Kluber, Yanks blank Tribe

NEW YORK — Corey Kluber won for the first time in nearly four months, pitching six shutout innings in his first outing against the team that helped him blossom into a star, and the New York Yankees routed Cleveland 8-0 Friday night in the start of the Indians’ final series in the Bronx.

Joey Gallo homered twice, and Aaron Judge, Brett Gardner and Giancarlo Stanton hit one each for the Yankees, who tied their season high with five home runs.

With 14 games left, New York moved a half-game ahead of Toronto for one of the two AL wild-card berths in a tight race that also includes Boston. The Yankees are just 30-37 vs. the AL East but 47-28 against other teams.

Twins 7, Blue Jays 3 — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. connected for his major leagueleading 46th homer, but Jorge Polanco, Josh Donaldson, and Miguel Sanó hit consecutive homers as the Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays slipped into the third spot in the AL wild-card race, one game behind Boston and a halfgame behind the Yankees — Toronto has played 147 games, the Yankees have played 148, and the Red Sox 149.

National League

Phillies 4, Mets 3 — Zack Wheeler limited the damage in a short but effective outing against his old team, Brad Miller hit a tiebreaking homer and the Philadelphia Phillies held off the New York Mets in a showdown between teams clinging to postseason aspirations.

The Phillies started the day 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second NL wild card, with San Diego and Cincinnati also in the way. They were three games behind NL East-leading Atlanta, with the Mets another 2 1/2 games back of that.

Philadelphia’s bullpen — which leads the majors with 32 blown saves — nearly gave up Wheeler’s lead. Archie Bradley allowed two runs in the eighth on doubles by Francisco Lindor, Michael Conforto and Kevin Pillar before Ian Kennedy took over and got the last out of the inning.

Reds 3, Dodgers 1 — Luis Castillo struck out 10 while outpitching Walker Buehler, Kyle Farmer doubled twice against his former team and the Cincinnati Reds snapped the Los Angeles Dodgers’ six-game winning streak.

The Reds have dropped their last seven series to slip to fourth in the NL wildcard standings, a half-game behind San Diego and a full game behind second-place St. Louis.

The Dodgers, already assured at least a wild-card spot, began the day one game behind San Francisco in the NL West.

Castillo (8-15) didn’t allow a runner past second base in 6 1-3 shutout innings. He threw a season-high 111 pitches and gave up five hits and two walks.

“I told Luis that I’ve seen him pitch a lot of great games, but tonight was my favorite,” Reds manager David Bell said.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Castillo featured a fastball and changeup and mixed in a changeup.