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Bichette powers Jays past Yanks, AL wild card race tightens

TORONTO (AP) - Bo Bichette homered twice, including a tiebreaking drive off Clay Holmes in the eighth inning that lifted the Toronto Blue Jays over the Yankees 6-5 Wednesday night, tightened the AL wild-card race and ended New York's seven-game winning streak.

Marcus Semien hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the first off a faltering Gerrit Cole, setting a big league record for second basemen with his 44th home run of the season.

With the score 5-all, Bichette led off the eighth against Holmes (8-4) with his 28th home run, an opposite-field drive that cleared the scoreboard in right-center.

Adam Cimber (3-4) got four outs for the win. With a runner on second, Jordan Romano retired Tyler Wade on a game-ending flyout for his 22nd save in 23 chances.

Boston closed within one game of the wild card-leading Yankees after winning 6-0 at Baltimore, and Toronto is one game back of the Red Sox. Seattle is a half-game ahead of the Blue Jays after winning 4-2 over Oakland.

BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 0

ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis' team-record 17-game winning streak ended as Milwaukee's Daniel Vogelbach hit a two-run homer that backed Adrian Houser.

Manny Piña added a solo homer for the NL Central champion Brewers, who have won four of five.

A night after clinching a postseason berth, the Cardinals did not start regulars Nolan Arenado, Tyler O'Neill and Tommy Edman.

Houser (10-6) allowed three hits in five innings.

Vogelbach homered in the sixth off Miles Mikolas (2-3), who allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

BRAVES 7, PHILLIES 2

ATLANTA (AP) - Max Fried pitched seven strong innings, Austin Riley drove in three runs, and Atlanta beat Philadelphia to move within one victory of a fourth straight NL East title.

The Braves have won nine of 11 and reduced their magic number to one. Philadelphia, which dropped 4 1/2 games back in the standings with its third straight loss, can be eliminated from postseason contention with one loss or one Atlanta win.

Fried (14-7) improved to 7-0 with a 1.46 ERA over his last 11 starts. The lefty allowed two runs - one earned - and four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

Aaron Nola (9-9) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings.

RED SOX 6, ORIOLES 0

BALTIMORE (AP) - J.D. Martinez homered and drove in three runs to back a dominant pitching performance by Nathan Eovaldi, and Boston beat Baltimore to break a four-game skid and bolster its playoff hopes.

Martinez hit his 28th homer in the second inning for a 1-0 lead, and the Red Sox used a broken-bat single and an error to tack on two unearned runs in the sixth.

Eovaldi (11-9) took it from there, limiting Baltimore to four hits and striking out seven over six innings.

Rookie Zac Lowther (1-3) was pulled after Rafael Devers cracked his bat on a leadoff single in the sixth. Xander Bogaerts subsequently reached on an error by third baseman Kelvin Gutiérrez before Martinez smacked a two-run double.

The victory enabled the Red Sox to move within a game of the New York Yankees for the top AL wild card. Seattle remained a half-game behind Boston for the other wild-card spot, with Toronto one game in back of the Red Sox.

RAYS 7, ASTROS 0

HOUSTON (AP) - Drew Rasmussen and three relievers combined for a three-hitter, Brandon Lowe and Ji-Man Choi both homered and Tampa Bay coasted past Houston to earn the No. 1 seed in the AL playoffs.

Tampa Bay improved to 98-60, outdoing the 2008 team for most wins in franchise history.

The Astros lost for the fifth time in six games and their magic number to win the AL West is still one over Seattle, which beat Oakland 4-2.

Rays rookie Wander Franco doubled and singled twice, and safely reached base for the 43rd straight game, tying him with Frank Robinson in 1956 for the longest streak by a player at age 20 or younger.

Rasmussen (4-1) allowed one hit over five innings.

Rookie Luis Garcia (11-8) permitted seven hits and six runs, but only three were earned.

MARINERS 4, ATHLETICS 2

SEATTLE (AP) - Seattle won for the 10th time in 11 games and stayed in the thick of the AL wild-card race with a win over Oakland.

Ty France's sacrifice fly in the seventh inning gave Seattle the lead and Abraham Toro added his first home run since Aug. 31 with two outs in the eighth inning.

Seattle stayed a half-game behind Boston for the second wild-card slot and is 1ˆ½ games behind New York for the top spot, trying to end a 20-year drought since last reaching the postseason. The Mariners have an off day on Thursday before starting their final series of the regular season at home against the Los Angeles Angles.

Seattle won its 12th straight game over Oakland, the longest win streak over a single team in franchise history, and in the process eliminated the A's from postseason contention.

The Mariners also delayed Houston from clinching the AL West for at least one more day. The Astros' magic number stayed at one.

Diego Castillo (5-5) earned the win, and Drew Steckenrider picked up his 13th save. Andrew Chafin (2-4) took the loss for Oakland, which got homers from Tony Kemp and Seth Brown.

GIANTS 1, DIAMONDBACKS 0

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Alex Wood and three relievers combined for a four-hitter, Kris Bryant hit a sacrifice fly and San Francisco reached 104 wins for the first time since 1905 by beating Arizona.

The NL West-leading Giants joined the 1945-46 Boston Red Sox as the only two teams to follow a losing season with 104 wins. San Francisco maintained a two-game lead in the NL West over the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers, who rallied to beat San Diego 11-9.

Wood was dominant in his third start since coming off the COVID-19 list, allowing three hits in six innings with six strikeouts.

Dominic Leone (4-5) retired three batters, Jarlin García followed and Camilo Doval pitched the ninth for his second save.

Tommy La Stella singled leading off the seventh against Noé Ramirez (0-2). Pinch-runner Steven Duggar stole second and was sacrificed to third before Bryant hit a low liner to right to score Duggar.

DODGERS 11, PADRES 9

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Corey Seager hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning, when Los Angeles went deep four times to rally past San Diego.

Los Angeles trailed 9-6 before Max Muncy and AJ Pollock began the onslaught by going back-to-back off Emilio Pagán (4-3). With one out, Cody Bellinger launched a shot to right field. Pinch-hitter Justin Turner doubled to deep left and scored on Seager's shot to right with two outs.

Mookie Betts hit a solo shot in the seventh to begin the comeback, and Pollock had a two-run homer in the first.

The Dodgers remained two games behind NL West-leading San Francisco with four to play in the regular season. The Giants beat Arizona 1-0.

David Price (5-2) pitched the eighth to earn the win. Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the ninth for his 37th save.

Victor Caratini went 3 for 4 and homered, and Manny Machado launched a two-run blast for San Diego.

WHITE SOX 6, REDS 1

CHICAGO (AP) - Carlos Rodón pitched five scoreless innings in a closely watched start ahead of the playoffs, and Chicago beat Cincinnati.

Tim Anderson and Gavin Sheets homered as the White Sox (91-68) moved a season-high 23 games above .500 with their fourth consecutive victory.

Rodón (13-5) allowed one hit, struck out four and walked two in his first start since he lasted three innings in a 4-3 loss at Detroit on Sept. 20.

Cincinnati right-hander Sonny Gray (7-9) was charged with five runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings.

ROYALS 10, INDIANS 5

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Salvador Perez tied a Royals record with his 48th homer of the season before leaving with a sprained right ankle, and Kansas City went on to beat Cleveland.

Perez, who already broke the big league record for homers by a catcher, leads the majors in home runs and RBIs (121).

He homered on the first pitch he saw from Zach Plesac and struck out in the second inning before being replaced in the third by Cam Gallagher.

Hunter Dozier hit a tiebreaking two-run triple in the seventh and scored on a wild pitch by Nick Wittgren (2-9) to make it 8-5.

Greg Holland (3-5), the third of five Royals pitchers, earned the win with two hitless innings.

ANGELS 7, RANGERS 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Shohei Ohtani sparked a four-run sixth-inning rally with his legs, and Los Angeles sent Texas to its first 100-loss season since 1973.

With the score 2-2, Ohtani led off the sixth with a sharp grounder to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and beat pitcher Taylor Hearn to the bag. Ohtani stole second, continued to third on a throwing error by catcher Jose Trevino and came home when Jack Mayfield singled through a drawn-in infield.

Texas put runners on the corners with none out in the sixth against reliever Austin Warren, but Jose Quijada (1-2) struck out the next three batters to earn his first win since July 2019.

Hearn (6-6) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.

MARLINS 3, METS 2

NEW YORK (AP) - Miguel Rojas' two-run single capped a three-run rally in the eighth inning, spoiling Taijuan Walker's longest start in more than four years and sending Miami past New York.

Miami snapped a seven-game losing streak while the Mets lost for the 11th time in 14 games.

Walker carried a one-hit shutout into the eighth. He allowed a leadoff double to Lewin Diaz and left with one out after a four-pitch walk to Eddy Alvarez.

Alex Jackson greeted Seth Lugo (4-3) with an RBI double. Rojas blooped his go-ahead single with two outs.

Steven Okert (3-1) allowed one hit in a scoreless seventh. Richard Bleier tossed a one-hit eighth before Dylan Floro threw a perfect ninth for his 13th save.

ROCKIES 10, NATIONALS 5

DENVER (AP) - Trevor Story had four hits in possibly his final appearance at Coors Field with Colorado, which beat Washington.

Ryan McMahon added a three-run homer in the Rockies' home finale, which was interrupted for two hours by rain.

The Nationals' Juan Soto was 1 for 4 with an RBI and is hitting .318 as he chases the NL batting title.

Ashton Goudeau (2-1) earned the win. Mason Thompson (1-3) took the loss.

CUBS 3, PIRATES 2

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Willson Contreras drove in all of Chicago's runs as the Cubs beat Pittsburgh to to end a seven-game losing streak.

Contreras' two-run double high off the right-field wall in the seventh inning off Nick Mears, who relieved Chasen Shreve (3-3), rallied the Cubs from a 2-1 deficit.

Bryan Reynolds became the first Pirates player to hit two triples in a game since Josh Harrison in 2014.

Adam Morgan (2-1) pitched one scoreless inning of relief for the win. Codi Heuer notched his second save with a perfect ninth inning.

TWINS 5, TIGERS 2

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Jorge Polanco launched a three-run homer in the first inning and Michael Pineda was solid in his last start of the year as Minnesota beat Detroit.

Polanco's 32nd homer of the season gave him 94 RBIs, both team highs.

Pineda (9-8) allowed one run and scattered eight hits over 5 2/3 innings in what could be his final game with the Twins.

Casey Mize (7-9) settled down after the first but lasted just four innings. He finished his season with a 3.71 ERA in 30 starts.

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