Dodgers clinch NL top seed, West title with win over A’s
Indians claim playoff spot, beat White Sox 5-3
LOS ANGELES, Sept 23, (AP): Corey Seager had three hits, including one of Los Angeles’ four home runs, as the Dodgers clinched the National League’s top postseason seed and eighth straight West title with a 7-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
The Dodgers, who own the best record in the majors at 39-16, were the first team in the majors to clinch a playoff berth on Sept 16. They will open postseason play on Sept 30 by hosting every game in a best-of-three series against the No. 8 seed.
Los Angeles came into the day with a magic number of two and got help with the Angels’ 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Max Muncy, Chris Taylor and A.J. Pollock also went deep for Los Angeles, who lead the majors with 104 home runs.
Dustin May (2-1) went five innings and allowed two runs on three hits. The 22-year-old red-headed righty set a team record by not allowing more than three earned runs in his first 13 career starts, which include 10 this season.
Robbie Grossman homered for Oakland, who clinched their first AL West crown in seven years on Monday during a day off. The Athletics, in the postseason for the third straight year, currently are the AL’s No. 3 seed.
Mark Canha had two of Oakland’s five hits. Indians 5, White Sox 3, 10 Innings
In Cleveland, with one sweet swing, José Ramírez pushed the Cleveland Indians in the playoffs and strengthened his case for the AL MVP award.
Ramírez hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning, giving Cleveland a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox that clinched a postseason berth.
Ramírez’s drive to right off José Ruiz scored César Hernández and Francisco Lindor, setting off a wild celebration at home plate as the Indians reached the postseason for the fourth time in five years.
Lindor had pulled Cleveland within one on a two-out double that plated Roberto Perez, who began the inning on second base. After Matt Foster (51) walked Hernández, Ruiz entered and gave up the game-ending drive.
AL Central-leading Chicago lost for the fourth time in five games, creating a log jam at the top of the division. Minnesota are in second and Cleveland are just three games back.
Giants 5, Rockies 2
In San Francisco, pinch-hitter Alex Dickerson hit a go-ahead homer in the seventh, Austin Slater also connected, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2 to stay right in the playoff race.
Dickerson hit his first pinch-hit homer since exactly four years earlier on Sept 22, 2016, with San Diego against the Giants at Petco Park. It was his 10th homer that season, and his 10th this year.
San Francisco are one of four teams chasing the final two NL playoff spots. Philadelphia (27-29) lost their fourth straight game after a doubleheader sweep by Washington to fall behind Cincinnati (28-28), Milwaukee (27-27) and the Giants (27-27).
Kevin Pillar hit a tying double for Colorado in the seventh against his former club. The Rockies had won two straight following a four-game losing streak.
Tyler Rogers (3-3) recorded the final out of the seventh for the win. Sam Coonrod worked the ninth for his third save.
Astros 6, Mariners 1 In Seattle, Martin Maldonado hit a three-run home run, Framber Valdez struck out eight to set career highs for wins and strikeouts, and the Houston As
tros beat the Seattle Mariners 6-1 to close on their fourth straight playoff berth.
Houston (28-27) are second in the AL West, comfortably ahead of the fourth-place Mariners (24-31) and the third-place Los Angeles Angels (2531). The defending AL champions have five games left.
Houston have won three of four, scoring more than four runs for just the second time in their last 12 games.
Kyle Tucker went 4 for 5 for the Astros with a run and an RBI. He has hit safely in eight straight games.
Diamondbacks 7, Rangers 0
In Phoenix, Carson Kelly had a three-run homer, Caleb Smith and Riley Smith combined to throw a sixhitter and the Arizona Diamondbacks rolled to a 7-0 victory over the Texas Rangers.
David Peralta had three hits, including a double. Eduardo Escobar added two singles and Nick Ahmed had a triple for the Diamondbacks.
The three-run homer was a good moment in a disappointing season for the 26-year-old Kelly, who emerged as Arizona’s starting catcher in 2019. He’s struggled at the plate and came into the game with a .194 average, but smashed a hanging slider over the leftcenter field wall in the sixth inning to push the D-backs ahead 7-0.
The Rangers have a 6-23 record on the road this season.
Twins 5, Tigers 4, 10 Innings
In Minneapolis, Max Kepler hit the tying home run in the eighth inning and the game-winning single with two outs in the 10th, giving the Minnesota Twins a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers that tightened the AL Central race to just a half-game deficit behind the Chicago White Sox.
Byron Buxton and Mitch Garver also homered for the Twins (34-22), who have all four of their remaining games at home, where their 22-5 record is the best in baseball. They wrap up the regular season by hosting Cincinnati this weekend.
Daz Cameron hit two doubles for Detroit, but as he tried to score in the fifth on a two-out single, his helmet came loose around third base and appeared to slow his momentum as he struggled to push it out of his eyes. Rosario nailed him at the plate with a perfect throw from left field.
Cardinals 5, Royals 0
In Kansas City, Mo, Austin Gomber tossed six innings of four-hit ball in a crucial spot start and St Louis capitalized on some erratic pitching from Brady Singer, beating the Kansas City Royals 5-0.
The Cardinals, who trail the Chicago Cubs by 3-1/2 games in the NL Central, improved their series to 27-25 by evening with their cross-state rivals. They also built the slightest of cushion in the race for the No. 2 spot in the division after Milwaukee (28-28) eked out a win over Cincinnati (27-27) earlier in the evening.
Dylan Carlson had two RBIs while finishing a homer shy of the cycle. Brad
Miller, Tommy Edman and Kolten Wong also drove in runs as the Cardinals, who are playing a brutal finishing stretch after an early outbreak of COVID-19 ransacked their schedule, took another weary step toward their second straight postseason appearance.
Red Sox 8, Orioles 3
In Boston, Nick Pivetta struck out eight in five innings of one-run ball in his Boston debut, Christian Vázquez hit a three-run homer and the Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-3.
There were five errors combined by the teams, a misplayed fly ball and a runner picked off third to kill a rally, a performance befitting the AL East’s worst two teams.
Bobby Dalbec drove in a pair of runs and J.D. Martinez had three hits with an RBI for the last-place Red Sox.
Renato Núñez clubbed a towering solo homer for the Orioles that hit halfway up a light stanchion above the Green Monster. Baltimore have lost five of six.
Yankees 12, Blue Jays 1
In Buffalo, New York, Gerrit Cole limited the Toronto to five hits over seven innings in his final preparation for the playoffs, and Aaron Hicks drove in three runs in a 12-1 rout over the Blue Jays.
Cole (7-3) struck out seven and walked none, inducing 11 ground-ball outs and 14 swings and misses. His one mistake was Cavan Biggio’s sole homer in the fourth.
Aaron Judge, in a 2-for-17 slump since coming off the injured list, had his first three-hit game since Aug 8 and the Yankees improved to just 2-10 when not homering. New York had 15 hits and went 8 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
Chase Anderson struck out five for Toronto (28-27), whose magic number to clinch a playoff spot remained at three.
Pirates 3, Cubs 2
In Pittsburgh, Jacob Stallings hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates stalled the Chicago Cubs’ bid to win the NL Central with a 3-2 victory.
The Cubs began the day with a 4½game lead over St Louis and Cincinnati in the division standings and a magic number of four to clinch the title.
Anthony Rizzo’s two-run homer in the eighth inning had pulled the Cubs into a tie at 2-all.
Richard Rodriguez (3-2) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
Chicago’s Jose Quintana was activated from the injured list and made his first start of the season. The left-hander went two innings and gave up one run and one hit with one strikeout.
Braves 11, Marlins 1
In Atlanta, Bryse Wilson pitched five scoreless innings, Marcell Ozuna drove in five runs with four hits that included two homers and the Atlanta Braves clinched their third straight NL East title by beating the Miami Marlins 11-1.
Atlanta hit five homers, including drive by Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman off Nick Vincent in a five-run seventh. Freeman drove in two runs with three hits.
After Jorge Alfaro lined out to Freeman to end the game, Braves players hugged on the field and exchanged high-fives in the dugout.
Atlanta clinched their record 20th division title, one more than the New York Yankees. The Braves won 14 straight in completed seasons from 1991-2005 but have not won a postseason series since 2001 and have not won a championship since 1995.
Miami remained in position to earn their first playoff berth since winning the 2003 World Series.
Nationals 5, Phillies 1, 7 Innings,
Game 1 Nationals 8, Phillies 7, 8 Innings,
Game 2
In Washington, the Philadelphia Phillies tumbled out of a playoff position, getting swept in a doubleheader by the Washington Nationals when Yadiel Hernández hit a game-ending, two-run homer in eighth inning off Brandon Workman for a 8-7 win in second game.
Philadelphia (27-29) lost their fourth game in a row and dropped behind Cincinnati (28-28), Milwaukee (27-27) and San Francisco (27-27). The four teams are competing for the National League’s final two playoff berths.
Austin Voth (1-5) pitched a threehitter to win the opener 5-1.
Defending champions Washington (23-32), playing their third doubleheader in five days, kept alive their slim postseason hopes by extending their winning streak to four.
Brewers 3, Reds 2
In Cincinnati, Tyrone Taylor homered, Eric Sogard doubled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, and Milwaukee rallied for a 3-2 victory over the surging Cincinnati Reds that bolstered the Brewers’ sagging playoff hopes.
Facing a loss that would have dropped them to the periphery of the playoff field, Milwaukee pulled one out against Cincinnati’s bullpen.
The Brewers have reached the playoffs each of the last two seasons with September surges. They’ve won four of five and are back to .500 (27-27) for the eighth time this season. They’ve yet to have a winning record.
Cincinnati (28-28) wasted a chance to solidify their playoff standing and move two games over .500 for the first time in three years. The Reds opened the game in position for one of the NL’s wild card spots with the Brewers a game behind.
Mets 5, Rays 2
In New York, the thrifty Tampa Bay Rays have spent a decade trying to take down the big spenders in their division.
They’ll have to wait at least one more night to put away the New York Yankees.
Pete Alonso and the New York Mets prevented Tampa Bay from clinching the AL East crown, beating the Rays 5-2 behind three home runs and Seth Lugo’s bounce-back pitching performance.
Robinson Canó, Alonso and newcomer Guillermo Heredia all homered for the Mets, desperately trying to stay in the National League playoff chase. New York (25-30) are 2-1/2 games out of the final spot with five games remaining and at least three teams to catch.
Angels 4, Padres 2 In San Diego, Max Stassi, Griffin Canning and the Los Angeles Angels cooled off the playoff-bound San Diego Padres two days after they clinched their first playoff spot in 14 seasons.
Stassi had two impressive home runs among his four hits and Canning struck out 10 in six crafty innings to lead the Angels to a 4-2 victory.
The loss, plus St Louis’ 5-0 win at Kansas City, kept the Padres from clinching the NL’s No. 4 seed in the playoffs and home-field advantage in the wild-card round next week.