Rays capture AL East crown
NEW YORK — Randy Arozarena homered twice, and the Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first AL East title in 10 years Wednesday with an 8-5 victory over the New York Mets. Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe also went deep for the Rays to back Tyler Glasnow’s six solid innings. Tampa Bay will be home at quirky Tropicana Field for a bestof-three first-round playoff series beginning Tuesday.
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 Indians a win over visiting Chicago.
TWINS 7, TIGERS 6: Jake Cave hit a pair of home runs, Kenta Maeda finished off his regular season with another strong start, and host Minnesota beat Detroit to take over sole possession of the AL Central lead.
BLUE JAYS 14, YANKEES 1: Gary Sanchez made two of his team’s season-high four errors, and host Toronto dealt New York perhaps a fatal blow in its race for homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
RED SOX 9, ORIOLES 1: Nathan Eovaldi struck out eight over six scoreless innings, Rafael Devers hit a threerun double, and host Boston beat Baltimore.
ROYALS 12, CARDINALS 3: Salvador Perez and Franchy Cordero hit two homers and drove in five runs apiece, and host Kansas City pummeled St. Louis.
ANGELS 5, PADRES 2: San Diego might have suffered a blow to the front of its playoff rotation when righthander Mike Clevinger was suddenly pulled after only one inning in his start in a loss to visiting Los Angeles. Clevinger was sent for an MRI exam on his right biceps.
PIRATES 2, CUBS1: Adam Frazier and Ke’bryan Hayes led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back homers off Kyle Hendricks, giving host Pittsburgh all the offense it would need to slip past playoff-bound Chicago.
REDS 6, BREWERS 1: Joey Votto homered for his first hit all season against Milwaukee, and host Cincinnati won a pivotal series for playoff contention.
PHILLIES 12, NATIONALS 3: Bryce Harper homered twice against his former team, helping Philadelphia rout host Washington and pushing the 2019 World Series champs to the brink of elimination from the playoff race.
ATHLETICS 6, DODGERS 4: Ramon Laureano broke a ninth-inning tie with a two-run homer, and host Oakland rallied past visiting Los Angeles.
GIANTS 7, ROCKIES 2: Brandon Belt went 3-for-3 with two walks, and host San Francisco beat Colorado.
BRAVES 9, MARLINS 4: Dansby Swanson homered, and host Atlanta got its third straight win over Miami.