Arizona’s 8th-inning rally foils Houston

Cubs edge Reds to keep 1½-game lead over Brewers

HOUSTON — Pinch-hitter Jon Jay’s tiebreaking triple in the eighth inning helped the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Houston Astros 4-2 Friday night, tightening a pair of playoff races.

The AL West-leading Astros saw their edge cut by Oakland to 2½ games. Arizona moved within three games of St. Louis for the second NL wild-card spot.

It was 2-all when Nick Ahmed doubled off Hector Rondon (2-4) with one out in the Arizona eighth. Jay hit a two-out, drive into the right-field corner and later scored when a fly ball by A.J. Pollock dropped in shallow center field for a single.

Arizona starter Robbie Ray yielded two hits and two runs with six strikeouts in 5⅓ innings. Brad Ziegler (2-6) pitched 1⅓ scoreless innings and Yoshihisa Hirano allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth for his second save.

Astros starter Dallas Keuchel allowed five hits and two runs in six innings.

CUBS 3, REDS 2: In Chicago, Ian Happ hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning and Jorge De La Rosa worked a shaky ninth for his first career save as Chicago beat Cincinnati.

De La Rosa surrendered a one-out double to Curt Casali and walked Billy Hamilton with two down before Scott Schebler flied out to center. It was the first save opportunity for Chicago since Pedro Strop strained his left hamstring trying to beat out a double-play grounder during a 4-3 victory at Washington on Thursday, shelving the key reliever for the rest of the regular season. BREWERS 7, PIRATES 4: In Milwaukee, Christian Yelich, Travis Shaw and Mike Moustakas homered to lead Milwaukee past Pittsburgh.

Orlando Arcia drove in two runs with a bunt double for the Brewers, who stayed a game and a half behind first-place Chicago in the NL Central.

Yelich belted a two-run homer to center off Pirates starter Chris Archer in the first to give the Brewers an early lead. Shaw followed two batters later with a solo shot to stake Milwaukee to a 3-0 advantage. BRAVES 10, NATIONALS 5: In Atlanta, Ronald Acuna Jr. went 4-for-5, had two RBIs and scored the tie-breaking run in the fourth inning against Washington to help NL East-leading Atlanta to its season-best sixth straight victory.

The Braves stayed 7½ games ahead of second-place Philadelphia. Any combination of nine Atlanta wins or Phillies’ losses will give the Braves their first division title since 2013.

Nationals ace Max Scherzer (17-7) endured his shortest outing of the year, four innings, while allowing six runs — a season high — and seven hits. YANKEES 11, BLUE JAYS 0: In New York, Aaron Judge returned to the Yankees for the first time since his right wrist was broken seven weeks ago, taking over in right field for the final two innings of New York’s romp over Toronto.

Judge had not played since July 26, when he was hit by a pitch from Kansas City’s Jakob Junis. The Yankees say for now Judge will be limited to defense and pinch running, but they hope he will become a regular at some point in the regular season’s final two weeks.

Masahiro Tanaka (12-5) won his third straight start. GIANTS 2, ROCKIES 0: In San Francisco, Chris Stratton pitched a two-hitter for his first career shutout and Austin Slater backed him with a two-run single as San Francisco snapped an 11-game losing streak.

NL West-leading Colorado saw its division lead trimmed to half a game over the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won at St. Louis.

METS 8, RED SOX 0: In Boston, Noah Syndergaard pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and New York hit four homers to snap Boston’s four-game winning streak.

Syndergaard (12-3) struck out six and walked three to lead the Mets to their fourth straight victory. ATHLETICS 2, RAYS 1 (10): In St. Petersburg, Fla., Khris Davis led off the 10th inning with his major league-leading 42nd homer as Oakland beat Tampa Bay.

Oakland extended its lead for the second AL wild card to nine games over the Rays.

TIGERS 5, INDIANS 4: In Cleveland, Andrew Miller gave up two RBI doubles in the seventh inning as Cleveland’s march to the AL Central title was slowed by Detroit.

PHILLIES 14, MARLINS 2: In Philadelphia, Aaron Altherr homered twice and drove in five runs in Philadelphia’s win over Miami.

RANGERS 4, PADRES 0: In San Diego, four Texas pitchers teamed to foil San Diego.

WHITE SOX 8, ORIOLES 6: In Baltimore, James Shields (7-16) earned his first road win since opening day as Chicago beat Baltimore.

ROYALS 8, TWINS 4: In Kansas City, Mo., Salvador Perez capped Kansas City’s fiverun ninth inning with a game-ending grand slam, lifting the Royals past Minnesota.

MARINERS 5, ANGELS 0: In Anaheim, Calif., Seattle’s Ryon Healy had two doubles and two RBIs to help beat Los Angeles.