Sale joins 300 club as Red Sox clinch play-off spot
BALTIMORE: Chris Sale struck out 13 to become the first AL pitcher in 18 years to reach the 300 mark, and the Boston Red Sox moved to the brink of clinching a play-off berth by beating the Baltimore Orioles 9-0 on Wednesday night.
Sale (17-7) reached the milestone on his last pitch, a called third strike against Ryan Flaherty to end the eighth inning.
The last AL pitcher to strike out 300 batters in a season was Boston’s Pedro Martinez in 1999, when he set a club record with 313.
Mookie Betts and Deven Marrero homered for the Red Sox, who hold a threegame lead over the second-place Yankees with 10 games left.
After winning two straight 11-inning games over the skidding Orioles, Boston jumped to a 6-0 lead in the fifth and coasted to its 11th win in 14 games.
Betts and Marrero hit two-run homers in the fourth against Wade Miley (8-14) and Hanley Ramirez added a two-run double in the fifth.
Sale allowed four hits and walked none in matching his career high for wins.
In New York, Aaron Judge hit his ALleading 45th home run and topped 100 RBIs, Didi Gregorius surpassed Derek Jeter for the most home runs by a Yankees shortstop and New York beat Minnesota 11-3 or a three-game sweep.
The game was briefly halted in the fifth inning when a foul ball down the third-base line off the bat of Todd Frazier struck a young girl, who was carried out of the stands, given first aid and taken to a hospital.
Frazier knelt down and covered his head, and many other Yankees and Twins watched in stunned silence as the fan was helped.
The Yankees, who have won 10 of 12, opened a seven-game advantage over the Twins for the top AL wild card with 10 games remaining.
The Twins have lost five of six and were outscored 18-6 in the three-game series.
Judge’s two-run homer down the rightfield line came on an 0-2 pitch from Bartolo Colin (4-6 in the AL and 6-14 overall).
Chasen Shreve (4-1) pitched three hitless innings in relief of Luis Severino.
In Philadelphia, Aaron Altherr hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the eighth after launching a tying, two-run homer an inning earlier, and Philadelphia beat slumping Los Angeles 7-5.
The Dodgers have lost four straight and 20 of 25 and will have to wait to wrap up the NL West. The Phillies have won eight of 10 and are 32-33 since the All-Star break, climbing out of last place in the majors.
In Pittsburgh, Adam Frazier hit a tworun homer off Milwaukee closer Corey Knebel with two outs in the ninth inning to lift Pittsburgh to the 6-4 victory.
The Pirates tied it in the eighth on a throwing error by Knebel then ended a seven-game losing streak when Frazier homered into the first row of seats in the right-field stands.
Milwaukee missed a chance to pull into a tie with Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the National League. RESULTS Red Sox 9 Orioles 0; Yankees 11 Twins 3; Rays 8 Cubs 1; Phillies 7 Dodgers 5; Royals 15 Pirates 6 Brewers 4; Blue Jays 5; Nationals 7 Braves 3; Astros 4, White Sox 3; Marlins 5 Mets 4, 10 innings; Athletics 3 Tigers 2; Cardinals 9 Reds 2; Giants 4 Rockies 0