Yanks drop back in wild-card race
BALTIMORE — Needing one more strike to secure his first career save, New York Yankees reliever Clay Holmes threw a wild pitch with two outs in the ninth inning that let the tying run score, then Austin Hays chopped an RBI single in the 10th that lifted the Baltimore Orioles to a 3-2 win Thursday night, dropping New York back in the AL wild-card race.
The Yankees fell a half-game behind idle Toronto and Boston atop the AL wild-card standings. New York had won three in a row.
Holmes’ high and outside fastball got past catcher Gary Sanchez, allowing pinch-runner Kelvin Gutierrez to streak home from third base with two outs. Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman had pitched the previous three days.
Ryan Mountcastle homered for Baltimore, which snapped a five-game skid and avoided its 100th loss of the season. Cole Sulser (5-4) pitched two scoreless innings for Baltimore.
ATHLETICS 7, ROYALS 2: Salvador Perez tied Johnny Bench’s record for homers in a season by a catcher with his 45th, but Chad Pinder’s two-run single spurred a third-inning rally and Oakland held off host Kansas City for the win. Perez hit a two-run homer in the first inning, matching Bench’s total from 1970 for the most by a player who played at least 75 percent of his team’s games at catcher. Perez is tied with Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the major league lead in homers and also leads the bigs with 112 RBIs.
RAYS 5, TIGERS 2: Yandy Diaz hit a leadoff home run and Mike Zunino later connected, reliever Dietrich Enns pitched four solid innings and AL East-leading Tampa Bay won at home.
PADRES 7, GIANTS 4: Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his NLleading 39th home run and San Diego won at San Francisco. The Padres moved within half a game of the idle Cardinals for the second NL wild card at 76-70. Tatis also singled and walked twice a day after matching a career best with four hits. Tommy Pham and Manny Machado each drove in two runs, and Adam Frazier and Austin Nola had three hits apiece.
ANGELS 9, WHITE SOX 3: Alex Cobb pitched five scoreless innings, Luis Rengifo and Jose Rojas hit home runs, and Los Angeles coasted to a win at Chicago. Cobb was activated from the 10-day injured list after suffering right wrist inflammation and allowed two hits in his first start since July 23.
PHILLIES 17, CUBS 8: Bryce Harper doubled to start a seven-run, game-tying rally in the fourth inning, drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth and sealed host Philadelphia’s win over Chicago with a three-run home run in the seventh.
REDS 1, PIRATES 0: Cincinnati’s Mychal Givens struck out Hoy Park with a 98 mph heater to seal a victory at Pittsburgh. The Pirates had the tying run on third and the winning run on second with two outs. Givens fell behind Park 3-0 before four straight fastballs — all 95 mph or better — ended the threat. Tyler Mahle (12-5) battled through six innings for the win,