Anthony Santander homered, Dean Kremer pitched into the sixth inning and the Baltimore Orioles clinched the American League East crown with a 2-0 win over the visiting Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.
It’s the Orioles’ 10th division title and first since 2014. Two years after losing 110 games, Baltimore will be the top seed in the AL playoffs, earning a bye in the wild-card round and home field through the American League Championship Series if the Orioles reach it.
Heston Kjerstad added a pinch-hit RBI double for the Orioles, who have won five straight while allowing a total of three runs. Kremer (13-5) allowed two hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked one. The Orioles went 24-8 in Kremer’s starts this season.
Starter Chris Sale (6-5) allowed a run on three hits over five innings for Boston.
Mariners 3, Rangers 2
J.P. Crawford’s two-run double with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Seattle a win against visiting Texas, preventing the Rangers from clinching a playoff spot.
Julio Rodriguez homered for the Mariners, who pulled within a game of the idle Houston Astros in the race for the American League’s third and final wild-card berth.
Leody Taveras and Adolis Garcia hit home runs for the Rangers, who lost for just the second time in their past nine games and were unable to clinch their first postseason trip since 2016. First-place Texas has a two-game lead on Houston and a three-game lead on Seattle in the AL West.
Braves 5, Cubs 3
Matt Olson set the franchise single-season RBI record as Atlanta beat visiting Chicago to sweep a three-game series and clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Olson socked his 54th home run, a two-run shot in the first inning, raising his major-league-leading RBI total to 136. Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews’ 135 RBIs in 1953 had been the club’s top single-season mark since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920.
Atlanta starter AJ Smith-Shawver did not allow a hit in 3 2/3 innings. The rookie gave up one run on one walk. The winning pitcher was Kyle Wright (1-3), who fanned four and allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings. Chicago starter Marcus Stroman (10-9) lasted just two innings and gave up four runs, two earned, on four hits.
Dodgers 14, Rockies 5
Elehuris Montero and Charlie Blackmon homered and had three hits each, Sean Bouchard also went deep and Colorado beat Los Angeles in Denver.
Brenton Doyle, Brendan Rodgers, Alan Trejo, Ezequiel Tovar and Bouchard had two hits apiece for Colorado, which earned a split of the four-game series.
J.D. Martinez and Enrique Hernandez homered and had two hits each, Kolten Wong collected three hits and Austin Barnes had two hits for the
Tigers 8, Royals 0 (completion of susp. game)
Miguel Cabrera hit his 511th career homer and Tarik Skubal combined with three relievers on a shutout, lifting host Detroit over Kansas City in the completion of a suspended game.
Cabrera, who is retiring at the end of the season, homered during the second inning on Wednesday night before the game was suspended after four innings due to inclement weather. Cabrera reached base three times, scoring two runs and driving in a pair. Tyler Nevin launched a three-run homer as a pinch-hitter and Jake Rogers added a two-run shot for the Tigers.
Jonathan Bowlan, making his major league debut for the Royals, gave up Cabrera’s homer over two innings of work. Kansas City batters were limited to four hits and didn’t draw a walk.
Tigers 7, Royals 3
Spencer Torkelson’s three-run home run capped a seven-run, seventh-inning outburst, and host Detroit completed a three-game sweep of Kansas City.
Parker Meadows had three hits, a run and an RBI, while Matt Vierling supplied two hits and two RBIs. Andy Ibanez had the go-ahead hit for the Tigers, who have won four straight.
Royals starter Cole Ragans (7-5) was charged with four runs in 6 1/3 innings while striking out eight. Michael Massey hit a two-run homer for Kansas City.
Athletics 2, Twins 1
Ryan Noda homered in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie and four pitchers combined for a four-hitter as Oakland salvaged the final game of a three-game series with Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Noda led off the eighth against reliever Kenta Maeda (6-8) with his 16th home run of the season, a 404-foot blast into the plaza behind right-field bleachers for what proved to be the game-winning run.
The Twins’ Sonny Gray, named on Thursday the Game 2 starter for next week’s wild-card playoff series, left after pitching four innings and 55 pitches in his final tune-up. He allowed one run on three hits and a walk while striking out four and lowering his ERA to 2.79.
White Sox 3, Diamondbacks 1
Andrew Vaughn clubbed a two-run homer and Yoan Moncada also went deep to lead host Chicago past Arizona.
The White Sox leaned heavily on their bullpen, as four relievers combined for five hitless innings. Tanner Banks (1-4) logged a 1-2-3 fifth to pick up the win, and Bryan Shaw later retired the side in order in the ninth to notch his fourth save of the season.
Corbin Carroll went 2-for-4 with a run and Ketel Marte had a sacrifice fly for the Diamondbacks, who are in the thick of the National League wild-card race. Each team had only three hits.
Brewers 3, Cardinals 0
Corbin Burnes tossed four scoreless innings in a tune-up for the postseason to pace Milwaukee to victory over visiting St. Louis.
With the NL Central title already clinched, the Brewers were able to pull Burnes after 66 pitches with a 2-0 lead. Burnes allowed five hits, striking out four and walking one. Julio Teheran (3-5) followed with four scoreless innings, allowing one hit with four strikeouts and no walks. Christian Yelich had two hits, an RBI and a run.
Dakota Hudson (6-3) allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings, striking out three and walking three for the Cardinals.
Pirates 3, Phillies 2
Jared Triolo doubled twice and drove in two runs as visiting Pittsburgh snapped Philadelphia’s seven-game winning streak.
Luis Ortiz (5-5) allowed one run on four hits over five innings for Pittsburgh, which avoided a fourth straight loss. Dauri Moreta, Ryan Borucki and Carmen Mlodzinski followed before David Bednar worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his 38th save.
Kyle Schwarber gave Philadelphia an early lead with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first inning. The 444-foot blast was Schwarber’s 46th home run, tying his career high from last season.
Blue Jays 6, Yankees 0
Brandon Belt hit a three-run home run, right-hander Chris Bassitt pitched into the eighth inning and Toronto defeated visiting New York.
Bassitt (16-8) allowed five hits and one walk (intentional) while striking out 12 in 7 2/3 innings. After retiring the first two batters of the eighth, he was replaced when he reached 200 innings pitched on the season for the first time in his career. Yimi Garcia finished the inning.
Yankees reliever Yoendrys Gomez made his major league debut with a clean bottom of the seventh that included a strikeout. He pitched around a single and a hit batter with three strikeouts in the eighth.
–Field Level Media