Braves snap four-game losing streak, beat Cardinals

BRAVES 7, CARDINALS 3

ATLANTA — Freddie Freeman spent the previous four seasons playing for an Atlanta team that averaged 90 losses a year.

Now that the Braves are back challenging for a division title, the All-Star first baseman knows his club can’t afford any long losing streaks.

“It’s been four days, so I thought this was a big win for our team,” Freeman said. “I thought we played a quality baseball game today and hopefully we can carry that into this Philly series.”

Freeman hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs, Touki Toussaint pitched into the sixth inning and the NL East-leading Braves snapped a four-game skid with a 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

It was a big win for Atlanta, which began the day with a 5½-game lead over Philadelphia and opens a four-game home series against the Phillies on Thursday.

The Braves need any combination of six victories or Philadelphia losses to clinch their first division title since 2013.

St. Louis, which had won three straight, began the day leading Colorado by 1½ games for the second wild-card spot.

Closer A.J. Minter, working in a non-save situation in the ninth,

walked two to load the bases, but he ended it by striking out Jose Martinez and getting Paul DeJong to pop up.

Freeman’s 23rd homer, an opposite-field shot to left-center, put the Braves up 2-0 in the fourth against Jack Flaherty. Freeman went 3 for 3 and is hitting .405 over his past 11 games.

PHILLIES 4, METS 0 Rhys Hoskins became the seventh-fastest player to hit 50 career home runs and the Philadelphia Phillies kept pace in the NL East race with a 4-0 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday night. Zach Eflin and five relievers combined on a six-hitter and Odubel Herrera added two-run homer for the Phillies, who won consecutive series for the first time since July 25 and stayed 5½ games behind division-leading Atlanta. Seven of Philadelphia’s final 11 games are against the Braves, including

a four-game series beginning Thursday night in Atlanta. Hoskins’ opposite-field solo shot against Noah Syndergaard in the first inning was his 32nd homer of the season and 50th in 192 career games. Only Rudy York (153), Mark McGwire (161), Gary Sanchez (161), Ryan Braun (171), Aaron Judge (174) and former Phillies slugger Ryan Howard (182) reached 50 quicker, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The 25-year-old Hoskins later added his 35th double, and Jose Bautista had a pinch-hit RBI double in the fifth off Jerry Blevins. BREWERS 7, REDS 0 Gio Gonzalez pitched six smooth innings on his 33rd birthday and Jesus Aguilar hit a three-run homer in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 7-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night. Manny Pina also had a three-run shot and Aguilar finished with four RBIs. Gonzalez’s stellar showing helped the Brewers boost their lead for the top NL wild card to three games over St. Louis, which lost to Atlanta earlier. The Brewers began the day trailing the first-place Cubs by 3½ games in the NL Central. Chicago played later at Arizona. AMERICAN LEAGUE

RAYS 9, RANGERS 3 Tommy Pham homered twice and extended his on-base streak to 21 games and late-surging Tampa Bay completed a three-game sweep of Texas. The Rays have won 14 of 17 games in September. They have 11 remaining and entered the day 5½ games behind Oakland for the American League’s second wild card. Adrian Beltre hit his 13th homer for the last-place Rangers. It was the 475th of his career to match Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for 30th on the career lost. He’s 15th with 3,159 hits. Ryan Yarbrough (15-5), the second of five Tampa Bay pitchers, went four innings for the win. Jake Bauers had a two-run single and scored on Willy Adames’ single in the second off lefty Yohander Mendez (2-2) to put the Rays ahead to stay at 3-0. Pham hit his 18th homer leading off the third, and Matt Duffy’s two-run double in the fourth made it

8-1. Pham went deep again in the eighth for his seventh career multihomer game. The homer was off 45-year-old Bartolo Colon, who was pitching in relief for the first time since his last start Sept. 5.

TWINS 8, TIGERS 2 Stephen Gonsalves threw six scoreless innings, and Minnesota pounded Detroit’s pitching. Gabriel Moya started for Minnesota, but was replaced by Gonsalves in the second inning, marking the sixth time this season the Twins used an “opening pitcher.” Gonsalves (1-2) allowed one hit and a walk while striking out four. Ehire Adrianza was 3 for 4 with three runs scored, Tyler Austin was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored and Willians Astudillo was 2 for 4 with three RBIs for the Twins, who swept the three-game series against the Tigers. Spencer Turnbull (0-1) made his first major league start, allowing six runs and six hits and a walk in four innings.

ORIOLES 2, BLUE JAYS 1 Rookie DJ Stewart hit his first major league home run and the Baltimore Orioles used five pitchers to avoid a three-game sweep by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 Wednesday night. The Orioles bounced back one night after taking their 108th loss of the season, the most since moving to Baltimore in 1954. They remained three away from the franchise mark set by the 1939 St. Louis Browns.

YANKEES 10, RED SOX 1 Luke Voit hit two homers off David Price, Miguel Andujar popped another one barely into the right-field seats and the New York Yankees stalled Boston’s division-clinching celebration by beating the Red Sox 10-1 on Wednesday night. Luis Severino (18-8) pitched seven innings of one-run ball, and the Yankees had no need for All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman on the day they activated him from the disabled list. Chapman had been out since Aug. 21 with left knee tendinitis. He watched the end of the game from the dugout. Mookie Betts had two strikeouts and no hits in his return to Boston’s lineup. He pulled a possible grand slam just foul in the ninth before grounding into a game-ending double play.

The AL MVP contender sat out Tuesday after injuring his left side two days earlier, but came back to bat leadoff as the designated hitter. The Yankees will try to send Boston packing today with the AL East still undecided. The Red Sox lead the division by 9½ games and entered this three-game series needing one victory to lock up the division. New York started Wednesday with a 2½-game lead over Oakland for the top AL wild card.

INDIANS 4, WHITE SOX 1 Jason Kipnis hit a grand slam with one out in the ninth inning and the Cleveland Indians rallied for a 4-1 win over the Chicago White on Wednesday night. Kipnis hit a 3-2 pitch from Ian Hamilton into the right field seats for his 1,000th career hit and was doused with buckets of water by his teammates as he conducted a postgame television interview. The AL Central champions were held to two hits through eight innings before their comeback.

MARINERS 9, ASTROS 0 Robinson Cano drove in three runs, three players homered and seven pitchers combined for a five-hitter in Seattle’s 9-0 rout of the Houston Astros on Wednesday night. The Mariners took two of three in this series from Houston, which entered the day five games ahead of Oakland atop the AL West. The Athletics played later against the Angels.

INTERLEAGUE

PIRATES 2, ROYALS 1 Chris Archer pitched seven strong innings, and the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with a 2-1 win on Wednesday night. In his most impressive start since being acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays on July 31, Archer (58) allowed one run on six hits with eight strikeouts and one walk. The right-hander made it out of the sixth inning for the first time in nine starts for the Pirates, who traded for him in hopes of making a playoff run. The Pirates remain marooned in fourth place in the NL Central despite a five-game winning streak that’s moved them three games over .500.