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<\/p>\nNot only did the Blue Jays crush the Guardians to move within 1.5 games of Cleveland for the AL’s final wild-card spot, Toronto’s closest competitors in the tight race lost their games.<\/p>\n
The lowly Athletics and Colorado Rockies beat the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles, respectively.<\/p>\n
The results put Toronto, Texas and Baltimore into a three-way tie behind Cleveland.<\/p>\n
Here is how the standings look after Wednesday’s play.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cleveland: vs. Toronto, 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Toronto: at Cleveland, 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Texas: vs. Tampa, 8:05 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Baltimore: vs. Boston, 7:15 p.m.
Seattle: vs. Athletics, 9:40 p.m.
Minnesota: off
Detroit: off
New York Yankees: off
Boston: at Baltimore, 7:15 p.m.<\/p>\n
BLUE JAYS 11, GUARDIANS 0<\/p>\n
CLEVELAND \u2014 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a three-run homer and had a season-high five RBIs, Dylan Cease scattered four hits over six innings and the Toronto Blue Jays routed the Cleveland Guardians 11-0 on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
The Guardians remain in the third American League wild-card position, but their lead over Toronto, Baltimore and Texas was sliced to 1 1\/2 games.<\/p>\n
Cease (10-5), one of the top Cy Young Award candidates, struck out four without a walk and did not allow a runner past second base. The right-hander hasn\u2019t lost since July 20, going 4-0 with a 1.38 ERA in eight starts.<\/p>\n
Guerrero homered in the second against Joey Cantillo (9-8), capping a five-run inning that made it 6-0. The six-time All-Star, who went 3 for 4, has hit all eight of his home runs on the road.<\/p>\n
Rookie Brett Bateman scored three times on Guerrero\u2019s three hits, and Josh Smith belted a solo homer in the eighth off Carlos Hern\u00e1ndez as Toronto evened the series at one win apiece.<\/p>\n
Cease had his 19-start streak with at least seven strikeouts end, one short of the MLB record for a season by Curt Schilling in 1997 and Randy Johnson in 2001. Paul Sewald, Brendon Little and Braydon Fisher wrapped up the six-hitter.<\/p>\n
ROCKIES 6, ORIOLES 5 (11 INNINGS)<\/p>\n
DENVER \u2014 Brett Sullivan\u2019s two-out, two-run single capped Colorado\u2019s 11th-inning comeback, and the Rockies beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The loss was a blow to Baltimore in its battle for the final AL wild-card spot. The Orioles (69-71) went 6-3 on their trip out West, but they dropped the final two against the Rockies and are 1.5 games behind Cleveland for the last playoff berth.<\/p>\n
Baltimore took a 5-3 lead in the 11th on RBI singles by Samuel Basallo and Blaze Alexander, who finished with three hits, but Colorado rallied against Grant Wolfram (6-3). TJ Rumfield drove in Connor Norby before Wolfram struck out Cole Carrigg and Zac Veen.<\/p>\n
Adael Amador hit a ground-rule double to left. Sullivan then blooped a 3-2 sinker into left, and Amador easily beat the throw home.<\/p>\n
The Orioles squandered Trevor Rogers\u2019 career-high 11 strikeouts when Colorado tied it with two outs in the ninth off Andrew Kittredge. That temporarily avenged Monday night\u2019s loss, when Colton Cowser reached over the centre-field wall to rob Jake McCarthy of a two-out, two-run homer with Kittredge on the mound.<\/p>\n
ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 Henry Bolte had his first career multi-homer game, Zack Gelof, Jonah Heim and Alika Williams also went deep, and the Athletics scored nine unanswered runs to beat the Texas Rangers 9-2 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Bolte hit the first of his homers in the third inning, a two-run, game-tying shot, before Gelof gave the A’s a 3-2 lead with a solo home run.<\/p>\n
Bolte struck again in the fourth, crushing his eighth homer of the season over the right-field wall for another two-run blast. Heim, in his return to Globe Life Field after playing for the Rangers from 2020-25, followed with a solo homer against his former team, extending the Athletics\u2019 lead to 6-2.<\/p>\n
Alika Williams capped the scoring with a two-run home run in the fifth and an RBI double in the seventh to help the A’s avoid a three-game sweep.<\/p>\n
Jacob Lopez (6-4) threw six innings, striking out seven and allowing both runs on six hits. Over his last 10 starts, he has a 2.28 ERA and 61 strikeouts over 51 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
TIGERS 11, TWINS 6 (12 INNINGS)<\/p>\n
MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run home run in the 12th inning, Javier B\u00e1ez added a bases-clearing double, and the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 11-6 on Wednesday night to salvage the final game of a three-game series.<\/p>\n
John Peck drove in three runs with the first two hits of his career, and Hao-Yu Lee, Riley Greene and Max Clark added RBIs.<\/p>\n
In winning for the second time in seven games, Detroit scored more than two runs for the first time in that span.<\/p>\n
Torkelson lined the second pitch he saw from Tommy Nance (2-3) into the left-field seats for his 21st home run, but first since July 29. B\u00e1ez\u2019s double came six batters later.<\/p>\n
Kyle Finnegan (3-0) tossed the final two innings for the win.<\/p>\n
Clark hit an RBI double in the 11th inning for Detroit, but Luke Keaschall landed a single in front of a diving Ben Malgeri to tie it at 6.<\/p>\n
Minnesota, which won 11-1 Monday and 15-2 Tuesday, lost for the first time in four games and remains 3 1\/2 games back of Cleveland for the third American League wild-card spot. Three other teams are between them.<\/p>\n
BOSTON \u2014 Jhonny Pereda had a two-run single as part of the second of Seattle\u2019s two four-run innings on the day, and the Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox 8-3 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Julio Rodr\u00edguez, Canada’s Josh Naylor, Dominic Canzone and Randy Arozarena added RBIs for Seattle. The Mariners racked up 25 runs and 37 hits over the three-game series, winning the final two as they try to keep their long-shot AL wild-card hopes alive.<\/p>\n
Roman Anthony hit his first home run since his return from a 101-game absence with a sprained right wrist for Boston, which has lost four of five as it clings to the league\u2019s second wild-card spot.<\/p>\n
Cooper Criswell (3-2) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to get the win. Seattle starter Bryce Miller lasted 4 2\/3 innings, allowing one run off seven hits and striking out three.<\/p>\n
Boston\u2019s Patrick Sandoval (1-4) lasted four innings, plus one batter, yielding three runs off five hits.<\/p>\n
YANKEES 6, ANGELS 3 (10 INNINGS)<\/p>\n
ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 Cam Schlittler gave up one run and two hits in eight superb innings, and the New York Yankees scored five two-out runs in 10th in a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
New York loaded the bases with one out in the 10th when Jose Caballero singled, the automatic runner holding at third, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked against reliever Luke Murphy (0-2).<\/p>\n
Murphy got Luis Garcia Jr. to pop out, but Austin Wells stroked a two-run single to right, Cody Bellinger hit an RBI single to centre. Trent Grisham hit an RBI single to left, and Ben Rice had an RBI single to right for a 6-1 lead.<\/p>\n
David Bednar (7-3) struck out three in a scoreless ninth for the win. Yankees reliever Michael Fulmer gave up a two-run homer to Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros in the bottom of the 10th.<\/p>\n
A marquee matchup between two of baseball\u2019s best pitchers did not disappoint, Schlittler striking out nine and walking none and Angels left-hander Reid Detmers allowing one run and six hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking none.<\/p>\n
Schlittler, who has an AL-best 2.04 ERA, retired 20 of the first 21 batters he faced, his only blemish a soft single to left by Vaughn Grissom in the second.<\/p>\n
It was Schlittler\u2019s franchise-record 19th start in which he has allowed one or no runs, moving him ahead of Ron Guidry (1978), Whitey Ford (1964) and Jack Chesbro (1904), who had 18 each.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. hit a three-run homer to become the fastest player in major league history to reach 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 9-0 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Sean Murphy homered for the third time in five games, a three-run shot in the sixth inning that broke a scoreless tie in a game that was interrupted by a 1-hour, 25-minute rain delay in the fourth.<\/p>\n
Acu\u00f1a followed with a drive to left-centre\u00a0in the seventh, his 14th of the season, to make it 6-0. He needed 904 games to reach the 200\/200 club. Alfonso Soriano set the previous record at 929 games in August of 2006 while playing for the Nationals against the Braves.<\/p>\n
Acu\u00f1a stole the 225th base of his career and 20th of the season, swiping second after his leadoff single in the sixth against Riley Cornelio (2-2), who struck out the next two batters. After Michael Harris II was walked intentionally,\u00a0Murphy took Cornelio deep\u00a0to left.<\/p>\n
Acu\u00f1a led off the fourth with a single off Nationals starter Brad Lord. A walk and an error loaded the bases before it started raining. When play resumed, Cornelio came in and retired Murphy and Mike Yastrzemski to escape the jam.<\/p>\n
Grant Holmes needed only 26 pitches to retire the first nine Nationals before the delay. Dylan Dodd worked a scoreless inning and Elieser Hern\u00e1ndez (2-0) pitched the next three, allowing two hits, including James Wood\u2019s two-out single in the sixth for Washington\u2019s first hit.<\/p>\n
CINCINNATI \u2014 Rookie Juan Brito hit his first home run, JJ Bleday and H\u00e9ctor Rodr\u00edguez also went deep and Cincinnati scored seven unanswered runs to beat San Diego.<\/p>\n
Despite winning the three-game series, Cincinnati (67-73) fell 6 1\/2 games back of Arizona for the third and final NL wild card after the Diamondbacks beat the Phillies. San Diego was half a game behind Arizona.<\/p>\n
Brito had a game-tying, three-run shot into the right-field seats in the third inning. Two batters later, Rodr\u00edguez tacked on a solo shot to give Cincinnati the lead. Rodr\u00edguez has five homers in his last 10 games.<\/p>\n
Bleday capped the scoring in the seventh with his 22nd homer of the season, a two-run, 416-foot hit to help the Reds clinch the three-game series. Matt McLain added an RBI sacrifice fly in the sixth.<\/p>\n
Brandon Williamson (3-3) pitched a season-best 5 1\/3 innings for Cincinnati, striking out five and allowing three runs on seven hits. Pierce Johnson, Tejay Antone, Tony Santillan and Emilio Pag\u00e1n went hitless out of the bullpen to seal the win.<\/p>\n
DIAMONDBACKS 1, PHILLIES 0<\/p>\n
PHOENIX \u2014 James McCann hit a solo homer in the eighth inning, eight pitchers combined for a shutout and Arizona avoided a three-game sweep by beating Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Arizona \u2014 which ended a three-game losing streak \u2014 is now a half-game ahead of the San Diego Padres for the third and final NL wild card with 21 games remaining on its schedule.<\/p>\n
The Phillies saw their six-game winning streak end.<\/p>\n
McCann hammered the first pitch he saw from reliever Jonathan Bowlan (2-2) deep into the left-field seats for the game\u2019s only run. It was the veteran catcher\u2019s fifth homer of the season.<\/p>\n
The D-backs used a parade of relievers to get through the game, starting with Taylor Clarke, who threw 1 2\/3 innings. Derek Law, Kevin Ginkel, Jose Cabrera, Brandyn Garcia, Jonathan Loaisiga (6-3) and Juan Morillo followed.<\/p>\n
Morillo struck out Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to start the ninth before walking Bryce Harper. The hard-throwing righty then coaxed a soft grounder from Luis Arraez to secure his third save of the season.<\/p>\n
GIANTS 5, PIRATES 4 (11 INNINGS)<\/p>\n
PITTSBURGH \u2014 Rafael Devers continued his hot hitting with his 32nd home run of the season and San Francisco scored twice in the 10th inning to defeat Pittsburgh, ending its four-game winning streak.<\/p>\n
Devers had a solo shot with one out in the first inning to open the scoring a night after the Giants dropped a wild 13-12 decision in the series opener. The first baseman extended his hitting streak to 10 games by going 2 for 3 with two walks.<\/p>\n
Bryce Eldridge\u2019s RBI double down the left-field line in the 10th inning put the Giants ahead 4-3 and Turner Hill added a sacrifice fly. Both runs came off Camilo Doval (3-2), who led the NL with 39 saves for the Giants in 2023.<\/p>\n
The Pirates had runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth. However, Hill made a sliding catch of Nick Gonzales\u2019 sinking liner to left field to preserve the 3-3 tie.<\/p>\n
The Pirates scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings.<\/p>\n
Jason Foley (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth. Dylan Smith allowed the automatic runner to score in the 10th but closed it out for his fourth save.<\/p>\n
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Rookie Nick Morabito had a three-run double for his first major league hit and later made a sparkling defensive play in left field, helping New York beat Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
Morabito, who entered as a pinch runner for Mark Vientos in the sixth inning, came up with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh and\u00a0slashed a 2-2 pitch\u00a0from Manuel Rodr\u00edguez down the left-field line to turn the Mets\u2019 two-run lead into a 9-4 advantage.<\/p>\n
In the eighth, Victor Mesa Jr. sent a sinking liner to left that Morabito chased down and made a\u00a0diving catch\u00a0to end the inning.<\/p>\n
Morabito, who started his big league career hitless in his first 12 at-bats, added a single in the ninth.<\/p>\n
Juan Soto slugged his 23rd homer \u2014 a solo shot in the eighth \u2014 as part of the Mets\u2019 14-hit performance.<\/p>\n
Jared Young hit an RBI single and Marcus Semien doubled in a run as the Mets scored three times in the first off Griffin Jax (6-10), making his first start in a month.<\/p>\n
Brett Baty chased Jax with a three-run double with two outs that put the Mets up 6-0 in the third. Jax allowed seven hits and walked two.<\/p>\n
HOUSTON \u2014 Nelson Vel\u00e1zquez hit a two-run single in the eighth inning to break a scoreless tie, Hayden Wesneski and two relievers combined on a three-hitter and Houston defeated Chicago.<\/p>\n
With one out in the eighth, Yordan Alvarez singled and Isaac Paredes walked before Jose Altuve was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Pinch-runner Nick Allen was thrown out at home trying to score on a grounder by Daulton Varsho back to Sean Newcomb (2-4) before Vel\u00e1zquez laced his single into left-center field.<\/p>\n
Wesneski allowed one hit with five strikeouts over seven shutout innings. He has allowed one run and five hits over his last three starts, a span of 17 innings. A.J. Blubaugh (5-2) gave up two hits in the eighth before Josh Hader pitched the ninth for his 22nd save.<\/p>\n
Wesneski retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced, including 12 straight between a one-out walk to Sam Antonacci in the third and a one-out walk to Braden Montgomery in the seventh.<\/p>\n
Davis Martin scattered five hits with three strikeouts over 5 2\/3 scoreless innings in his first start since Aug. 13. Martin, who had been on the 15-day injured list with a right middle finger blister, was activated before the game.<\/p>\n
KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2014 Kyle Stowers homered and had an RBI single, Heriberto Hern\u00e1ndez drove in two runs and Miami rallied to beat Kansas City.<\/p>\n
Stowers drove in a run in the first inning as the Marlins built a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
After the Royals plated five in the first, the Marlins began their comeback on Stowers\u2019 solo homer in the third inning, his 18th.<\/p>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez doubled in the fifth and sixth, the latter off the center-field wall to cap a three-run frame that gave Miami a 7-6 lead.<\/p>\n
Cade Gibson (3-1) struck out the only batter he faced, ending a fifth-inning threat.<\/p>\n
After Eury P\u00e9rez allowed six runs on nine hits and three walks, and five Marlins relievers held the Royals scoreless over the final 4 1\/3 innings, with Calvin Faucher recording his third save.<\/p>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez extended his on-base streak to 19 games, and Canada’s Otto Lopez extended his hitting streak to nine games and on-base streak to 16 with a first-inning RBI triple.<\/p>\n
CHICAGO \u2014 Jackson Chourio homered and Milwaukee beat Chicago, overcoming a shaky performance by Jacob Misiorowski.<\/p>\n
William Contreras hit a tiebreaking RBI single as Milwaukee won for the sixth time in eight games, improving to a major league-best 87-53. Chourio had four of the Brewers\u2019 14 hits and scored twice.<\/p>\n
Misiorowski allowed five runs and five hits in four innings. The front-runner for the\u00a0NL Cy Young Award\u00a0surrendered three earned runs or fewer in his first 25 starts this year.<\/p>\n
Chicago (78-62) dropped nine games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central. It also remained one game back of Philadelphia for the top NL wild card.<\/p>\n
Alex Bregman homered and drove in four runs for the Cubs, who have lost three of four. Bregman is batting .331 (48 for 145) with 14 homers and 37 RBIs in his last 35 games.<\/p>\n
CARDINALS 8, DODGERS 6 (10 INNINGS)<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES \u2014 Thomas Saggese hit a go-ahead, two-strike infield single in the 10th inning and the St. Louis Cardinals outlasted the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-6 on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Nathan Church singled to centre off reliever Brock Stewart (0-2), moving automatic runner Jos\u00e9 Ferm\u00edn to third. He scored on Saggese’s single to second for a 6-5 lead \u2014 St. Louis’ first of the game. The Cardinals added two more runs on a double by Joshua B\u00e1ez, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the eighth.<\/p>\n
The NL West-leading Dodgers have lost six of eight. Shohei Ohtani struck out four consecutive times for the first time this season, including in the 10th with an automatic runner at third.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers had leads of 3-0, 5-2 and 5-4 before the Cardinals tied it in the eighth. B\u00e1ez doubled off reliever Tanner Scott and scored on Alec Burleson\u2019s sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles had the potential winning run on third in the ninth. Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez hit a ground-rule double and moved up on a wild pitch by Justin Bruihl (1-1), but pinch-hitter Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez struck out and pinch-hitter Will Smith flied out to end threat.<\/p>\n
Riley O’Brien pitched the 10th to earn his 35th save.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not only did the Blue Jays crush the Guardians to move within 1.5 games of Cleveland for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-881899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}