AL Playoff Watch: Rays fall additional again of Blue Jays with loss to Astros

HOUSTON (AP) — Cristian Javier threw six shutout innings and Jake Meyers had two hits in Houston’s victory over Tampa Bay.

It’s the 103rd victory for the American League-leading Astros, which is tied with the 2018 group for second-most wins in franchise historical past behind the 107 piled up in 2019.

Javier (11-9) allowed two hits and struck out seven to increase his scoreless streak to 25 1/3 innings, which is the longest energetic streak within the majors.

Closer Ryan Pressly walked consecutive batters with one out within the ninth earlier than pinch-hitter Yandy Diaz hit an RBI single on a grounder to left area with two outs to chop the result in 2-1. But Pressly retired pinch-hitter Harold Ramirez on a fly ball to finish it and get his thirty second save.

Shane McClanahan (12-8) yielded 5 hits and two runs in 5 innings for his third straight loss.

YANKEES 8, ORIOLES 0

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge went 0 for two with two walks and was hit by a pitch on Saturday, remaining at 61 homers on the 61st anniversary of Roger Maris setting the American League document because the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-0.

Judge reached base main off to spark a three-run first and a four-run seventh and likewise struck out twice. He leads the AL with 110 walks.

A 2-0 cutter from Austin Voth (5-4) glanced off Judge’s left arm within the first, and he walked on 5 pitches within the second. Judge struck out on a full-count curveball within the fourth — at 2:43 p.m., 61 years to the minute when Maris hit his 61st off Boston’s Tracy Stallard throughout the road at previous Yankee Stadium on Oct. 1, 1961.

Judge is in competition to turn out to be the primary Triple Crown winner in a decade. He leads in RBIs and at .313 is second in batting to Minnesota’s Luis Arraez.

Nestor Cortes (12-4) matched his profession excessive with 12 strikeouts, pitching one-hit ball for 7 1/3 innings and strolling two. Jorge Mateo singled over leaping shortstop Oswald Peraza with two outs within the fifth.

BLUE JAYS 10, RED SOX 0

TORONTO (AP) — Teoscar Hernández homered, doubled twice and singled, Danny Jansen drove in 5 runs and Toronto moved one step nearer to wrapping up the highest spot within the AL wild-card race by routing Boston.

The Blue Jays started the day with a 1 1/2-game lead over Seattle atop the wild-card standings.

Ross Stripling (10-4) and 4 relievers mixed on a four-hitter as Toronto shut out the Red Sox for the second straight day. Bo Bichette went 4 for 4 as Toronto opened October with a 21-hit outburst.

Making his last begin of the season, Boston rookie right-hander Brayan Bello (2-8) allowed 4 runs and a career-high 10 hits in 4 innings.

BRAVES 4, METS 2

ATLANTA (AP) — Dansby Swanson and Matt Olson homered off Max Scherzer, lifting Atlanta to an important victory over New York and a one-game lead within the NL East.

New York, which held a ten 1/2-game cushion on June 1, faces its greatest deficit of the 12 months with 4 video games remaining. Atlanta will strive for a three-game sweep Sunday evening, with the winner incomes the season-series tiebreaker between the groups.

Kyle Wright (21-5) gave up two runs and 7 hits with one stroll and three strikeouts in 5 innings as he gained his eighth straight determination. The Braves have gained 16 of his final 17 begins.

Scherzer (11-5) was charged with 9 hits and 4 runs with no walks and 4 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

MARLINS 4, BREWERS 3

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Devin Williams blew a ninth-inning lead and Milwaukee squandered a possibility to tug even within the race for the ultimate National League playoff spot, dropping to Miami.

Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-run single off Williams that put Miami forward within the ninth. Milwaukee fell a recreation behind the Phillies, who cut up a doubleheader with Washington, for the third NL wild-card berth. Philadelphia holds the head-to-head tiebreaker between the groups.

Williams (6-4) walked two within the ninth and each runners superior on a wild pitch earlier than De La Cruz lined a single to left area that scored Jon Berti and Brian Anderson. Left fielder Christian Yelich misplayed the ball, permitting De La Cruz to achieve second. Peter Strzelecki relieved Williams and received the ultimate two outs of the inning.

Richard Bleier pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season. Tommy Nance (2-3) picked up the win with a scoreless eighth.

NATIONALS 13, PHILLIES 4, GAME 1

PHILLIES 8, NATIONALS 2, GAME 2

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kyle Schwarber hit two of Philadelphia’s 5 homers within the first 4 innings and the Phillies received a much-needed win as they attempt to finish an 11-year playoff drought, salvaging a cut up of a day-night doubleheader by beating Washington in a wet Game 2.

Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh and Matt Vierling additionally went deep within the nightcap for the Phillies, who rapidly recovered from a 13-4 loss within the opener towards the worst-in-the-majors Nationals. That was Philadelphia’s sixth defeat in seven video games.

Noah Syndergaard (5-2) received the win in Game 2 with 5 2/3 scoreless innings as gentle rain fell for a lot of the night. He gave up two singles and two walks. Rookie Cristopher Sánchez threw the final three innings for his first profession save.

Schwarber’s sixth leadoff homer of the season, and nineteenth of his profession, landed within the second deck in proper. It got here on the second pitch of Game 2 from Tommy Romero (1-1), who made his main league debut for the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 12 and was claimed off waivers by the Nationals on Aug. 25.

MARINERS 5, ATHLETICS 1

SEATTLE (AP) — Luis Castillo struck out eight in six innings of two-hit ball and Seattle beat Oakland to maintain tempo with Toronto Blue Jays within the bid to host an AL wild-card collection.

Castillo (8-6) retired 16 in a row to assist Seattle to its fourth consecutive win. The Mariners rested most of their key starters a day after securing a wild-card berth, ending the longest playoff drought in main skilled sports activities in North America.

Leadoff hitter Dylan Moore doubled off opener Adam Oller (2-8) to begin the sport, and scored on Santana’s RBI single two batters later. Sam Haggerty’s two-out single introduced residence Santana and Luis Torrens later within the inning for a 3-1 lead.

PADRES 5, WHITE SOX 2

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jake Cronenworth hit a tiebreaking two-run homer and Mike Clevinger was good for six innings in San Diego’s win over Chicago, which decreased the Padres’ magic quantity for clinching an NL wild card to 1.

Juan Soto and Manny Machado additionally linked for the Padres, who can declare their first playoff spot in a full season since 2006 on Sunday once they ship lefty Blake Snell to the mound for the collection finale.

With Clevinger (7-7) and Dylan Cease (14-8) locked in a duel after every allowed a house run within the first inning, the Padres knocked the Chicago right-hander out of the sport earlier than he may get an out within the sixth.

Josh Hader pitched the ninth for his thirty fifth save.

ROYALS 7, GUARDIANS 1

CLEVELAND (AP) — Salvador Perez had 4 hits and drove in a pair of runs, Kris Bubic struck out a season-high eight and Kansas City beat AL Central champion Cleveland.

Perez collected three singles and a solo homer in 4 plate appearances, spoiling the return of Cleveland right-hander Zach Plesac (3-12) following a one-month keep on the injured listing with a damaged pitching hand.

Cleveland has gained 10 of 12 and is an MLB-best 21-5 since Sept. 5.

Bubic (3-13) tossed 5 scoreless innings, permitting 5 hits, in snapping his career-long dropping streak at seven. The left-hander had not gained since July 24 towards Tampa Bay.

Drew Waters homered for the second straight day, Kyle Isbel had a two-run double and MJ Melendez doubled twice for Kansas City. Bobby Witt Jr. singled and stole his AL rookie-leading twenty ninth base.

ANGELS 3, RANGERS 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — José Suarez misplaced an ideal recreation and the lead within the seventh inning earlier than Los Angeles rallied for a win over Texas.

Livan Soto had three hits, drove in a run and scored the go-ahead run for the Angels, who’ve gained six straight to tie a season excessive.

Shohei Ohtani prolonged his hitting streak to 16 video games with a base hit within the eighth inning.

Nathaniel Lowe had a two-run homer within the seventh because the Rangers dropped their fourth straight.

Suarez (8-8) struck out 5 in retiring the primary 18 batters earlier than Marcus Semien led off the seventh with a single.

The Angels regained the lead with a pair of runs within the seventh.

Jonathan Hernandez (2-3) received the loss.

CARDINALS 13, PIRATES 3

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Albert Pujols hit a two-run single and Corey Dickerson had a grand slam in a six-run first inning to assist NL Central champion St. Louis beat Pittsburgh.

Pujols singled to left with the bases loaded within the first inning, driving in Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar to present St. Louis a 2-0 lead.

Two batters later, Dickerson lined an 0-1 fastball 433 ft into the right-center area bleachers for his sixth residence run of the season and his second profession grand slam to extend the Cardinals’ result in 6-0.

Jordan Montgomery (9-6) allowed two runs on 4 hits in six innings and struck out 5 batters after dropping his earlier three begins.

Luis Ortiz (0-2) allowed six runs on three hits and walked three batters in 2/3 of an inning in his fourth profession begin.

TIGERS 3, TWINS 2

DETROIT (AP) — Eric Haase had three hits, together with a house run, and Detroit beat Minnesota.

The Tigers have gained seven of eight. The Twins must win their last 4 video games to complete with a .500 season.

With the rating tied at 2 within the sixth, Javier Báez was hit by a pitch from Ronny Henriquez (0-1). Báez moved to second on a fly ball. Harold Castro grounded to first baseman Luis Arraez, however he missed Henriquez together with his throw, permitting Báez to attain the go-ahead run.

Daniel Norris (2-0) picked up the win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Andrew Chafin picked up his second save after A.J. Hinch used nearer Gregory Soto within the eighth.

DIAMONDBACKS 8, GIANTS 4

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sergio Alcántara had a pair of two-run doubles for Arizona in its win over San Francisco. The Giants had been eradicated from postseason competition.

Christian Walker went 3 for five with an RBI double, ending a homer shy of hitting for the cycle, for Arizona. Josh Rojas added two RBIs and Cooper Hummel had a sacrifice fly for the Diamondbacks. Jordan Luplow had three hits.

J.D. Davis and Mike Yastrzemski homered for San Francisco, which ended its five-game successful streak. Drey Jameson (3-0) allowed two runs on six hits in six innings.

Jakob Junis (5-7) went 4 2/3 frames, surrendering 4 runs on eight hits to take the loss.

CUBS 2, REDS 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Seiya Suzuki hit a tiebreaking solo homer within the seventh inning, and Chicago gained its sixth in a row by topping Cincinnati.

Suzuki’s two-out drive to left-center towards Derek Law (2-3) was Chicago’s first hit for the reason that fourth and the final of three on the day. But the Cubs additionally had six walks and made essentially the most of a powerful efficiency by their bullpen.

Cincinnati dropped its fifth straight recreation and 18th in its final 22 total. It must win three of its final 4 — all towards Chicago — to keep away from the franchise’s second 100-loss season.

Wade Miley (2-2) received the win.