Tatis, San Diego top Giants, close gap for wild card
SAN FRANCISCO — Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his National League-best 39th home run as the San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 7-4 on Thursday to gain a series split.
The Padres (76-70) moved within a halfgame of the Cardinals for the second NL wild card. San Diego starts a three-game series Friday in St. Louis.
Tatis also singled and walked twice. Durango product Tommy Pham and Manny Machado each drove in two runs, and Adam Frazier and Austin Nola had three hits apiece for the Padres.
Evan Longoria homered for the NL Westleading Giants, whose lead over the Dodgers dropped to one game. San Francisco starter Kevin Gausman (14-6) lost for the first time since July 30, allowing four earned runs on eight hits in five innings.
Nabil Crismatt (3-1) pitched four scoreless innings in relief for the win. Trent Grisham gave San Diego an early lead with a sacrifice fly in the second, and Tatis homered to left in the third to make it 2-0. Pham provided cushion in the fifth with a two-run double.
■ Phillies 17, Cubs 8: At Philadelphia, Bryce Harper doubled to start Philadelphia’s tying seven-run fourth, had a go-ahead RBI double in the sixth and hit a three-run homer in the seventh. Chicago led 7-0 after the third. The Phillies are three games behind Atlanta atop the NL East and 2½ games behind St. Louis for the second NL wild card.
■ Athletics 7, Royals 2: At Kansas City, Mo., Chad Pinder hit a two-out, two-run single during a four-run third in which seven Oakland batters reached base on only two hits. Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer in the Kansas City first to match Johnny Bench’s record for home runs in a season by a catcher with 45.
■ Orioles 3, Yankees 2: At Baltimore, New York reliever Clay Holmes threw a two-out wild pitch in the ninth that allowed the tying run to score, and Austin Hays chopped a walkoff RBI single in the 10th. The Yankees fell a half-game behind Toronto and Boston for the top American League wild card.
■ Astros 12, Rangers 1: At Arlington, Texas, Carlos Correa keyed Houston’s sevenrun fourth with a three-run homer to back Luis Garcia (11-7), who allowed one run in 51/3 innings as a fill-in starter for Framber Valdez. Valdez was scratched because of a cut on the index finger of his pitching hand.
■ Angels 9, White Sox 3: At Chicago, Alex Cobb (8-3) shut out Chicago on two hits over five innings in his first start since July 23. He had been 0-3 with a 10.70 ERA in four career starts against the White Sox. Los Angeles has won six straight series against Chicago dating to 2016.
■ Rays 5, Tigers 2: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Yandy Diaz homered on the first pitch of Tampa Bay’s two-run first, and the Rays didn’t trail while increasing their lead atop the AL East to 8½ games over Boston and Toronto.
■ Reds 1, Pirates 0: At Pittsburgh, Asdrubal Cabrera had a sacrifice fly in the seventh while pinch hitting for Tyler Mahle (12-5), who pitched six shutout innings, as Cincinnati avoided a three-game sweep.
■ Rockies at Braves, ppd., wet field: The game might be made up on Oct. 4, the day after the regular season’s final scheduled game.