Red Sox win third straight AL East title
Mookie Betts homers, doubles twice and drives in five runs, finishing with four hits.
NEW YORK — Mookie Betts and the Boston Red Sox won their third consecutive AL East championship Thursday night, clinching on enemy turf with an 11-6 victory over the rival New York Yankees.
Betts homered, doubled twice and drove in five runs, finishing with four hits as the Red Sox overcame Giancarlo Stanton’s go-ahead grand slam in the fourth inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a tying home run in the seventh and Xander Bogaerts put Boston ahead with a sacrifice fly.
With the best record in baseball and a playoff berth already secured, Boston (104-49) closed out a once-tight division race with nine games to spare. J.D. Martinez and the Red Sox, alone in first place since July 2, will open the postseason at home on Oct. 5 against an opponent to be determined.
ATHLETICS 21, ANGELS 3
In Oakland, Calif., Marcus Semien had three hits and a career-high five RBIs, Stephen Piscotty homered and drove in four runs and the Athletics hammered Los Angeles.
The Athletics reduced their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to five. Since June 15, Oakland is a major leaguebest 58-25.
Going into Thursday, Oakland trailed Houston by four games in the AL West, led Tampa Bay by 5½ games for the second wild card, and was 2½ games behind the New York Yankees for the first wild card.
BRAVES 8, PHILLIES 3
In Atlanta, Luca Duda’s pinchhit double drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh, and the Braves an important step toward winning the NL East by beating Philadelphia.
Atlanta leads the second-place Phillies by 6½ games following the opening game of the fourgame series. The teams close the season with three games at Philadelphia, but the Phillies need to win at least three of four in Atlanta to retain hope of making the final series meaningful. The Braves have a magic number of four over Philadelphia to clinch their first division title since 2013.
Freddie Freeman had two hits and scored two runs. He has eight hits in his last three games.
BLUE JAYS 9, RAYS 8
In Toronto, Justin Smoak homered with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Blue Jays past Tampa Bay, dealing a blow to the Rays’ wild-card playoff hopes.
Smoak hit his 25th homer of the season and third career walkoff blast. Sergio Romo (3-4) blew his eighth save in 30 opportunities. David Paulino (1-0) pitched an inning for the victory as Toronto won for the fourth time in its past five.
Trailing 8-2 to begin the ninth, the Blue Jays roared back to snap Tampa Bay’s five-game winning streak. Tellez hit an RBI double and Danny Jansen chased Jamie Schultz with a three-run homer. Romo came on and struck out Richard Urena, but pinch hitter Kendrys Morales singled and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tied it with a two-run homer to left. Smoak followed with a first pitch drive to right.
WHITE SOX 5, INDIANS 4 (11 INNINGS)
In Cleveland, Matt Davidson hit a run-scoring single with two out in the 11th inning to lift Chicago past the Indians for the White Sox’s first victory at Progressive Field this season.
The White Sox were outscored 58-19 in dropping their first eight games in Cleveland, including a 4-1 loss Wednesday when Jason Kipnis hit a grand slam in the ninth.
Yolmer Sanchez doubled off Adam Cimber (0-3) to start the 11th and moved to third on a groundout. After Avisail Garcia was intentionally walked, Ryan Cordell struck out before Davidson singled to right.
TIGERS 11, ROYALS 8
In Detroit, Christin Stewart hit his first two big league homers and drove in six runs, leading the Tigers past Kansas City.
Stewart, a September call-up playing in his 11th game, became the first Tigers rookie to drive in six runs in a game since Ryan Raburn had seven against the White Sox on July 25, 2007.
Six Tigers had at least two hits and Detroit snapped a sevengame home losing streak. Kansas City has lost five in a row. Zac Reininger (1-0), the second of seven Detroit pitchers, picked up his first major league victory. Nicholas Castellanos also homered for Detroit.
METS 5, NATIONALS 4 (12 INNINGS)
In Washington, Jose Lobaton hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly against his former team in the 12th inning and New York beat the Nationals.
Lobaton, who spent the previous four years in Washington before signing with the Mets in December, lofted a one-out fly ball off Jefry Rodriguez (3-3) with the bases loaded to score Amed Rosario.
Jacob Rhame (1-2) worked two scoreless innings, and Paul Sewald pitched the 12th for his second save.
REDS 4, MARLINS 2
In Miami, Cody Reed won for the first time as a starter in the majors, and Scooter Gennett homered and doubled to lead Cincinnati past the Marlins.
Reed (1-2) allowed five hits and struck out six in six shutout innings. The left-hander joined the starting rotation Aug. 30 and has thrown 11 consecutive scoreless innings.