Braves capture NL East crown
ATLANTA — Ian Anderson turned in another dominant pitching performance, Jorge Soler and Austin Riley homered, and the Atlanta Braves clinched their fourth straight NL East title by completing a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-3 victory Thursday night.
After an up-and-down season marred by injuries and legal issues but bolstered by a flurry of moves at the trade deadline, the Braves won their 21st division title since moving from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966.
They’ll face their former city in the playoffs when they open the best-of-five Division Series at the NL Central champion Brewers on Oct. 8.
YANKEES 6, BLUE JAYS 2: Aaron Judge hit two of New York’s five home runs and the Yankees extended their AL wild-card lead with a win at Toronto. Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo also connected off Blue Jays starter Robbie Ray, and Brett Gardner added a solo homer as New York (91-68) cut its magic number to clinch a postseason spot to two. The Yankees are two games ahead of Boston and idle Seattle. Toronto trails New York by three games.
DODGERS 8, PADRES 3: Mookie Betts and Corey Seager homered back-to-back in the first inning, Justin Turner and AJ Pollock did the same in the fourth, and h ostLos Angeles Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of San Diego.
GIANTS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 4: LaMonte Wade’s walkoff single with one out in the ninth inning lifted host San Francisco to its sixth straight win while keeping the Giants two games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West.
ORIOLES 6, RED SOX 3: Boston was dealt another blow in their postseason push by last-place Baltimore, with Ryan Mountcastle hitting a three-run homer in the third inning of the Orioles’ win at Baltimore.
RANGERS 7, ANGELS 6: Adolis Garcia set a franchise rookie record for home runs and RBIs and Brock Holt put Texas ahead for the first time with a two-run double in the eighth inning of a series-clinching victory over Los Angeles at Arlington. Garcia’s 31st homer was a two-run blast in the fifth that pushed the All-Star outfielder’s RBI total to 90.
CARDINALS 4, BREWERS 3: Rookie Dylan Carlson hit two go-ahead home runs, one from each side of the plate, and host St. Louis edged Milwaukee.
METS 12, MARLINS 3: Michael Conforto hit a pair of run-scoring singles, doubled and made a shoestring catch and host New York routed Miami. Pete Alonso homered twice for the Mets.
CUBS 9, PIRATES 0: Justin Steele breezed through seven shutout innings and Chicago saddled host Pittsburgh with its 100th loss of the season.Pittsburgh joined Texas, Baltimore and Arizona, giving MLB four 100-loss teams for the third time, after 2002 and 2019.
TIGERS 10, TWINS 7: Niko Goodrum homered twice and drove in four runs, Jonathan Schoop hit a solo homer and Detroit won at Minnesota.
INDIANS 6, ROYALS 1: Shane Bieber pitched three effective innings, Bradley Zimmer drove in three runs and visiting Cleveland beat Kansas City.