Justin Verlander turned in a vintage performance, taking a shutout into the ninth inning as the Houston Astros defeated the host Seattle Mariners 5-1 on Monday night to extend their lead in the race for the American League’s third and final wild-card playoff berth.
Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker homered for the Astros, who snapped a three-game losing streak and moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Mariners, who lost their fourth in a row. Houston remains 2 1/2 games behind the AL West-leading Texas Rangers.
Verlander (12-8) retired the side in order seven times. The 40-year-old right-hander, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, was charged with one run on three hits and one walk in eight-plus innings. He struck out eight, one shy of his season high.
Mariners ace Luis Castillo (14-8), who had won eight consecutive decisions, took his first defeat since July 14. He allowed five runs on eight hits over six innings, with one walk and eight strikeouts.
Giants 2, Padres 1
Logan Webb survived a pitchers’ duel with Blake Snell, Michael Conforto delivered a two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning and host San Francisco essentially dealt a lethal blow to San Diego’s postseason hopes.
Webb (11-13) went the distance, giving up a first-inning run but no others. He allowed nine hits, striking out seven without issuing a walk.
After Snell threw six shutout innings — his third consecutive scoreless start — the Giants finally broke through against Robert Suarez (4-3) in the eighth. The Padres lost for just the second time in 11 games.
Rangers 5, Angels 1
Adolis Garcia, Mitch Garver and Nathaniel Lowe hit back-to-back-to-back home runs and Jon Gray allowed one run over six innings to lead Texas to a win over Los Angeles in Anaheim, Calif.
Marcus Semien also homered for the Rangers, who extended their winning streak to six games. Gray (9-8) picked up his first win since Aug. 11, allowing five hits while striking out seven.
Logan O’Hoppe went 2-for-4 with a home run and Michael Stefanic had three hits for Los Angeles, which lost for the 10th time in its past 12 games. Nolan Schanuel doubled leading off the bottom of the first to extend his on-base streak to 27 games, the fourth-longest on-base streak in major league history to start a career.
Yankees 6, Diamondbacks 4
Estevan Florial hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the eighth inning as host New York rallied three times to beat Arizona.
With a 4-3 lead, Diamondbacks right-hander Kevin Ginkel (9-1) loaded the bases in the eighth on two singles and a walk before Oswald Peraza walked in the tying run. Florial followed with a fly ball to left to score Austin Wells and give the Yankees their first lead. Rookie Everson Pereira added an RBI single off Miguel Castro.
The Diamondbacks dropped into a tie with the Chicago Cubs as the final two wild-card qualifiers in the National League, with the Miami Marlins lurking one game back. Arizona rookie Corbin Carroll had three hits in defeat.
–Field Level Media