Jays take flight
Clinch playoff spot, then outgun Rays
Jose Bautista hit two home runs, David Price won for the ninth time in 11 starts with his new team and the playoffbound Blue Jays beat the Rays 108 on Saturday in Toronto.
An anticipated pitcher’s duel between Rays righthander Chris Archer and Price, his former teammate and mentor, turned into a sloppy slugfest. Toronto’s three errors matched a season high.
Just a few hours after learning the Blue Jays ended their 22year postseason drought thanks to their main competitors’ overlapping schedules, Bautista hit a threerun homer and Russell Martin added a tworun drive in a fiverun first inning.
Bautista made it 105 with a solo shot of Kirby Yates in the eighth. It was the fifth multihomer game of the season for Bautista, whose homers were his 38th and 39th.
Pirates 4, Cubs 0
In Chicago, Francisco Liriano pitched fourhit ball into the eighth inning, and Pittsburgh beat the playoffbound Chicago for its eighth straight victory.
Liriano (127) struck out nine and walked three over 7 ²/₃ innings. Jordy Mercer had a threerun homer off Jason Hammel (97), and the Pirates continued to roll.
They lead Chicago by 5 ¹/₂ games for the top wild card with a chance to complete a weekend sweep on Sunday. The Pirates then open a threegame series Monday against St. Louis, the team they trailed by three games for the NL Central lead when the day began.
Despite the loss, the Cubs had plenty to celebrate Saturday. They secured their first playoff appearance since 2008 Friday night when Oakland beat San Francisco.
Astros 9, Rangers 7
In Houston, Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve hit two homers apiece as the Houston Astros connected a seasonhigh six times in a 97 win over the Rangers on Saturday, cutting Texas’ lead in the AL West to 3 ¹/₂ games.
The victory breaks an eightgame losing streak to the Rangers and ends a threegame skid overall for Houston, which increased its lead for the second AL wild card spot to one game over the Angels, who play later Saturday.
Chris Carter and Colby Rasmus also homered for the Astros, who are second in the majors with 216 longballs this season. The six homers Texas gave up were a season high.
The Astros trailed by 3 early before Correa’s second home run, this one a tworun shot, tied it at 4in the third. Carter’s 418foot home run to leftcenter put Houston on top 54 in the sixth and Rasmus’s tworun drive extended the lead to 84 in the seventh.
Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez has been shut down for the rest of the season and the postseason with a shoulder strain.
The 14game winner lasted just seven pitches Friday night against the Brewers.