Rays first in AL to reach 90 wins
TORONTO — Drew Rasmussen combined with four relievers on a three-hitter, Brandon Lowe and Ji-Man Choi homered and the Tampa Bay Rays became the first AL team to reach 90 wins by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Tuesday night.
After losing four of their previous five, the Eastleading Rays hit the 90-win mark for the eighth time — all in the past 14 seasons.
Tampa Bay (90-55) stopped a two-game losing streak.
Toronto began the day in the AL wild card lead, one game ahead of the New York Yankees and Boston.
Rasmussen (3-1) allowed two hits in five innings. Andrew Kittredge pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.
Choi’s leadoff drive in the second, his 10th home run this season, was the only run allowed by Jose Berrios (11-8), who lost for the first time in four starts despite scattering four hits over seven innings.
Lowe hit his 34th home run of the season in the eighth on the first pitch he saw from left-hander Tim Mayza.
PIRATES 6, REDS 5: Wade Miley surrendered six runs on 10 hits, and Cincinnati lost for the sixth time in eight games. Pirates starter Dillon Peters (1-2) worked five shutout innings, surrendering five hits with five strikeouts to help Pittsburgh to its fifth win in seven games.
CUBS 6, PHILLIES 3: Patrick Wisdom and Alfonso Rivas hit back-to-back homers for visiting Chicago in a win over a Philadelphia team running out of time to make a serious run in the NL playoff race. The Phillies remained 4½ games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East and 2½ games behind Cincinnati in the wildcard race. San Diego and St. Louis are ahead of the Phillies for the second wild card.
NATIONALS 8, MARLINS 2: Ryan Zimmerman homered, Erick Fedde pitched five solid innings and host Washington pounded out 14 hits in winning for the second time in three games. Fedde (7-9) allowed a run on three hits with eight strikeouts and no walks.
YANKEES 7, ORIOLES 2: Aaron Judge started a five-homer barrage that backed Gerrit Cole, and visiting New York won consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 1 and 3.
ROCKIES 5, BRAVES 4: Brendan Rodgers hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the fifth inning, Trevor Story went deep in the second and visiting Colorado held on to beat Atlanta.
WHITE SOX 9, ANGELS 3: Gavin Sheets’ three-run homer in the third paced host Chicago. Aaron Bummer picked up the win.
INDIANS, TWINS SPLIT: Cleveland’s Triston McKenzie cruised through six innings of the first game of a doubleheader to beat host Minnesota 3-1 when a comebacker off the wrist of Twins rookie Joe Ryan shortened the pitching duel. Ryan Jeffers had four RBIs in the nightcap, and Kyle Baraclough earned the win in the Twins’ 6-3 victory. as the Twins won 6-3.