Gordon’s emotional homer keys win over Mets
MIAMI >> Dee Gordon and the Miami Marlins wore their emotions on the sleeves of their No. 16 jerseys.
Jose Fernandez loved it.
Gordon homered leading off the first inning for the Marlins, who totaled 14 hits and mixed cheers with the tears of the past two days by beating the New York Mets 7-3 on Monday night in their first game since Fernandez died in a boating accident.
Adam Conley pitched three scoreless innings subbing for Fernandez, who had been scheduled to make his final start of the year. Justin Bour went 3 for 3 and Gordon had four hits, including one that will go down in Marlins lore.
Paying tribute to their charismatic ace, the left-handed-hitting Gordon stepped to the plate as a righty leading off the first. After one pitch, Gordon switched to his customary left side — and pulled a 2-0 delivery into the upper deck for his first homer of the season. would have
New York’s Bartolo Colon (14-8) allowed a season-high seven runs in 2 1/3 innings.
Mike Dunn (5-1) pitched fourth for the win.
New York still leads a the perfect NL wild-card to go. INDIANS 7, TIGERS 4 >> Cleveland clinched the AL Central title, overcoming an injury to ace righthander Corey Kluber in a victory over Detroit.
Kluber left after four innings with right groin tightness, joining Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar in a group of talented Cleveland pitchers dealing with injuries. But even those concerns were secondary when the Indians poured onto the field to celebrate their first division title since 2007.
Buck Farmer (0-1) allowed four runs in five innings for the Tigers, who fell two games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card.
Andrew Miller (10-1) won in relief, and Cody Allen pitched the ninth for his 30th save in 33 chances. CUBS 12, PIRATES 2 >> Javier Baez hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs while major league ERA leader Kyle Hendricks pitched six scoreless innings, and Chicago won its 100th game of the season. race with five games DIAMONDBACKS 14, NATIONALS 4 >> All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos left Washington’s loss to Arizona with an apparent right knee injury that could be a major blow to the NL East champions. YANKEES 7, BLUE JAYS 5 >> Mark Teixeira hit a tying homer in the ninth inning and Aaron Hicks added a winning blast as New York avoided a four-game sweep. BREWERS 8, RANGERS 3 >> Jonathan Villar had two home runs and a career-high five RBIs, and Matt Garza beat his former team. REDS 15, CARDINALS 2 >> Joey Votto and Adam Duvall hit two of Cincinnati’s four homers in a rout of St. Louis.
Reds starter Tim Adleman (34) retired the first 10 Cardinals he faced and went a career-long seven innings. It was his first win since Aug. 19. WHITE SOX 7, RAYS 1 >> James Shields pitched six effective innings for his first win in two months, Justin Morneau and Carlos Sanchez each hit a two-run homer and Chicago beat Tampa Bay.