Red Sox increase AL wild-card lead
BOSTON — Xander Bogaerts homered and drove in four runs, carrying the AL wild card-leading Boston Red Sox past the Baltimore Orioles 9-3 Saturday for their fourth straight win.
The Red Sox moved to 1 ½ games ahead of the rival Yankees, who lost to Cleveland.
“It’s fun being able to go out there to help your team,” Bogaerts said. “We know every game is huge now.”
BREWERS 6, CUBS 4: Manny Pina homered twice, Eduardo Escobar and Jace Peterson also connected, and host Milwaukee clinched its fourth straight postseason berth with a victory over Chicago.
INDIANS 11, YANKEES 3: Gary Sanchez failed to catch a foul popup that led to a seven-run fifth inning capped by Andres Gimenez’s three-run homer, and Cleveland routed the Yankees at New York.
DODGERS 5, REDS 1: Max Scherzer pitched seven shutout innings for Los Angeles, which kept up their push in the NL West with a victory at Cincinnati.
CARDINALS 3, PADRES 2: Tyler O’Neill hit a goahead, two-run homer and host St. Louis edged San Diego after Padres’ stars Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. had a dugout dustup. Machado shouted and cursed at Tatis during a dugout tirade in the fifth, telling the young star “it’s not about you” and “you go play baseball” after Tatis struck out looking.
GIANTS 2, BRAVES 0: Curt Casali hit a two-run single and host San Francisco blanked Atlanta.
BLUE JAYS 6, TWINS 2: Marcus Semien became the fifth second baseman to hit 40 home runs in a season, and host Toronto moved back into a playoff position by beating Minnesota. Toronto moved a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees for the second AL wild-card berth, one game behind Boston.
ATHLETICS 3, ANGELS 1: James Kaprielian allowed two hits over six scoreless innings and Matt Olson hit his 36th home run as Oakland won at Los Angeles.
TIGERS 4, RAYS 3: Jeimer Candelario and Dustin Garneau homered to lead Detroit Tigers over AL Eastleading Tampa Bay at St. Petersburg, Fla.
RANGERS 2, WHITE SOX 1: DJ Peters’ pinch-hit single drove home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and Texas Rangers beat former teammate Lance Lynn and AL Central-leading Chicago at Arlington.
PHILLIES 5, METS 3: Jean Segura hit two homers and Aaron Nola snapped a nine-start winless streak, leading surging Philadelphia Phillies to a win at New York. Bryce Harper drove in two runs to help Philadelphia win its fourth in a row.
ROYALS 8, MARINERS 1: Kris Bubic allowed two hits over 6 1⁄3 innings, as Kansas City won at home.
ROCKIES 6, NATIONALS 0: Kyle Freeland struck out seven over six innings, Trevor Story hit a three-run homer and Colorado won at Washington.
PIRATES 6, MARLINS 3: Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled twice and Pittsburgh Pirates beat Miami to move within a win of their first series sweep this year.