AL wild card-leading Red Sox win 4th in row

Xander Bogaerts homered and drove in four runs, carrying the AL wild card-leading Boston Red Sox past the visiting Baltimore Orioles 9-3 Saturday for their fourth straight win.

The Red Sox are one game ahead of Toronto and 1 1⁄ games in front of

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the rival Yankees in the playoff chase.

Bobby Dalbec added a two-run double, and Hunter Renfroe and Rafael Devers each drove in a run for Boston. Bogaerts and Devers both had three hits.

Ryan Mountcastle hit his 30th homer, a two-run shot, and Austin Wynns added a solo drive for the Orioles, who lost for the 11th time in the last 12 meetings against the Red Sox after sweeping a season-opening three-game series between the teams.

Bogaerts’ three-run shot hit off a billboard atop the Green Monster against reliever Mike Baumann (1-1) after Renfroe had an RBI double and Devers singled during a gamebreaking, four-run sixth.

Bogaerts also had a go-ahead, RBI single in the fifth, making it 4-3.

Tanner Houck earned the win, working 2 2⁄ in

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nings of scoreless relief.

Trailing 2-0, the Red

Sox scored three times in the bottom of the first on Devers’ RBI single and Dalbec’s two-out double.

The Orioles had a 2-0 lead after just two pitches against starter Nick Pivetta when Cedric Mullins doubled off the left-field wall and Mountcastle followed with hit his shot into the Monster seats.

Mountcastle’s drive came a day after he surpassed Cal Ripken Jr.’s record (28) for most homers by an Orioles rookie.

Wynns’ shot left Fenway Park completely over the Monster in the second.

Pivetta gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out one and walking three.

A Indians 11, Yankees 3: Gary Sanchez failed to catch a foul popup that led to a seven-run fifth inning capped by Andres Gimenez’s three-run homer, and Cleveland routed host

New York to slow the Yankees’ playoff run.

Franmil Reyes hit an

RBI double off Albert Abreu in the big fifth inning and a two-run homer in the sixth against Andrew Heaney.

Yu Cheng put the Indians ahead with a secondinning homer off Luis Gil (1-1) and added a two-run double in the fifth against Abreu. Jose Ramirez hit his 34th homer in the eighth against Heaney.

Sanchez failed to tag out the Mets’ Jonathan Villar last weekend when Joey Gallo’s throw reached the plate 20 feet ahead of him, then was criticized by manager Aaron Boone after failing to prevent two costly wild pitches in Thursday’s 3-2, 10-inning loss in Baltimore.

Sanchez overran a foul pop behind the plate by Oscar Mercado in the fifth inning on the sunny afternoon, misreading the backspin, and was charged with his sixth error. The Yankees have made 92 errors, fourth-most in the major leagues.

Mercado slammed his bat in frustration thinking the at-bat was over, but returned to the plate and was hit by a pitch.

Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit hit late homers for New York, which has lost 14 of 21 following a 13-game winning streak. Gallo left after the third inning because of neck tightness.

A Blue Jays 6, Twins 2: Marcus Semien became the fifth second baseman to hit 40 home runs in a season, and host Toronto moved back into a playoff position by beating Minnesota. Teoscar Hernandez hit a three-run homer, and Bo Bichette had three hits and two RBI as the Blue Jays rebounded from a 7-3 loss and improved to a big league-best 14-3 in September.

A Tigers 4, Rays 3: Jeimer Candelario and Dustin Garneau homered to lead visiting Detroit over AL East-leading Tampa Bay.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

A Dodgers 5, Reds 1: Max Scherzer pitched seven shutout innings in another dominant performance for Los Angeles, which kept up their push in the NL West with a victory at Cincinnati. Scherzer (15-4) improved to 7-0 in nine starts since being traded from Washington to the Dodgers on July 30. He allowed just two hits, struck out seven and lowered his MLB-best ERA to 2.08.

A Rockies 6, Nationals 0: Kyle Freeland struck out seven over six innings, Trevor Story hit a threerun homer and Colorado won at Washington. Brendan Rodgers had three hits, including his 14th homer three pitches into the game for a 2-0 Colorado lead. Twelve of Rodgers’ 14 homers this season have come away from hitter-friendly Coors Field.