Wild-Card Roundup: Blue Jays 2.5 games back of playoff spot after Astros' win

DETROIT -- Justin Verlander struck out seven over five scoreless innings and Kyle Tucker hit his 26th homer in the third inning, helping the Houston Astros rout the Detroit Tigers 17-4 on Sunday.

Verlander (10-6) gave up just two hits, walked two and hit three batters for career victory No. 254, pulling him into a tie for 43rd on the all-time list with Hall of Famers Jack Morris and Red Faber.

The 40-year-old, three-time Cy Young award winner pitched against one of his former teams in a ballpark where he's still adored for the second time this season. Verlander made his season debut in May with the New York Mets at Comerica Park against Detroit, which drafted him No. 2 overall in 2004 and traded him to to the Astros in 2017.

Houston reacquired Verlander, who helped the franchise win two World Series championships, nearly a month ago from the Mets to bolster its chances of contending for the AL West title or a wild card. He is 4-1 this season with the Astros and hasn't given up a run in two straight starts.

Verlander exited the game with a 3-0 lead and Houston had a seven-run cushion in the seventh after Mauricio Dubon and Martin Maldonado hit back-to-back homers off Tyler Holton, who allowed four runs and five hits in 1 2/3 innings.

The Astros and Texas Rangers are now 2.5 games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays for the final two wild-card spots.

TWINS 7, RANGERS 6 (13 INNINGS)

MINNEAPOLIS -- Jonathan Hernandez walked three batters in the 13th inning, among a season-high 10 walks by Texas pitchers, and the Rangers dropped out of first place in the AL West for the first time since early April with a loss to Minnesota.

Texas wasted a 5-0 lead built with Jonah Heim's grand slam and J.P. Martinez solo homer, and Royce Lewis started Minnesota's comeback with a fourth-inning slam.

The Rangers had held a share of first place in every day of the season except when they fell one game behind the Los Angeles Angels on April 8. Texas (73-57) has lost nine of its last 10 games, falling behind Seattle (74-56).

Minnesota overcame a 5-4 deficit in the ninth when Aroldis Chapman walked Michael A. Taylor with one out, and Taylor advanced on a disengagement violation. Donovan Solano followed with an RBI single, Chapman's fifth blown save in eight chances.

Corey Seager hit a sacrifice fly in the 12th but Jorge Polanco hit into a run-scoring forceout in the bottom half.

With Carlos Correa on second as the automatic runner, Hernandez (1-2) walked Joey Gallo on four pitches, Matt Wallner on a full count and Taylor on four pitches. The Twins won on a walk-off walk for the first time in exactly a year, since last Aug. 27 against San Francisco.

MARINERS 3, ROYALS 2

SEATTLE -- Luis Castillo pitched seven shutout innings and Seattle Mariners grabbed sole possession of first place in the AL West, beating Kansas City to complete a three-game sweep.

Teoscar Hernandez and Julio Rodriguez homered as Seattle won for the 11th time in 12 games. The Mariners also improved to a major league-best 36-14 since July 1 for its best 50-game stretch since it also went 36-14 from April 23-June 18, 2003.

Seattle (74-56) and Texas were tied for the AL West lead coming into the day, but the Rangers lost 7-6 to the Twins. Seattle trailed Texas by 7 1/2 games on Aug. 15.

It's the latest the Mariners have had sole possession of first in a season since Aug. 24, 2003.

Castillo (11-7) allowed one hit, struck out six and walked one in his fourth consecutive win. The All-Star right-hander retired his last 13 batters.

Hernandez put Seattle in front with his third homer in the past two games, hitting a 433-foot solo shot to center off rookie Alec Marsh (0-7) in the second inning. It was his 22nd homer of the season.

GUARDIANS 10, BLUE JAYS 7 (11 INNINGS)

TORONTO -- Kole Calhoun hit a tiebreaking two-run double followed by Ramon Laureano's two-run homer in the 11th inning and Cleveland edged Toronto.

The win allowed the Guardians (62-69) to snatch the three-game set from the Blue Jays (71-60) before 41,978 in attendance at Rogers Centre.

Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette left the game with a tight right quadriceps ailment after four innings. Third baseman Matt Chapman departed after the sixth with a swollen right middle finger.

Calhoun hit a rocket over Toronto right-fielder George Springer with two outs off reliever Jay Jackson (3-1). Laureano's two-run blast went out to left-centre field.

Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (2-7) gave up the game's final run on a Whit Merrifield sacrifice fly.

Blue Jays rookie infielder Davis Schneider enjoyed another strong game. He put the home side ahead 5-4 with a two-run blast to left field in the sixth inning and doubled with one out in the eighth.

DODGERS 7, RED SOX 4

BOSTON -- Mookie Betts capped his return to Boston with a second straight three-hit game, hitting a two-run homer on Sunday to spark the Los Angeles Dodgers to a victory over the team he led to the 2018 World Series title.

Freddie Freeman also had three hits, and James Outman homered to help the Dodgers improve to 21-4 in August. Gavin Stone (1-0) earned his first career victory, following opener Caleb Ferguson to the mound and holding Boston to two runs over the next six innings before giving up homers on back-to-back pitches to start the eighth.

Playing in Boston for the first time as a Red Sox opponent, Betts collected seven hits and a series of standing ovations over the three-game set, acknowledging the crowd with a wave of his batting helmet on Sunday before he led off the game with a single.

Freeman doubled him to third, but Tanner Houck (3-8) got out of inning without allowing a run. Los Angeles scored one run in the fourth and another in the fifth before Betts cleared the Green Monster in the sixth to make it 4-0.

It was his 35th homer of the season, tying a career high he set last year. He pumped his arm as he rounded the bases, with the Fenway fans saluting the 2018 AL MVP with a mixture of applause and chants of ``Mookie!''

Boston is two games behind Toronto.

RAYS 7, YANKEES 4

ST. PETERBURG, Fla. -- Brandon Lowe homered and drove in four runs as the AL wild card-leading Tampa Bay Rays beat the Yankees in a contentious matchup on Sunday and kept New York winless in series since June.

Benches and bullpens emptied twice in the eighth inning after one of five hit batters in the game but no punches were thrown, and the Yankees lost their eighth straight series rubber game,

Tampa Bay rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the sixth when Harold Ramirez flared a bases-loaded, two-out single to right off Ian Hamilton (2-2) that went just over a slow-to-react Gleyber Torres at second, and Lowe followed with a two-run single against Wandy Peralta.

New York (62-68) dropped a season-high six games under .500 and is in danger of ending its streak of 30 consecutive winning seasons. The last 16 batters made out for the Yankees, who are 0-8-2 in series since winning two of three games at Oakland in late June.

Tempers flared after Randy Arozarena was hit on a 3-1 pitch by Albert Abreu, the fourth Tampa Bay player hit in the game.

Several players had to be restrained, including Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz. Arozarena stole second and then third, resuming yelling at Abreu, and players ran onto the field for a second time.

Osleivis Basabe was hit by Carlos Rodon, Isaac Paredes and Jonathan Aranda by Hamilton, while New York's Oswald Peraza was plunked by Zach Littell. Twelve Rays batters were hit by the Yankees this season and two by the Rays.

--with files from The Canadian Press