Rays beat Mets, clinch 1st AL East title in 10 years
Randy Arozarena homered twice and the Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first AL East title in 10 years Wednesday night with an 8-5 victory over the New York Mets.
Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe also went deep for the Rays, who will be home at quirky Tropicana Field for a best-of-three first-round playoff series beginning next Tuesday.
It is the third division crown in franchise history for the thrifty Rays, who also won the AL East in 2008 and 2010. After missing a chance to clinch Tuesday, they went into Wednesday again needing just a win or a New York Yankees loss against Toronto to lock up the division championship.
The Rays (37-20) broke a 2-all tie in the sixth and took care of business themselves.
● Angels 5, Padres 2: The euphoria of clinching their first playoff berth in 14 seasons three days earlier was tempered for host San Diego when right-hander Mike Clevinger was suddenly pulled after only one inning of his start. Clevinger was sent for an MRI on his right biceps. If the Padres get bad news, it will be a big setback at the front end of their playoff rotation. Clevinger said his biceps tightened up after he threw a curveball to Jared Walsh, the second batter, Tingler said.
● Diamondbacks 7, Rangers 3: Rookie Wyatt Mathisen hit his first two career homers, fellow rookie Daulton Varsho knocked in the go-ahead run with a triple, and host Arizona rallied against Texas.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
● Phillies 12, Nationals 3: Given a chance to DH so he could ease the burden on his bothersome back, Bryce Harper homered twice against his former team, helping Philadelphia beat host e Washington, and pushing the 2019 World Series champions to the brink of elimination from the playoff race.
● Reds 6, Brewers 1: Joey Votto homered for his first hit all season against Milwaukee, Trevor Bauer dominated on short rest, and host Cincinnati won a pivotal series for playoff contention, beating Milwaukee. The Reds are in position for a wild-card playoff berth after taking two of three from their NL Central rival. Cincinnati has won nine of 11, its best streak of the season, to get a shot at its first playoff appearance since 2013 under manager Dusty Baker.
● Pirates 2, Cubs 1: Adam Frazier and Ke’Bryan Hayes led off the bottom of the first inning with back-to-back homers off Kyle Hendricks, giving host Pittsburgh all the offense it needed to slip by playoff-bound Chicago.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
● Indians 3, White Sox 2: Shane Bieber lowered his ERA to 1.63 in his final regular-season start, the lowest in the American League since Luis Tiant’s 1.60 for Cleveland in 1968, and Jordan Luplow hit a game-ending home run that gave the host Indians the win over over Chicago, dropping the White Sox into a tie with Minnesota for the AL Central lead.
● Mariners 3, Astros 0: Nick Margevicius tossed six shutout innings, Ty France drove in a pair of runs and host Seattle kept its slim postseason hopes alive by beating Houston.