Astros sweep as Twins lose 18th straight in playoffs
MINNEAPOLIS — Carlos Correa hit a two-out, tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning for the Houston Astros, who produced another stifling pitching performance and swept Minnesota with a 3-1 victory Wednesday that sent the Twins to a record 18th straight postseason loss.
As the sixth seed, the Astros will face the Oakland Athletics or Chicago White Sox in a best-of-five matchup starting Monday at Dodger Stadium.
The Twins are 0-18 in the playoffs since winning Game 1 of their Division Series at the New York Yankees on Oct. 5, 2004, a total of seven rounds lost.
A’S 5, WHITE SOX 3
OAKLAND— Marcus Semien and Khris Davis homered early and Oakland held off José Abreu and Chicago in the late innings for a win that sent their AL playoff series to today’s deciding Game 3.
A’s reliever Jake Diekman walked home a run in the ninth, then retired the big-hitting Abreu on a sharp grounder to end it and even the best-of-three wild-card matchup at 1-all.
BRAVES 1, REDS 0, (13 )
ATLANTA — Freddie Freeman singled home the winning run in the 13th inning, finally ending the longest scoreless duel in postseason history as Atlanta defeated Cincinnati in the opener of their NL wildcard series.
The East champion
Braves won the first game of a postseason series for the first time since the 2001 NL Division Series and can wrap up the best-of-three series today.
The teams combined for a postseason record 37 strikeouts — 21 by the Braves.
MARLINS 5, CUBS 1
CHICAGO — Corey Dickerson hit a three-run homer off a fading Kyle Hendricks in the seventh inning, and Miami beat Chicago in Game 1 of their NL wildcard series.
CARDINALS 7, PADRES 4
SAN DIEGO — Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run home run during a fourrun first inning, St. Louis’ bullpen held strong after starter Kwang Hyun Kim stumbled in his playoff debut and the Cardinals ruined San Diego’s longawaited return to the playoffs with a victory in the opener of their NL wildcard series.
The Cardinals need one more win to eliminate the Padres from the postseason for the fourth time since 1996. They swept the Padres in the NL Division Series in 1996 and 2005, and won 3-1 in 2006, which was the last time San Diego made the postseason.
RAYS 8, BLUE JAYS 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Hunter Renfroe hit a grand slam and topseeded Tampa Bay won a postseason series for the first time in 12 years, overpowering young to finish a two-game sweep of their AL wild-card matchup.
Renfroe launched the first playoff grand slam in franchise history during a six-run second inning. Tyler Glasnow kept Tampa Bay ahead from there, allowing two runs — on a pair of homers by Danny Jansen — in six innings.