Reds’ wild-card hopes still alive
CINCINNATI — Joey Votto homered twice and drove in four runs, and the Cincinnati Reds pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates 13-1 on Monday to stay alive in the race for the second NL wild card.
Nick Castellanos, rookie 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.
“I’d be lying if I said Nick and I weren’t competing. Competition is in our nature. When he drives in runs it doesn’t affect me. I still have my chances,” Votto said. “I’m taking more chances and with that comes more outs but I knew I could hit more home runs and drive in more runs.”
The Reds pulled within 5 ½ games of idle St. Louis for the second wild card.
The 38-year-old Votto hit a two-run shot off Connor Overton (0-1) during the Reds’ four-run first inning, and then connected for another two-run drive against Cody Ponce in the fourth.
Reiver Sanmartin pitched 5 2⁄3 innings of one-run ball for Cincinnati in his big league debut. The 25-year-old lefthander struck out five and walked one.
MARINERS 13, ATHLETICS 4: Mitch Haniger hit a pair of three-run home runs, Ty France drove in four runs on four hits and host Seattle routed Oakland to eliminate the A’s from the AL West Division race.
WHITE SOX 8, TIGERS 7: Eloy Jimenez hit a two-run home run, Yasmani Grandal homered to spark a six-run fourth inning and AL Central champion Chicago held off host 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.
INDIANS 8, ROYALS 3: Cleveland won its last last home game before they become the Guardians, beating Kansas City to close a run that started in 1915 and will continue in 2022 with a new identity. Amed Rosario homered and Cal Quantrill (8-3) pitched six strong innings to delight a Progressive Field crowd of 13,121 that came to see their team play with Indians written across their jerseys for the final time. “Not all of us have been here for a long time, but we all respect what the Indians have meant to Cleveland for the last forever and I think we wanted to send people off on the right note,” Quantrill said.
NATIONALS 5, ROCKIES 4: Josiah Gray pitched into the sixth inning to earn his second career win and Washington downed Colorado at Denver. Luis Garcia hit a two-run single and Alcides Escobar had three hits for the Nationals. Gray (2-2), who made his major league debut with the Dodgers on July 20, has won consecutive starts. The prized righthander was acquired July 30 in the blockbuster trade that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to Los Angeles. Gray got his first win at Miami last Wednesday when he struck out eight Marlins.