MLB: Bauers, Rays trip up A’s

Jake Bauers hit a three-run homer off Jeurys Familia in the eighth inning to help the Rays slow playoff-chasing Oakland, winning 7-5 in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Saturday. Oakland remains 1½ games behind the Yankees for the top AL wild card. The A’s have dropped two of three since winning six straight. Washington 19-year-old rookie Juan Soto become the youngest player to steal three bases in a game, had an RBI single and scored the tiebreaking run, helping the Nationals stop the Braves’ season-best, six-game winning streak with a 7-1 victory in Atlanta. He surpassed the mark set by Oakland’s Rickey Henderson at 20 years, 241 days on Aug. 23, 1979, against Cleveland, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

In Cleveland, the Indians clinched their third straight AL Central title with a 15-0 blowout of the Tigers. Detroit made four errors and managed just two hits.

In Chicago, Jon Lester allowed two hits over seven innings with a season-high nine strikeouts, Willson Contreras hit a run-scoring single in the sixth inning as the Cubs beat the Reds, 1-0. Chicago’s lead in the NL Central is 2¹/2 games as the Brewers fell to the Pirates.

Yasiel Puig homered three times and had a career-high seven RBIs, giving him five homers in two games, and the visiting Dodgers routed St. Louis, 17-4, to move ahead of the Cardinals into sole possession of the second NL wild card.