Wainwright leads Cards to 17th straight win, wild card berth
ST. LOUIS » Dylan Carlson, Nolan Arenado and Jose Rondon homered to back Adam Wainwright, and the St. Louis Cardinals extended their winning streak to 17 games and clinched an NL wild card berth with a 6-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
St. Louis will play in the NL wild-card game on Oct. 6 at the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco, whichever does not win the NL West.
St. Louis was 71-69 on Sept. 11 before the winning streak, the longest in team history and the longest in the major leagues since Cleveland took 22 in a row in 2017.
Wainwright (17-7) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings, throwing 102 pitches and stranding seven runners.
With the score 2-2 in the fifth, Paul Goldschmidt doubled off Jandel Gustave (1-1) and Tyler O’Neill followed with a single to right. The ball went under the glove of Avisail Garcia for a two-base error, and Nolan Arenado’s sacrifice fly made it 4-2.
YANKEES 7, BLUE JAYS 2 » Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run home run, Aaron Judge homered and drove in two runs and New York extended their lead atop the AL wild card standings by beating Toronto.
Gio Urshela added a solo homer and Anthony Rizzo had a pair of hits and drove in a run as New York (90-67) won its seventh straight and moved two games in front of Boston (88-69) in the wild card race with five games left. The Yankees took another injury hit when Jameson Taillon reinjured his ankle and left in the third inning.
BRAVES 2, PHILLIES 1 » Charlie Morton threw seven scoreless innings, Jorge Soler hit a two-run single and Atlanta escaped a ninth-inning jam to beat Philadelphia and move closer to its fourth consecutive NL East title.
Atlanta reduced its magic number to three games in the division race and extended its lead to 3 ½ games over the secondplace Phillies, who no longer control their fate with five games left. The loss eliminated Philadelphia from contention for an NL wild card.
ORIOLES 4, RED SOX 2 » Rookie Ryan Mountcastle hit his 32nd home run to help Baltimore rally past Chris Sale and stall Boston’s bid to enhance its playoff position.
Boston — battling with the New York Yankees and Toronto for a wildcard spot — lost its fourth straight.
Sale (5-1) coasted through five innings, but in the sixth Kelvin Gutiérrez beat out an infield hit and Mountcastle went deep to tie it. Austin Hays followed with a single to end Sale’s night before Severino delivered his go-ahead hit off Hansel Robles.
Marcos Diplán (2-0) pitched two innings, Joey Krehbel retired all six batters he faced and Cole Sulser worked the ninth for his eighth save.
METS 5, MARLINS 2 (GAME
1); METS 2, MARLINS 1 (GAME 2) » Noah Syndergaard looked sharp in his brief but long-awaited return from Tommy John surgery, and New York swept a doubleheader against Miami.
In the opener, Francisco Lindor homered and drove in three runs to help the Mets stop a five-game losing streak. Marcus Stroman (10-13) went five innings for his 10th win.
Brandon Nimmo tripled on the third pitch from rookie opener Zach Thompson (2-7) and scored on Lindor’s single. Edwin Díaz worked the seventh for his 31st save in 37 chances.
Syndergaard started the nightcap and threw nine of 10 pitches for strikes in a perfect first inning. Reliever Brad Hand (6-7) worked a perfect inning for his first win with the Mets.
PIRATES 8, CUBS 6 » Colin Moran hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs as Pittsburgh rallied to hand Chicago its seventh straight loss.
TWINS 3, TIGERS 2 » Miguel Sanó homered and Minnesota pitchers shut down Detroit until the ninth inning.
ASTROS 4, RAYS 3 » Tampa Bay’s JT Chargois walked two batters with the bases loaded in the ninth inning as Houston snapped a four-game skid and moved closer to securing a postseason berth.
WHITE SOX 7, REDS 1 » Luis Robert homered twice, Reynaldo Lopez pitched two-hit ball over a seasonhigh six innings, and Chicago beat Cincinnati as the Reds were eliminated from postseason contention.
RANGERS 5, ANGELS 2 » Rookie Andy Ibanez’s tworun single highlighted a four-run second inning for Texas and fellow rookie A.J. Alexy won for the third time in four career starts as the Rangers beat Los Angeles.
ROYALS 6, INDIANS 4 » Salvador Perez hit his major league-leading 47th home run and Kansas City defeated Cleveland.
ROCKIES 3, NATIONALS 1 » Kyle Freeland efficiently pitched into the seventh inning before running into trouble, Trevor Story lined a long solo homer and Colorado snapped a five-game Coors Field skid with a win over Washington.