Orioles tie Blue Jays for AL wild-card spot
Molina’s controversial ninth-inning walk-off hands Cardinals critical win
>> TORONTO: Ubaldo Jimenez allowed one hit in 6-2/3 scoreless innings and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Blue Jays 4-3 on Thursday to tie Toronto for the first American League wild-card spot.
The Orioles (87-72) victory eliminated Houston and the New York Yankees from wild-card contention.
Jimenez (8-12) walked t hree and struck out five, while Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (9-10) allowed nine hits, two walks and four runs in seven-plus innings. He struck out three in losing his fifth straight decision.
Detroit are 1½ games behind the Orioles and Blue Jays.
St Louis rallied to beat Cincinnati 4-3 in controversial fashion on Yadier Molina’s two-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Molina rammed a 2-0 pitch to left and the ball appeared to hit off signage behind the wall, but the ball was ruled in play and Matt Carpenter scored from first.
Closer Oh Seung-Hwan (6-3) gave up the tying run in the ninth and still picked up the win as the Cardinals pulled within two games of the idle New York Mets for the NL’s first wildcard spot.
Johnny Cueto struck out 11 Colorado batters as San Francisco set up a wild race to the finish for the NL wildcard spots.
With three games left, the Giants are one game behind the New York Mets and one game ahead of St Louis following their 7-2 victory.
The Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh recorded the first tie game in the major leagues since 2005 when rain forced them to stop, at 1-1 in the sixth inning.
The Cubs and Pirates aren’t scheduled to play again this season, and the game won’t be made up because it doesn’t affect postseason positioning. So instead of becoming a suspended game, it was declared a tie — the first since Houston and Cincinnati on June 30, 2005.
In other games, Seattle stayed on the edge of the AL wild-card chase with a 3-2 win over Oakland; NL West champions Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 9-4 to remain two games behind Washington with three to play in the race for home-field advantage in their Division Series match-up; the New York Yankees were eliminated from play-off contention despite beating AL East champions Boston Red Sox 5-1 to finish off a three-game sweep.