DENVER (AP) — Corbin Carroll hit two home runs for his third multi-homer game of the year, Eduardo Rodriguez struck out a season-high 11 and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies 9-4 on Wednesday to avert a series sweep.
Randal Grichuk also homered and doubled, Christian Walker drove in a pair of runs with a single and a sacrifice fly, and Pavin Smith had a run-scoring double in the Diamondbacks’ three-run ninth inning.
The defending National League champion, Arizona (84-68) matched last year’s total for wins and moved a half-game in front of the New York Mets for the second of three NL wild cards. The Mets were set to play Washington on Wednesday night.
ATHLETICS 5, CUBS 3
CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Soderstrom homered and was 2 for 4 and Zack Gelof hit a double to take the lead in the eighth as Oakland beat the Chicago, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to become the first major league team to earn a spot in the playoffs, on Wednesday.
Chicago’s loss clinches a playoff berth for the Brewers, who won the National League Central division for the third time in four years.
The 22-year-old Soderstrom scored two runs and batted in two more to help Oakland to a series victory over the Cubs. Brent Rooker was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a pair of walks.
Tyler Ferguson (4-2) picked up the win after throwing a hitless seventh inning, and Michel Otañez struck out two in the eighth. Mason Miller earned his 27th save of the year.
ANGELS 4, WHITE SOX 3, 13 INNINGS
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Eric Wagaman scored with one out in the 13th inning when Jordyn Adams’ grounder deflected off the glove of third baseman Miguel Vargas, and Los Angeles dealt the Chicago White Sox their 117th loss.
Instead of winning consecutive series for the first time in four months, the White Sox tied the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics for the third most losses since 1900.
Chicago (36-117) needs to go 7-2 in its final nine games to avoid the post-1900 record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets.
The 2003 Detroit Tigers hold the American League mark with 119 losses.
The Angels had the bases loaded in the 10th and 12th innings, but were finally able to walk it off in the 13th.
PADRES 4, ASTROS 0
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Dylan Cease pitched brilliantly into the ninth inning and Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Donovan Solano hit consecutive homers in the eighth for San Diego, who beat the AL West-leading Houston.
Machado homered twice for the Padres, who won two of three against the Astros and stayed two games ahead of Arizona for the first NL wild card. The Astros came in with a five-game division lead over Seattle.
Cease (14-11), who threw his first career no-hitter on July 25 at Washington, took a one-hitter into the ninth before Mauricio Dubón beat out an infield single to shortstop. Cease struck out Jake Meyers but then shortstop Xander Bogaerts booted Jose Altuve’s grounder for an error that allowed Dubón to take third, and that was it for the right-hander after 103 pitches.
Cease retired the first 15 Astros batters before allowing a single to right field by Jason Heyward to open the sixth. Cease then retired the side.
Cease struck out five and walked none. Tanner Scott got two outs for his 21st save.
GIANTS 5, ORIOLES 3
BALTIMORE (AP) — Mike Yastrzemski homered on the game’s first pitch, Michael Conforto also hit a solo shot and San Francisco beat Baltimore.
Baltimore has lost eight of 10 to fall 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East, pending New York’s late matchup with Seattle. Before their current skid, the Orioles held a half-game lead.
For the second time in two nights, Yastrzemski put the Orioles in an immediate hole with a leadoff homer. On Tuesday, he did it on the second pitch. In this one, he hit Dean Kremer’s initial offering into the right-field seats.
Baltimore took a 2-1 lead in the third inning, but the Giants answered with a three-run fourth highlighted by a sequence that exemplified the Orioles’ shortcomings of late. With the bases loaded and no outs, Grant McCoy hit a tapper in front of the plate. Kremer (7-10) grabbed the ball and flipped it to catcher James McCann in plenty of time for the force play — but McCann’s foot was off the plate.
Casey Schmitt followed with a two-run single to put San Francisco ahead for good.
BRAVES 7, REDS 1
CINCINNATI (AP) — Marcell Ozuna homered, Gio Urshela drove in three runs and Spencer Schwellenbach pitched six innings of one-run ball as Atlanta beat Cincinnati.
The win allowed the Braves to stay within two games of the Mets for the final National League wild card spot.
Ozuna greeted Tony Santillan (2-3) with his 38th home run of the season in the seventh, a solo shot that broke a 1-1 tie. The blast ended Ozuna’s home run drought at 26 games and his RBI drought at 19 games. Urshela drove in two runs with a bases loaded single, pushing the lead to 4-1.
In the eighth, Michael Harris II homered and Ozuna doubled to knock in Eli White and record his 100th RBI of the season.
DODGERS 8, MARLINS 4
MIAMI (AP) — Shohei Ohtani stole his 49th base and moved closer to becoming the first player in major league history with 50 homers and 50 steals in a season as Los Angeles beat Miami.
Ohtani, who began the day two shy of each mark, singled to lead off the game then swiped second.
Tommy Edman hit his sixth homer in the last eight games for the NL West-leading Dodgers, who remained 3 1/2 games ahead of second-place San Diego. Enrique Hernández and Will Smith also went deep and Freddie Freeman had three hits.
Dodgers starter Landon Knack (3-4) gave up two hits over five scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
Smith gave Los Angeles an early lead with his solo homer in the second. He drove a fastball from Miami starter Ryan Weathers over the wall in left for his 19th homer.
The Dodgers broke it open with a five-run fourth against Weathers (3-6). Edman hit a two-run homer and Hernández added a three-run drive.
GUARDIANS 5, TWINS 4, 10 INNINGS
CLEVELAND (AP) — Brayan Rocchio singled in Andrés Giménez with the winning run as the AL Central-leading Cleveland scored three times in the 10th inning to beat Minnesota, reducing their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to one.
Kyle Manzardo and Will Brennan had RBI singles off Ronny Henriquez (1-1) before Michael Tonkin entered and gave up Rocchio’s second career walk-off hit, a chopper to right through a drawn-in infield.
Josh Naylor hit a pair of solo homers and scored three times for Cleveland, which leads the division by 5 1/2 games over Kansas City. Naylor’s first shot was a 445-foot rocket to right-center, giving him his first 30-homer season.
Carlos Correa had a two-run single off Hunter Gaddis (5-3) that gave the Twins a 4-2 lead in the top of the 10th. Correa finished with four RBIs and extended his hitting streak to 16 games, matching his career high with Houston in 2019.
RED SOX 2, RAYS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Trevor Story homered in the sixth inning then scored the winning run on Jarren Duran’s single in the eighth as Boston beat the Tampa Bay.
Story opened the eighth with a comebacker single off Drew Rasmussen (0-2). After stealing second and third, he scored when Duran grounded his hit to right past a drawn-in infield.
Justin Slaten (6-2) worked out of a first-and-third, no-out jam in the seventh for the win and Kenley Jansen, the fifth Red Sox reliever, worked the ninth for his 27th save in 31 chances.
METS 10, NATIONALS 0
NEW YORK (AP) — Jose Quintana extended his scoreless streak to a career-high 22 2/3 innings and Brandon Nimmo’s three-run homer capped a nine-run fourth as New York beat the Washington to finish a three-game sweep.
Luisangel Acuña homered again for the Mets (84-68), who moved a season-high 16 games above .500 and stayed tied with Arizona for the second of three NL wild cards — two games ahead of Atlanta for the league’s last playoff spot.
Quintana (10-9) allowed two hits, walked two and struck out four in seven innings to complete his season-long dominance of the Nationals, whom he blanked over 21 innings in three starts.
Quintana hasn’t allowed a run since the third inning against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 31. His previous career-best scoreless streak was 20 2/3 innings in 2014.
