CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago White Sox clinched their first postseason berth since 2008, beating the Minnesota Twins 4-3 Thursday as Eloy Jiménez hit a tiebreaking double that capped a two-run, seventh-inning rally.
Chicago (33-17) opened a three-game lead over the second-place Twins (31-21) in the AL Central. The White Sox assured themselves of no worse than a wild-card berth.
José Abreu homered and drove in two runs and Edwin Encarnación also homered for Chicago, which won three of four in the series.
Chicago trailed 3-2 in the seventh when Abreu beat out an infield hit on a slow grounder that drove in Jarrod Dyson from third base. Jiménez followed with a go-ahead double.
Codi Heuer (3-0) pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings, and Alex Colomé got four outs for his 12th save in 13 chances. Tyler Clippard (1-1) gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Byron Buxton homered twice, giving him seven in his last nine games and 12 this season. Josh Donaldson also went deep for Minnesota and was ejected for kicking dirt on home plate. He had been upset by a pair of strike calls by plate umpire Dan Bellino.
RAYS 3, ORIOLES 1, 1st game
RAYS 10, ORIOLES 6, 2nd game
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays clinched a return trip to the postseason, using a strong pitching performance to beat the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of a doubleheader before cranking up the offense and completing the sweep.
In the opener, Blake Snell and Diego Castillo combined on a three-hitter.
Needing a sweep to get into the AL playoffs for the second year in a row, the Rays got homers from Willy Adames, Hunter Renfroe and Joey Wendle before using a four-run fifth inning to take a 10-6 lead.
In the nightcap, Tampa Bay jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning when the slumping Adames connected with two on against lefty Bruce Zimmermann, who was making his major league debut.
The Orioles rallied to tie before the Rays got RBI singles from Nate Lowe and Kevan Smith in the fifth, followed by run-scoring fly balls from Wendle and Randy Arozarena.
Pete Fairbanks (5-3) pitched one inning to earn the win.
Zimmermann (0-1) gave up five runs in three-plus innings.
RED SOX 5, MARLINS 3
MIAMI (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi (3-2) pitched five shutout innings, Rafael Devers had a three-run homer and Kevin Plawecki hit a two-run single for Boston.
Seeking its first postseason appearance since winning the 2003 World Series, second-place Miami fell three games behind NL East-leading Atlanta, which was idle.
Matt Barnes got three straight out for his eighth save in 11 chances. Jose Ureña (0-2) allowed two runs, five hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts.
ANGELS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer and Mike Trout drove in two runs.
David Fletcher and Taylor Ward had three hits apiece for the Angels, who took to a 6-0 lead in the third inning and had 14 hits on the way to their ninth win in 14 games. Jared Walsh extended his Angels record by scoring a run and driving in a run in his ninth consecutive game.
Griffin Canning (1-3) won in his 10th start this season, throwing five innings of six-hit ball with seven strikeouts.
Alex Young (2-4) yielded six runs on eight hits while failing to get out of the third inning.
GIANTS 6, MARINERS 4
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Wilmer Flores hit a go-ahead, two-run triple in the seventh inning, sending Seattle to a second home defeat played in San Francisco’s ballpark because of dangerous air quality in Western Washington. The Mariners headed to San Diego for a series moved from Seattle to Petco Park.
Darin Ruf homered in the second inning to back Giants starter Tyler Anderson, who hurt his own cause when he was ejected in the bottom of the third by plate umpire Edwin Moscoso for emphatically expressing his displeasure with a walk to Kyle Lewis.
Wandy Peralta followed Anderson and threw 49 pitches over a career-high three innings, and Rico Garcia (1-1) worked one inning for his first major league win. Sam Selman finished for his first career save, stranding two runners when Lewis lined out and Kyle Seager flied out.
Kendall Graveman (0-3) was the loser.
METS 10, PHILLIES 6
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brandon Nimmo had a two-RBI tying triple in the sixth inning and hit the go-ahead solo homer in the ninth to help rally the Mets past Philadelphia.
Nimmo’ hit his eighth homer of the year off reliever Brandon Workman (1-3) for a 7-6 lead. Dominic Smith added an RBI triple and Robinson Cano hit a two-run shot in the ninth.
Bryce Harper homered twice for the Phillies (24-25), who lost for the fifth time in six games and whose NL playoff hopes are hanging by a thread.
Alex Bohm homered into the right field seats and Didi Gregorious about planted one in the same spot to give the Phillies three straight home runs for the first time since 2017.
Nola was off his game. The Mets hit him hard early, left the bases loaded in the fourth, then Pete Alonso homered off him in the sixth. That sparked a rally that saw the Mets tie it 6-all on Nimmo’s two-RBI triple.
Justin Wilson (2-1) picked up the win.
PIRATES 5, CARDINALS 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Steven Brault pitched a two-hitter for his first career complete game, Gregory Polanco hit a three-run homer and Pittsburgh snapped an eight-game skid with a win over St. Louis.
Brault (1-3) allowed the Cardianls' only hits in the third inning. After Rangel Ravelo walked, Kolten Wong and Tommy Edman hit back-to-back singles, with Ravelo scoring on Edman’s hit.
Brault retired his final 16 batters. He struck out eight, walked two and threw 110 pitches.
Polanco’s homer with two outs in the fourth off Austin Gomber (0-1) just cleared the fence in right-center and put the Pirates ahead 3-1. Josh Stallings capped the four-run inning with an RBI double.
YANKEES 10, BLUE JAYS 7
NEW YORK (AP) — The Yankees tied a major league record with five home runs in an inning and hit six overall in a win over Toronto that extended their winning streak to eight.
New York set a major league record for most home runs in a three-game span with 19 and became the first team with six or more home runs in three straight games. The Yankees (29-21) outscored Toronto 43-15 over the three games and outhit the Blue Jays 44-28.
Brett Gardner, DJ LeMehieu and Luke Voit homered on consecutive pitches in the fourth inning from Chase Anderson (0-2). Voit’s home run was his major league-leading 20th.
Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres followed with home runs that gave the Yankees a 9-2 lead and chased Anderson. The Yankees hit five homers in an inning for the first time.
Gary Sánchez, slumping for most of the season. added a seventh-inning homer off T. J. Zeuch and had his first multihit game this year.
Masahiro Tanaka (3-2) allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings, striking out five.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was 3 for 3 with two homers and added an infield single in the ninth.
INDIANS 10, TIGERS 3
DETROIT (AP) — Jose Ramirez homered twice on his 28th birthday, Shane Bieber took a shutout into the eighth inning and Cleveland snapped its eight-game losing streak.
Bieber (8-1) didn’t allow a run until his final hitter, Willi Castro, hit a three-run homer in the eighth. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out 10 in 7 2/3 innings.
Casey Mize (0-2) allowed three earned runs in 3 2/3 innings for Detroit. 000.
Detroit has lost five of six.
ASTROS 2, RANGERS 1
HOUSTON (AP) — Framber Valdez tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts in 6 1/3 solid innings, Kyle Tucker homered and Houston beat Texas.
Tucker gave the Astros a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer to right in the second.
Valdez (4-3) allowed one run on four hits.
After a single by Anderson Tejeda in the second, Valdez retired 14 of the next 15 batters before a double by Sherten Apostel with one out in the seventh ended the left-hander’s night.
Josh James relieved Valdez and struck out Tejeda before Eli White cut the lead in half with an RBI single to left. James induced a weak groundout by Derek Dietrich to end the seventh. James pitched a perfect eighth, and Brooks Raley pitched the ninth for his first career save.
Jordan Lyles (1-5) allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings in losing his fourth straight decision.
DODGERS 9, ROCKIES 3
DENVER (AP) — Corey Seager homered and had three hits, Edwin Rios also went deep and the Dodgers beat struggling Colorado.
Mookie Betts had an RBI single and scored on a wild pitch during Los Angeles’ six-run seventh inning that put the Dodgers ahead 8-2. Los Angeles is 36-15, best in baseball, and increased its lead in the NL West to four games over idle San Diego with nine games remaining for each teams.
Dylan Floro (2-0) got the win with an inning of relief for starter Julio Urias.
Trevor Story homered for Colorado, which lost ground in the NL wild-card race.
Colorado starter Kyle Freeland (2-2) took the loss despite being sharp early. He allowed four runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings.
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