MLB roundup: Thursday
Behind the latest long ball from major league home run leader Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees wrapped up the American League East championship by blowing out the visiting Baltimore Orioles 10-1 on Thursday.
Judge socked his 58th homer of the year, extending his streak by homering in a fifth consecutive game.
New York (93-66) also clinched a first-round playoff bye and will open a best-of-five division series on Oct. 5. The Yankees moved a game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians (92-67) for the best record in the AL.
New York ace Gerrit Cole (8-5) allowed two hits, both singles, in 6 2/3 scoreless innings. He struck out five and walked one before exiting to a standing ovation.
Dodgers 7, Padres 2
Shohei Ohtani hit a go-ahead single in a five-run seventh inning as Los Angeles clinched its 11th National League West title in 12 seasons with a victory over visiting San Diego.
Will Smith had a game-tying two-run homer and Mookie Betts added a two-run single in the seventh for the Dodgers (95-64), who also clinched a bye in the wild-card round. Ohtani went 3-for-5. Los Angeles held off a second-half surge by the Padres (91-68), who clinched a playoff spot with a victory at Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Dodgers starter Walker Buehler gave up one run on five hits over five innings in his final tune-up before the playoffs. He fanned one and walked one. Anthony Banda (3-2) came off the injured list to pitch 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win.
Athletics 3, Rangers 2
J.T. Ginn recorded his first major league win, Mason Miller threw the Oakland franchise’s final pitch in its Oakland Coliseum history, and the A’s completed their home schedule with a win over Texas.
On a celebrity-filled day in which Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart threw out ceremonial first pitches and Barry Zito sang the National Anthem, A’s fans marked the historic event by recording the largest attendance — 46,889 — in major league history for a team playing its final game in its home city. The Montreal Expos held the previous mark of 31,395 in 2004.
The baseball gods shined on the hometown heroes, with Oakland’s three runs coming on an infield out, a sacrifice fly and a flyball lost in the sun. JJ Bleday was credited with two RBIs for the Athletics (69-90). Adolis Garcia and Nathaniel Lowe had RBIs for the Rangers (75-84), who were out-hit 9-5.
Tigers 4, Rays 3
Colt Keith drove in two runs, Justyn-Henry Malloy knocked in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly and streaking Detroit rallied past visiting Tampa Bay.
Matt Vierling reached base three times and scored twice for the Tigers, who overcame a three-run deficit. The Tigers (85-74) moved closer to an American League wild-card playoff berth with their fifth straight win.
Brandon Lowe drove in two runs for the Rays (78-81). Starter Tyler Alexander held the Tigers scoreless over the first five innings, striking out six without a walk.
Marlins 8, Twins 6 (13 innings)
Griffin Conine hit a two-run single in the top of the 13th inning and Miami outlasted Minnesota in Minneapolis, putting the Twins on the brink of playoff elimination.
Minnesota is three games back in the American League wild-card playoff race with only three games left in the regular season. That means Minnesota (82-77) will have to sweep the Baltimore Orioles this weekend and either the Kansas City Royals (85-74) or the Detroit Tigers (85-74) would have to be swept for the Twins to sneak into the postseason.
Marlins right-hander Anthony Maldonado (1-1) earned his first career victory by pitching two innings of scoreless relief. Right-hander Darren McCaughan picked up his first career save after allowing one unearned run in the bottom of the 13th for Miami (59-100).
Brewers 5, Pirates 2
Aaron Civale logged six scoreless innings as Milwaukee downed host Pittsburgh in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Civale (8-9) yielded three hits while walking one and striking out five. Joey Ortiz went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run and Brice Turang finished with two RBIs for the Brewers (91-68), who are one victory away from matching its win total from a season ago.
Bryan De La Cruz clubbed a two-run homer as the Pirates (74-85) fell for the ninth time in their past 13 games. Mitch Keller (11-12) got the start for the Pirates and lasted five innings. He gave up three runs on six hits, walking two and fanning six.
Royals 7, Nationals 4
Pinch hitter Adam Frazier delivered a tiebreaking two-run single in the top of the ninth as visiting Kansas City inched closer to a wild-card berth by completing a three-game sweep of Washington.
Hunter Renfroe hit a home run and Salvador Perez had two hits and an RBI for the Royals (85-74), whose magic number to clinch a playoff spot is two. Kris Bubic (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth and Lucas Erceg tossed a perfect ninth to notch his 14th save.
Luis Garcia Jr. homered for Washington (69-90), which has lost four straight games and nine of its last 10. Kyle Finnegan (3-8) entered in the ninth and was tagged for three runs on two hits and three walks before being pulled with two outs.
White Sox 7, Angels 0
Andrew Vaughn and Lenyn Sosa both delivered two RBIs during a seven-run fifth inning and Chris Flexen pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings as host Chicago topped Los Angeles to earn a series sweep.
Chicago (39-120) again avoided surpassing the expansion 1962 New York Mets for the most single-season losses in Major League Baseball since 1901. A mark for futility fell upon the Angels, however, as Los Angeles (63-96) set a club record for losses in a season, breaking a tie with the 1968 and 1980 teams.
Chicago rolled behind its largest rally of the year. The White Sox sent 12 batters to the plate in the fifth, which featured a pair of hits from Dominic Fletcher.
Rockies 10, Cardinals 8
Ryan McMahon hit a tiebreaking double in a five-run eighth inning, and Colorado used a two-out rally to beat St. Louis in Denver.
Charlie Blackmon homered and drove in three runs for the Rockies. Angel Chivilli (2-3) got the win, and Seth Halvorsen picked up his second save.
Lars Nootbaar and Paul Goldschmidt hit back-to-back home runs and Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages also went deep for the Cardinals. Ryan Fernandez (1-6) took the loss.
–Field Level Media
