Dodgers nab NL’s last playoff berth
The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched baseball’s final playoff berth and gave themselves a chance to still win the NL West, getting a go-ahead triple from Manny Machado in the eighth inning yesterday and beating the Giants, 10-6, in San Francisco.
The defending NL champions locked up their sixth straight trip to the postseason, assuring at least a spot in the wild card game. The Dodgers joined Colorado, Atlanta, the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee in the NL playoff field.
Los Angeles began the day one game behind Colorado for the division lead, and the Rockies hosted Washington later in the day. The regular season is scheduled to end today — if Los Angeles and Colorado finish even, there will be a one-game tiebreaker for the West title tomorrow at Dodger Stadium.
After the final out, the Dodgers exited their dugout and high-fived in a tame celebration. Manager Dave Roberts waved to hundreds of fans in the outfield bleachers.
The Dodgers’ win eliminated St. Louis from playoff contention.
Machado, the star infielder acquired from Baltimore during the All-Star break, hit a two-out triple off Mark Melancon (1-4) for a 6-5 lead. Max Muncy added a two-run double during a four-run ninth, much to the delight of all the Dodger Blue in the rival’s ballpark.
Alex Wood (9-7) pitched the seventh for the win and Kenley Jansen closed it out.
Cardinals 2, Cubs 1 — Miles Mikolas outpitched Cole Hamels with eight sparkling innings, and visiting St. Louis stayed alive in the playoff race — but only for a few hours — by topping Chicago.
The Cubs would have wrapped up their third straight division championship with a victory and a loss by the Brewers to Detroit last night. Chicago and Milwaukee would meet in a tiebreaker at Wrigley Field tomorrow if they wind up with identical records, with the loser then playing in a wild card game at home on Tuesday.
Mikolas (18-4) allowed one unearned run and five hits in his fifth straight win. He struck out six, walked none and improved to 10-0 in 16 road starts.
Phillies 3, Braves 0 — Aaron Nola pitched seven shutout innings and Cesar Hernandez had a two-run single in the seventh inning to help host Philadelphia snap a nine-game losing streak with a win over Atlanta.
Nola (17-6) was stellar in his final start of the season, allowing two hits and striking out eight with four walks. The right-hander ended 2018 with a 2.37 ERA and 234 strikeouts.
Reds 3, Pirates 0 — Michael Lorenzen singled home a run and got his first win as a starter since 2015, leading host Cincinnati over Pittsburgh to end its seven-game losing streak against the Bucs.
American League
Astros sweep Orioles — Justin Verlander struck out 10 in his final audition for the Cy Young Award, and visiting Houston beat Baltimore 4-3 in the opener before cruising to a 5-2 victory for a doubleheader sweep.
Verlander allowed three hits in six shutout innings in the opener, showing he’s ready for the playoffs.
Whether Verlander receives his second AL Cy Young Award, well, that’s not nearly so clear.
Verlander finished his 14th big league season with a 16-9 record and a 2.52 ERA. He had an AL-leading, career-high 290 strikeouts (and only 37 walks), secondmost in the league behind Cleveland’s Corey Kluber.
Rays 4, Blue Jays 3 — In St. Petersburg, Fla., C.J. Cron and Austin Meadows homered and Tampa Bay tipped Toronto, though Blake Snell failed to win his 10th straight start.
Snell gave up a run in the first inning and left after five with the score tied at 1. He gave up three hits and four walks (three in the first inning) and struck out 10.
He was trying to become the first pitcher to win 10 straight starts within a season since Verlander with Detroit in 2011.
Royals 9, Indians 4 — Adalberto Mondesi hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer to lift host Kansas City over Cleveland.
Twins 8, White Sox 3 — In Minneapolis, Kyle Gibson capped his season of improvement with six quality innings in Minnesota’s win over Chicago.