Nationals extend NL wild-card lead
ST. LOUIS — Howie Kendrick finished a triple shy of hitting for a cycle, Patrick Corbin pitched six strong innings, and the Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Tuesday night.
St. Louis maintained its two-game lead in the NL Central over the second-place Chicago Cubs, who lost to Cincinnati. The Nationals increased their lead for the NL’s top wild card to 1½ games over the Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers.
REDS 4, CUBS 2: Chicago was shut down by Sonny Gray and two relievers, falling to visiting Cincinnati in a loss that hurt its playoff positioning. The Cubs (8269) dropped into a tie for the second NL wild card with Milwaukee. They also missed out on an opportunity to gain ground on NL Central-leading St. Louis.
YANKEES 8, ANGELS 0: Luis Severino pitched four dominant innings and reached 98.8 mph in his injury-delayed season debut for New York, a win over visiting Los Angeles that moved the Yankees to the brink of clinching their 21st postseason appearance in 25 years.
BREWERS 3, PADRES 1: Mike Moustakas hit his 35th home run of the season, and host Milwaukee beat San Diego to keep up its playoff push with their 11th win in 12 games. The Brewers moved into a tied with the Chicago Cubs for the NL’s second wild card and pulled within two games of NL Central-leading St. Louis.
METS 6, ROCKIES 1: Marcus Stroman pitched seven shutout innings, Amed Rosario, Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso all homered in the sixth to break open a scoreless game, and New York won at Colorado to boost its flickering playoff hopes.
PHILLIES 5, BRAVES 4: Rhys Hoskins and Jose Pirela hit two-run homers off Dallas Keuchel in Philadelphia’s five-run fourth inning, and the Phillies escaped in the ninth to beat host Atlanta and prevent the Braves from moving closer to clinching the NL East.
MARINERS 6, PIRATES 0: Marco Gonzales allowed six hits in seven innings, Austin Nola and Omar Narvaez homered, and Seattle beat host Pittsburgh.
INDIANS 7, TIGERS 2: Adam Plutko pitched six effective innings, rookie Oscar Mercado homered, and host Cleveland beat Detroit for the 15th straight time.
TWINS 9, WHITE SOX 8: Ronald Torreyes was hit by a bases-loaded pitch in a three-run 12th inning to give host Minnesota a victory over Chicago that kept its lead in the American League Central at five games.
ATHLETICS 2, ROYALS 1: Matt Olson hit a tying homer in the seventh, Seth Brown hit a go-ahead double two batters later, and Oakland beat visiting Kansas City.
GIANTS 7, RED SOX 6: Alex Dickerson drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly in the 15th inning as San Francisco beat Boston at Fenway Park.
BLUE JAYS 8, ORIOLES 5: Rookie Cavan Biggio hit for the cycle, and Toronto beat host Baltimore.