Bieber shines again, White Sox fall out of 1st
Minnesota takes over AL Central lead
CLEVELAND — Shane Bieber lowered his ERA to 1.63 in his final regular-season start, the lowest in the American League since Luis Tiant’s 1.60 for Cleveland in 1968, and Jordan Luplow hit a game-ending home run that gave the Indians a 3-2 win over Chicago on Wednesday night and knocked the White Sox out of first place in the AL Central.
Bieber, who leads the big leagues with eight wins, allowed an unearned run and two hits in five innings with 10 strikeouts in his eighth double-digit strikeout game, also a major league high.
He lowered his major leagueleading ERA from 1.74.
With the score 2-2, Luplow homered onto the porch in left field off Gio González (1-2). A .194 hitter, Luplow struck out in his first three at-bats.
TWINS 7, TIGERS 6: In Minneapolis, Jake Cave hit a pair of home runs, Kenta Maeda finished off his regular season with another strong start and Minnesota beat Detroit to take over sole possession of the AL Central lead for the first time since late August.
Eddie Rosario added a tworun homer for Minnesota (35-22), which has won four straight.
After an infield hit to the first batter of the game, Maeda (6-1) retired 15 of his next 16 batters and didn’t allow a hit during that stretch. He gave up a three-run homer to Miguel Cabrera in the sixth. Cabrera hit another threerun homer with two outs in the ninth off Sergio Romo.
ATHLETICS 6, DODGERS 4: In Los Angeles, Ramon Laureano broke a ninth-inning tie with a two-run homer and Oakland beat Los Angeles.
Edwin Rios, who replaced Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner in the sixth, homered in his first at-bat in the eighth, tying it 4-all. It was the first run given up in 19 appearances this season by Jake Diekman (1-0), who had a 22-inning scoreless streak that dated to last Sept. 16.
BRAVES 9, MARLINS 4: In Atlanta, Dansby Swanson hit a three-run homer and the Braves cruised to their third straight win over Miami in a game overshadowed by Max Fried’s early exit.
The Braves ace was making his final regular-season start for the NL East champions. He lasted only only one inning, tweaking an ankle while fielding a bunt down the third-base line by Starling Marte.
BLUE JAYS 14, YANKEES 1: In Buffalo, N.Y., Gary Sánchez made two of his team’s season-high four errors and Toronto dealt the Yankees perhaps a fatal blow in their race for home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Danny Jansen homered twice, once off No. 3 catcher Erik Kratz in the eighth, as the Blue Jays reduced their magic number to one for clinching a wild card berth and their first postseason appearance since 2016.
ANGELS 5, PADRES 2: In San Diego, the euphoria of clinching their first playoff berth in 14 seasons three days earlier was tempered for the Padres when right-hander Mike Clevinger was pulled after only one inning.
Clevinger breezed through a perfect first inning on 12 pitches, including striking out Mike Trout and David Fletcher.
But rookie Adrian Morejon came out to start the second. Morejon (2-2) allowed a tying, two-run homer to Shohei Ohtani and solo shots to Justin Upton and Anthony Bemboom for a 4-2 Angels lead.
RAYS 8, METS 5: In New York, Randy Arozarena homered twice and Tampa Bay clinched its first AL East title in 10 years.
Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe also went deep for Tampa Bay.
It is the third division crown for the thrifty Rays, who also won the AL East in 2008 and 2010.
REDS 6, BREWERS 1: In Cincinnati, Joey Votto homered for his first hit all season against Milwaukee, Trevor Bauer dominated on short rest, and the Reds won a pivotal series.
The Reds are in position for a wild-card playoff berth after taking two of three from their NL Central rival. Cincinnati has won nine of 11, its best streak of the season.
Cincinnati had Bauer (5-4) pitch on three days’ rest. He allowed four hits and struck out 12 in eight innings. Bauer exited with an NLbest 1.73 ERA.
DIAMONDBACKS 7, RANGERS 3: In Phoenix, rookie Wyatt Mathisen hit his first two career homers, fellow rookie Daulton Varsho knocked in the go-ahead run with a triple, and Arizona rallied past Texas.
PHILLIES 12, NATIONALS 3:
In Washington, Bryce Harper smacked a pair of homers to help his current club, Philadelphia, keep its playoff hopes afloat — and push his former club, the Nationals, to the brink of elimination a year after they won the World Series.
ROYALS 12, CARDINALS 3: In Kansas City, Mo., Salvador Perez and Franchy Cordero hit two homers and drove in five runs apiece, and the Royals pummeled St. Louis.
MARINERS 3, ASTROS 2: In Seattle, Nick Margevicius tossed six shutout innings, Ty France drove in a pair of runs and the Mariners kept their slim postseason hopes alive.
It was Seattle’s first series win against Houston since Sept. 17-19, 2018.
RED SOX 9, ORIOLES 1: In Boston, Nathan Eovaldi struck out eight over six scoreless innings, Rafael Devers hit a three-run double that capped a six-run third and the Red Sox beat Baltimore.
PIRATES 2, CUBS 1: In Pittsburgh, Adam Frazier and Ke’Bryan Hayes led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back homers off Kyle Hendricks as the lastplace Pirates slipped by Chicago.