Blue Jays tighten AL wild-card race

TORONTO (AP) — Bo Bichette homered twice, including a tiebreaking drive off Clay Holmes in the eighth inning that lifted the Toronto Blue Jays over the Yankees 6-5 Wednesday night, tightened the AL wild card race and ended New York’s seven-game winning streak.

Marcus Semien hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the first off a faltering Gerrit Cole, setting a big league record with his 44th home run of the season as a second baseman.

With the score 5-all, Bichette led off the eighth against Holmes (8-4) with his 28th home run, an oppositefield drive that cleared the scoreboard in rightcenter.

Adam Cimber (34) got four outs for the win. With a runner on second, Jordan Romano retired Tyler Wade on a game-ending flyout for his 22nd save in 23 chances.

Boston closed within one game of the wild card-leading Yankees, and Toronto is one game back of the Red Sox.

Milwaukee 4, St. Louis 0

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis’ team-record 17-game winning streak ended as Milwaukee’s Daniel Vogelbach hit a two-run homer that backed Adrian Houser.

Manny Piña added a solo homer for the NL Central champion Brewers, who have won four of five.

A night after clinching a postseason berth, the Cardinals did not start regulars Nolan Arenado, Tyler O’Neill and Tommy Edman.

Houser (10-6) allowed three hits in five innings.

Vogelbach homered in the sixth off Miles Mikolas (2-3), who allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Atlanta 7, Philadelphia 2

ATLANTA (AP) — Max Fried pitched seven strong innings, Austin Riley drove in three runs, and Atlanta beat Philadelphia to move within one victory of a fourth straight NL East title.

The Braves have won nine of 11 and reduced their magic number to one.

Fried (14-7) improved to 7-0 with a 1.46 ERA over his last 11 starts. The lefty allowed two runs — one earned — and four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

Aaron Nola (9-9) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings.

Boston 6, Baltimore 0

BALTIMORE (AP) — J.D. Martinez homered and drove in three runs to back a dominant pitching performance by Nathan Eovaldi, and Boston beat Baltimore to break a four-game skid and bolster its playoff hopes.

Martinez hit his 28th homer in the second inning for a 1-0 lead, and the Red Sox used a broken-bat single and an error to tack on two unearned runs in the sixth.

Eovaldi (11-9) took it from there, limiting Baltimore to four hits and striking out seven over six innings.

Rookie Zac Lowther (1-3) was pulled after Rafael Devers cracked his bat on a leadoff single in the sixth. Xander Bogaerts subsequently reached on an error by third baseman Kelvin Gutiérrez before Martinez smacked a two-run double.

Chicago White Sox 6, Cincinnati 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Carlos Rodón pitched five scoreless innings in a closely watched start ahead of the playoffs, and Chicago beat Cincinnati.

Tim Anderson and Gavin Sheets homered as the White Sox (9168) moved a seasonhigh 23 games above .500 with their fourth consecutive victory.

Rodón (13-5) allowed one hit, struck out four and walked two in his first start since he lasted three innings in a 4-3 loss at Detroit on Sept. 20.

Cincinnati righthander Sonny Gray (79) was charged with five runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings.