Red Sox, Jays win, sit in AL Wild Card spots
Xander Bogaerts homered and drove in four runs, carrying the AL wild card-leading Boston Red Sox past the Baltimore Orioles 9-3 Saturday for their fourth straight win.
The Red Sox are one game ahead of Toronto and 1 ½ games in front of the rival Yankees in the playoff chase.
“It’s fun being able to go out there to help your team,” Bogaerts said. “We know every game is huge now.”
Bobby Dalbec added a tworun double, and Hunter Renfroe and Rafael Devers each drove in a run for Boston. Bogaerts and Devers both had three hits.
Ryan Mountcastle hit his 30th homer, a two-run shot, and Austin Wynns added a solo drive for the Orioles, who lost for the 11th time in the last 12 meetings against the
Red Sox after sweeping a season-opening three-game series between the teams.
Bogaerts’ three-run shot hit off a billboard atop the Green Monster against reliever Mike Baumann (1-1) after Renfroe had an
RBI double and Devers singled during a game-breaking, fourrun sixth.
Bogaerts also had a go-ahead, RBI single in the fifth, making it 4-3.
“We all know where we are,” he said. “We just have to go out there and try to continue to win games.”
Tanner Houck (1-4) earned the win, working 2 ⅔ innings of scoreless relief.
“Having that today was a different experience,” said Houck, who was a starting pitcher in 12 of his previous 14 appearances this season. “It’s about going out there and putting the team in a good a spot to win.”
Trailing 2-0, the Red Sox scored three times in the bottom of the first on Devers’ RBI single and Dalbec’s two-out double.
The Orioles had a 2-0 lead after just two pitches against starter Nick Pivetta when Cedric Mullins doubled off the left-field wall and Mountcastle followed with hit his shot into the Monster seats.
“When you have a season like this, you’re looking for bright spots to build on,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said of his team’s major league-high 101st loss.
Mountcastle’s drive came a day after he surpassed Cal Ripken Jr.’s record (28) for most homers by an Orioles rookie.
Wynns’ shot left Fenway Park completely over the Monster in the second.
Pivetta gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out one and walking three.
BLUE JAYS 6, TWINS 2
Marcus Semien became the fifth second baseman to hit 40 home runs in a season, and the Toronto Blue Jays moved back into a playoff position by beating Minnesota.
Teoscar Hernández hit a three-run homer, and Bo Bichette had three hits and two RBIs as the Blue Jays rebounded from a 7-3 loss and improved to a big league-best 14-3 in September.
Toronto (83-65) moved a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees (83-66) for the second AL wild-card berth, one game behind Boston (8565). The Blue Jays haven’t lost back-to-back games since defeats to the White Sox on Aug. 26 and Detroit the following day.
“It’s the confidence we have right now,” Hernández said. “We trust in each other.”
Steven Matz (13-7) won his fourth straight decision, allowing two runs and three hits in 5 ⅔ innings.
“Today I had the curveball going, so I just used it a lot,” Matz said. “They weren’t doing any damage on it.”
Matz is 4-0 with a 2.72 ERA in his past seven starts.
“He’s been one of our best starters,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “That’s saying a lot, because the other guys are doing really well, too.”
Toronto had lost its eight previous home games against the Twins since Aug. 26, 2017.
Bailey Ober (2-3) retired his first eight batters and nine of 10 before Semien’s leadoff homer in the fourth. Semien joined Rogers Hornsby, Davey Johnson, Ryne Sandberg, and Brian Dozier as the only second basemen to hit 40 home runs in a season.
Montoyo said he asked to put the blue blazer the Blue Jays use to celebrate home runs on Semien’s shoulders when the All-Star infielder returned to the dugout after his milestone drive.
“I told him ‘Congratulations,’ because to be a second baseman and have the season that he’s had already, 40 home runs, that’s not easy to do,” Montoyo said. “I’m proud of him, man. He’s been great to us.”