Jays leapfrog Yanks
Marcus Semien became the fifth second baseman to hit 40 home runs in a season, and the Toronto Blue Jays moved back into a playoff position by beating the Minnesota Twins 6-2 Saturday.
Teoscar Hernández hit a three-run homer, and Bo Bichette had three hits and two RBI as the Blue Jays rebounded from a 7-3 loss and improved to a big league-best 14-3 in September.
Toronto moved a halfgame ahead of the New York Yankees for the second AL wild-card berth, one game behind the Red Sox.
Steven Matz won his fourth straight decision, allowing two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with a walk, Bo Bichette singled and Hernández hit his 28th homer, a drive into the leftfield bullpen. Hernández leads the Blue Jays with 106 RBI.
Indians 11, Yankees 3 —
Gary Sánchez failed to catch a foul popup that led to a seven-run fifth inning capped by Andrés Giménez’s three-run homer, and Cleveland routed New York.
Franmil Reyes hit an RBI double off Albert Abreu in the big fifth inning and a two-run homer in the sixth against Andrew Heaney.
Tigers 4, Rays 3 — Jeimer Candelario and Dustin Garneau homered to lead Detroit over the AL Eastleading Tampa Bay.
Rangers 2, White Sox 1 — DJ Peters’ pinch-hit single drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth and Texas beat former teammate Lance Lynn and AL Central-leading Chicago.
National League
Dodgers 5, Reds 1 — Max Scherzer pitched seven shutout innings in another dominant performance for Los Angeles, which kept up its push in the NL West with a victory over Cincinnati.
The Dodgers began the day two games behind division-leading San Francisco.
Scherzer (15-4) improved to 7-0 with a 0.78 ERA in nine starts since being traded to the Dodgers on July 30. He allowed just two hits and struck out seven.
Cardinals 3, Padres 2 —
Tyler O’Neill hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning and St. Louis rallied to beat the Padres after San Diego stars Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. had a dugout dustup.
Machado shouted and cursed at Tatis during a dugout tirade in the fifth. The 29-year-old Machado and 22-year-old Tatis were separated by teammates during the incident, which came at the end of the top of the fifth. They eventually made their way to their positions.
Rockies 6, Nationals 0 —
Kyle Freeland struck out seven over six innings, Trevor Story hit a three-run homer and Colorado beat Washington.
Pirates 6, Marlins 3 —
Catcher Nick Fortes homered and singled in his major league debut, Cole Tucker had three hits and Bryse Wilson allowed two runs and four hits in five innings as Pittsburgh moved within a win of its first series sweep of the season.