Shohei Ohtani’s bid for a no-hitter ended with two outs in the eighth inning, but the Los Angeles Angels’ two-way player settled for eight scoreless innings in a 4-2 victory over the Oakland A’s on Thursday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Oakland’s Conner Capel singled to center on a 1-2 cutter with two outs in the eighth inning on Ohtani’s 95th pitch of the night to break up the no-hitter. Dermis Garcia followed with a single, but Ohtani got out of the inning when he retired Shea Langeliers on a grounder to third.
Ohtani (15-8) walked the first batter of the night, then retired 22 in a row. He struck out 10 and walked one on the mound, and he went 2-for-4 with an RBI single at the plate.
Luis Rengifo, Taylor Ward and Max Stassi homered for Los Angeles. Oakland scored twice in the ninth inning against Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera, who recorded the final out and earned his fifth save.
Mariners 10, Rangers 9 (11 innings)
J.P. Crawford singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning as Seattle outlasted visiting Texas and reduced its magic number to one for clinching an American League wild-card berth.
Mitch Haniger and Jarred Kelenic each hit two home runs for the Mariners, who need one more win or a loss by the Baltimore Orioles to snap their 20-season playoff drought, the longest current skid in the four major North American professional sports.
Marcus Semien homered twice and Sam Huff, Adolis Garcia and Nathaniel Lowe also went deep for the Rangers), who lost their second in a row and fifth in six games.
Dodgers 5, Padres 2
Miguel Vargas capped a three-run sixth inning with a two-run, tiebreaking single and Will Smith hit a solo homer in the eighth as visiting Los Angeles defeated San Diego in the rubber match of a three-game series.
The Dodgers finished the season series against the Padres with a 14-5 record. Los Angeles has won nine straight series against San Diego dating back to June 2021.
The Padres still saw their magic number for clinching a National League wild card reduced to three as both Philadelphia and Milwaukee lost on Thursday. San Diego maintains a 2 1/2-game lead over the Phillies in the race for the second of three wild cards, and the Padres have a three-game edge on the Brewers.
Giants 6, Rockies 4
Ford Proctor smacked a grand slam for his first major league home run and San Francisco beat visiting Colorado for the eighth straight time.
Carlos Rodon struck out 10 in six shutout innings for the Giants, who earned their ninth win in 10 games. By completing a three-game sweep, San Francisco (78-78) climbed back to .500 for the first time since Aug. 23.
Rodon (14-8) and Giants reliever Jharel Cotton combined to take a two-hit shutout in the ninth inning before the Rockies used a sacrifice fly from C.J. Cron, a two-run homer from Sean Bouchard and an RBI triple from Elehuris Montero to make things interesting.
Red Sox 5, Orioles 3
J.D. Martinez blasted a two-run homer in the eighth inning to lift Boston over visiting Baltimore.
Martinez added a double while Alex Verdugo and rookie Triston Casas also had multiple hits for the Red Sox, whose win over the Orioles allowed the Toronto Blue Jays to secure a postseason berth. In his first start since Aug. 12 due to right shoulder inflammation, Boston’s Nathan Eovaldi allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Stowers and Cedric Mullins had two hits apiece for the Orioles. Stowers belted a solo homer in the seventh inning and had two runs.
Guardians 2, Rays 1
Oscar Gonzalez’s two-out, tiebreaking infield single in the eighth inning rallied host Cleveland past Tampa Bay and prevented the Rays from clinching a postseason berth.
Steven Kwan’s RBI double in the eighth tied the score 1-1. Three batters later, Gonzalez fought off a slider from Shawn Armstrong (2-3) and hit a slow roller to the right of diving first baseman Ji-Man Choi to plate the go-ahead run.
The Rays threatened in the ninth when Cleveland’s Trevor Stephan walked the bases loaded, but he struck out Choi and got Isaac Paredes on a flyout to shallow right to earn his third save.
Marlins 4, Brewers 2
Avisail Garcia hit an eighth-inning grand slam against his former team to give Miami a comeback victory over host Milwaukee, denying the Brewers an opportunity to move into the final National League wild-card spot.
The Marlins loaded the bases in the eighth against Freddy Peralta (4-4) on singles by Jordan Groshans and Jon Berti and a two-out walk to Brian Anderson. Garcia, who had 29 homers last season with Milwaukee, then sent a 1-2 pitch 411 feet to center for his eighth homer.
Milwaukee remained a half-game behind the Philadelphia Phillies. The Brewers play their final six games at home, while the Phillies finish with seven on the road. Philadelphia holds the tiebreaker over Milwaukee.
Cubs 2, Phillies 0
Patrick Wisdom had two doubles and an RBI as Chicago topped Philadelphia to complete a six-game, season-series sweep.
Cubs starter Javier Assad allowed five hits and two walks while pitching into the sixth inning. Chicago scored its first run in the opening inning, and its second came in the fifth as a result of Brandon Marsh dropping a fly ball in the sun.
Bryce Harper had three hits for Philadelphia, which took its fifth consecutive defeat.
White Sox 4, Twins 3
Jose Abreu hit an RBI double off the right field wall to drive in Mark Payton with the winning run as Chicago snapped an eight-game losing streak with a win in Minneapolis.
The game was tied 3-3 when Payton led off the eighth with a popup to shallow right that bounced out of second baseman Nick Gordon’s glove for a two-base error. Abreu then drove in Payton with a double off hard-luck loser Caleb Thielbar (4-3).
Reynaldo Lopez (6-4) picked up the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Liam Hendriks earned his 34th save of the season. Minnesota’s Luis Arraez went 2-for-4 to increase his batting average to .315, moving ahead of Aaron Judge (.313) in the race for the American League batting title.
Tigers 10, Royals 3
Javier Baez belted a two-run homer and Eduardo Rodriguez tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings to lift Detroit over visiting Kansas City.
Baez had two hits and two runs while Tucker Barnhart supplied three hits, a run and two RBIs for the Tigers. Willi Castro blasted a homer before departing early due to a hamstring strain, which the team later said ended his season.
Rodriguez (5-5) allowed five hits, walked four and struck out three while collecting his second straight victory. The Tigers led 10-0 before Ryan O’Hearn hit a two-run double during a three-run eighth for the Royals.
–Field Level Media