Rays win AL East again

The Tampa Bay Rays clinched their second straight AL East title, with Mike Zunino hitting a goahead homer and Brandon Lowe later adding a pair of RBI doubles to beat the Miami Marlins 7-3 on Saturday night.

Reliever Pete Fairbanks retired Lewis Brinson on a foul popup with the bases loaded for the final out, giving the Rays the chance to celebrate on the field. Earlier in the day, Tampa Bay’s magic number was cut to one when the New York Yankees beat Boston 5-3.

There was a standing ovation from the seasonhigh announced crowd of 23,783 at Tropicana Field when the Yankees’ victory was announced after the top of the sixth inning.

Shane McClanahan allowed one run and six hits over five innings. The lefty worked out of several jams, holding the Marlins to 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

American League

Athletics 2, Astros 1 — Starling Marte hit a gameending double with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting Oakland.

Elvis Andrus singled off Ryan Pressly to begin the Oakland ninth. After Josh Harrison struck out swinging, Marte lined an 0-1 pitch into the gap in right-center for his 500th career RBI.

Indians 6, White Sox 0 — Eli Morgan allowed one hit in six innings and José Ramirez drove in three runs, powering Cleveland to a victory over Chicago.

Morgan struck out six and walked one, giving up only a double to Yoan Moncada in the fifth.

Ramirez hit a two-run homer and had an RBI single off Lance Lynn, whose winless streak reached nine starts.

Tigers 5, Royals 1 — Miguel Cabrera drove in four runs, including a go-ahead, tworun double in the sixth inning, and Detroit downed Kansas City.

Jeimer Candelario supplied a run-scoring double for the Tigers, who have won five of six. Jonathan Schoop had two hits and scored two runs.

Orioles 3, Rangers 2 — Kelvin Gutierrez homered to cap a three-run seventh inning and Baltimore beat Texas.

National League

Cardinals 8, Cubs 5 — St. Louis set a franchise record with its 15th straight win, boosted when catcher Yadier Molina and center fielder Harrison Bader helped pull off a wild double play in a win over Chicago.

Bader, Tyler O’Neill and Paul DeJong homered as these Cardinals broke the team record of 14 wins in a row set in 1935, a year after Dizzy Dean and the Gas House Gang won the World Series.

Phillies 3, Pirates 0 — Ranger Suarez pitched a four-hit shutout, Bryce Harper homered and Philadelphia kept up its playoff push, beating Pittsburgh.

Suarez allowed just four singles, walked none and struck out seven in his first major league complete game.