Ortiz homers again as Red Sox beat Blue Jays
Orioles win to maintain wild-card lead, Rangers clinch home advantage
BOSTON: Opening his final weekend with yet another game-winning homer, David Ortiz lined a two-run shot into the right-field stands to break a seventh-inning tie and help the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Friday.
The AL East champions Red Sox ended a three-game losing streak and stayed one game ahead of Cleveland, who beat the Kansas City Royals 7-2, in the race for home-field advantage for the play-offs.
The Blue Jays fell one game behind Baltimore in the wild-card race and are now within range of Detroit and Seattle in the fight for the AL’s final postseason berth.
With his image mowed into the grass in centre for the final regularseason series of his career, Ortiz hit his 38th homer of the year — and No. 541 of his career — to help Boston rally from a 3-1 deficit with four runs in the seventh. It was extra-base hit No. 1,192, tying Ken Griffey Jr and Rafael Palmeiro for eighth on baseball’s alltime list.
Dustin Pedroia had three hits for Boston, and Brad Ziegler (2-3) picked up the win with one inning of scoreless relief. Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 31st save.
Devon Travis had three hits, including a pair of doubles, and Jose Batista homered for Toronto.
Mark Trumbo hit his major leagueleading 47th home run, Jonathan Schoop and Adam Jones also went deep in a six-run fifth inning and the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 8-1 to maintain their AL wildcard lead.
Trumbo and Jones homered off Michael Pineda (6-12).
Schoop tied his career high with five RBIs, hitting a go-ahead, tworun double in the fourth and adding a three-run homer in the fifth against James Pazos — Baltimore’s big leaguehigh 250th home run this season.
At Arlington, Texas, Yu Darvish looked play-off-ready with a seasonhigh 12 strikeouts in six innings as the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 and clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Texas can be tied by only the Cleveland Indians and they own the tiebreaker by winning the teams’ season series. The AL owns home-field advantage in the World Series thanks to their win in the All-Star Game.
In the National League, Madison Bumgarner lined a key two-run double in the sixth and emphatically pumped his arms while yelling in celebration at second base, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-3 to maintain their slim lead for the second NL wild card.
Brandon Belt added a three-run homer in the seven-run inning and Bumgarner (15-9) beat the Dodgers for the first time in seven starts since May 21, 2015. It was win No.100 of his career.
Matt Holliday hit an emotional home run and the St Louis Cardinals shut-out the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-0 to keep within one game of San Francisco for the second NL wildcard spot.
Holliday, out since Aug 12 because of a thumb injury, was club informed by the club earlier this week that it is not planning to pick up the US$17 million option on his contract for 2017, and instead will pay him the $1 million buyout.
Holliday was given a standing ovation before he pinch-hit in the seventh. He responded with his 20th home run, and came out for a curtain call.