Bloop in ninth sends Yankees past Baltimore
BALTIMORE — Brett Gardner blooped a tworun single in the ninth inning that was set up by a double steal, and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 Wednesday for their third straight win.
The Yankees kept pace with Toronto and Boston atop the American League wild-card standings as all three teams won.
Austin Hays homered twice for the Orioles, including a two-out, two-run drive in the eighth off Chad Green for a 3-2 lead. The homer came soon after second baseman Gleyber Torres knocked down a hard liner and, instead of throwing to second to get the lead runner, tossed to first to put out Cedric Mullins.
Orioles reliever Tyler Wells (2-3) walked Luke Voit to begin the ninth, and Torres followed with a single. Pinch runner Tyler Wade and Torres pulled off a double steal with one out as it began to rain. Gardner followed with a single to center that scored both runs. Wandy Peralta (5-3) earned the win, and Aroldis Chapman got his 27th save.
Gio Urshela hit a two-run homer in the third. Urshela took over as New York’s full-time shortstop this week for the error-prone Torres and had a diving catch off a hard liner by Austin Wynns for the final out in the fifth.
Mullins took a two-run homer away from Gary Sanchez in the second with a leaping grab over the fence in center.
■ Cardinals 11, Mets 4: At New York, Harrison Bader hit one of St. Louis’ four home runs, totaled three RBIS and made a key catch at the fence in center to help Jon Lester (6-6) improve to 9-1 against New York.
■ Blue Jays 6, Rays 3: At Toronto, Bo Bichette hit a three-run homer, an RBI single and a sacrifice fly to back Robbie Ray (12-5), who allowed one run on four hits and struck out 13 in seven innings.
■ Marlins 8, Nationals 6: At Washington, Jesus Sanchez hit a two-run homer in the sixth for Miami’s first runs and another two-run shot in the Marlins’ four-run ninth.
■ Angels 3, White Sox 2: At Chicago, Brandon Marsh hit a tiebreaking home run on a full-count, 101-mph fastball from Michael Kopech (4-3) in the Los Angeles eighth.
■ Tigers 4, Brewers 1: At Detroit, Dustin Garneau homered and had a sacrifice fly to back Matt Manning (4-6), who allowed one run on two hits in six innings.
■ Pirates 5, Reds 4: At Pittsburgh, Wilmer Difo raced home from second base with the winning run on Colin Moran’s groundout to first with one out in the ninth.
■ Athletics 12, Royals 10: At Kansas City, Mo., Matt Olson hit a three-run homer, Josh Harrison drove in three runs, and Elvis Andrus had four hits for Oakland.
■ Red Sox 9, Mariners 4: At Seattle, Kyle Schwarber had a two-run single and Christian Vazquez a two-run double in Boston’s six-run 10th.
■ Phillies 6, Cubs 5: At Philadelphia, Andrew Knapp scored the winning run from third base on Robinson Chirinos’ passed ball in the ninth.
■ Astros 7, Rangers 2: At Arlington,
Texas, Jake Meyers and Marwin Gonzalez hit consecutive homers in Houston’s three-run second.
■ Indians 12, Twins 3: At Minneapolis, Oscar Mercado hit one of Cleveland’s three homers and drove in three runs.
■ Rockies 3, Braves 2: At Atlanta, Raimel Tapia hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the Colorado 10th.