Orioles clinch AL East crown with 100th win
Anthony Santander homered, DL Hall worked out of a sixth-inning jam and the host Baltimore Orioles clinched the AL East title with a 2-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.
Dean Kremer (13-5) allowed two hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings, striking out eight, and the Orioles reached 100 wins for the sixth time in team history and first since 1980. Baltimore prevailed in a brutally tough division that relegated the Red Sox and New York Yankees to afterthoughts.
Now the Orioles — two years after losing 110 games — will enter the postseason as the top seed in the American League.
It was a night of celebration at Camden Yards. The team announced on the scoreboard after the third inning that it had reached an agreement with the state keeping the Orioles in Baltimore for at least the next 30 years. The team's lease at Camden Yards was set to expire at the end of 2023.
BRAVES 5, CUBS 3 ❯❯ Max Olson hit his major league-leading 54th homer, and host Atlanta clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason with a win over slumping Chicago. The Braves (103-56) won for the sixth time in seven games. The NL East champions can match the franchise record for wins with a season-ending sweep of the Nationals.
The Cubs have dropped 13 of 19 to fall out of position for an NL wild card. Chicago (82-77) fell a half-game back of Miami for the third and final wild card, pending the result of the Marlins' rain-delayed game against the New York Mets.
WHITE SOX 3, DIAMONDBACKS 1 ❯❯ Visiting Arizona delayed clinching an NL wild card berth, losing to Chicago as Andrew Vaughn and Yoán Moncada homered for the White Sox. The Diamondbacks (84-75) are in position for the second NL wild card and their first postseason appearance since 2017. They entered two games ahead of the Chicago Cubs and Miami, who were tied for the third and final spot. Arizona would have clinched Thursday with both a win and a Cubs loss at Atlanta. (The Braves beat the Cubs 5-3).
BLUE JAYS 6, YANKEES 0 ❯❯ Chris Bassitt (16-8) allowed five hits over 7 2/3 innings and struck out 12, Brandon Belt hit a three-run homer and host Toronto moved one step closer to an AL wildcard berth. Daulton Varsho and Matt Chapman hit home runs for the Blue Jays (88-71), who entered in position for the second AL wild card, a half-game ahead of idle Houston and two games ahead of Seattle, which defeated Texas.
TIGERS 8, ROYALS 0; TIGERS 7, ROYALS 3 ❯❯ Miguel Cabrera hit his 511th home run as host Detroit won the completion of a suspended game 8-0 and Spencer Torkelson hit a three-run homer in a seven-run seventh inning that led the Tigers over Kansas City for a sweep of both games.
Cabrera, who is retiring after the season, tied Mel Ott for 25th on the career home run list.
MARINERS 3, RANGERS 2 ❯❯ J.P. Crawford lined a two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting host Seattle and stopping the AL West-leading Rangers from clinching a playoff berth for at least one day. The Mariners (86-73) pulled within one game of idle Houston in the race for the final AL wild card. Seattle also holds the tiebreaker over the Astros, who trail the Rangers by two games.
WAKEFIELD UNDERGOING TREATMENT ❯❯ The Boston Red Sox confirmed in a statement that announcer and former knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, 57, is undergoing treatment for a disease they did not specify and asked for fans to respect his privacy after his illness was outed without his consent by ex-teammate Curt Schilling. The team issued the statement on Thursday after Schilling said on a podcast that Wakefield had brain cancer, leading to an outpouring of support for Wakefield — and criticism of Schilling.