A’s Davis stings Rays with another big swat

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. Khris Davis led off the 10th inning with his major league-leading 42nd homer and the Oakland Athletics beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Friday night.

Oakland extended its lead for the second AL wild card to nine games over the surprising Rays. Tampa Bay has 16 games left.

The A’s remained 1½ games behind the New York Yankees for the first wild card. The Yankees beat Toronto 11-0.

Davis’ drive to centre off Jaime Schultz (2-1) was his 40th this season as a designated hitter. He joins David Ortiz has the only DHs to have 40 or more homers.

At Cleveland, Andrew Miller gave up two RBI doubles in the seventh inning as the Indians’ march to the AL Central title was slowed by the Detroit Tigers, who won 5-4 to end a 10-game losing streak at Progressive Field.

The Indians entered the night with a 15-game lead and magic number of two to win their third straight division title and secure a post-season berth that has been a foregone conclusion for months. Any celebrating remains on hold for at least another day.

At Chicago, Ian Happ hit a threerun homer in the seventh inning, Jorge De La Rosa worked ash a ky ninth for his first career save and the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2.

Ben Zobrist had three hits for NL Central-leading Chicago, which entered with a 1½-game advantage over second-place Milwaukee. After Cole Hamels allowed two runs over 6⅔ innings, Dillon Maples (10) got the final out of the seventh for his first career win.

The Brewers, meanwhile, kept pace by dumping the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-4 in Milwaukee.

At St. Louis, the Dodgers notched their third straight win, blanking the Cardinals 3-0 to pull even in the race for the second wild-card berth in the National League.