White Sox clinch first playoff berth since ’08
CHICAGO » The Chicago White Sox clinched their first postseason berth since 2008, beating the Minnesota Twins 4-3 Thursday as Eloy Jiménez hit a tiebreaking double that capped a tworun, seventh-inning rally.
Chicago (33-17) opened a three-game lead over the second-place Twins (3121) in the AL Central. The White Sox assured themselves of no worse than a wild-card berth.
José Abreu homered and drove in two runs and Edwin Encarnación also homered for Chicago, which won three of four in the series.
Chicago trailed 3-2 in the seventh when Abreu beat out an infield hit on a slow grounder that drove in Jarrod Dyson from third base. Jiménez followed with a goahead double.
Codi Heuer (3-0) pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings, and Alex Colomé got four outs for his 12th save in 13 chances. Tyler Clippard (1-1) gave up two runs in twothirds of an inning.
Byron Buxton homered twice, giving him seven in his last nine games and 12 this season. Josh Donaldson also went deep for Minnesota and was ejected for kicking dirt on home plate. He had been upset by a pair of strike calls by plate umpire Dan Bellino.
RAYS 3, ORIOLES 1, GAME 1; RAYS 10, ORIOLES 6, GAME 2 » Tampa Bay clinched a return trip to the postseason, using a strong pitching performance to beat Baltimore in the opener of a doubleheader before cranking up the offense in a 10-6 victory that completed the sweep. RED SOX 5, MARLINS 3 » Nathan Eovaldi (3-2) pitched five shutout innings, Rafael Devers had a three-run homer and Kevin Plawecki hit a two-run single for Boston.
Seeking its first postseason appearance since winning the 2003 World Series, second-place Miami fell three games behind NL East-leading Atlanta, which was idle. ANGELS7,DIAMONDBACKS3» Anthony Rendon hit a tworun homer and Mike Trout drove in two runs.
PIRATES 5, CARDINALS 1 » Steven Brault pitched a two-hitter for his first career complete game, Gregory Polanco hit a three-run homer and Pittsburgh snapped an eight-game skid with a victory over St. Louis.
ASTROS 2, RANGERS 1 » Framber Valdez tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts in 6 1/3 solid innings, Kyle Tucker homered and Houston beat Texas.
INDIANS 10, TIGERS 3 » Jose Ramirez homered twice on his 28th birthday, Shane Bieber took a shutout into the eighth inning and Cleveland snapped its eight-game losing streak with a victory over Detroit. YANKEES 10, BLUE JAYS 8 » The Yankees tied a major league record with five home runs in an inning and hit six overall in a win over Toronto that extended their winning streak to eight. METS 10, PHILLIES 6 » Brandon Nimmo had a two-RBI tying triple in the sixth inning and hit the go-ahead solo homer in the ninth to lead New York to a win over Philadelphia. DODGERS 9, ROCKIES » Corey Seager homered and had three hits, Edwin Rios also went deep and Los Angeles beat struggling Colorado.