AL wild-card roundup: Rangers overtake Blue Jays, Guardians pull away
The Toronto Blue Jays lost on the field and on the out-of-town scoreboard on Tuesday.
The Blue Jays were the only team jockeying for the final wild-card spot to lose, dropping an 10-1 decision to the Detroit Tigers. As a result, the Texas Rangers jumped ahead of Toronto with a win over the Red Sox, while the Cleveland Guardians moved two games clear with a walk-off win over the White Sox.
Here is how the American League standings look after Tuesday’s games.
Cleveland: vs. Chicago White Sox, 1:10 p.m.
Toronto: vs. Detroit, 3:07 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Baltimore: vs. NY Mets, 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Texas: vs. Boston, 8:05 p.m.
Houston: vs. Kansas City, 8:10 p.m., Sportsnet+
TORONTO — Spencer Torkelson smashed a three-run homer as part of a four-run inning and the Detroit Tigers routed the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 on Tuesday.
Max Clark had a one-run double earlier in the fourth inning as Detroit (72-79) won its sixth straight. Riley Greene and John Peck had RBI singles in the fifth and sixth innings respectively.
A throwing error by Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk in the eighth allowed two more runs to score and Hao-Yu Lee hit a solo home run in the ninth.
Drew Anderson (5-6) struck out four over five scoreless innings in which he allowed just two hits and three walks. Relief pitchers Jacob Waguespack, Kyle Finnegan and Brant Hurter followed him to the mound.
Kirk had an RBI single in the eighth for Toronto’s (75-77) only offence.
The Blue Jays dropped to two games back of Cleveland for the third and final wild-card spot in the American League after the Guardians rallied past the Chicago White Sox 7-6.
CLEVELAND — Brayan Rocchio came through again, hitting a two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Cleveland Guardians a comeback 7-6 win over the Chicago White Sox that tightened the AL Central race on Tuesday night.
With runners at second and third, Rocchio, who has seven career walk-off plate appearances, hit a fly toward the left-field corner off Grant Taylor (7-3) that just eluded a diving try by outfielder Sam Antonacci.
When the ball hit the turf, Rocchio flung his helmet in the air and Cleveland’s dugout emptied onto the field to celebrate. Rocchio has developed a knack for late-season heroics with four of his walk-off hits coming in September.
The Guardians’ rally moved them within a half game of the first-place White Sox. The teams will play the series finale on Wednesday. The White Sox, who lost at least 100 games in each of the past three seasons, have held at least a share of first since July 4.
Rookie Travis Bazzana hit a pair of homers for Cleveland.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jacob deGrom struck out eight in five innings, Corey Seager had a two-run single and the Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox 4-2 on Tuesday night in a series opener between playoff contenders.
All-Star closer Jacob Latz, the fourth Texas reliever, got the five outs for his 30th save in 33 chances after deGrom (11-9) needed 92 pitches while giving up two runs. Latz struck out pinch-hitter Andruw Monasterio with the bases loaded to end the eighth.
Texas (75-76) stayed within one game of AL West-leading Houston (76-75) after the Astros also won Tuesday. The Rangers moved ahead of Toronto (75-77), which lost to Detroit, to stay within 1 1/2 games of Cleveland (77-75) for the third and final wild card.
Boston (82-69) is second in the wild-card race, 5 1/2 games ahead of the Guardians.
ORIOLES 7, METS 5, 11 INNINGS
NEW YORK — Pete Alonso launched his 300th career home run Tuesday night, a tying shot in the ninth inning against his former team, and Coby Mayo’s inside-the-park homer in the 11th sent the Baltimore Orioles to a 7-5 victory over the New York Mets.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Jeremiah Jackson also went deep for the Orioles (74-78), who stayed three games behind Cleveland for the last American League playoff spot.
Mayo snapped a 4-all tie with a three-run homer in the 11th. He connected on an 0-2 pitch from Jonathan Pintaro with two outs and sent a long drive to center field that glanced off rookie A.J. Ewing’s glove as he crashed into the fence.
The ball rolled away from Ewing as he fell to the ground, allowing Mayo to circle the bases and score standing up.
MINNEAPOLIS — Max Fried earned his first victory since April 27, backed by home runs from Cody Bellinger and Spencer Jones that helped the New York Yankees keep pace in the AL East race with an 8-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.
Fried (5-4) allowed one run over seven smooth innings and 88 pitches, logging his longest start in almost five months to ensure the Yankees (88-63) stayed 3 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay (91-59) for the division lead. The Yankees, who clinched at least a wild card spot on Monday, will need Fried to keep this up in the postseason.
Fried, who spent 71 games on the injured list over two stints for a bone bruise in his elbow, has a 1.83 ERA with 50 strikeouts over 44 1/3 innings in nine starts after the All-Star break.
Bellinger, who had three hits and a walk, quickly got the Yankees going with his 16th homer, a two-run drive after Ben Rice began the game with a single off Bailey Ober (7-6). Bellinger is batting .377 (26 for 69) in his last 17 games.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Junior Caminero hit his second game-ending homer in four games, an opposite-field liner leading off the ninth inning that gave the Tampa Bay Rays a 2-1 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday night.
Caminero hit the third pitch from Elvis Alvarado (5-4) just inside the foul pole in right. It was the AL-leading 41st homer this season for the 23-year-old, who hit his first career walk-off homer to beat Houston on Friday.
Bryan Baker (3-2) pitched a perfect ninth for the Rays, who’ve won four in a row and are an MLB-best 35-17 since July 20.
Chandler Simpson, who began the night five points behind leader AL batting leader Yordan Alvarez of Houston, had half of the Rays’ six hits. Continuing his pursuit of a batting crown, Simpson went 3 for 3, raising his average to .308, and scored after reaching on a second-inning double.
The left fielder also made a sliding catch to rob Shea Langeliers in the ninth.
HOUSTON — Jeremy Peña homered in his first two at-bats and Yordan Alvarez slugged his 39th home run to lead the Houston Astros to a 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.
The Astros, who entered the day leading the AL West by one game over the Texas Rangers, got back on track after a three-game sweep by Tampa Bay over the weekend.
Peña hit Michael Wacha’s first pitch over the wall in left-center field for his first homer since Aug. 30.
There was one out in the third when he connected off Wacha (9-9) again, a shot to the seats in left to make it 2-0 and give him a fifth career multi-homer game.
The Astros led by one when Peña singled with two outs in the fifth. Alvarez followed with his soaring long ball to right field. His 39 homers are a career best and trail the Rays’ Junior Caminero by two for the AL lead.
CHICAGO — Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies and Drake Baldwin hit late-inning, two-run homers, and the Atlanta Braves rallied to beat the Chicago Cubs 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Chicago’s loss clinched Milwaukee’s fourth straight NL Central title. The Cubs (84-68) maintained a half-game lead over Philadelphia (83-68) for the top NL wild card.
NL East-leading Atlanta (89-63) opened a 5 1/2-game NL East lead over the second-place Phillies.
Given a 3-0 lead, Cubs starter Kevin Gausman retired 16 of his first 18 batters.
Acuña homered off Gausman in the sixth to pull the Braves within a run. Albies went deep in the seventh off Jacob Webb (6-5), his eighth home run in 23 games at Wrigley Field, and Baldwin connected in the ninth against Edward Cabrera.
PITTSBURGH — Jacob Misiorowski struck out seven in five shutout innings and the Milwaukee Brewers won their fourth straight National League Central title with a 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.
About 50 minutes after the final out, the Brewers clinched the division when the second-place Chicago Cubs lost to Atlanta. Milwaukee players watched the end of that game on television, raising hands and cheering at the final out.
The flamethrowing Misiorowski (15-5) dropped his ERA to a major-league-best 1.89 and boosted his season strikeout total to 243. Nine of the towering right-hander’s first 10 pitches topped 100 mph and he worked around five hits — all singles — to win his fourth straight decision.
Joey Ortiz and Luis Lara drove in two runs each for the Brewers, who have become postseason fixtures for the last decade but are still seeking the franchise’s first World Series appearance since 1982. Swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers last season’s NL Championship Series, Milwaukee has qualified for the postseason for the eighth time in nine years.
WASHINGTON — Pinch-hitter Daylen Lile hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the seventh inning, and the Washington Nationals defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Andrés Chaparro also homered for Washington, which won its fourth in a row for the first time since June 13-16.
Kyle Schwarber hit his majors-leading 45th homer for Philadelphia, which has dropped four of five but continues to hold an NL wild-card spot.
With the game tied at 3-all, Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez (17-6) surrendered consecutive singles to open the seventh before Nasim Nuñez bunted both runners over. Philadelphia interim manager Don Mattingly summoned Jonathan Bowlan, and Lile hammered his first pitch to center for his first career pinch homer.
Sánchez allowed five runs and struck out five. He is 1-2 with a 6.87 ERA in three September starts, and his season ERA has risen from 2.52 to 2.93 since the start of the month.
ST. LOUIS — Bryce Eldridge hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 10-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.
Eldridge is hitting .343 (36 for 105) with 28 RBI in his last 28 games.
Christian Kross and rookie Turner Hill each added two hits and drove in two runs, helping the Giants snap a four-game losing streak. Hill hit his first career home run in the ninth.
Alex Burleson hit a two-out homer, his 23rd of the season, in the first inning. He has driven in league-leading 111 runs.
Blade Tidwell (1-2) allowed two runs on three hits over 6 2/3 innings. Since his Aug. 4 recall, the Giants are 2-6 in his eight starts, with both wins coming against the Cardinals.