Braves get sweep of Phillies, win 4th straight NL East title
ATLANTA » Ian Anderson turned in another dominant pitching performance, Jorge Soler and Austin Riley homered, and the Atlanta Braves won their fourth straight NL East title by completing a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-3 victory Thursday night.
After an up-and-down season marred by injuries and legal issues but bolstered by a flurry of moves at the trade deadline, the Braves won their 21st division title since moving from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966.
They open the bestof-five Division Series at the NL Central champion Brewers on Oct. 8.
Soler hit the first leadoff homer of his career, going deep for the 26th time this season on a 3-2 pitch from Kyle Gibson (4-6).
Riley added to the lead with his 33rd homer in the fourth. He drove in another run with a brokenbat single in the fifth to extend the lead to 5-0.
That was more than enough for Anderson (95), who pitched six scoreless innings of one-hit ball before yielding a tworun homer to Andrew McCutchen in the seventh. A.J. Minter, Luke Jackson and Will Smith worked the final three innings, with Smith earning his 37th save.
ASTROS 3, RAYS 2 » Carlos Correa hit his career-high 25th homer and Houston beat Tampa Bay to clinch the AL West.
It’s the fourth division title in five seasons and 10th overall for the Astros. They’re in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season, extending a franchise record.
Manager Dusty Baker’s Astros will open the AL Division Series on Oct. 7 against the Chicago White Sox.
Yuli Gurriel singled to start Houston’s fourth and Kyle Tucker walked. Correa followed with his towering shot that smashed off the wall in left field to put the Astros up 3-0 against Ryan Yarbrough (9-7).
YANKEES 6, BLUE JAYS 2 » Aaron Judge hit two of New York’s five home runs and the Yankees extended their AL wild-card lead by beating Toronto.
Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo also connected off Blue Jays starter Robbie Ray, and Brett Gardner added a solo homer as New York (91-68) slimmed its magic number to clinch a postseason spot to two. The Yankees are two games ahead of Boston and idle Seattle, both 89-70, after the Red Sox lost to lastplace Baltimore 6-2 earlier Thursday. Toronto trails New York by three games.
ORIOLES 6, RED SOX 2 » Boston was dealt another blow in its postseason push, with Ryan Mountcastle hitting a three-run homer in the third inning of Baltimore’s win.
The Red Sox fell into a tie with Seattle for the American League’s second wild card.
CARDINALS 4, BREWERS 3 » Rookie Dylan Carlson homered from each side of the plate and St. Louis beat Milwaukee
J.A. Happ (10-8) gave up three runs on nine hits and struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings, his longest outing since St. Louis acquired him from the Minnesota Twins on July 30.
RANGERS 7, ANGELS 6 » Adolis Garcia set a Texas rookie record for home runs and RBIs in a series-clinching win over Los Angeles.
Brock Holt put Texas ahead for the first time with a two-run double in the eighth inning off Jimmy Herget (2-3).
Angels star Shohei Ohtani went 2 for 5 with a double and his AL-leading eighth triple.
CUBS 9, PIRATES 0 » Justin Steele breezed through seven innings and Chicago handed Pittsburgh its 100th loss of the season.
METS 12, MARLINS 3 » Michael Conforto hit a pair of run-scoring singles, doubled and made a shoestring catch in what might have been his final game at Citi Field for New York, which routed Miami.
TIGERS 10, TWINS 7 » Niko Goodrum homered twice and drove in four runs, Jonathan Schoop hit a solo homer and Detroit rallied to beat Minnesota in a slugfest with seven homers.
Dustin Garneau’s sacrifice fly and Willi Castro’s RBI single capped an eighth-inning comeback for Detroit, which snapped a four-game skid and avoided the series sweep.
INDIANS 6, ROYALS 1 » Shane Bieber pitched three effective innings, Bradley Zimmer drove in three runs and Cleveland beat Kansas City to avoid a threegame sweep.
Royals star Salvador Perez, who left Wednesday’s game after spraining his right ankle, started and hit a double.