Indians ‘equal’ AL record with 20th straight victory
Kershaw helps Dodgers end 11-game skid, clinch playoff spot
CLEVELAND, Sept 13, (AP): The Cleveland Indians share a record with a team celebrated by Hollywood.
“Moneyball” has its sequel. Following a familiar script of scoring first, playing strong defense and riding dominant pitching, the Indians extended their winning streak to 20 games and matched the AL mark held by the 2002 Oakland Athletics, beating the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Tuesday night.
Cleveland’s streak, which began on Aug 24 in Boston, is tied for the majors’ second-longest in 82 years and the Indians show no signs of stopping.
Corey Kluber (16-4) strengthened his Cy Young Award case with a fourhitter as Cleveland joined the 2002 A’s, 1935 Chicago Cubs (21) and 1916 New York Giants (26) as the only teams since 1900 to win at least 20 in a row.
Francisco Lindor homered leading off the first inning against Matthew Boyd (5-10), and Kluber sealed win No. 20 and Cleveland’s seventh shutout during the streak by getting Miguel Cabrera on an easy grounder to third.
Dodgers 5, Giants 3 In San Francisco, Clayton Kershaw pitched Los Angeles to its first win in nearly two weeks, helping the Dodgers clinch a playoff berth by beating San Francisco to snap an 11-game losing streak that was the club’s worst since moving to the West Coast in 1958.
The Dodgers’ slide was their longest in 25 years, topping 10-game skids in Los Angeles during the 1961 and 1992 seasons. The 1944 Brooklyn team lost 16 straight games.
Despite the recent tailspin, Los Angeles still owns the best record in the majors at 93-52. The NL West leaders won for only the second time in 18 games and secured at least the second NL wild card, joining the NL East champion Washington Nationals as the only teams to punch their postseason tickets so far.
Brewers 5, Pirates 2 In Milwaukee, Eric Thames hit his 29th home run, Domingo Santana went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh.
The Brewers pulled within two games of the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs who were playing the New York Mets.
Gerrit Cole (11-10) took his first loss in 10 road starts since the Atlanta Braves beat him 5-2 on May 22. He slipped to 8-1 away from PNC Park over that stretch after allowing five runs and seven hits in six innings. He tied his seasonhigh with 10 strikeouts in his fifth start against Milwaukee this season.
Red Sox 11, Athletics 1 In Boston, Mookie Betts hit two home runs and a two-run triple, and Boston rolled past Oakland.
The Red Sox, winners of five of their last six, pushed their American League East lead back to four games over the Yankees following New York’s loss to 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay.
Betts went 3 for 5 with six RBIs. He’s driven in three runs or more in a team-high 11 games.
The loss snaps a five-game win streak for the A’s. They managed just one run and one hit off Eduardo Rodriguez (5-5), who struck out nine over six innings.
Braves 8, Nationals 0 In Washington, Freddie Freeman hit a three-run home run off Gio Gonzalez and Julio Teheran threw seven shutout innings as Atlanta cruised past Washington.
Gonzalez (14-7) allowed five earned runs and seven hits in five innings and struck out eight. The left-hander did guarantee his $12 million option for next season with his first out of the game as he reached 180 innings this season.
The Nationals, who clinched the division Sunday when the Braves came back to beat the Miami in extra innings, lost for just the second time in eight games. This loss kept them from closing the gap on the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in baseball and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Blue Jays 3, Orioles 2 In Toronto, Richard Urena singled home the winning run in the ninth inning and Toronto handed slumping Baltimore its sixth straight loss.
Facing Orioles closer Zach Britton (2-1), who had recorded the final out of the eighth, Kevin Pillar drew a leadoff walk in the ninth and went to third on Teoscar Hernandez’s single. One out later, Pillar scored when Luke Maile singled off the glove of third baseman Manny Machado.
Urena followed with a single to center. Darwin Barney raced around from second and slid home safely ahead of the throw from Adam Jones.
Rays 2, Yankees 1 In New York, Adeiny Hechavarria hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning off Sonny Gray and Tampa Bay, playing as the home team in a series relocated to Citi Field because of Hurricane Irma, beat the Yankees.
Tampa Bay has split the first two games of the set held at the home of the New York Mets.
The Rays will fly back to Florida immediately after Wednesday afternoon’s game for firsthand looks at the storm damage. No word yet from MLB if Boston and Tampa Bay will Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber delivers against the Detroit Tigers during the first inning in a baseball game on Sept 12, in
Cleveland. (AP)
play at Tropicana Field on Friday night as scheduled the Rays expect to host the three-game set, but it could be reconfigured to give them an extra day off to handle personal matters.
Royals 4, White Sox 3 In Kansas City, Missouri, Brandon Moss hit a grand slam in the first inning for his third consecutive game with a homer, powering Kansas City past Chicago.
Scott Alexander worked out of a ninth-inning jam for his fourth save in six chances. He yielded a double to Adam Engel and a single to Yolmer Sanchez to lead off the ninth. He struck out Yoan Moncada, retired Jose Abreu on a pop to Whit Merrifield and got pinch hitter Matt Davidson on a grounder to end the game.
White Sox rookie Dylan Covey (0-5) walked the bases loaded before Moss drove a full-count fastball to right-center. It was Moss’s fourth career grand slam and his first since July 24, 2014. He has nine RBIs in his past three games.
Astros 1, Angels 0 In Anaheim, California, Justin Verlander pitched eight innings of one-hit ball in a stellar second start for Houston, and the Astros snapped their four-game skid.
Yuli Gurriel’s second-inning single drove in the only run for the Astros (87-57), who lowered their magic number for clinching the AL West title to five by blanking the second-place Angels (73-71).
Verlander (12-8) struck out nine and walked one in another overpowering performance for his new team. The star right-hander held the Angels without a hit after Brandon Phillips’ leadoff double in the first, allowing only two more baserunners.
Phillies 9, Marlins 8, 15 Innings In Philadelphia, Nick Williams hit a walk-off, two-out double in the bottom of the 15th inning, scoring Aaron Altherr as Philadelphia rallied for the win.
Innings-wise, it was the longest game of the season for the Phillies and second-longest for the Marlins.
Williams had three hits and reached base five times in the marathon game. He has 47 RBIs since being called up the week before the All-Star break.
The Phillies celebrated with Williams, but thought they actually had a walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by pinch-hitter Hyun-Soo Kim, but while the Phillies mobbed Kim at first base, ripping off his jersey and dousing him with water, Gatorade and sunflower seeds, the Marlins challenged the play at the plate.
Twins 16, Padres 0 In Minneapolis, Jason Castro homered twice and Brian Dozier was a double from the cycle as Minnesota routed San Diego.
The Twins hit a season-high seven home runs, setting a Target Field record for most homers in a game, to back another strong start from Kyle Gibson. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Twins set a major league record by homering in each of the first seven innings with Jorge Polanco, Eddie Rosario, Eduardo Escobar and Kennys Vargas adding to the total.
Gibson (10-10) pitched six innings with four hits and six strikeouts. He has allowed two runs or fewer in five straight starts for Minnesota, which maintained its hold on the second wild card spot in the American League.
Mariners 10, Rangers 3 In Arlington, Texas, Ben Gamel and Kyle Seager both hit three-run homers to lead Seattle past Texas in a matchup of wild card hopefuls.
Texas (72-72) and Seattle (72-73) have split the first two games of their four-game series. The Rangers dropped three games behind Minnesota for the American League’s second wild card, while the Mariners remained 3-1/2 back after the Twins also won.
Seager’s homer in the third made it 7-1 and chased Miguel Gonzalez (7-11), who made his second start overall and first at home for the Rangers since they acquired him in an Aug 31 trade with the Chicago White Sox. Gonzalez allowed seven runs and seven hits while recording only seven outs.
Cardinals 13, Reds 4 In St Louis, Paul DeJong homered, Yadier Molina drove in three runs and streaking St Louis outslugged Cincinnati.
The Cardinals have won four straight and six of their last seven to stay two games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.
Molina’s two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the first gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. He drove in his 10th run over his past three games with a single in the sixth. Molina leads the team with 75 RBIs.
Cubs 8, Mets 3 In Chicago, Kris Bryant hit a threerun homer, Jose Quintana pitched seven effective innings and Chicago got a sorely needed victory.
Quintana (10-11) also helped himself at the plate with a pair of sacrifices, including a perfectly placed safety squeeze that drove in Kyle Schwarber in the fourth. Quintana got another bunt down in the sixth, sending Javier Baez to third ahead of Ben Zobrist’s RBI single.
Chicago had lost three in a row and six of eight, making for a crowded race at the top of the NL Central. St. Louis and Milwaukee also won Tuesday night, so the Cubs remained two games ahead of the Cardinals and 2-1/2 games better than the third-place Brewers.
Rockies 4, Diamondbacks 2 In Phoenix, Carlos Gonzalez, heating up for the stretch run after a subpar season at the plate, homered twice and Colorado won its sixth in a row.
Gonzalez drove in all four Colorado runs in his first multihomer game since Aug. 16 last year and is batting .451 (14 for 31) in September.
Jon Gray (8-4) gave up two runs and scattered seven hits over seven solid innings, striking out 10 with no walks and a hit batter for the Rockies, who won their eighth straight road game to pull within three games of Arizona for the first NL wild card.