Indians punch play-off ticket with walk-off HR
CLEVELAND: Jose Ramirez belted a three-run homer in the 10th inning as hosts Cleveland Indians clinched a postseason berth in dramatic fashion with a 5-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
Chicago appeared poised to prevent Cleveland from punching their ticket to the postseason for the fourth time in five seasons after scoring twice in the top of the 10th inning. Adam Engel ripped an RBI triple off Phil Maton (3-3) before coming around to score on Nick Madrigal’s RBI single to stake the White Sox to a 3-1 lead.
Undaunted, Francisco Lindor halved the deficit in the bottom of the 10th with an RBI double off the top of the wall in centre field.
Cesar Hernandez earned a walk off Matt Foster (5-1) to set the stage for Ramirez, who greeted Jose Ruiz by depositing his 2-2 fastball over the wall in right field for his team-leading 17th homer and sixth in as many games.
Corey Seager had a home run among his three hits as Los Angeles clinched their eighth consecutive National League West title with a 7-2 victory over visiting Oakland.
The Dodgers also clinched the No.1 seed in the National League heading into the play-offs, which begin next week. Max Muncy, Chris Taylor and AJ Pollock also hit home runs while rookie right-hander Dustin May (2-1) was solid over five innings as the Dodgers won for the 13th time in their past 16 home games.
Robbie Grossman hit a home run for the A’s, who clinched the American League West title during their Monday off day when the Houston Astros lost to the Seattle Mariners. Frankie Montas (3-5) took the loss after giving up five runs on seven hits over four innings.
Martin Maldonado and Michael Brantley hit home runs and Framber Valdez pitched seven strong innings as Houston won 6-1 at Seattle to inch closer to a play-off berth.
The Astros (28-27), who have five games left, hold a 3½-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels (25-31) and a four-game lead over the Mariners (2431) in the chase for second place in the American League West and an automatic postseason bid.
Houston own the tie-breaker with Seattle because they already have won the season series between the teams, but the Angels hold the tie-breaker over the Astros.