Red Sox inch closer toward playoff berth
BALTIMORE — Chris Sale struck out 13 to become the first AL pitcher in 18 years to reach the 300 mark, and the Boston Red Sox moved to the brink of clinching a playoff berth by beating the Baltimore Orioles 9-0 on Wednesday night.
Sale (17-7) reached the milestone on his last pitch, a called third strike against Ryan Flaherty to end the eighth inning. The last AL pitcher to fan 300 batters in a season was Boston’s Pedro Martinez in 1999, when he set a club record with 313.
Mookie Betts and Deven Marrero homered for the Red Sox, who hold a three-game lead over the second-place Yankees with 10 games left.
• Diamondbacks 13, Padres 7 — At San Diego: David Peralta hit a leadoff homer and added a go-ahead double in the seventh for Arizona, which scored 11 runs in the final four innings and overcame Hunter Renfroe’s three homers as the NL wild card leaders beat the San Diego Padres.
The Padres, who blew a 6-2 lead, hit five home runs. Renfroe had his first career three-homer game and tied Nate Colbert’s club record for rookies with 24. Renfroe became the first Padres rookie to hit three home runs, and the seventh San Diego player overall to do it.
The Diamondbacks hit four homers in avoiding a three-game sweep. They scored four times in the sixth to tie it, including a two-run homer by J.D. Martinez, and went ahead in the seventh. Chris Herrmann singled with one out off Craig Stammen (2-3) and scored the goahead run on Peralta’s double to center.
• Rangers 8, Mariners 6 — At Seattle: Rougned Odor’s grand slam capped a sevenrun fourth inning and the Texas Rangers held off the Seattle Mariners to make up ground in the playoff chase.
The Rangers moved within 2 1/2 games of Minnesota for the second AL wild card after the Twins lost 11-3 to the New York Yankees. Seattle dropped its fifth straight and remained four games behind Minnesota.
• Yankees 11, Twins 3 — At New York: Linden High product Aaron Judge hit his AL-leading 45th home run and topped 100 RBIs, Didi Gregorius surpassed Derek Jeter for the most home runs by a Yankees shortstop and New York beat Minnesota for a three-game sweep.
The game was briefly halted in the fifth inning when a foul ball down the third-base line off the bat of Todd Frazier struck a young girl, who was carried out of the stands, given first aid and taken to a hospital.
• Rays 8, Cubs 1 — At St. Petersburg, Fla.: Blake Snell gave up two hits in seven shutout innings, and Tampa Bay ended Chicago’s seasonbest seven-game winning streak.
The Cubs, who had not lost since being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers in a threegame series in Chicago on Sept. 8-10, are scheduled to open a four-game series in Milwaukee on Thursday night. They lead the Brewers by 3 1/2 games in the NL Central.
Steven Souza Jr. hit his 30th home run in the first inning and the Rays added three more runs in the second off Jon Lester.
• Phillies 7, Dodgers 5 — At Philadelphia: Aaron Altherr hit a tiebreaking, tworun single in the eighth after launching a tying, two-run homer an inning earlier, and Philadelphia beat slumping Los Angeles.
The Dodgers have lost four straight and 20 of 25 and will have to wait to wrap up the NL West.
• Pirates 6, Brewers 4 — At Pittsburgh: Adam Frazier hit a two-run homer off Milwaukee closer Corey Knebel with two outs in the ninth inning to lift Pittsburgh to the victory.
The Pirates tied it in the eighth on a throwing error by Knebel then ended a seven-game losing streak when Frazier homered into the first row of seats in the right-field stands.
• Royals 15, Blue Jays 5 — At Toronto: Mike Moustakas hit his 37th home run of the season, breaking Steve Balboni’s Royals record, Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield also connected and Kansas City routed Toronto.
Rookie right-hander Jakob Junis (8-2) allowed four runs, two earned, in 6 1/3 innings, improving to 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA over his past eight starts.
• Cardinals 9, Reds 2 — At Cincinnati: Dexter Fowler homered for the third straight game while Matt Carpenter and Paul DeJong also homered as St. Louis gained ground in its playoff push with a win over Cincinnati. Tommy Pham finished with two doubles, a single and two RBIs and Yadier Molina added a two-run double as the third-place Cardinals (79-72) gained a game on Colorado in the wild-card race to move within 2 1/2 games. St. Louis sits five games behind the Cubs in the NL Central chase.
• Nationals 7, Braves 3 — At Atlanta: Braves closer Arodys Vizcaino issued three bases-loaded walks in the six-run eighth, Gio Gonzalez pitched seven strong innings and Washington beat Atlanta.
Gonzalez (15-7) allowed two runs, three hits and one walk to enjoy some rare good luck in the series. The lefthander, who struck out eight, began the night 4-11 with a 5.27 ERA in 20 career starts against the Braves.
• Astros 4, White Sox 3 — At Houston: Yuli Gurriel had three hits, including a tworun double, Brad Peacock threw six solid innings and Houston extended its winning streak to six games with a win over Chicago.
Peacock (12-2) allowed two runs on one hit with six strikeouts. The right-hander continues to throw well, allowing two runs or fewer in each of his last five starts.
• Marlins 5, Mets 4 in 10 innings — At Miami: J.T. Realmuto homered in the 10th inning, and Miami beat New York after rallying for three runs in the ninth against former teammate A.J. Ramos.
With one out, Realmuto hit a 1-1 pitch from Paul Sewald (0-6) into the Mets’ bullpen for his 17th homer.