Cards sweep Giants

Miles Mikolas (above) won his fourth consecutive start, Matt Carpenter hit his NL-leading 36th home run and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 9-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep and remain on track for the NL’s second wild card.

CARDINALS 9, GIANTS 2

ST. LOUIS — Miles Mikolas won his fourth straight start, Matt Carpenter hit his NL-leading 36th homer and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 9-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep and remain on track for the NL’s second wild card.

St. Louis (87-69) has won three straight games and six of seven. The Cardinals began the day 1½ games ahead of Colorado, which played later Sunday, and remained two games behind Milwaukee, the wild card leader. St. Louis hosts the Brewers (89-67) in a three-game series starting tonight.

Mikolas (17-4) allowed two runs — one earned — and two hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. John Brebbia and Giovanny Gallegos finished a five-hitter.

Andrew Suarez (7-12) gave up two runs and six hits in five innings.

BRAVES 2, PHILLIES 1 Lane Adams homered and drove in two runs, Anibal Sanchez won for the first time in nine starts and the Atlanta Braves used a lineup of reserves to win their fifth straight game, 2-1 over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday. The loss dropped Philadelphia from postseason contention. Atlanta, the first NL team to qualify for the playoffs, eliminated the Phillies from the NL East race on Saturday. The Braves have the second-best record in the NL at 8868 and could earn home-field advantage in the NL Division Series during the final week of the season. The Braves mostly rested their regulars against ace Aaron Nola (16-6). Sanchez (7-6) further secured his role as Atlanta’s No. 3 starter

for the division series behind Mike Foltynewicz and Kevin Gausman, allowing four hits, one run and one walk in five innings. BREWERS 13, PIRATES 6 Christian Yelich hit his 32nd home run, Travis Shaw added his 31st and the Milwaukee Brewers blew past the mistake-prone Pittsburgh Pirates 13-6 on Sunday. Yelich finished 2 for 3 to boost his batting average to an NL-leading .322 as Milwaukee won for the third time in four games to bolster its chances of reaching the postseason for just the fifth time in franchise history. The Brewers (8967) hold the top NL wild-card spot and entered Sunday 2½ games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. METS 8, NATIONALS 6 Michael Conforto hit a go-ahead, bases-loaded triple, rookie Jeff McNeil matched a career high with four hits and the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 8-6 on a slow and soggy Sunday afternoon. The first pitch was delayed 25 minutes, and rain continued during the game, which lasted 4 hours, 14 minutes. The Mets finished their road slate at 40-41, better than their 33-42 mark at home, where they have six games left. The Nationals, who fell to .500 (78-78), led 3-1 before New York rallied in the fourth.

MARLINS 6, REDS 0 The Marlins became the first major league team to draw fewer than 1 million fans at home since the 2004 Montreal Expos, beating the Cincinnati Reds 6-0 Sunday before 13,595 to complete the Miami portion of their schedule in Derek Jeter’s first season as chief executive officer. After trading star slugger Giancarlo Stanton to Jeter’s former team, the New York Yankees, during an offseason payroll purge, the Marlins went 38-43 at home and drew 811,104 for an average of 10,014. They are last in the NL East at 62-93 overall, their eighth consecutive losing season. The Marlins have not reached the playoffs since beating the Yankees in the 2003 World Series. ROCKIES 2, DIAMONDBACKS 0 Kyle Freeland extended his unbeaten streak to 10 starts, and Colorado beat the Arizona Diamondbacks

2-0 on Sunday for a three-game sweep than kept the Rockies 1½ games behind St. Louis for the NL’s second wild card with one week remaining in the regular season. Arizona lost for the seventh time in eight games and was eliminated from contention in the NL West and wild-card race. The Diamondbacks led the division entering the final month but are 5-16 in September. Freeland (16-7) allowed seven hits in seven innings, struck out six and walked one, lowering his ERA to 2.84. He is 7-0 since an Aug. 10 loss at St. Louis. Wade Davis got three straight outs for his NL-leading 41st save in 47 chances. DODGERS 14, PADRES 0 Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched six scoreless innings and tied a career high with three of the Dodgers’ 16 hits, and NL West-leading Los Angeles routed the San Diego Padres 14-0 on Sunday. The Dodgers’ division lead remained at 1½ games over Colorado, which won 2-0 at Arizona. Ryu (6-3) allowed

four hits, struck out eight and walked none to help the Dodgers take two out of three from the last-place Padres. Brian Dozier was the only Dodgers starter without at least one hit in their last regular-season home game. Los Angeles had three homers to extend its NL-leading and club-record total to 225. AMERICAN LEAGUE

ORIOLES 6, YANKEES 3 The Yankees’ Didi Gregorius tore cartilage in his right wrist while scoring the run that clinched a wild card berth for New York, manager Aaron Boone said after his team wasted a three-run lead in a 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. Boone said Gregorius was hurt when he slid into home plate head-first to score from first on Aaron Hicks’ 11th-inning double Saturday. The shortstop sat out Sunday. Boone said he was unsure if Gregorius, who has 27 homers and 86 RBIs, would be able to return in time for the postseason. New York began the day leading Oakland by 1½ games for home-field advantage in the wild-card game. Baltimore (45-110) remained one loss shy of matching the franchise record for defeats set by the 1939 St. Louis Browns, who went 43-111. RANGERS 6, MARINERS 1 Adrian Beltre was given a standing ovation when he was removed from what could be his last home game for Texas, just before the Rangers rallied for four runs in the sixth inning to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-1 on Sunday. The 39-year-old, playing his 21st major league season, struck out twice and is hitting .275 with 14 homers and 61 RBIs. The four-time All-Star, the active hits leader with 3,162, went to third base just after the game became official — his 2,758 appearances at third are second only to Brooks Robinson’s 2,870. TWINS 5, ATHLETICS 1 Oakland will have to take its bubbly on the road. Kyle Gibson allowed one run over 71/3 innings, Jake Cave hit a two-run homer and the Minnesota Twins beat the Athletics 5-1 Sunday, preventing Oakland from clinching an

AL wild-card berth in its last regular-season home game. Oakland leads Tampa Bay by 7½ games and needs one win or a Rays loss to clinch its first playoff berth in four years. The A’s remained 1½ games behind the New York Yankees, who have clinched a wild-card berth, and fell 4½ games back of AL West-leading Houston.

RAYS 5, BLUE JAYS 2 Blake Snell won his ninth straight start to increasing his major league-leading victories total to 21, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 on Sunday to stave off elimination. Tampa Bay began the day 7½ games behind Oakland for the AL’s second wild card and would be eliminated with one more loss or win by the Athletics, who hosted Minnesota later in the day. Snell (21-5) struck out 11 in 62/3 shutout innings, broke the Rays season record for wins set by David Price in 2012 and lowered his ERA to 1.90, the best in the AL. ASTROS 6, ANGELS 2 Charlie Morton left Houston’s 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday after one inning because of discomfort in his pitching shoulder, a potential problem for the World Series champions as they close in on consecutive AL West titles. The 34-year-old right-hander did not pitch for the Astros from Aug. 28 until Sept. 8 because of right shoulder discomfort. ROYALS 3, TIGERS 2 Rookie Brad Keller pitched seven strong innings, Cam Gallagher broke a sixth-inning tie with a two-run single and the Kansas City Royals held on to beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 on Sunday. INTERLEAGUE CUBS 6, WHITE SOX 1 Kyle Schwarber homered and drove in two runs, and the Chicago Cubs beat the crosstown White Sox 6-1 on Sunday to lower their magic number for clinching the NL Central title to five. Ben Zobrist had three hits and Kyle Hendricks dazzled again as the Cubs took the rubber game of the weekend series. They also stayed 2½ games ahead of second-place Milwaukee.

AP/JEFF ROBERSON