Five teams in the American League wild-card race entered play Tuesday with 61 wins, but only three separated themselves by getting win No. 62.
The Toronto Blue Jays, Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins were all victorious on Tuesday, with the Rangers moving up into the third wild-card spot by virtue of a tiebreaker.
On the other side of things, the Orioles and Tigers slipped down with losses, joining the Guardians at half a game back.
Meanwhile, the Seattle Mariners may have bowed out of the race for good with a 22-0 loss to the Brewers in Milwaukee. They are now three games back.
Here is how the standings look after Tuesday’s action:
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Kazuma Okamoto broke Toronto’s rookie home run record with his 25th, Josh Smith and Alejandro Kirk also homered and the Blue Jays beat AL-leading Tampa Bay in the opener of their series.
The Blue Jays have won 13 of their last 19 games.
Okamoto gave Toronto a 7-3 lead with his homer in the fifth, breaking Eric Hinske’s team record. Brett Bateman tacked on an RBI single before Smith launched a ball over the right-field wall, capping the scoring for the Blue Jays.
George Springer had an RBI single in the first, and Jesús Sánchez added a run-scoring double. Kirk extended the lead in the third with his homer to left-centre field. Kirk also drove in a run with a single in the fourth and Bateman scored another on a wild pitch by Rays starter Nick Martinez (12-4).
José Soriano (10-6) allowed three runs and nine hits in five innings, striking out two.
PITTSBURGH — Braxton Ashcraft allowed five hits over eight efficient innings, Oneil Cruz homered in his return from the injured list, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Ashcraft (13-5), a first-time All-Star this season, struck out four and didn’t issue a walk while throwing just 80 pitches. The 26-year-old right-hander, coming off the first complete game of his career in a win over Miami last week, gave up a fifth-inning homer to Tigers rookie Brett Callahan but otherwise cruised to his fourth win in five starts.
Ashcraft became the first Pittsburgh pitcher since A.J. Burnett in 2012 to record a complete game and then work at least eight innings in his next start.
Mason Montgomery worked the ninth for his fifth save.
BALTIMORE — Trent Grisham hit his 17th home run in the third inning and had a two-run single in the seventh to propel New York to a victory over Baltimore.
Yerry De los Santos (1-0) pitched two innings of scoreless relief for the Yankees (70-55), who began the series opener in possession of the top AL wild-card place and six games behind Tampa Bay for the AL East lead.
Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón allowed Coby Mayo’s 17th homer during four innings in his first start after nearly two months on the injured list with inflammation in his throwing elbow.
Brent Headrick and Fernando Cruz got through the seventh, Paul Blackburn completed the eighth and David Bednar worked a perfect ninth for his 28th save in New York’s second straight win.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Cal Quantrill gave up four hits in seven innings, Justin Foscue hit a home run, and the Texas Rangers beat the Washington Nationals 5-0 on Tuesday night.
Quantrill (5-4) struck out five and did not issue a walk.
Foscue hit a 400-foot home run over the left field wall in the second inning to give Texas a 2-0 lead.
Wyatt Langford scored the first run of the game on Jake Burger’s double-play groundout in the first.
The Rangers added three more runs in the third.
Langford scored on Brandon Nimmo’s fielder’s choice to make it 3-0. The Nationals challenged the call, but the decision was upheld after a review. Corey Seager scored after Foscue was walked with the bases loaded and Corey Freeman hit an RBI single to make it 5-0.
RED SOX 9, DIAMONDBACKS 4
BOSTON — Adley Rutschman hit his first homer as a member of the Red Sox, Ranger Suarez picked up his first win since late June and Boston beat Arizona.
Mickey Gasper also homered for Boston and added an RBI single in the seventh as the Red Sox followed up their 16 hits in an 11-1 rout Monday night in the series opener with 13 more hits Tuesday. Eight players had at least one hit for Boston, which has won three of its last four games.
Gabriel Moreno hit a grand slam in the third for Arizona, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games. The Diamondbacks have lost three straight and five of seven.
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers matched baseball’s modern-era record for the biggest shutout, beating the Seattle Mariners 22-0 on Tuesday night behind three-run homers from Christian Yelich, David Hamilton and Luis Lara and a two-run shot by Jake Bauers.
The major league-best Brewers (78-48) matched a franchise record for runs in a game. Since 1901, the only previous 22-0 victories were by Pittsburgh over the host Chicago Cubs on Sept. 16, 1975 and by Cleveland at the New York Yankees on Aug. 31, 2004.
Bauers scored the Brewers’ first run in colorful fashion. He doubled with two outs in the first against Bryce Miller (4-7). William Contreras singled, and left fielder Randy Arozarena’s throw to the plate easily beat Bauers, who slapped at catcher Cal Raleigh’s mitt on his slide. Raleigh dropped the ball, and Bauers dived back to the plate.
Yelich’s homer made it 6-0 in the fifth. Hamilton went deep in the sixth to make it 9-0, and Bauers’ 22nd homer later in the inning made it 11-0.
Milwaukee scored nine times in the eighth against Mariners infielder Leo Rivas, including Lara’s homer, which was the first of his career.
CLEVELAND — Jo Adell set a career high with six RBIs and hit a 455-foot, three-run homer in the first inning as Cleveland defeated San Francisco.
Adell and José Ramírez had three hits apiece for the Guardians, who won for only the fifth time in 15 games this month.
Foster Griffin (14-4) became the fourth big-league pitcher with at least 14 wins this season after he allowed one run in six innings.
San Francisco’s Bryce Eldridge homered for the second straight game. The Giants have dropped five of their last six.
It was a bounce-back game for Adell, who came into the game batting .167 (7 for 42) since being acquired by the Guardians at the Aug. 4 trade deadline.
MINNEAPOLIS — Josh Bell hit a two-run homer, Ryan Jeffers drove in Minnesota’s other two runs, and the Twins beat Atlanta.
Bell hit his 17th home run of the year over the right-centre field wall in the first inning to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.
Jeffers added a two-run double in the eighth inning that plated Kaelen Culpepper and Byron Buxton as the Twins took the first two games of the three-game series.
Zebby Matthews (7-8) tossed 5 2/3 innings for Minnesota, allowing one run on five hits while striking out four. Yoendrys Gómez worked a scoreless ninth for his 19th save of the season.
CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong made MLB history with a leadoff home run and Alex Bregman’s RBI single gave the Chicago Cubs a second straight walk-off win over the Chicago White Sox.
Carson Kelly led off the bottom of the ninth with a double to left off Trevor Richards (0-1). The White Sox intentionally walked Crow-Armstrong before Bregman delivered the Cubs’ MLB-leading 13th walk-off win of the season.
Bregman singled in pinch-runner Kevin Alcantara off Grant Taylor in the seventh to tie the score.
Crow-Armstrong led off with a home run, his 31st, for the second straight game and sixth time this season. He homered in consecutive at-bats after his first career walk-off shot Monday.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Crow-Armstrong is the first player in MLB history with two leadoff home runs and a walk-off in a two-game span, and the 13th since 1900 to follow a walk-off homer with a leadoff shot.
Crow-Armstrong also hit leadoff home runs in back-to-back games June 15-16 against Colorado.
Jacob Webb (6-2) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win, the Cubs’ eighth straight over the White Sox at Wrigley Field.
HOUSTON — Rookie George Klassen allowed one hit in a career-high seven scoreless innings and Josh Lowe homered to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 3-1 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
Klassen (2-1), who was making his fifth career start, also set a career mark by striking out seven. He allowed only a first-inning single to Jose Altuve.
Cam Smith hit a solo homer off José Fermin with no outs in the eighth to cut the lead to 3-1. But Ben Joyce pitched a scoreless ninth to get his third save and send the AL West leaders to their third straight loss.
Houston starter Cristian Javier (1-4) allowed five hits and two runs in four innings.
The Angels scored all three of their runs with two outs for their second win in three games.
DENVER — Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run shot to reach 30 homers for the sixth straight season and Freddie Freeman had two hits and two RBIs as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 7-6 on Tuesday night.
Teoscar Hernandez had a triple and double, and Tommy Edman doubled twice as the Dodgers broke out of an offensive slump in Denver.
Los Angeles scored 10 runs in the four-game series against Milwaukee over the weekend. Against Colorado, the Dodgers have scored 18 runs on 24 hits with four homers, including three by Ohtani, in the first two games of the three-game set.
Ohtani’s 30th homer travelled 448 feet into the Los Angeles bullpen off Ryan Feltner (5-7) and gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead in the third inning. The Rockies tied it in the bottom of the inning before Los Angeles went ahead again in the fourth.
Edman, Kyle Tucker and Hernandez doubled in the inning to make it 5-3, and Hernandez scored on Freeman’s sacrifice fly.
CINCINNATI — Masyn Winn hit a home run and doubled twice and Kyle Leahy gave up three hits and struck out six in five innings as St. Louis beat Cincinnati.
Riley O’Brien pitched the ninth for his 32nd save. It was the 12th time the Reds have been shut out this season and the Cardinals’ ninth shutout win.
It’s the first time Winn had two doubles in a game since July 28, 2025 against the Marlins.
Cardinals left fielder Joshua Báez went 0 for 3 with an RBI on a sacrifice fly. He’s now 0 for 17 with seven strikeouts since his three-homer day at Wrigley Field on Saturday.
Leahy (10-4) threw 90 pitches. It was his 10th straight start allowing two earned runs or fewer.
PHILADELPHIA — Bryson Stott put the Phillies ahead with a two-run single in the sixth inning, and Philadelphia rallied for its fifth straight victory, over Miami.
The Phillies trailed 3-1 before they sent nine batters to the plate in the sixth and scored four times against reliever Michael Petersen (2-3). Alec Bohm, who also had an RBI single in the first, opened the scoring in the sixth with a run-scoring double. After Stott’s hit — which extended his on-base streak to a career-high 19 games — Justin Crawford had a run-scoring single to make it 5-3.
Philadelphia occupies the second NL wild-card spot after sweeping Minnesota and winning the first two against the Marlins.
Alex McFarlane (1-1) allowed one unearned run in the sixth, earning his first career win. Brooks Raley, the fifth Phillies pitcher, retired the side on 12 pitches in the ninth for his first save.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt Jr. drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the ninth after pinch-hitter Tyler Tolbert hit a tying two-run single, giving the Kansas City Royals a 4-3 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday night.
Trailing 3-1, the Royals loaded the bases with one out in the ninth on a catcher’s interference call, a single and a walk. Tolbert batted for Kyle Isbel and grounded a single into left off Hogan Harris (3-2) to tie it. Elvis Alvarado replaced Harris and got Isaac Collins to line out before Witt blooped a single into left for the Royals’ sixth walk-off win of the season.
The Athletics took an early lead as Zack Gelof drew a first-inning walk, and Jonah Heim drew another to load the bases. Then, Tommy White knocked in the game’s first run with a single to left. A second runner nearly scored, but was thrown out at the plate.