Tampa Bay wraps up AL East
Randy Arozarena homered twice and the Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first AL East title in 10 years Wednesday night with an 8-5 victory over the New York Mets.
Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe also went deep for the Rays, who will be home at quirky Tropicana Field for a best-of-three first-round playoff series beginning Tuesday.
It is the third division crown in franchise history for the thrifty Rays, who also won the AL East in 2008 and 2010.
Phillies 12, at Nationals 3: Bryce Harper homered twice against his former team as the designated hitter and helped Philadelphia push the 2019 World Series champions to the brink of playoff-race elimination.
at Indians 3, White Sox 2: Shane Bieber lowered his ERA to 1.63 in his final regular-season start, the lowest in the AL since Luis Tiant’s 1.60 for Cleveland in 1968, and Jordan Luplow hit a game-ending home run to drop Chicago behind Minnesota for the AL Central lead.
at Diamondbacks 7, Rangers 3: Rookie Wyatt Mathisen hit his first two career homers, fellow rookie Daulton Varsho knocked in the goahead run with a triple, and Arizona rallied in a six-run sixth inning.
at Blue Jays 14, Yankees 1: Gary Sanchez made two of his team’s season-high four errors and Toronto beat the sloppy Yankees perhaps a fatal blow in their race for home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
at Cincinnati 6, Milwaukee 1: Joey Votto homered for his first hit all season against Milwaukee, Trevor Bauer dominated on short rest, and Cincinnati won a pivotal series for playoff contention.
at Mariners 3, Astros 2: Nick Margevicius tossed six shutout innings, Ty France drove in a pair of runs and Seattle kept its slim postseason hopes alive.
at Pirates 2, Cubs 1: Adam Frazier and Ke’Bryan Hayes led off the bottom of the first inning with backto-back homers off Kyle Hendricks, giving Pittsburgh all the offense it needed to slip by playoff-bound Chicago.
at Braves 9, Marlins 4: Dansby Swanson hit a three-run homer and Atlanta cruised to its third straight win over Miami in a game overshadowed by Max Fried’s early departure with an ankle injury.
at Red Sox 9, Orioles 1: Nathan Eovaldi struck out eight over six scoreless innings, Rafael Devers hit a three-run double in a six-run third and Boston won in a matchup of the AL East’s worst teams.
at Twins 7, Tigers 6: Jake Cave hit a pair of home runs, Kenta Maeda finished off his regular season with another strong start and Minnesota took the AL Central lead.
at Royals 12, Cardinals 3: Salvador Perez and Franchy Cordero each hit two homers and drove in five runs. Before the game, the Royals placed outfielder Bubba Starling and right-hander Kyle Zimmer on the injured list.
at Giants 7, Rockies 2: Mauricio Dubon hit a three-run homer off reliever Yency Almonte in the fifth inning and San Francisco moved barely in front in a crowded NL wildcard race.