Crawford’s slam leads Seattle rout
SEATTLE — J.P. Crawford hit his third career grand slam, Ty France and Josh Rojas hit solo homers and the Seattle Mariners stayed in the thick of the American League playoff race with an 8-0 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.
A night after possibly saving Seattle’s playoff hopes with a two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning to pull out a 3-2 victory against the Rangers, Crawford again came through with a big swing to keep Seattle right on the heels of Houston in the chase for the final wild card spot in the American League.
Seattle (87-73) remained one game behind Houston (88-72) in the wild-card standings with two games left, while Texas (89-71) still needs a victory or an Astros loss to wrap up a playoff berth. There also still remains the possibility of a three-way tie for the division title.
Blue Jays 11, Rays 4: Alejandro Kirk homered and drove in three runs, Bo Bichette had four hits and host Toronto put itself on the brink of a playoff berth by beating Tampa Bay.
Another win over the Rays on Saturday, or a loss by Seattle against Texas would send the Blue Jays to the postseason.
Brandon Belt and Matt Chapman each hit a solo home run for the Blue Jays. Bichette went 4 for 5 with an RBI and scored three times as Toronto pounded out 16 hits to win for the ninth time in 13 games.
Brewers 4, Cubs 3 (10): Chicago was pushed to the brink of playoff elimination by NL Central champion Milwaukee, who won on Carlos Santana’s run-scoring double in the 10th inning.
The Cubs lost their fourth straight and fell 1 1⁄2 games behind Miami, which beat Pittsburgh, for the NL’s third and final wild-card spot. The Marlins hold the tiebreaker over the Cubs.
Marlins 4, Pirates 3: Josh Bell's two-run double keyed a four-run, eighth-inning rally and surprising Miami moved closer to a postseason berth.
The Marlins’ cut their magic number to earn the third and final wild-card spot in the National League to one with the Cubs’ loss.
Reds 19, Cardinals 2: Cincinnati hit six home runs, including Nick Martini’s three-run shot in the first inning, in a rout of host St. Louis that kept the Reds alive in the National League wild-card race.
Cincinnati remains tied with the Cubs 1 1⁄2 games behind Miami for the last NL wild card.