Piscotty powers A’s in romp over Angels
Red Sox beat Yankees to clinch third straight AL East crown
OAKLAND, Calif. — Marcus Semien had three hits and a career-high five RBIs, Stephen Piscotty homered and drove in four runs and the Oakland Athletics hammered the Los Angeles Angels 21-3 on Thursday.
The Athletics reduced their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to four. Since June 15, Oakland is a major league-best 58-25.
Oakland trails Houston by 3½ games in the AL West, leads Tampa Bay by 6½ games for the second wild card, and is 1½ games behind the New York Yankees for the first wild card.
Catcher Francisco Arcia pitched the last two innings for the Angels, who were outscored 32-2 in the last two games of the series. He also homered in the ninth.
Piscotty, whose family is from New Mexico, was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer. He’s 4-for-6 with two home runs and nine RBIs in his last two games.
RED SOX 11, YANKEES 6: In New York, Boston won its third consecutive AL East championship, clinching on enemy turf with a victory over rival New York.
Mookie Betts homered, doubled twice and drove in five runs, finishing with four hits as the Red Sox overcame Giancarlo Stanton’s go-ahead grand slam in the fourth inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a tying home run in the seventh and Xander Bogaerts put Boston ahead with a sacrifice fly.
BRAVES 8, PHILLIES 3: In Atlanta, Luca Duda’s pinchhit double drove in the goahead run in the seventh, and Atlanta took an important step toward winning the NL East by beating Philadelphia.
Atlanta leads the secondplace Phillies by 6½ games following the opening game of the four-game series. The teams close the season with three games at Philadelphia, but the Phillies need to win at least three of four in Atlanta to retain hope of making the final series meaningful. The Braves have a magic number of four over Philadelphia to clinch their first division title since 2013.
BLUE JAYS 9, RAYS 8: In Toronto, Justin Smoak homered with two outs in the ninth inning to lift Toronto past Tampa Bay.
Smoak hit his 25th homer of the season and third career walk-off blast. Sergio Romo (3-4) blew his eighth save in 30 save opportunities. David Paulino (1-0) pitched an inning for the victory as Toronto won for the fourth time in its past five.
Trailing 8-2 to begin the ninth, the Blue Jays roared back to snap Tampa Bay’s five-game winning streak.
WHITE SOX 5, INDIANS 4, 11 INNINGS: In Cleveland, Matt Davidson hit a run-scoring single with two out in the
11th inning to lift Chicago to a win over Cleveland.
TIGERS 11, ROYALS 8: In Detroit, Christin Stewart hit his first two big-league homers and drove in six runs, leading Detroit past Kansas City.
METS 5, NATIONALS 4, 12 INNINGS: In Washington, Jose Lobaton hit a goahead sacrifice fly against his former team in the 12th inning and New York beat Washington.
REDS 4, MARLINS 2: In Miami, Cody Reed was a winner in his first major league start and Scooter Gennett homered and doubled to lead Cincinnati to a win over Miami.