Indians win last home game before becoming Guardians
Haniger hits 2 HRs, M’s beat A’s to gain in wild-card race
CLEVELAND, Sept 28, (AP): The Cleveland Indians won their last home game before becoming the Guardians, beating the Kansas City Royals 8-3 to close a run that started in 1915 and will continue next season with a new identity.
Amed Rosario homered and Cal Quantrill pitched six strong innings to delight a Progressive Field crowd of 13,121 that came to see their team as the Indians play one last time. Rosario finished with four hits and three RBIs.
Cleveland’s Bradley Zimmer homered off his brother, Kansas City reliever Kyle Zimmer, in the eighth.
Salvador Perez drove in two runs for the Royals.
The home finale was the club’s final game in Cleveland as the Indians, ending a 106-year run in a city where the name will forever be attached to legendary players like Bob Feller, Larry Doby and Jim Thome.
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The team announced the name change earlier this year in the wake of a nationwide reckoning over racist names and symbols.
Cleveland won two World Series (1920 and 1948) as the Indians, and came close to winning it all in 1995, 1997 and 2016 only to twice lose in heartbreaking fashion. Now, baseball’s longest current title drought carries on under a new name.
Mariners 13, Athletics 4
In Seattle, Mitch Haniger hit two identical three-run homers and Seattle gained precious ground in the AL wildcard race with a win over Oakland.
Seattle’s 10th straight victory against the Athletics tied the team record for most consecutive wins against a single opponent. The Mariners have won eight of nine overall and nine of their last 11.
They are 1 1/2 games behind Boston for the second wild card, with Toronto a game back of the Red Sox. Both those teams were off Monday.
Oakland fell 3 1/2 games behind Boston and two back of the Mariners with two more games to play in Seattle. The A’s also were eliminated from the AL West race.
Ty France reached base five times, going 4 for 4 with a walk and four RBIs. J.P. Crawford added three hits and an
RBI. Each scored three runs.
Chris Flexen (14-6) allowed four earned runs in five innings for the win.
Seth Brown gave A’s starter Cole Irvin (10-15) a 3-0 lead with a three-run homer in the first.
White Sox 8, Tigers 7
In Detroit, Eloy Jiménez hit a two-run home run, Yasmani Grandal homered to spark a six-run fourth inning and AL Central champion Chicago held off Detroit.
The benches cleared after Chicago first baseman Jose Abreu and Detroit shortstop Niko Goodrum exchanged words when Abreu was tagged out attempting to steal second base in the ninth. Abreu had been hit by a pitch from Alex Lange one inning after the Tigers’ Isaac Paredes was hit by a pitch. There were no ejections.
Jimenez reached base four times and scored two runs. Cesar Hernandez and Zack Collins drove in two runs apiece in the makeup of a game postponed last
Wednesday because of rain.
White Sox starter Dallas Keuchel (9-9) gave up two runs on seven hits in five innings. Liam Hendriks pitched the ninth, giving up one hit, for his 37th save.
Jonathan Schoop homered for the Tigers. Eric Haase had a two-run single and Niko Goodrum supplied a two-run triple during the Tigers’ five-run eighth. Matt Manning (4-7) issued a career-high five walks while allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings.
Reds 13, Pirates 1
In Cincinnati, Joey Votto homered twice and drove in four runs, and Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh to stay alive in the race for the second NL wild card.
Nick Castellanos, Jonathan India and Eugenio Suarez also connected as Cincinnati (82-75) posted its fourth straight victory, clinching a second straight winning season, Castellanos had five RBIs, and India finished with four hits and scored four times.
The Reds pulled within 5 1/2 games of idle St. Louis for the second wild card. The Cardinals (87-69) need just one more win to secure the spot.
Connor Overton (0-1) took the loss.
Nationals 5, Rockies 4
In Dnever, Josiah Gray pitched into the sixth inning to earn his second career win, and Washington beat Colorado.
Luis García hit a two-run single and Alcides Escobar had three hits for the Nationals.
Gray, who made his debut with the Dodgers on July 20, has won consecutive starts. The prized right-hander was acquired July 30 in the blockbuster trade that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to Los Angeles. Gray (2-2) allowed just two hits through five innings, but Ryan McMahon’s three-run double in the sixth cut Washington’s lead to 4-3.
Tanner Rainey allowed an RBI double to C.J. Cron in the ninth before retiring McMahon for his third save. The Rockies have lost 10 of 11 home games.
Germán Márquez (12-11) took the loss.