Brewers stay in the hunt
MILWAUKEE The Brewers headed to St. Louis still battling for the last available playoff spot.
Milwaukee closed within two games of Colorado for the National League’s second wild card with three games left, rallying to beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 Thursday as Brett Phillips hit a go-ahead double in the sixth inning.
MARLINS 7, BRAVES 1
MIAMI — Barry Bonds. Sammy Sosa. Mark McGwire. Roger Maris. Babe Ruth. And now Giancarlo Stanton.
The Miami slugger homered twice to become the sixth player to reach 59 in a season, and the Marlins opened the last series of Jeffrey Loria’s tenure as owner by beating the Atlanta Braves 7-1 on Thursday night.
ATHLETICS 4, RANGERS 1
ARLINGTON, Texas — Ryon Healy hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the sixth inning to help the Oakland Athletics beat the Rangers.
TIGERS 4, ROYALS 1
CITY, Mo. — Daniel Norris threw five scoreless innings to pick up his first victory in more than three months as the Detroit Tigers snapped a season-high ninegame losing streak by beating the Kansas City Royals.
ASTROS 12, RED SOX 2
BOSTON — Major league batting leader Jose Altuve had three of Houston’s 17 hits, Carlos Correa had four and the Astros chased Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez in the second and kept Boston from clinching the first back-to-back AL East titles in franchise history.
RAYS 9, YANKEES 6
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge hit his 51st home run to give the Yankees a quick lead, but New York missed a big chance to tighten the AL East race when Sonny Gray and the bullpen fell apart in a loss to the
Rays.
CUBS 2, CARDINALS 1
ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals were eliminated from post-season contention when Leonys Martin leaped at the centre-field fence to rob Paul DeJong of a tying home run with two outs in the 11th inning, preserving the Chicago Cubs’ win over St. Louis.
NATIONALS 5, PIRATES 4
WASHINGTON — The NL East champion Washington Nationals began their last — and meaningless — series of the regular season without a sore Bryce Harper and with a blown save by Sean Doolittle in what became a victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.