullpen. Because the winning run was on third, the play was ruled a single rather than a ground-rule double.
Each starter pitched well, but neither was involved in the decision. Blake Snell allowed one run on three hits in five innings, striking out 10, while Tigers starter Keider Montero gave up one run in 5 1/3 innings.
MINNEAPOLIS — Andrew Benintendi had all three of Chicago’s hits, with his sixth-inning home run being the difference, as the White Sox beat Minnesota.
After five shutout innings Friday, the White Sox bullpen added four more as division-leading Chicago won its fourth straight game and improved to a season-high nine games over .500.
Josh Bell and Walter Jenkins had RBIs for Minnesota, which lost for the seventh time in eight games. The Twins are 8-17 in August as their playoff aspirations continue to fade.
A season-low-tying eight games under .500, Minnesota is 4 1/2 games out of the final American League wild-card spot, behind four other teams.
ST. LOUIS — Rafael Flores Jr. hit a three-run home run and Brandon Lowe added a solo shot to lift Pittsburgh to a victory over St. Louis.
The Pirates entered the game, having scored only eight runs in their previous six games.
Carmen Mlodzinski (7-6), the third Pirates pitcher, gave up one run and one hit in 3 1/3 innings. Six Pittsburgh pitchers held the Cardinals to just three hits.
Rookie Brycen Mautz (0-1) took the loss in his MLB debut for St. Louis. He gave up four runs on five hits and a walk in three innings. Mautz struck out eight.
In the fifth, Flores drove a 3-2 slider into the left-field bleachers for a three-run homer, extending Pittsburgh’s advantage to 5-1.
CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong homered three times and drove in six runs, helping the Cubs beat Sal Stewart and Cincinnati.
Alex Bregman, Carson Kelly and Seiya Suzuki also went deep for Chicago, which had lost three in a row and six of eight overall. The bottom of Chicago’s lineup — Tyrone Taylor, Pedro Ramírez and Kelly — went 8 for 12 and scored nine runs.
Stewart and Eugenio Suárez homered for the Reds, who dropped to 3-5 on a nine-game trip. Andrew Abbott (6-10) was tagged for seven runs and eight hits in three-plus innings.
Stewart’s two-run shot in the third was his 30th homer of the year. He leads NL rookies in homers and RBIs (104).
Crow-Armstrong hit a 435-foot drive to right-centre in the first for his eighth career leadoff homer — all this season. He connected for a two-run drive in the second and a three-run homer in the seventh, a 444-foot shot to centre for No. 36 on the year.
NATIONALS 5, MARLINS 4, 10 INNINGS
WASHINGTON — Dylan Crews hit an RBI single with two out in the 10th inning to give Washington a win over Miami.
Miami pitchers had set down 21 consecutive Nationals before Michael Petersen (3-4) walked José Tena and Daylen Lile in the 10th inning to push automatic runner Nasim Nuñez to third. Crews then singled to the left of diving second baseman Xavier Edwards to win it.
Orlando Ribalta (1-2) pitched a scoreless 10th for his first major league victory in 70 career appearances.
Washington has won three in a row for the first time since Aug. 7-9.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Yandy Diaz knocked in three runs with a bases-loaded single in the seventh inning and Chandler Simpson followed with a tiebreaking RBI hit as Tampa Bay rallied to beat San Diego in a game in which Padres second baseman Luis Rengifo was carted off with a right knee sprain.
Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda homered as the Rays won their third straight and for the fifth time in six games.
Kevin Kelly (6-3) earned the win with 1 2/3 innings in relief. Bryan Baker recorded his league-leading 39th save by working a scoreless ninth. Starter Nick Martinez allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out four in six innings.
Bradgley Rodriguez (3-3) took the loss after failing to record an out while facing four batters in the seventh. Walker Buehler allowed seven hits and three runs while striking out three in five innings. Ty France hit a two-run home run for San Diego.
ATLANTA — Michael Harris II hit a two-out, two-run double in the eighth inning to lift Atlanta to a win over Colorado Rockies, the sixth straight for the National League East leaders.
Brent Suter (2-2) pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and picked up his first victory since joining the Braves at the trade deadline. Rookie Didier Fuentes allowed two baserunners in the ninth but retired Jake McCarthy to end the game and pick up his third save.
Harris lifted a fly ball to left-centre field that was just out of the diving reach of Cole Carrigg and scored Matt Olson from second and Mauricio Dubón from first.
The Rockies entered the game with an MLB-worst 5.54 team ERA but came within four outs of just their second shutout of the season.
RED SOX 6, YANKEES 0, GAME 1
YANKEES 9, RED SOX 2, GAME 2
NEW YORK — Ben Rice had a two-run single in New York’s five-run eighth inning and finished with three RBIs as the Yankees beat Boston in the nightcap and earned a doubleheader split.
The Yankees pulled rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. after the third inning with right knee discomfort. The 21-year-old tweaked his knee on a check swing in the second inning and took another at-bat before exiting.
Ceddanne Rafaela hit an RBI single in a four-run ninth as Boston beat New York 6-0 in the opener.
The Yankees evened the season series at six games apiece and moved three games ahead of the Red Sox for the AL’s top wild-card spot.