Red Sox rally past Yanks to claim division

Mookie Betts and the Boston Red Sox won their third consecutive AL East championship Thursday night, clinching on enemy turf with an 11-6 victory over the rival Yankees in New York.

Betts homered, doubled twice and drove in five runs, finishing with four hits as the Red Sox overcame Giancarlo Stanton’s goahead grand slam in the fourth inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a gametying home run in the seventh and Xander Bogaerts put Boston ahead with a sacrifice fly.

With the best record in baseball and a playoff berth already secured, Boston (104-49) closed out a once-tight division race with nine games to spare.

Meanwhile, the Athletics reduced their magic number for clinching an AL playoff berth to five by hammering the Los Angeles Angels 21-3 in Oakland. Since June 15, Oakland is a major league-best 58-25.

Marcus Semien had three hits and a career-high five RBIs and Stephen Piscotty homered and drove in four runs for the Athletics, who trail Houston by 3½ games in the AL West, but lead Tampa Bay by 6½ games for the second wildcard spot and are 1½ games behind the Yankees for the first wild-card berth.

Tampa Bay hurt its playoff chances by blowing an 8-2 lead in Toronto, giving up seven runs in the bottom of the ninth inning in losing 9-8. Justin Smoak hit a solo homer to cap Toronto’s stunning rally.

At Atlanta, Luca Duda’s pinchhit double drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh and the Braves took an important step toward winning the NL East by beating the Philadelphia Phillies 8-3.

Atlanta leads the second-place Phillies by 6½ games following the opening game of the four-game series. The Braves have a magic number of four over Philadelphia to clinch their first division title since 2013.