San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Indians clinch third straight division title
With ski goggles perched on his head, Michael Brantley stood in the middle of Cleveland’s rocking clubhouse just a few feet from a bin overflowing with dozens of empty bottles. The party was in full swing. And as he watched his teammates celebrate, Brantley wanted to cherish an AL Central championship that seemed preordained.
“I’m savoring every moment of this,” Brantley said after Cleveland won its third straight division title with a 15-0 win over the visiting Detroit Tigers. “This never gets old to me. This is a lot of hard work that this group has put in to get to this point. It’s all well-deserved, well-earned, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Unchallenged for months, the Indians scored 11 runs in the first two innings as the Tigers made four errors and managed only two hits.
The first team this year to clinch a division championship, Cleveland will try to win its first World Series title since 1948 — the longest drought in the majors. After so many close calls, the Indians believe this is their year.
“It’s really nice,” Francisco Lindor said. “We understand we still have a long way to go.”
Dodgers 17, Cardinals 4: Yasiel Puig hit three homers and had a career-high seven RBIs, giving him five homers in two games, and visiting Los Angeles moved into first place in the NL West with a little help from the Giants’ win over Colorado.
Astros 10, Diamondbacks 4: George Springer had four hits and scored three runs to help host Houston extend its lead
over the A’s in the AL West.
Blue Jays 8, Yankees 7: CC Sabathia got clocked early and host New York, despite hitting four home runs during a furious rally, couldn’t recover. Randal Grichuk hit two homers and doubled and Sean Reid-Foley struck out 10 in five shutout innings for Toronto.
Red Sox 5, Mets 3: Pinchhitter Brock Holt drove a tiebreaking double off the Green Monster on the first pitch after Jackie Bradley Jr. hit one off the very top of the left-field wall, helping host Boston lower its magic number to four.
Nationals 7, Braves 1: Washington 19-year-old rookie Juan Soto became the youngest player to steal three bases in a game as visiting Washington stopped Atlanta’s six-game winning streak. Cubs 1, Reds 0: Jon Lester allowed two hits over seven innings with nine strikeouts as host Chicago maintained its NL Central lead.
Phillies 5, Marlins 4: Cesar Hernandez hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the fifth and seven relievers combined on seven shutout innings for host Philadelphia.
Pirates 3, Brewers 1: Zach Davies failed to hold an early lead and host Milwaukee dropped 2½ games behind the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs.
Mariners 6, Angels 5: Robinson Cano hit a go-ahead three-run double to cap visiting Seattle’s rally from a four-run deficit.
Rangers 6, Padres 3: Robinson Chirinos hit a three-run double during a five-run sixth inning for visiting Texas.
Royals 10, Twins 3: Ian Kennedy pitched six innings to earn his first win since the first week of April and Alex Gordon drove in five runs for host Kansas City.
White Sox 2, Orioles 0: Reynaldo Lopez was sharp over seven innings to continue his late-season surge for visiting Chicago.