Marlins beat Brew Crew to stay in wild card race
NATIONAL LEAGUE MARLINS 5, BREWERS 4
MIAMI — Jake Burger hit a three-run home run, the Marlins scored the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning and Miami beat Milwaukee 5-4 on Saturday to stay within a game of the Chicago Cubs for the third National League wild card and prevent the Brewers from clinching the NL Central.
Pinch runner Garrett Hampson scored the winning run on a wild pitch by reliever Joel Payamps (6-5).
Burger drew a leadoff walk before Bryan De La Cruz’s single to right advanced Hampson to third. Payamps’ slider got past catcher William Contreras and Hampson sprinted home.
“Obviously, a very good ball club over there, so anything we can do to get a win from them and hopefully ride momentum going into [today],” Burger said.
Miami’s Luis Arraez went 1 for 5 and his major league-leading batting average dropped to .353. Carlos Santana hit the 300th home run of his career and Christian Yelich had career hit 1,500 for Milwaukee.
Marlins Manager Skip Schumak- er said Arraez didn’t play the top of the ninth after he slipped on the dugout steps heading to his position. Arraez sprained his left ankle on Tuesday when he stepped on a baseball during infield drills and missed the last two games of Miami’s series against the New York Mets.
CUBS 6, ROCKIES 3 Cody Bellinger hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, leading host Chicago over Colorado. Chicago moved within a half-game of Arizona for the second NL wild card.
PHILLIES 7, METS 5 Bryce Harper sparted Philadelphia’s comeback from a two-run defecit by reaching 20 home runs for the ninth time to lead the Phillies over visiting New York.
PIRATES 13, REDS 12 Visiting Pittsburgh overcame a nine-run deficit, the largest in franchise history, and Luis Rivas tied a career high with five RBI, dealing a blow to Cincinnati’s playoff hopes. Cincinnati, whichi dropped to 2 1/2 games back for the NL’s last wild card berth, opened a 9-0 lead with three runs in the first inning, five in the second and one in the third, then allowed 13 unanswered runs.
DODGERS 7, GIANTS 0 Clayton Kershaw allowed 2 hits with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks over 5 innings, Mookie Betts hit a two-run double that set a record of 105 RBI for a leadoff hitter and host Los Angeles defeated division rival San Francisco. Kershaw earned his 210th career victory, passing Don Drysdale for second most all-time wins in Dodgers franchise history.
CARDINALS 5, PADRES 2 (11) Visiting St. Louis got run-scoring sacrifice flies from Richie Palacios and Andrew Knizner, as well as an RBI single from Luken Baker in the 11th inning after San Diego’s Xander Bogaerts forced extra innings with an RBI groundout that tied the game at 2-2.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
RAYS 7, BLUE JAYS 6 Josh Lowe hit a three-run home run and a walk-off single that capped a two-run ninth inning, lifting host Tampa Bay over Toronto.
ANGELS 1, TWINS 0 Jo Adell hit a home run, Kenny Rosenberg outpitched Sonny Gray and visiting Los Angeles beat Minnesota.
WHITE SOX 1, RED SOX 0 Luis Robert Jr. hit a 311-foot home run to break a scoreless, ninth-inning tie, and Dylan Cease struck out 13 in seven scoreless innings as visiting Chicago got by Boston.
ATHLETICS 4, TIGERS 1 Joe Boyle had five strikeouts in six innings for his first career win, Esteury Ruiz hit a two-run home run, and Oakland beat visiting Detroit.
ORIOLES 2, GUARDIANS 1 John Means carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and Anthony Santander drove in a pair of runs, sending Baltimore over host Cleveland.
RANGERS 2, MARINERS 0 Jordan Montgomery pitched seven scoreless innings, switch-hitting All-Star catcher Jonah Heim drove in a run and AL West-leading Texas blanked visiting Seattle.
ROYALS 3, ASTROS 2 Jordan Lyles gave up just two hits in five innings, Bobby Witt Jr. drove in his 93rd run of the season and visiting Kansas City won its ninth of its past 10 games with a victory over Houston.