SAN DIEGO — Rookie Jackson Merrill homered off Edwin Díaz with one out in the ninth to lift San Diego to a dramatic win against New York and a split of a four-game series between teams in playoff contention.
Merrill gestured toward the Padres’ dugout and slapped five with Jurickson Profar, who hit a tying two-run shot in the eighth, before beginning his trot. He was greeted by a wild celebration after touching home. It was Merrill’s 19th.
Díaz fell to 5-2.
Robert Suarez (8-1) pitched the ninth for the win.
The Padres are in the NL’s second wild-card spot, while the Mets trail Atlanta for the third spot. New York now heads to Arizona for a three-game series against the Diamondbacks, who have surged into the top spot by winning six straight games.
DIAMONDBACKS 7, RED SOX 5
BOSTON — Eugenio Suárez hit a go-ahead three-run homer over the Green Monster, and the charging Arizona Diamondbacks rallied past the Boston Red Sox 7-5 on Sunday for their sixth straight victory to complete a three-game sweep.
Holding the NL’s top wild-card spot, the Diamondbacks (75-56) reached a season-high 19 games over .500 by winning for the 34th time in 47 games. Geraldo Perdomo hooked a solo homer around the Pesky Pole, estimated at just 319 feet.
Suárez, who went 4 for 4, had a key two-run double off the Monster on Saturday and grand slam over it in Friday’s series opener.
Rafael Devers hit his 200th career homer, a three-run shot, to become the 11th player in Red Sox history to reach that mark. Triston Casas and Tyler O’Neill both added a solo shot for Boston, which fell to 29-35 in games at Fenway Park.
It was the Diamondbacks’ second sweep in Fenway, the first came in the club’s initial trip to Boston in June 2002.
NATIONALS 5, BRAVES 1
ATLANTA — DJ Herz struck out eight in five sparkling innings, and Washington beat Atlanta to avoid a three-game sweep.
CJ Abrams had two hits and two RBIs for Washington. Jacob Young also had two hits and scored two runs.
Herz allowed one hit — Orlando Arcia’s second-inning single — and walked three in his 14th major league start. Jacob Barnes (8-2) pitched an inning for the win, and Kyle Finnegan got four outs for his 32nd save.
Herz had a rocky 27-pitch first inning, when walked two and hit a batter, but he settled down from there.
Matt Olson hit his 22nd homer for Atlanta, which had won six of seven. The Braves finished with three hits.
GUARDIANS 4, RANGERS 2
CLEVELAND — Jhonkensy Noel homered again and Matthew Boyd pitched six effective innings in his first win in more than a year, helping Cleveland beat Texas.
Noel hit a solo shot in the second against Cody Bradford (4-2), a towering 413-foot drive to center. It was the 12th homer for the 23-year-old rookie since his June 26 debut, matching Russell Branyan for the most by a Cleveland player in his first 41 games.
Boyd (1-0) allowed one run and three hits in his third start in his comeback from Tommy John surgery. The left-hander struck out four in his first win since June 21, 2023, for Detroit against Kansas City.
Corey Seager hit a solo homer for Texas against Hunter Gaddis in the eighth, but David Fry answered in the bottom half with a drive off Matt Festa.
Emmanuel Clase struck out the side in the ninth for his AL-high 38th save. It was Clase’s first save since Aug. 13 and his 25th straight conversion.
MARLINS 7, CUBS 2
MIAMI — Connor Norby homered, doubled and singled, and Miami snapped a five-game losing streak with a victory over Chicago.
Jesús Sánchez also went deep and Jonah Bride had two hits for the Marlins, who began Sunday with an NL-worst record of 46-83.
Marlins starter Adam Oller allowed one run and four hits over 5 2/3 innings. Oller (1-1) retired 11 straight before Cody Bellinger’s one-out walk in the sixth. Called up from Triple-A on Monday, Oller walked two and struck out six.
Javier Assad (6-4) limited Miami to three runs and six hits in a season-high seven innings. The right-hander walked one and struck out three.
The Marlins broke it open with a four-run eighth against reliever Julian Merryweather. Bride hit an RBI single and Otto López and Kyle Stowers followed with run-scoring doubles. Derek Hill capped the outburst with an RBI single.
BLUE JAYS 8, ANGELS 2
TORONTO — Addison Barger and Alejandro Kirk hit two-run home runs, Kevin Gausman matched a season-high by striking out 10 and Toronto beat Los Angeles to complete a sweep of the seven-game season series.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached base four times and drove in a pair of runs as the Blue Jays won for the 11th time in 13 meetings with Los Angeles. Guerrero had two hits and the Angels intentionally walked him twice.
Brandon Drury hit a solo home run for the Angels, his second of the season, but Los Angeles lost its fifth straight game and 13th of 16.
Barger homered off right-hander Hunter Strickland in the sixth inning and Kirk extended Toronto’s lead by connecting off lefty Matt Moore in the seventh. It was the fifth homer of the season for both.
Barger went 2 for 3 with a walk and homered for the second time in the series. His ninth-inning shot on Friday gave Toronto a 5-4 win.
Gausman (12-9) pitched seven innings, retiring the first nine batters in order and winning for the sixth time in eight starts. He allowed one run and two hits and didn’t walk a batter.
PIRATES 4, REDS 3
PITTSBURGH — Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, sending Pittsburgh to a victory over Cincinnati.
Bryan De La Cruz was hit by a pitch from Alexis Díaz (1-4) before Grandal connected for his seventh homer — a drive into the first row above the Clemente Wall in right field. It was Grandal’s fourth career game-ending homer.
Aroldis Chapman (5-4) handled the ninth for the win. Elly De La Cruz reached on a leadoff single, but Chapman picked him off before striking out Tyler Stephenson and TJ Friedl.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa had three hits for Pittsburgh, which won three of four in the series.
YANKEES 10, ROCKIES 3
NEW YORK— Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer in the first inning to become the fifth player with three 50-homer seasons and went deep again in the seventh as New York routed Colorado.
Judge reached 50 in New York’s 131st game. Two years ago when he hit 62 to break Roger Maris’ single-season AL mark, Judge reached 50 in the Yankees’ 129th contest.
After not homering for a fifth straight game Saturday, Judge reached the milestone when he hit an 0-2 changeup from Austin Gomber (4-9) and lifted it into the Colorado bullpen beyond the left-center field fence to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
Judge joined Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez as the only players with three 50-homer seasons. Ruth, McGwire and Sosa had four 50-homer seasons while Rodriguez had two with Texas and another for the Yankees in 2007.
It also was Judge’s 18th homer in the first inning this season, tying Rodriguez (2001) for the single-season record in an opening inning, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
TIGERS 9, WHITE SOX 4
CHICAGO — Andy Ibáñez homered and had three RBIs as Detroit sent Chicago to their 100th loss with a victory.
Andrew Vaughn doubled, homered and had two RBIs for the White Sox (31-100), who need to go 12-19 to avoid tying the 1962 New York Mets, who were 40-120-1, for the modern major league record for most losses in a season. Chicago will fall short of the all-time record held by the Cleveland Spiders, who finished 20-134 in 1899.
In MLB history, only the 1916 Philadelphia A’s, who were 29-100-1, reached 100 losses in fewer games than the White Sox.
Colt Keith had three hits and three RBIs for the Tigers (65-66), who have won four of five.
Chicago has lost 100 or more games six times in franchise history and in consecutive seasons for the first time. They went 61-101 last season under manager Pedro Grifol, who was fired Aug. 8. Chicago is 3-11 under interim manager Grady Sizemore.
CARDINALS 3, TWINS 2
MINNEAPOLIS — Lars Nootbaar hit a two-run single with two out in the ninth inning, and St. Louis rallied past the Minnesota Twins for a win.
Victor Scott II homered for St. Louis, which has won four of five overall.
Willi Castro went deep and Royce Lewis hit an RBI double for Minnesota, which trails AL Central-leading Cleveland by three games.
Nolan Arenado began the Cardinals’ winning rally with a one-out single against Jhoan Duran (6-7). Brendan Donovan then hit a grounder to second baseman Edouard Julien, who threw the ball into left field while trying to start a game-ending double play.
Pinch-runner José Fermín raced to third and Donovan took second. After Tommy Phan struck out looking, Nootbaar bounced a grounder into left field.
Shawn Armstrong (3-2) got two outs for the win, and Ryan Helsley worked the ninth for his 40th save.
PHILLIES 11, ROYALS 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kyle Schwarber had two hits and three RBIs and Garrett Stubbs had a career-best four hits to lead Philadelphia to a win over Kansas City.
After Garrett Stubbs opened the third inning with a triple into the right-field corner, Schwarber hit a double to right-center. Alex Bohm’s two-out hit scored Schwarber, giving the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
Schwarber added RBIs on a bases-loaded grounder in the fourth and a run-scoring single that capped a three-run sixth inning.
The Phillies scored five runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by Bohm’s two-run single and Nick Castellanos’ two-run homer, his 17th of the season.
Philadelphia’s Kolby Allard (2-0), recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley before Sunday’s game, worked five innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with five strikeouts.
Kansas City’s Seth Lugo (14-8) allowed six runs, five earned, on 11 hits.
DODGERS 3, RAYS 1
LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Los Angeles beat Tampa Bay to take the weekend series.
After Shohei Ohtani was hit in the left wrist on a sinker by Richard Lovelady (3-5), Betts drove the first pitch he saw from the left-hander over the wall in left-center to put the Dodgers back on top.
Kiké Hernández opened the scoring with his ninth homer in the fifth inning, helping the NL West leaders improve to 5-1 on their nine-game homestand. Next up is a three-game series against Baltimore.
Blake Treinen (6-3) got three outs for the win after Gavin Stone struck out seven in seven innings for the Dodgers.
Stone’s only mistake occurred in the seventh when Jonny DeLuca led off with his fourth homer. The drive to left-center stopped Stone’s 15-inning scoreless streak.
Anthony Banda worked the ninth for his second save in a game that took just 2 hours, 3 minutes.
ATHLETICS 4, BREWERS 3
OAKLAND, Calif. — Joey Estes allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings, and Oakland scored four times in the fourth in a win over Milwaukee to avoid a sweep.
Estes (6-6) held the Brewers, who had scored 20 runs over the first two games of the series, to only two hits while striking out five and walking one. Mason Miller recorded his 21st save of the season, entering the game with two outs in the eighth and holding a one-run lead.
Brewers starter Frankie Montas (6-9) sent down the A’s in order through the first three innings, but Oakland broke through in the fourth for four runs when its first five batters reached base.
Down 2-0, Lawrence Butler, Brent Rooker and JJ Bleday led off the inning with consecutive singles. Shea Langeliers walked with the bases loaded, Seth Brown tied the game with a single and then Daz Cameron and Zack Gelof hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to give the A’s a 4-2 lead.
Gary Sánchez hit a two-run homer in the second for the Brewers. Willy Adames cut Oakland’s lead to a 4-3 with a solo home run in the seventh.
MARINERS 4, GIANTS 3
SEATTLE — Bryan Woo pitched seven strong innings, and Seattle capitalized on two hit batters in the sixth to score twice and beat San Francisco.
The game was tied at 2 when Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch leading off the sixth. Justin Turner singled and Jorge Polanco was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Arozarena scored when Mitch Haniger hit into a double play, and Josh Rojas’ single drove in another run to make it 4-2.
The Mariners got their first series win since sweeping the New York Mets on Aug. 11.
Woo (6-2) allowed a two-run homer to Heliot Ramos in the first inning, but retired each of the next eight batters.
ASTROS 6, ORIOLES 3
BALTIMORE — Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz hit solo homers on consecutive pitches in the seventh inning, lifting Houston to a victory over Baltimore and a split of the four-game series.
Ramón Urías hit a three-run shot for the Orioles to tie the game in the fifth, but Bregman and Diaz went deep in the seventh off Burch Smith (2-1) to give Houston a 5-3 edge.
Hector Neris (1-0) got four outs in his first appearance since coming back to the Astros this week. The right-hander had been released by the Chicago Cubs. Bryan Abreu pitched the eighth, and Josh Hader finished for his 28th consecutive save since blowing his first opportunity this season.
Houston remained 4 1/2 games ahead of Seattle atop the AL West, and Baltimore fell 1 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East.
Astros left fielder Mauricio Dubón was shaken up after making a spectacular running catch in the corner before crashing into the wall. Dubón went on a lengthy sprint deep into the corner before making a backhanded grab in fair territory on a flyball by Urías but couldn’t stop himself before slamming into the wall.