Brewers and Cubs clinch NL playoff berths
Rockies overtake Dodgers atop division • DeGrom lowers ERA to 1.70 • A’s close in on Yanks
milwaukee mVp candidate Christian Yelich walked five times and scored twice, and jhoulys Chacin allowed one run in five innings as the brewers clinched a postseason berth with a 2-1 win over the host st. louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.
the brewers swept the three-game series. they remain a half-game behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the National league Central, and they hold a four-game lead over the los Angeles Dodgers in the race for the first Nl wild card.
the Cardinals sit one game back of the Dodgers in the wild-card hunt. st. louis’ loss assured the Chicago Cubs of a postseason spot.
Chacin (15-8) allowed one hit and two walks while striking out three. jeremy jeffress got the last four outs for his 13th save.
Cubs 7, Pirates 6 (10)
Albert Almora jr.’s two-out single in the bottom of the 10th inning plated the winning run as Chicago blew a big lead but came back to beat visiting pittsburgh, shortly after the Cubs clinched a playoff berth.
Almora’s single followed a four-pitch walk to Ian happ to lead off the inning against Richard Rodriguez (4-3), a sacrifice bunt by mike Freeman and a groundout by Victor Caratini that sent pinch runner terrance Gore to third base.
brandon Kintzler (3-3), the seventh Chicago pitcher, induced a double-play grounder from the one batter he faced to earn the win.
Rockies 14, Phillies 0
German marquez struck out 11, including the first eight batters of the game to tie a modern major league record, and Colorado roughed up philadelphia in Denver and later claimed sole possession of first place in the National league West.
David Dahl, trevor story and Ian Desmond all homered in a seven-run fifth inning for the Rockies, who won their sixth straight and passed the Dodgers in the division when los Angeles lost to Arizona.
marquez (14-10) set a franchise record for consecutive strikeouts to begin an outing and matched the modern-day mark of eight straight previously accomplished by jim Deshaies and jacob deGrom.
Diamondbacks 7, Dodgers 2
A.j. pollock homered, tripled and drove in three runs in what could be his final home game at Chase Field, and Arizona dealt los Angeles a second straight loss at phoenix.
the Rockies slipped ahead of the Dodgers in the National league West for the first time since being swept in los Angeles early last week. the Dodgers have won the past five Nl West titles.
Cody bellinger and max muncy had two hits apiece for the Dodgers, who took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the second inning but had only four more hits, all singles.
Mets 3, Braves 0
jacob deGrom finished making his case for the National league Cy Young Award in impressive fashion, earning the win while striking out 10 in eight scoreless innings as New York blanked visiting Atlanta.
the braves, who locked up the Nl east on saturday, are one game ahead of Nl West-leading Colorado in the race for the second seed in the league and home-field advantage in the Nl Division series.
DeGrom (10-9) allowed just two hits and walked none in lowering his major-leaguebest eRA to 1.70. he faced just one batter over the minimum in his outing and whiffed ozzie Albies in the eighth inning for his 1,000th career strikeout.
Rays 8, Yankees 7
tommy pham broke a third-inning tie with a home run, and tampa bay held on through a wild ninth inning to defeat New York at st. petersburg, Fla.
the Yankees saw their lead over oakland reduced to 1½ games in the duel to see who will host the Al wild-card game next week after the A’s later won at seattle.
Athletics 9, Mariners 3
matt olson hit a grand slam, and Khris Davis belted his major-league-leading 47th home run of the season as oakland routed host seattle.
the A’s batted around in scoring six times in the fifth inning, with olson’s slam capping the rally. oakland received home runs from marcus semien and Chad pinder in the first and second innings, respectively.
mariners right-hander Felix hernandez (8-14) lasted just four-plus innings in losing his eighth consecutive decision.
Nationals 9, Marlins 3 (8)
Rookie Victor Robles homered and drove in five runs to lead host Washington to a rain-shortened win over miami.
the game was called in the top of the eighth inning after a 51-minute rain delay.
In perhaps his final home game for the Nationals, former National league mVp bryce harper went 0-for-4. he is batting .244 this season with 34 home runs and 100 RbIs.
Angels 3, Rangers 2
shohei ohtani’s one-out home run in the bottom of the eighth inning snapped a tie and lifted host los Angeles past texas.
ohtani’s homer, which came on a 96 mph fastball from texas reliever Chris martin (1-5), was his 22nd of the season, matching his career high set in 2016 in the japanese pacific league.
the Angels had just five hits in the game, but two of them came from ohtani, who also had an RbI single. taylor Ward homered for the Angels’ other run. (Reuters)