Machado’s 3 RBIs give Dodgers lift
ST. LOUIS » Manny Machado homered and drove in three runs to back Clayton Kershaw, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-7 Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series between playoff contenders.
The Dodgers snapped a five-game losing streak against the Cardinals and moved to within one game of St. Louis for the final NL wild-card spot. The Cardinals, who went 22-6 in August, lost their second straight game and fell to 5-7 in September.
Kershaw (8-5), pitching at Busch Stadium for the first time since taking the loss in Game 4 of the 2014 NL division series, struck out eight in six innings, allowing four runs — three earned — on eight hits and two walks.
David Freese tripled on a 14-pitch at-bat against Austin Gomber to score Chris Taylor and Machado in the first. Matt Kemp followed with a single to score Freese.
Kershaw’s RBI single started a fourrun fourth and drove Gomber (5-1) from the game. Taylor followed with an RBI double, and Justin Turner and Machado had sacrifice flies as the Dodgers went ahead 8-1.
Machado went 3 for 4, and his solo homer in the seventh traveled 417 feet to center.
RED SOX 4, BLUE JAYS 3 » J.D. Martinez hit his 41st home run and Boston moved closer to winning the AL East, completing a three-game sweep of Toronto.
Xander Bogaerts scored the goahead run on an eighth-inning error after the Blue Jays rallied in the top half with two runs to tie it 3-all.
ROCKIES 10, DIAMONDBACKS 3 » Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story homered, Kyle Freeland pitched effectively into the seventh, and Colorado beat Arizona to extend its NL West lead.
David Dahl had three hits and two RBIs to help Colorado take a two-game lead over Los Angeles and a 4½-game advantage over the third-place Diamondbacks.
Diamondbacks right-hander Clay Buchholz was scratched from the start because of tightness in his right elbow. METS 4-5, MARLINS 3-2 » Michael Conforto and Todd Frazier hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the ninth inning, and New York stunned Miami in the first game of a doubleheader sweep.
Conforto drove in three more runs in the second game, and Jason Vargas pitched six effective innings to help the Mets win again.
CUBS 4, NATIONALS 3 » Javier Baez drove in the go ahead run with a bunt single in the 10th inning, and Chicago beat Washington in a makeup of a game postponed earlier in the week.
Kris Bryant doubled with one out in the 10th against Sean Doolittle (33) and moved to third on ex-National Daniel Murphy’s infield single. Baez, who homered in the sixth and drove in three on the day, bunted just to the right of first baseman Ryan Zimmerman to score Bryant.
ORIOLES 5, ATHLETICS 3 » Dylan Bundy had eight strikeouts in six solid innings, and Baltimore ended Oakland’s sixgame winning streak.
Stephen Piscotty homered for the A’s. They fell 3½ games behind first-place Houston in the AL West and 1 ½ back of the Yankees for the top wild-card slot.