CHICAGO — Jameson Taillon allowed two hits over six innings, Dansby Swanson hit a 16th home run and the Chicago Cubs beat the Washington Nationals 3-1 on Friday to stave off elimination from post-season contention.
Pinch-hitter Mike Tauchman had a two-run single in the seventh for the Cubs (79-95), who have eight games left and began the day seven games behind the New York Mets and Arizona for the last NL wild card.
Washington has lost five straight games.
Taillon (11-8) struck out four, walked two and hit a batter, improving to 3-0 in his last five starts. He stranded the bases loaded in the third when José Tena lined out and he retired his last 10 batters.
TWINS 4, RED SOX 2, 12 INNINGS
BOSTON — Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner both had RBI singles in the 12th inning and Minnesota beat Boston to move into the AL’s third and final wild-card spot.
Winning for just the sixth time in their last 17 games, the Twins moved a game ahead Detroit, which lost 8-1 to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.
Trevor Story drove a run with an RBI single for the Red Sox, who are 7-14 in their last 21 games and trail the Twins by five games with eight to play. They are also behind the Tigers and Seattle.
Red Sox rookie right-hander Richard Fitts became the first in club history — and only the majors’ second since 1901 — to not allow an earned run over five innings or more in his first three big league starts. He gave up five hits with three strikeouts and a walk over five shutout innings.
PHILLIES 12, METS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Alec Bohm had four hits and four RBIs, including a three-run homer, and Philadelphia wrapped up their third straight playoff berth in style by blowing out New York.
Nick Castellanos had three hits and two RBIs, J.T. Realmuto added a two-run homer and the Phillies (92-62) extended their NL East lead to seven games over the second-place Mets (85-69) with eight to play.
Assured at least a National League wild card, the Phillies can secure their first division title since 2011 with one more win this weekend against the rival Mets at Citi Field.
Philadelphia’s victory coupled with Atlanta’s 4-3 loss in Miami eliminated the Braves from contention for the NL East crown — ending their six-year reign atop the division.
MARINERS 8, RANGERS 2
ARLINGTON, Texas — Julio Rodríguez homered twice to drive in five runs, George Kirby went six innings for his 13th victory and the AL wild card-chasing Mariners beat Texas.
Rodríguez put the Mariners (79-75) ahead to stay with his three-run homer in the fifth off Jack Leiter, who relieved Jacob deGrom after the two-time Cy Young Award winner made his first home start in nearly 17 months after elbow surgery.
Seattle remained two games behind Minnesota for the third and final wild card after the Twins beat Boston 4-2 in 12 innings. The Mariners stayed five back of Houston in the AL West with eight games remaining, three in Houston.
Rodríguez tied a career high for RBIs with his first multihomer game this season. His first homer put Seattle up 4-2, and he went deep off the rookie right-hander again in the seventh with a two-run shot the opposite way to right field for his 18th of the year.
Kirby (13-11) beat the reigning World Series champions again, five days after facing the minimum 21 batters over seven scoreless innings at home against them. The 26-year-old right-hander is 7-0 with a 1.15 ERA in nine career starts against Texas. He struck out four without a walk this time while allowing two runs on five hits.
ASTROS 9, ANGELS 7
HOUSTON — Kyle Tucker had four hits, including a home run, and Jake Meyers and Alex Bregman both hit home runs while combining for six RBIs to help Houston beat Los Angeles.
The victory dropped Houston’s magic number to clinch the AL West to four.
Bregman’s two-run shot put the Astros up 3-1 in the third. Meyers stretched the lead to 6-1 with his three-run home run with two outs in the inning.
The Angels scored three runs in the fifth to get within 8-6 before Tucker’s solo shot to the bullpen in right-centre made it 9-6 in the sixth. He went 4 for 5 to tie a career high in hits.
Kevin Pillar, who was reinstated from the injured list Friday, hit a solo homer in the seventh inning for the Angels but Houston’s bullpen shut Los Angeles down the rest of the way.
GUARDIANS 5, CARDINALS 1
CLEVELAND — José Ramírez had three hits including his 36th home run, drove in two and stole his 40th base as Cleveland beat St. Louis to move closer to the AL Central crown.
Ben Lively (13-9) pitched five innings, allowing just one earned run and three hits while striking out two and walking one. It was his third consecutive start of allowing fewer than two runs.
Erik Sabrowski gave up two hits in 2 1/3 innings for the first save of his professional career.
Andrés Giménez and Lane Thomas added solo home runs for the Guardians. Thomas, who began his career in St. Louis, hit his first homer at Busch Stadium since Sept. 10, 2020.
ORIOLES 7, TIGERS 1
BALTIMORE — Colton Cowser hit his 21st and 22nd home runs, James McCann added his sixth and seventh and the Orioles went deep a season-high five times in a win over Detroit.
With the win, the Orioles were 3 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East standings but moved to 3 1/2 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals for the top spot in the AL wild card.
Detroit dropped 1/2 game behind the Minnesota Twins for the final AL wild-card spot.
Anthony Santander contributed his 43rd round-tripper — his second in as many games — off Tigers opener Tyler Holton (7-2) as the Orioles won consecutive games for the first time in more than two weeks.
Corbin Burnes (15-8) pitched seven shutout innings to lower his ERA to 2.95 as the Orioles opened a three-game set against one of baseball’s hottest teams. The Tigers had won their previous four and nine of their last 11 entering Friday.
MARLINS 4, BRAVES 3
MIAMI — Jake Burger singled and doubled, helping Miami dent Atlanta’s playoff chances with a victory.
The Braves (83-71) entered Friday two games back for the last NL wild-card spot.
Kyle Stowers also singled and doubled for Miami (57-97), on track for its worst record since going 57-105 in 2019.
Valente Bellozo (3-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings and Anthony Bender, Lake Bachar, Declan Cronin and Jesus Tinoco combined for two-hit relief. Tinoco got three straight outs for his second save.
Charlie Morton (8-9) gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings and threw a run-scoring wild pitch. He is 0-2 in his last three starts.
PADRES 3, WHITE SOX 2
SAN DIEGO — Lenyn Sosa hit a tying two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning, but Chicago lost their 118th game when Fernando Tatis Jr.’s run-scoring double leading off the 10th lifted San Diego to a victory.
Chicago (36-118) needs to go 7-1 in its final eight games to avoid the post-1900 record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets. The White Sox are one loss from tying the American League record set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers and despite the comeback dropped to 0-100 when trailing after eight innings. Chicago is 9-47 since the All-Star break.
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the major league loss record at 20-134.
San Diego (88-66) maintained a two-game lead over Arizona for the top NL wild card.
YANKEES 4, ATHLETICS 2, 10 INNINGS
OAKLAND, Calif. — Gerrit Cole tuned up for the post-season by holding the Athletics to one run in nine innings and Juan Soto came off the bench to hit an RBI double in the 10th, giving New York a win in the opener of the final scheduled homestand ever in Oakland.
Cole (7-5) was sharp after getting hit had last Saturday in a loss to Boston, allowing two hits and one walk. He struck out seven and needed just 99 pitches to get past the sixth inning for the first time since shutting out Toronto in his final start of 2023.
Cole got the win thanks in part to a rare pinch-hit appearance from Soto, who was scratched from the starting lineup with a sore left leg after sliding into a wall in Seattle on Thursday.
After a passed ball by Shea Langeliers allowed the go-ahead run to score in the 10th, Soto delivered his big hit off T.J. McFarland (2-4) for a 3-1 lead. Soto is 2 for 10 with four RBIs in 13 career pinch-hit appearances.
DODGERS 6, ROCKIES 4
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani set a major league record by homering and stealing a base for the 14th time in the same game and Los Angeles rallied to beat last-place Colorado.
The win reduced the NL West-leading Dodgers’ magic number to four to clinch the division. Los Angeles is already assured of a post-season berth.
Ohtani’s 52nd homer and 52nd stolen base allowed him to break the previous mark of 13 games set by Rickey Henderson in 1986 with the New York Yankees.
Teoscar Hernández hit a go-ahead homer leading off the sixth inning that gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.
The Dodgers tacked on two runs in the seventh. Pinch-hitter Tommy Edman scored on Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly. Ohtani reached on an infield single to first base and then stole second. He was safe at third on a throwing error by centre fielder Sam Hilliard and scored on Hernandez’s infield single.
REDS 8, PIRATES 3
CINCINNATI — Elly De La Cruz joined Vince Coleman and Rickey Henderson to become the third player to steal 100 bases in his first two seasons since the modern rule was adopted in 1898, and Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh to assure the Pirates their sixth straight losing season and 28th in 34 years.
Tyler Stephenson tied his career high with five RBIs and Nick Martinez (10-6) won his fourth straight start, allowing two hits in six scoreless innings. Martinez struck out nine, his most since June 11, 2022, and walked none.
De La Cruz swiped second base in the fifth inning and scored on Stephenson’s single for a 7-0 lead, his 65th stolen base this season. The 22-year-old is hitting .260 with 24 homers and 70 RBIs this year after batting .235 with 13 homers, RBIs and 35 steals in 98 games as a rookie.
He became the first player with 30 homers and 100 steals in his first two seasons.
GIANTS 2, ROYALS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City’s late-season losing streak stretched to five on Friday night with a loss to San Francisco, who got three hits from Heliot Ramos.
Kansas City dropped four games behind Baltimore for the first AL wild card spot and saw its lead cut to one game over Minnesota for the second of the three wild cards.
Mason Black (1-4) pitched shutout ball over a career-high 5 2/3 innings for already eliminated San Francisco, limiting the Royals to four hits. Camilo Doval allowed Garrett Hampson’s sacrifice fly before striking out Tommy Pham with runners on second and third to get his 23rd save in 28 chances.
DIAMONDBACKS 7, BREWERS 4
MILWAUKEE — Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a tiebreaking homer in his return from the injured list as Arizona bounced back after blowing a four-run lead and beat Milwaukee.
The Diamondbacks moved into sole possession of the NL’s second wild-card spot by taking a one-game lead over the New York Mets, who lost 12-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Atlanta Braves, who lost 4-3 at Miami, are three games behind the Diamondbacks and two games behind the Mets.
Milwaukee already has clinched the NL Central title.
Arizona’s Ketel Marte hit his 33rd homer – setting a new career high – and also doubled and singled. William Contreras went 4 for 5 with a homer and Garrett Mitchell and Joey Ortiz also went deep for the Brewers.
RAYS 1, BLUE JAYS 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jonathan Aranda homered, six Tampa Bay pitchers combined on a five-hitter, and the Rays beat Toronto.
Aranda went deep against José Berríos (14-10) with one out in the sixth inning.
The loss ended Berríos’ seven-start winning streak, during which he had a 1.51 ERA. The right-hander allowed one run, six hits, one walk and had six strikeouts in six innings.
After Rays starter Tyler Alexander gave up two hits over 4 1/3 innings, Kevin Kelly (4-2) extended his scoreless streak to 22 innings after going 1 2/3 innings. Manuel Rodríguez worked out of a second-and-third jam in the seventh. Edwin Uceta and Colin Poche combined to get through the eighth before Hunter Bigge worked the ninth to get his first save.