Cardinals rally past Padres 3-2 as Machado, Tatis clash
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tyler O’Neill hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied to beat the Padres 3-2 Saturday night after San Diego stars Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. had a dugout dustup.
The Cardinals pulled 2 1/2 games ahead of the Padres for the second and final NL wild card, with Cincinnati two games back and Philadelphia also in the picture.
San Diego starter Yu Darvish dominated over seven innings, allowing three hits and striking out nine, but reliever Emilio Pagán (4-2) couldn’t get through the eighth.
Machado shouted and cursed at Tatis during a dugout tirade in the fifth. The 29-year-old Machado and 22-year-old Tatis were separated by teammates during the incident, which came at the end of the top of the fifth. They eventually made their way to their positions.
Justin Miller (1-0) earned the win.
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BREWERS 6, CUBS 4
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Manny Piña homered twice, Eduardo Escobar and Jace Peterson also connected, and Milwaukee clinched its fourth straight postseason berth.
The Brewers won for the seventh time in nine games to ensure themselves at least a wild card after San Diego and Cincinnati lost earlier in the day. Milwaukee’s magic number to lock up the NL Central title is three over St. Louis.
NL Cy Young Award contender Corbin Burnes allowed three runs and six hits over six innings, striking out 11. The right-hander gave up Ian Happ’s 23rd homer with a man on in the fifth.
Devin Williams (8-2) pitched a scoreless eighth and Josh Hader stranded a pair of runners in the ninth for his 33rd save. Scott Effross (2-1) took the loss.
BLUE JAYS 6, TWINS 2
TORONTO (AP) — Marcus Semien became the fifth second baseman to hit 40 home runs in a season, and Toronto moved back into a playoff position by beating Minnesota.
Teoscar Hernández hit a three-run homer, Bo Bichette had three hits and two RBIs and the Blue Jays improved to a big league-best 14-3 in September.
Toronto (83-65) moved a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees (83-66) for the second AL wild-card berth, one game behind Boston (85-65).
Semien homered off Bailey Ober (2-3) and joined Rogers Hornsby, Davey Johnson, Ryne Sandberg, and Brian Dozier as the only second basemen to hit 40 home runs in a season.
Steven Matz (13-7) won his fourth straight decision, allowing two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.
INDIANS 11, YANKEES 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Catcher Gary Sánchez failed to catch Oscar Mercado's foul popup, leading to a seven-run fifth inning capped by Andrés Giménez’s three-run homer.
Franmil Reyes hit an RBI double off Albert Abreu in the fifth and a two-run homer in the sixth against Andrew Heaney.
Yu Cheng put the Indians ahead with a second-inning homer off Luis Gil (1-1) and added a two-run double in the fifth against Abreu. José Ramírez hit his 34th homer in the eighth against Heaney.
Aaron Civale (11-4) pitched six scoreless innings of four-hit ball in his third start since returning from missing over two months with a sprained middle finger on his right hand.
GIANTS 2, BRAVES 0
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Curt Casali hit a two-run single in the fourth that held up, Alex Wood made an impressive three-inning return from COVID-19, and San Francisco blanked Atlanta.
Wood struck out four and didn’t walk a batter or allow a hit over three scoreless innings, throwing 37 pitches in his first start for San Francisco since Aug. 26. Zack Littell (4-0) relieved and struck out the side in the fourth.
Dominic Leone, San Francisco’s sixth reliever, earned his second save as the NL West-leading Giants maintained their two-game lead on the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the division race.
Atlanta had its NL East lead trimmed to one game after the Phillies beat the Mets.
Charlie Morton (13-6) allowed two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks over five innings. He lost for the first time in nine road starts since June 11 at Miami.
RED SOX 9, ORIOLES 3
BOSTON (AP) — Xander Bogaerts hit a three-run homer off Mike Baumann (1-1) and drove in four runs, carrying Boston to its fourth straight win.
Bobby Dalbec added a two-run double, and Hunter Renfroe and Rafael Devers each drove in a run for Boston. Bogaerts and Devers both had three hits.
Ryan Mountcastle hit his 30th homer, a two-run shot, and Austin Wynns added a solo drive for the Orioles, who lost for the 11th time in the last 12 meetings against the Red Sox after sweeping a season-opening three-game series.
Tanner Houck (1-4) pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings.
TIGERS 4, RAYS 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jeimer Candelario hit a three-run homer in the first off Ryan Yarbrough (8-6) and Dustin Garneau went deep in the second. The Rays lead the AL East by 7 1/2 games.
Tigers reliever José Ureña (4-8) allowed one run in 3 1/3 innings, on Ji-Man Choi’s double-play grounder. Michael Fulmer got his 10th save by stranding Mike Zunino on second when Brett Phillips struck out and Yandy Díaz grounded into a game-ending double play.
Jordan Luplow homered for the Rays.
DODGERS 5, REDS 1
CINCINNATI (AP) — Max Scherzer (15-4) allowed two hits in seven shutout innings, struck out seven and lowered his MLB-best ERA to 2.08, improving to 7-0 with a 0.78 ERA in nine starts since Los Angeles acquired him from Washington on July 30.
Kenley Jansen got his 34th save for the Dodgers, who began the day two games behind NL West-leading San Francisco. Cincinnati entered one game behind St. Louis for the second NL wild-card spot.
Sonny Gray (7-8) was the loser as the Dodgers took advantage of two errors by third baseman Mike Moustakas in a three-run fifth that included Gavin Lux's two-run triple.
ATHLETICS 3, ANGELS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — James Kaprielian pitched two-hit ball over six innings, Matt Olson hit his 36th home run and Oakland beat Los Angeles.
The A’s have won four consecutive games and seven of 10 in their race for the second AL wild card. They’re two games back of Toronto for the final postseason spot, with the Yankees also in the way.
Kaprielian (8-5) retired 18 of his 20 batters. He struck out five and walked none. Andrew Chafin earned his fifth save despite a shaky ninth.
Jose Suarez (7-8) had a rough start with a three-run first — all on two outs. He gave up six hits and struck out two in 5 2/3 innings.
Shohei Ohtani was 2 for 4 with a run, and Rojas had two hits .
ROCKIES 6, NATIONALS 0
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kyle Freeland (6-8) allowed seven hits and struck out seven over six innings, and Trevor Story hit a three-run homer.
Brendan Rodgers had three hits, including his 14th homer three pitches into the game for a 2-0 Colorado lead.
Patrick Corbin (8-15) gave up his league-leading 35th and 36th home runs. He allowed six runs — five earned — in four innings.
PIRATES 6, MARLINS 3
MIAMI (AP) — Catcher Nick Fortes homered and singled in his major league debut, Cole Tucker had three hits and Bryse Wilson (3-7) allowed two runs and four hits in five innings as Pittsburgh moved within a win of its first series sweep of the season.
Hoy Park had a two-run triple, and Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled twice for the Pirates, who are last in the NL Central at 56-92 and assured of winning four straight series for the first time this year.
Marlins rookie starter Edward Cabrera (0-2) allowed three runs — two earned — and six hits in four innings and threw two wild pitches, the first allowing a run to score in the first inning.
RANGERS 2, WHITE SOX 1
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — DJ Peters’ pinch-hit single drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth and Texas beat former teammate Lance Lynn (10-5) and AL Central-leading Chicago.
Chicago’s magic number over Cleveland to clinch the division remained at five.
Five Texas pitchers combined on a three-hitter in ending a three-game skid. Yasmani Grandal hit his 21st home run in the Chicago sixth.
Drew Anderson (1-1) pitched three relief innings to earn the win, and Joe Barlow worked a perfect ninth for his seventh save in eight opportunities.
Lynn gave up six hits and struck out five in 5 1/3 innings.
ROYALS 8, MARINERS 1
KANSAS CITY. Mo. (AP) — Kris Bubic allowed two hits over 6 1/3 innings in his best start this season, and Kansas City stopped a three-game skid and put a dent in Seattle's playoff chances.
Yusei Kikuchi (7-9) dropped to 0-3 in eight starts since winning at Tampa Bay at Aug. 3. He gave up three runs and eight hits, needing 86 pitches to get through three innings, and he threw three wild pitches in the first inning alone.
Seattle lost for the fifth time in seven games and dropped four games behind Toronto for the AL’s second wild-card berth with 14 games remaining.
Salvador Perez had a run-scoring single in a four-run eighth, his major league-leading 113th RBI.
Bubic (5-6) allowed one run and two hits in 6 1/3 innings, combining with Domingo Tapia, Josh Staumont and Gabe Speier on a three-hitter.
PHILLIES 5, METS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Jean Segura had his first multi-homer game in almost five years and Aaron Nola snapped a nine-start winless streak, leading Philadelphia over New York.
Bryce Harper drove in two runs to help Philadelphia win its fourth in a row and hurt the Mets’ flickering playoff hopes. The Phillies closed within one game of Atlanta in the NL East. They are 2 1/2 games in back of St. Louis for the second NL wild-card spot.
The Mets lost their fifth straight and tied a season high by falling five games under .500.
Nola (8-8) allowed four hits and walked one with nine strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. Ian Kennedy earned his 24th save. Carlos Carrasco (1-3) took the loss.
Dominic Smith had a pinch-hit RBI single and Brandon Nimmo homered for the Mets.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, ASTROS 4, 10 INNINGS
HOUSTON (AP) — Kole Calhoun knocked in the go-ahead run with an RBI single and Daulton Varsho homered as Arizona scored three runs in the 10th inning.
Calhoun hit an run-scoring single off Yimi García (3-9) and Varsho followed with a two-run homer to center.
J.B. Wendelken (3-2) pitched a perfect ninth for the win as Arizona snapped a four-game skid. Tyler Clippard picked up his sixth save.
Arizona got to Houston starter Lance McCullers, Jr. for three runs in the fourth. McCullers yielded three runs — two earned — on seven hits with eight strikeouts in six innings.
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