Diaz's homer in ninth lifts Rays over Mariners

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Yandy Díaz hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the Tampa Bay Rays a 7-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.

Taylor Walls drew a two-out walk from Tayler Saucedo (3-2) before Díaz connected on his opposite-field drive to right.

Díaz also had a pinch-hit RBI double during a two-run seventh as Tampa Bay went up 5-4.

The Rays hold a 7 1/2-game lead over Seattle and Toronto for the top AL wild card. Tampa Bay started the day four back of AL East-leading Baltimore, while the Mariners were a half-game behind first-place Houston in the AL West.

Colin Poche (11-3) pitched a perfect ninth to get the win.

Seattle slugger Julio Rodríguez hit his career-high 29th homer and is one short of joining Alex Rodriguez as the only Mariners to have 30 homers and 30 steals in the same season.

NATIONALS 7, DODGERS 6, 11 INNINGS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Chavis scored on Gus Varland’s game-ending wild pitch in the 11th inning, and Washington beat Los Angeles in a game that started after a 4-hour, 10-minute rain delay.

Los Angeles overcame a 5-4 ninth-inning deficit against Kyle Finnegan, who blew a save for the eighth time in 33 chances. James Outman walked after fouling off five consecutive pitches, stole second, took third on catcher Keibert Ruiz’s throwing error and scored when Kolton Wong singled past a drawn-in infield.

Kiké Hernández hit an RBI single in the 10th, but Keibert Ruiz singled in a run in the bottom half.

With automatic runner Chavis on second to start the 11th, Jacob Young sacrificed, CJ Abrams was intentionally walked by Varland (1-1), Lane Thomas hit into a forceout as Hernández held and Varland bounced a slider off catcher Will Smith.

Andres Machado (4-1) pitched a hitless 11th.

ORIOLES 13, RED SOX 12

BOSTON (AP) — Yenier Cano retired Enmanuel Valdéz on a game-ending flyout that stranded the tying run on third as Boston’s ninth-inning rally fell short, and Baltimore held on for its seventh straight win.

The Orioles opened leads of 7-2 in the fourth, 12-6 in the seventh and 13-9 in the ninth as Aaron Hicks and rookie Gunnar Henderson hit three-run homers and Jordan Westburg had a solo shot.

Boston closed in the ninth on Trevor Story’s two-run, two-out double and Wilyer Abreu’s RBI single before Valdez's opposite-field flyout to left that Austin Hays caught in front of the Green Monster.

Baltimore won for the 13th time in 16 games and became the first AL team to reach 90 wins. Shintaro Fujinami (7-8) pitched 1 2/3 innings.

Boston dropped seven games behind Toronto for the AL’s last wild-card berth.

James McCann hit a two-run homer in the fourth off Chris Sale (6-4) and a solo drive in the sixth against Zack Weiss.

DIAMONDBACKS 3, CUBS 2, 10 INNINGS

CHICAGO (AP) — Tommy Pham hit an RBI single in the 10th inning, and Arizona got its fourth straight win.

Gabriel Moreno scored on a wild pitch before Pham drove in Jordan Lawlar with a liner to left against rookie Daniel Palencia (5-1). Lawlar was hit by a pitch and advanced on Yan Gomes’ passed ball before taking third on the wild pitch.

Kevin Ginkel (8-0) got three outs for the win and Paul Sewald worked the 10th for his 32nd save. Cody Bellinger hit a two-out RBI single, but Sewald got Dansby Swanson to foul out to the catcher.

The Diamondbacks moved within one game of the Cubs for the No. 2 slot in the NL wild-card standings.

Chicago has just four runs and 16 hits through the first three games of the four-game series.

RANGERS 3, ATHLETICS 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Robbie Grossman scored the tiebreaking run on a wild pitch in the seventh inning and Texas snapped a four-game losing streak.

Grossman drew the first of three consecutive two-out walks against Lucas Erceg (3-4). Reliever Francisco Perez took over and uncorked a wild pitch when facing pinch-hitter Jonathan Ornelas in his first major league at-bat. Ornelas had an inning-ending flyout.

The Rangers won for only the fifth time in their last 21 games, a span when they have gone from a 3 1/2-game lead to third place in the AL West.

Nathaniel Lowe and Leody Taveras had RBI singles to give Texas a 2-0 lead in the sixth, when Grossman also walked and scored. But last-place Oakland got even in the top of the seventh on Zack Gelof’s two run homer.

Will Smith (2-5), the fourth Texas pitcher, worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Aroldis Chapman worked around two walks in the ninth for his fifth save.

CARDINALS 4, REDS 3

CINCINNATI (AP) — Willson Contreras homered for the third straight game and drove in three runs as St. Louis handed Cincinnati its third straight loss.

Lars Nootbaar broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth with a two-out RBI double off Sam Moll after Tommy Edman chased Carson Spiers (0-1) with a leadoff single. The Cardinals have won four of five.

Cincinnati (73-71) fell 7 1/2 games behind NL Central-leading Milwaukee with 18 games left, and sits 2 1/2 games behind Arizona for the last NL wild card berth.

Zack Thompson (5-5) improved to 3-0 in his last four starts. allowing three runs and five hits in six innings with six strikeouts and three walks, Casey Lawrence, John King and Giovanny Gallegos each pitched a scoreless inning.

Ryan Helsley walked Christian Encarnacion-Strand leading off the ninth, and Tyler Stephenson hit a grounder to shortstop Masyn Winn for the forceout. Second baseman Tommy Edman’s throw to first wasn’t in time as Encarnacion-Strand barreled into Edman and flipped him, and a video review determined Encarnacion-Strand had committed a baserunning violation, and Stephenson was called out.

Helsley struck out Will Benson on a 102.1 mph full-count pitch for his eighth save in 10 chances.

TIGERS 3, WHITE SOX 1

DETROIT (AP) — Tarik Skubal pitched five scoreless innings and Detroit beat Chicago.

Matt Vierling homered and scored twice for the Tigers.

Skubal (5-3) allowed two hits while striking out nine. It was his second win over the White Sox in six days. Alex Lange got four outs for his 22nd save.

Jose Ureña (0-5) made his Chicago debut, permitting one run and four hits in four innings. The White Sox struck out 15 times.

ASTROS 7, PADRES 5

HOUSTON (AP) — Yordan Alvarez homered and Kyle Tucker added two RBIs to give him an American League-leading 101 as Houston used a big fifth inning to rally for a win over San Diego.

The Astros bounced back after losing the opener 11-2 to get their fourth win in five games and increase their lead over the Mariners in the AL West to 1 1/2 games.

Houston scored five runs in the fifth to take a 7-4 lead. Alvarez, who hit a solo homer in the third, had an RBI double in the fifth before Tucker’s two-run double put the Astros on top. It was just their third win in 13 games at home.

Closer Ryan Pressly walked Ha-Seong Kim to start the ninth before giving up a single to Juan Soto with one out. But he struck out Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts to end the threat and get his 30th save.

The Astros went to their bullpen early after starter Cristian Javier allowed four hits and four runs in just four innings. Phil Maton (4-3) pitched a perfect fifth for the win.

San Diego’s Seth Lugo (6-7) gave up seven hits and six runs in 4 1/3 innings.

ANGELS 6, GUARDIANS 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Logan O’Hoppe and Randal Grichuk homered, Tyler Anderson earned his second win since the All-Star break and Los Angeles beat Cleveland.

The teams combined for 11 hits, with six going out of the park — including four by the Angels, who were missing Shohei Ohtani for the sixth straight game due to a strained right oblique.

Brett Phillips and Matt Thaiss had solo shots for the Angels, who won for just the second time in nine September games.. Three of the homers came off Cleveland starter Lucas Giolito (7-13), claimed by the Guardians on Aug. 31 after he was put on waivers by the Angels.

José Ramírez and Josh Naylor went deep for the Guardians, who have dropped two of three in the four-game series.

Anderson (6-6) worked a season-high eight innings and allowed only two runs on four hits with four strikeouts.

PIRATES 8, BRAVES 4

ATLANTA (AP) — Bryan Reynolds had three hits, including a two-run homer, and Pittsburgh prevented Atlanta from becoming the first major league team to clinch a playoff berth.

The Pirates took the lead by scoring three runs in the fifth. Endy Rodriguez delivered an RBI single off Michael Tonkin for a 4-3 lead. Jack Suwinski and Ji Hwan Bae also had run-scoring singles in the inning. Bae scored from first on Ke’Bryan Hayes’ double in the third.

Reynolds homered off Dylan Dodd (2-2) in the third. Liover Peguero added to the lead with a home run off Kirby Yates in the ninth.

Atlanta’s Matt Olson hit his major league-leading 48th homer off Carmen Mlodzinski in the seventh, his fifth in the last six games.

Ryan Borucki (2-0) got the win

In a pregame ceremony, the Braves retired the No. 25 of 10-time Gold Glove center fielder Andruw Jones.

PHILLIES 8, MARLINS 4

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber hit a three-run homer and Brandon Marsh had a three-run double to lead Philadelphia.

Schwarber hit his 42nd this season and his three RBIs gave him 93, and he may set career highs in both categories -- all while his batting average hovers under .200 this season.

Schwarber’s shot into the Phillies’ bullpen off Marlins starter Johnny Cueto (1-4) broke open a five-run second inning. Nick Castellanos, in his first game since the All-Star was dropped to eighth in the lineup, added a two-run double.

The Marlins’ best chance in the wild-card race is trying to catch Arizona for the third spot.

Garrett Hampson hit a solo shot and the Marlins got run-scoring doubles from Jacob Stallings and Josh Bell that cut it to 5-4 in the fifth.

Jeff Hoffman (4-2) tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win and three other relievers shut down the Marlins.

TWINS 8, METS 4

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Farmer went 3 for 4 with a pair of two-out RBIs, Max Kepler hit a three-run triple and AL Central-leading Minnesota beat New York.

Kenta Maeda won for the first time in six starts and Willi Castro went 3 for 4 with a home run for the Twins, who moved a season-best eight games above .500. They cut their magic number for clinching the division to 14 with 20 games to go.

Brandon Nimmo hit his fifth leadoff homer of the year and Daniel Vogelbach added an RBI single in the first inning to give the Mets a quick lead, but starter David Peterson didn’t hold it.

All of Minnesota’s runs scored with two outs, starting with a two-run single by Donovan Solano in the first. After Jordan Luplow hustled for a double in the third inning, Farmer drove him in with a single. Then with the bases loaded in the seventh against Drew Smith, Kepler pinch hit for Luplow and missed a grand slam by a few inches when his drive off the wall in right-center landed below the flower boxes.

Pete Alonso hit his 43rd homer and D.J. Stewart also went deep in the eighth inning off rookie Louie Varland, but the Mets fell to 29-44 on the road.

BLUE JAYS 5, ROYALS 1

TORONTO (AP) — George Springer homered twice and drove in four runs, Kevin Gausman struck out 10 over eight sharp innings and the Toronto Blue Jays moved a season-best 16 games above .500.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits for the Blue Jays, who began the day 1 1/2 games ahead of Texas for the final AL wild-card berth. Toronto has won five of six and is 6-2 in September.

Springer homered against Zach Greinke (1-15) in the fourth and Angel Zerpa in the seventh, his 21st multihomer game and first this year. Springer has 19 homers.

Gausman (11-8) allowed one run and two hits, and raised his AL-leading strikeouts total to 217 with his eighth eighth double-digit strikeout game this season and first since June 27. He struck out the side in the eighth.

Kansas City lost its third straight. The Royals are one defeat from their first 100-loss season since 2019.

Greinke is one loss shy of tying teammate Jordan Lyles for the major league lead.

BREWERS 9, YANKEES 2

NEW YORK (AP) — Tyrone Taylor hit a go-ahead homer as Christian Yelich’s fill-in to start a three-run eighth inning that sparked Milwaukee after New York celebrated the 25th anniversary of its 1998 championship team.

With the score 2-2, Taylor hit a 1-0 sinker off Jonathan Loáisiga (0-2) down the left field line for his sixth homer. Taylor was inserted into Milwaukee’s lineup when Yelich was scratched due to lower back soreness about 10 minutes before the scheduled start of a game delayed by rain for 2 hours, 34 minutes.

Milwaukee opened a four-game NL Central lead over the second-place Chicago Cubs.

New York had four hits and managed just seven in the first two games of the series, getting outscored 13-0 from the seventh inning on. The Yankees have lost three straight after winning eight of nine and are in danger of their first losing season since 1992.

Taylor got his seventh career three-hit game and reached four times.

Joel Payamps (5-4) struck out rookie Jasson Domínguez with Aaron Judge on first to end the seventh.

GIANTS 9, ROCKIES 1

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Logan Webb pitched six scoreless innings for his first win in more than a month, Thairo Estrada homered and had three RBIs, and San Francisco beat Colorado.

Mike Yastrzemski had four hits and two RBIs, and J.D. Davis singled twice for San Francisco.

The Giants have won back-to-back games following a six-game losing streak that matched their longest of the season. They remain 2 1/2 games behind Arizona for the third NL wild card.

Webb (10-12) had lost his last three decisions as San Francisco’s offense accounted for two runs total. Ryan Walker, Scott Alexander and Luke Jackson each retired three batters to complete the seven-hitter.

Colorado starter Chase Anderson (0-5) allowed six runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings.

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