Shaw walkoff lifts Brewers
Waiting for Travis Shaw at the plate after his game-winning, two-run homer were giddy teammates holding orange Gatorade buckets.
Finally, the Brewers had something to celebrate in extra innings against the Chicago Cubs.
Shaw went deep with one out in the 10th inning off All-Star closer Wade Davis, and the playoff-hopeful Brewers stunned their NL Central rivals with a 4-3 victory yesterday in Milwaukee. The Brewers had lost the first two games of the pivotal series in 10 innings.
Milwaukee moved back to within 41⁄2 games of NL Central-leading Chicago and 11⁄2 games of Colorado for a wild card spot, with the Rockies playing later in the day.
“I mean, this is as mustwin as you get,” Shaw said.
With eight days left in the season, the Cubs still seem to be in good shape to win a second straight division title.
Pirates 11, Cardinals 6 — Lance Lynn allowed eight runs in the first inning and St. Louis had a four-game win streak snapped in Pittsburgh.
Braves 4, Phillies 2 — Pinch-hitter Johan Camargo doubled in two runs in the three-run eighth inning, Rio Ruiz homered and Atlanta beat visiting Philadelphia.
Giants 2, Dodgers 1 — Madison Bumgarner snapped a personal fourgame losing streak and Gorkys Hernandez had three hits and scored both runs in San Francisco’s victory over host Los Angeles.
Padres 5, Rockies 0 — Jhoulys Chacin took a nohitter into the sixth inning and host San Diego beat Colorado.
Nationals 4, Mets 3 — Daniel Murphy homered in the 10th inning and the Washington bullpen followed Stephen Strasburg with five scoreless innings in a win over host New York.
American League
Yankees 5, Blue Jays 1 — New York officially returned to the playoffs after a oneyear absence, clinching no worse than a wild card with a win over host Toronto thanks to Greg Bird’s threerun homer.
Sonny Gray (10-11) allowed one run and four hits in six innings as the Yankees won for the 11th time in 14 games and at 86-68 matched their season high of 18 games over .500. New York celebrated its 53rd postseason berth in a low-key manner on the field after former-Yankee Rob Refsnyder hit a game-ending groundout off Aroldis Chapman, then sprayed bubbly in the visitors’ clubhouse.
Unless New York overcomes the Red Sox’ fourgame lead in the AL East, the Yanks would play in the wild card game on Oct. 3, most likely against Minnesota.
Twins 10, Tigers 4 — Zack Granite hit his first major league home run, a three-run drive that capped an eightrun eighth inning for Minnesota, which topped host Detroit and remains in command of the race for the AL’s second wild card.
Astros 6, Angels 2 — Evan Gattis hit a three-run homer to back a solid start by Charlie Morton and Houston further dampened the AL wild card hopes of visiting Los Angeles.
Indians 11, Mariners 4 — Francisco Lindor led off the game with his 33rd homer, the most by a Cleveland middle infielder, and the AL Central champs beat host Seattle for its 28th win in 30 games.
Royals 8, White Sox 2 — Alex Gordon homered, Whit Merrifield drove in three runs and Danny Duffy pitched into the seventh inning to keep Kansas City’s slim playoff hopes alive with a win at Chicago.
Rays 9, Orioles 6 — Lucas Duda hit a go-ahead, three-run homer to back Jake Odorizzi, and visiting Tampa Bay eliminated Baltimore from postseason contention.
Athletics 1, Rangers 0 — Bruce Maxwell became the first major league baseball player to kneel during the national anthem, and then Khris Davis hit his 40th home run to lift host Oakland over Texas.