O'Neill homers as Cardinals top Dodgers 2-1 for series split

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Tyler O'Neill hit a tiebreaking homer, and the St. Louis Cardinals salvaged a split of their four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 2-1 win on Thursday.

The Cardinals climbed within three games of idle San Diego for the second NL wild card, while the Dodgers fell 2 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants.

O'Neill's fifth-inning drive off Phil Bickford (3-2), his 25th homer this season, barely cleared the wall in left, inching past the outstretched glove of Steven Souza Jr.

The homer made a winner out of Alex Reyes (6-8), who pitched two scoreless innings in his fifth appearance since being demoted from the closer's role. Giovanny Gallegos earned his sixth save with a perfect ninth.

The Dodgers mustered just four hits against five Cardinals pitchers.

ATHLETICS 3, WHITE SOX 1

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Sean Manaea struck out nine in seven dominant innings, leading Oakland to the victory.

Manaea (9-9) allowed one run and five hits in his first win since July 28. The left-hander went 0-3 with an 8.00 ERA in his previous six starts.

Tony Kemp and Matt Chapman each drove in a run for Oakland, which took two of three games in the series. Andrew Chafin pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his third save.

José Abreu had two hits and drove in a run for the AL Central-leading White Sox. Reynaldo López (3-2) was charged with one earned run and six hits in five innings.

INDIANS 4, TWINS 1

CLEVELAND (AP) - Franmil Reyes, Oscar Mercado and José Ramirez homered, and Cleveland scored for the first time in three games.

Reyes' two-run shot in the third inning against Andrew Albers (1-2) snapped the Indians' 25-inning scoreless streak. The 418-foot blast to center also gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead.

The Indians managed just two runs while dropping the first three games of the series, including 3-0 losses on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Indians starter Cal Quantrill (5-3) pitched a career-high 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run on Miguel Sanó's homer in the second. Emmanuel Clase pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 22nd save.

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