AL Wild-Card Roundup: Blue Jays alone in second spot as Mariners lose again

TAMPA — The Seattle Mariners are happy to be going home.

Zach Eflin tied for the American League lead with his 14h win, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Mariners 6-3 on Sunday to take three of four in a series between playoff contenders.

Tampa Bay has a 7 1/2-game lead over Toronto for the top AL wild card and 8 1/2-game advantage over Seattle, which is in the final wild card spot. The Rays started play four games behind Baltimore in the AL East, while Seattle trailed AL West-leading Houston by 1 1/2 games.

Seattle completed a 10-game trip that also included stops at the New York Mets and Cincinnati at 3-7.

“Not the way we wanted to end the road trip,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. "It will be good to get home. It's been a long trip. Long flight tonight, but we'll get after it tomorrow. against the Angels.

“We'll be energized tomorrow,” Servais added. “Us and about 40,000 of our dearest friends hopefully will be at the ballpark to get behind us. We need it. We're dragging a little bit.”

Eflin (14-8) lasted five innings for the second consecutive start, allowing three runs and seven hits. At one point in the fourth and fifth, six of nine batters had hits off the right-hander.

Seattle went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position against Eflin, and 2 for 11 overall. Seattle was 5 for 30 during the series.

“Pretty spotty, honestly,” Efiin said. “I think I made pitches when I needed to."

Eflin set a franchise record with his 11th home victory in a single season. He matched Toronto's Chris Bassitt and Baltimore's Kyle Gibson with his 14th win.

Four pitchers combined for scoreless, two-hit relief, with Pete Fairbanks working the ninth to for his 21st save in 23 chances. The Rays' bullpen has not allowed an earned run in its last 21 2/3 innings.

“Bullpen was absolutely lights out,” Eflin said.

It took the Rays just 11 pitches to score three times in the first off Bryce Miller (8-5). Yandy Díaz had a leadoff single, Brandon Lowe walked, Harold Ramírez hit a two-run double and Josh Lowe had a run-scoring doulble.

“I think our pitchers are the best in the league, starters and bullpen,” Josh Lowe said. “For us to give them an early lead and let them do the rest the rest of the game is huge.”

Luke Raley made it 5-0 on a third-inning, two-run double.

Miller gave up five runs and nine hits over five innings.

“Bryce Miller today, big growth moment for him,” Servais said. “I thought early in the game, certainly the first inning, they were on him. Then he did exactly what he needed to do, he flipped the script. He shut them down. He got the last nine hitters out and gave us a chance.”

Seattle got run-scoring singles from Josh Rojas and Sam Haggerty in the fourth. Eugenio Suárez had a fifth-inning sacrifice fly.

BLUE JAYS 5, ROYALS 2

Kevin Kiermaier was so fired up after Toronto's wild 5-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday he had to speak directly to Blue Jays fans.

During his post-game interview, Kiermaier grabbed the microphone from Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling and started addressing the 35,275 fans at Rogers Centre.

He announced that Toronto has worked all year to reach the post-season and that the Blue Jays are going to do it.

Kiermaier did his part to keep Toronto in the American League's wild-card chase in the win, hitting a home run in the seventh inning to give the Blue Jays (80-63) their first lead of the game.

"We've just got to keep doing what we're doing," Kiermaier later told reporters. "We're showing up, ready to work. Taking everything day by day.

"We've got great energy right now. We're clicking at the right time. We just want to keep this thing going."

Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggio added RBI singles in the eighth inning as Toronto completed a three-game sweep of the Royals.

The Blue Jays now hold the AL's second wild card berth, a game up on Seattle after the Mariners lost to the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 on Sunday.

The Texas Rangers topped the Oakland Athletics 9-4 to sit a game behind Seattle.

Toronto hosts the Rangers in a pivotal four-game series starting Monday.

"We know we're playing a team who's in the wild card hunt as well," said Kiermaier. "We've got to play great baseball from here on out because our opponents are all in the thick of it, in a somewhat similar boat as us.

"But we're in a great position right now and life is all about taking advantage of opportunities."

José Berríos (10-10) struck out seven and allowed just two runs over seven innings. He gave up five hits before Yimi Garcia, Genesis Cabrera and Jordan Romano of Markham, Ont., took the mound.

Romano earned his 34th save despite loading the bases.

"We know where we are right now," said Berríos. "Every game counts, every pitch, every out."

Bobby Witt Jr. had an RBI double as Kansas City (44-100) dropped its fourth straight. Salvador Perez hit into a fielder's choice to score another run.

Cole Ragans was solid, pitching one-hit ball with six strikeouts for 5 2/3 innings. But he gave up six walks, including three in the sixth inning when Ragans imploded to give up two runs.

Taylor Clarke (2-5), Collin Snider and Jackson Kowar came out of the visitors' bullpen.

Royals centre-fielder Kyle Isbel led off the sixth with a triple. Witt capitalized on Isbel's extra-base hit, doubling for a 1-0 lead.

Witt stole third during the next at bat, getting into position to score when Perez hit into a fielder's choice for a 2-0 Royals lead.

But Ragans fell to pieces in the bottom of the inning.

With two outs, Ragans issued back-to-back walks to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Davis Schneider.

He then threw three consecutive wild pitches to Alejandro Kirk, with Guerrero scoring on the second and Schneider plating on the third to tie it 2-2.

Ragans's fourth pitch to Kirk wasn't wild, but it was well above the strike zone, allowing the Toronto catcher to reach base. Ragans was then pulled in favour of Clarke.

After the game Ragans said that the cleat on his lead foot was catching the dirt on the mound.

"I’ve never seen it, never had it happen to me. I don’t know. Just kind of a freak accident," said Ragans. "It’s pretty aggravating."

Berríos said he had no problem with the mound, pitching an inning longer than Ragans.

"Oh my God, no, never see that before," said Berríos. "I don't know what happened there.

"He was dealing all day long and then in that inning he started throwing the ball over the fence."

Kiermaier rode that momentum shift in the seventh with his eighth home run of the season.

He said the Blue Jays knew they could take advantage of the Kansas City bullpen with Ragans out of the game.

"The way we did tie it up, I don't think anyone envisioned that," said Kiermaier. "But that's why we play 27 outs and that's what makes this game so great.

"You never know what's going to happen and thankfully, little bit of luck was on our side today."

Espinal laid down a bunt for a base hit in the eighth, allowing pinch-runner Daulton Varsho to score. Cavan Biggio followed that up with a single to left field to score Merrifield for the 5-2 lead.

RANGERS 9, ATHLETICS 4

ARLINGTON, Texas — Marcus Semien homered twice among his four hits, Corey Seager went deep for the 30th time this season and the Texas Rangers won consecutive games for the first time in September, beating the last-place Oakland Athletics 9-4 on Sunday.

Andrew Heaney (10-6), the odd man out of the Rangers rotation with All-Star right-hander Nathan Eovaldi back from the injured list, struck out six over 3 2/3 scoreless innings after taking over for Jon Gray in the third. It was the first relief appearance for the left-hander after 27 starts this season.

Semien matched his career high with four hits for the second time in four games. He set a franchise record with his eighth leadoff homer this season, part of a three-run first inning off rookie right-hander Luis Medina (3-9). Semien hit another solo shot in the sixth and Seager homered on the next pitch to cap a four-run outburst that inning.

Semien, the only Rangers player to start all 142 games, leads the AL with 166 hits and 109 runs scored. He has 24 homers and 87 RBIs.

With 20 games remaining, the Rangers (78-64) stayed three games behind AL West-leading Houston (82-62), which swept them in three games in their previous series. They moved within .003 of division foe Seattle (79-64) for the American League’s third and final wild-card spot after the Mariners lost at Tampa Bay, and are 1 1/2 games behind Toronto (80-63) for the second spot.

The Rangers, who won for only the sixth time in their last 22 games, had a 3 1/2-game division lead before that slide. They open a four-game road series against the Blue Jays on Monday.

Tyler Soderstrom, one of six rookies in the A’s batting order, homered leading off the third inning. Gray was gone after giving up consecutive two-out walks and then back-to-back RBI singles by Seth Brown and Jordan Diaz that tied the game at 3. The go-ahead run scored on third baseman Josh Smith's fielding error.

Nathaniel Lowe put the Rangers ahead to stay with his two-out single in the fifth. An inning later, before Semien and Seager went back-to-back, Smith had an RBI triple and scored on rookie Evan Carter's sacrifice fly for his first career RBI.

After Lowe was hit by a pitch in the first, Mitch Garver doubled into the left-field corner and Robbie Grossman drove them both home with ground-rule double that bounced over the center-field wall for a 3-0 lead.

ASTROS 12, PADRES 2

HOUSTON — Kyle Tucker hit a pair of RBI triples in an eight-run sixth inning, Jose Altuve homered and drove in three runs, and the AL West-leading Houston Astros routed the San Diego Padres 12-2 on Sunday.

Houston has won five of six and opened a 2 1/2-game AL West lead over Seattle, which lost to Tampa Bay 6-3. The defending champion Astros are a season-high 20 games over .500 at 82-62.

“It’s time to capitalize,” Chas McCormick said. “I feel like we’ve been playing some pretty good ball. We’re excited. We’re as healthy as we can be right now, and if we get the ball rolling, we can take this division. It’s going to come down to the end, so we just have to make sure we win every game possible.”

Tucker became the first Houston player to triple twice in an inning, getting hits off Tim Hill and Rich Hill. He is the first major leaguer to do it since Colorado’s Cory Sullivan on April 9, 2006, at San Diego.

“I think having the opportunity to bat twice in the same inning is nice just with all the other guys putting together quality at bats and having the opportunity to get back up,” Tucker said. “Then, putting the ball in play and doing the most with it.”

José Abreu and Yainer Diaz hit RBI singles, Altuve was hit by a pitch, catcher Luis Campusano made a run-scoring error and Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman hit sacrifice flies as the Astros sent 12 batters to the plate.

Houston has scored at least six runs in each of its last 19 wins.

“We’re just confident right now,” McCormick said. “Offensively, we know we can do a good job up there. We have a mix of veterans and some young guys. A lot of veterans control the plate really well. It’s a tough lineup to get through, all nine of us. We definitely feel really good up there.”

Tucker also walked in the fourth, stole two bases and then scored on an error by third baseman Eguy Rosario.

Houston won its first home series since taking two of three from the Angels from Aug. 11-13.

YANKEES 4, BREWERS 3 (13 innings)

NEW YORK — Milwaukee rookie Sal Frelick preserved a no-hit bid with a leaping catch in the 10th inning that kept the game scoreless, the New York Yankees rallied to beat Brewers 4-3 on Sunday when Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer in the 12th and Kyle Higashioka hit a winning double in the 13th.

After Corbin Burnes pitched eight hitless innings and Devin Williams worked a 1-2-3 ninth. With two on in the 10th against Abner Uribe, one the automatic runner the other on a walk, Anthony Volpe hit a drive to right and Frelick made a lights-out catch. He leaped against the wall, knocking out the lights on the video board, and caught the ball as he elbowed center fielder Joey Wiemer in the mouth.

Tyrone Taylor hit a run-scoring single in the 11th off Nick Ramirez and with Milwaukee bidding for the first 11-inning no-hitter in major league history, Oswaldo Cabrera hit a tying RBI double with one out off Joel Payamps.

Joey Wiemer had an RBI double and Andrew Monasterio a sacrifice fly off Ramirez in the 12th, but Stanton homered off Andrew Chafin in the bottom half and Higashioka doubled in the 13th off Hoby Milner (2-1), a drive over Taylor in left that scored automatic runner Everson Pereira for Higashioka's first walk-off hit.

New York won despite being held to three hits for the 13th time, matching the 1913 for the most in Yankees history.

Anthony Misiewicz (2-0) pitched around a walk in a hitless 13th, combining with Gerrit Cole, Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle and Ramirez on a six-hitter. New York ended a streak of seven straight extra-inning losses, one shy of the team record.

Burnes struck out seven and walked two in eight innings, throwing 70 of 109 pitches for strikes. Burnes’ pitch count was one shy of his season high and six short of his career high.

The 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner retired his first 12 hitters before walking Giancarlo Stanton on his 54th pitch. Burnes, a 28-year-old right-hander, has not thrown a complete game in 103 big league starts.

Cole allowed three hits in seven innings, lowering his AL-leading ERA to 2.79, Cole struck out nine and walked none, and with 204 strikeouts became the Yankees pitcher with three 200-strikeout seasons.

RED SOX 7, ORIOLES 3

BOSTON — Triston Casas hit a three-run homer and the Boston Red Sox averted a three-game sweep with a rain-delayed 7-3 victory over AL-best Baltimore on Sunday that halted the Orioles’ seven-game winning streak.

Reese McGuire added an RBI triple and Rafael Devers a run-scoring single for the Red Sox, who stopped their four-game losing streak. Boston is six games behind Seattle for the last AL wild card, also trailing Texas by 5 1/2 games.

Closing in on their first playoff berth since 2016 and looking for their first division title in nine years, the Orioles lead second-place Tampa Bay by three games in the AL East.

Adam Frazier had a two-run triple for Baltimore, which finished a 7-2 trip.

After a 42-minute delay at the start, much of the game was played in light rain, and there was a 1:28 delay with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.

With Boston leading 4-3 in the sixth, Casas sent a cut fastball from Cole Irvin into the first row of seats above the Green Monster for his 24th homer. Ceddanne Rafaela reached when he grounded into a forceout, and Rafael Devers’ grounder went through first baseman Ryan O’Hearn's legs for an error.

A day after getting 23 hits in a 13-12 loss, the Red Sox wiped out a 3-0 deficit with two runs in each of the third and fourth innings against Grayson Rodriguez (5-4).

Brayan Bello (12-8) worked five innings, giving up three runs and seven hits.

Boston's runs in the third scored when third baseman Ramón Urías tried to backhand Trevor Story’s medium-speed grounder and the ball rolled under his glove and into the left-field corner for a two-base error.

McGuire tripled into the center-field triangle in the fourth and scored on Devers’ infield single off Urías’ glove on a hard liner.

Baltimore went ahead 3-0 in the second when Frazier tripled after Aaron Hicks’ RBI single.

METS 2, TWINS 0

MINNEAPOLIS — DJ Stewart hit a two-run double in the ninth inning and the New York Mets overcame a career-high 14 strikeouts by Minnesota starter Pablo López to beat the Twins 2-0 on Sunday and avoid a three-game sweep.

López went eight innings for the Twins, who began the day with a 7 1/2-game lead in the AL Central over Cleveland.

Stewart doubled to right-center off reliever Griffin Jax (6-9), who took over for López in the ninth. Francisco Lindor led off with a bloop double and Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch — the third time a Mets batter was plunked in the game. Stewart connected on a full count two batters later.

“I knew he was a good pitcher, but he left one over the plate for me to hit,” said Stewart, who returned Saturday after missing three games with lower back stiffness. “I don’t get that situation if (Lindor) doesn’t hustle out of the box.”

New York left-hander Brooks Raley (1-2) struck out two in the eighth to earn the win. Adam Ottavino allowed a leadoff double in the ninth to Carlos Correa but held on for his ninth save.

Stewart struck out in his first three at-bats Sunday, all against López. With two strikes on him against Jax, Stewart delivered the biggest hit of the game.

“You’ve got an opportunity to take a challenging day and turn it into something good,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “I was really proud of him like I was for (Lindor) running the ball out and being on second."

Stewart is batting .323 (21 for 65) with 10 homers and 21 RBIs over his last 18 games.

López was brilliant, getting his 200th strikeout of the season when he fanned Lindor in the first. The right-hander became the ninth Twins pitcher to accomplish that feat, and the ninth Venezuelan-born pitcher in major league history to do so.

“It feels really good," López said. "I think for starters, when you think 200 innings, 200 strikeouts, that's one of the main goals every starter has going into the season. So to be able to reach the strikeout mark means a lot.”

López walked off the mound to a standing ovation after his 106th pitch ended the eighth. His 14 strikeouts marked the most by a Twins starter since Francisco Liriano whiffed 15 against Oakland on July 13, 2012.

The only two hits López allowed were a single by Brandon Nimmo to open the game and a third-inning single by Francisco Álvarez. López had multiple strikeouts in six of his eight innings.

“It was just beyond dominant,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He attacked them all, and he was able to get swings and misses against them all."

Mets starter Tylor Megill held Minnesota to two hits in five innings. He walked four but allowed only one runner to reach third base.

The shutout was the sixth of the year for the Mets. Minnesota has been blanked 10 times.