The New York Yankees didn't get their first hit until the 11th inning of Sunday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers, yet still managed to pull out a dramatic 4-3 victory in 13 innings against the National League Central leaders.
New York trailed 1-0 when Oswaldo Cabrera broke up the no-hit bid with an RBI double off Joel Payamps with one out in the bottom of the 11th, and were down 3-1 in the 12th before Giancarlo Stanton connected for a game-tying two-run homer.
After Anthony Misiewicz held the Brewers scoreless in the top of the 13th, Kyle Higashioka drove in automatic runner Everson Pereira with a one-out double off Hoby Milner to allow the Yankees to prevent a three-game series sweep.
Corbin Burnes kept New York hitless through eight innings before being pulled after 109 pitches, and Devin Williams threw a perfect ninth before giving way to Abner Uribe, who gave up a deep drive to the Yankees' Anthony Volpe that right fielder Sal Frelick snared with a leaping catch to keep the no-hit bid intact and the game scoreless.
Tyrone Taylor drove in Milwaukee's first run with a single in the 11th and the Brewers scored twice in the 12th, highlighted by Joey Wiemer's RBI double.
Gerrit Cole matched Burnes through the first seven innings, as the Yankees ace yielded just three hits and struck out nine without a walk.
The loss reduced Milwaukee's lead atop the NL Central to three games over second-place Chicago after the Cubs recorded a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Braves rally to become first team to clinch playoff berth
The Atlanta Braves are now officially in the playoffs after scoring four times in the seventh inning to rally for a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Atlanta, which owns the major leagues' best record at 93-49, secured a sixth consecutive postseason berth and moved closer towards a sixth straight NL East title. The Braves lead second-place Philadelphia by 15 games, and will visit the Phillies for a four-game series starting Monday needing to win three of those contests to wrap up the division.
Pirates rookie Luis Ortiz held Atlanta's potent lineup to one run over 5 1/3 innings, but the Braves' bats came alive against the Pittsburgh bullpen while trailing 2-1 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Orlando Arcia drew a walk off reliever Colin Selby to start the comeback and Michael Harris singled in front of Ronald Acuna Jr.'s base hit, which plated both runners for a 3-2 Atlanta lead.
The Braves then loaded the bases before Matt Olson knocked in two more runs with a single off Thomas Hatch.
Olson finished 2 for 3 with three RBIs, while Braves starter Allan Winans struck out eight while allowing two runs over 6 1/3 innings.
Pittsburgh had taken a 2-0 lead on RBI doubles by Bryan Reynolds and Jack Suwinski in the top of the sixth.
Eflin picks up 14th win, helps Rays take series from Mariners
Zach Eflin moved into a tie for the American League wins lead and the Tampa Bay Rays scored five early runs en route to a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners in the finale of a key four-game series.
Tampa Bay built a 5-0 lead after three innings before holding on for its third straight win over Seattle after the Mariners took Thursday's series opener. The Rays also closed within three games of first-place Baltimore in the AL East after the Orioles had a seven-game winning streak snapped with Sunday's 7-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Harold Ramirez had a two-run double as the Rays scored three times off Mariners starter Bryce Miller in the first inning, and Luke Raley's two-run double off Miller in the third increased the margin to 5-0.
Eflin (14-8) allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out six to join Toronto's Chris Bassitt and Baltimore's Kyle Gibson for the AL lead in wins.
Four Tampa relievers held the Mariners scoreless the rest of the way, with Pete Fairbanks striking out all three batters he faced in the ninth for his 22nd save.
The Mariners have lost six of eight following a 22-6 stretch from Aug. 2-Sept. 2 that briefly gave them the AL West lead. They now trail first-place Houston by 2 1/2 games in the division after the Astros posted a 12-2 rout of the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
Sam Haggerty went 2 for 3 with an RBI to lead Seattle offensively.
Ohtani, Judge both unanimous picks for MVP awards
Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were both unanimously selected to win Most Valuable Player Awards in their respective leagues on Thursday.
Judge collected all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. garnered all 30 second-place votes.
Yankees outfielder Juan Soto finished third with 21 third-place votes.
Ohtani was an unanimous MVP for the third time, receiving all 30 first-place votes and 420 points in voting by the BWAA. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was second with 263 points and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte third with 229.
It is the second AL MVP award of Judge's career after he also won the award in 2022.
Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers, 144 RBIs and 133 walks while hitting .322. He also drew a league-high 133 walks and posted a spectacular 1.159 OPS.
Witt topped the big leagues with a .332 average, hitting 32 homers with 109 RBIs.
With two MVP Awards to his name, Judge is the seventh player in Yankees history to win multiple MVPs. He joins Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Alex Rodriguez.
There was an extended stretch over the summer where Judge was on a pace to reach and possibly break his own single-season home run record (62 in 2022). The same goes for a bid at a Triple Crown.
The stretch that truly defined his season began on April 27. Judge entered play on that day in Milwaukee with a .178 batting average and .674 OPS on the season. He had only four home runs with 35 strikeouts across 27 games.
Over his next 100 games, through August 23, Judge hit .378 with 45 home runs. It was the first time in MLB history a player batted higher than .375 with 45-plus homers in a stretch of 100 games within a single season.
Ohtani was unanimously voted AL MVP in 2021 and 2023 as a two-way star for the Los Angeles Angels and finished second to Judge in 2022 voting. He didn’t pitch in 2024 following elbow surgery and signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers last December.
Ohtani hit .310, stole 59 bases and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs exclusively as a designated hitter, becoming the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. He helped the Dodgers to the World Series title, playing the final three games with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Ohtani is the first primary DH to win an MVP. He joins Frank Robinson for Cincinnati in 1961 and Baltimore in 1966 as the only players to win the MVP award in both leagues.
The Japanese sensation is the 12th player with three or more MVPs, joining Barry Bonds (seven) and Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout (three each).
Sale, Skubal win MLB's Cy Young Awards
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal and Atlanta Braves lefty Chris Sale were each named the winner of their respective league’s Cy Young Award on Wednesday.
The announcement was hardly a surprise after each ace won their league's pitching triple crown during the 2024 regular season.
This is the first Cy Young for both pitchers.
Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, enjoyed a break-out year in his fourth full MLB season, and was a unanimous winner, receiving all 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The Kansas City Royals' Seth Lugo finished second and Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase finished third in the balloting, which was completed before the play-offs.
Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes, while Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler finished second, ahead of Pittsburgh Pirates righty Paul Skenes, who was selected as the National League Rookie of the Year on Monday.
The 35-year-old Sale has come close to winning the award before, finishing as runner-up to Cleveland's Corey Kluber in 2017, with five other top-five finishes in voting since his first full season in the majors in 2011.
Since the inception of the Cy Young Award in 1956, there have been 16 pitchers to win his league's pitching crown. And now, every one of them has also won that year's Cy Young.
Skubal and Sale each won an MLB-best 18 games, while Skubal led all pitchers with 228 strikeouts – three more than Sale. Sale's ERA of 2.38 was just a tick better than Skubal's 2.39.
Both were dominant down the stretch in leading their teams to the play-offs, with Sale permitting two earned runs or fewer in each of his final 18 regular-season starts, though he was unable to pitch in the season final or the Braves' NL Wild-Card series loss to the San Diego Padres because of a back injury.
Skubal posted a 1.94 ERA in his final nine outings, and then threw 13 shutout innings in his first two play-off starts in helping the Tigers surprisingly reach the American League Division Series. He ended up going 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in three post-season starts.
Skubal became the fifth Tiger to win the Cy Young trophy – and first since Max Scherzer in 2017 – and Sale is the fifth Brave to earn the award – and first since Hall of Famer Tom Glavine in 1998.
Despite several close calls in Cy Young voting for Sale, he has dealt with injuries for the past five seasons, and was limited to a total of 151 innings over the past three years for the Boston Red Sox.
In his first season with the Braves, however, he threw 177 2/3 innings and was awarded the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award last Thursday.
Dodgers erase 5-run deficit, beat Yankees to win World Series
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series championship in five seasons, overcoming a five-run deficit with the help of three Yankees defensive miscues and rallying on sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts in the eighth inning to beat New York 7-6 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, Alex Verdugo’s RBI single chased Jack Flaherty in the second and Giancarlo Stanton’s third-inning homer against Ryan Brasier built a 5-0 Yankees lead.
But errors by Judge in center and Anthony Volpe at shortstop, combined with pitcher Gerrit Cole failing to cover first on Betts' grounder, helped Los Angeles score five unearned runs in the fifth.
After Stanton’s sixth-inning sacrifice fly put the Yankees back ahead 6-5, the Dodgers loaded the bases against loser Tommy Kahnle in the eighth before the sacrifice flies off Luke Weaver.
Winner Blake Treinen escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom half by retiring Stanton on a flyout and striking out Anthony Rizzo.
Walker Buehler, making his first relief appearance since his rookie season in 2018, pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ record-setting $700 million signing and baseball’s first 50-homer, 50-steal player, went 2 for 19 with no RBIs and had one single after separating his shoulder during a stolen base attempt in Game 2.
Freddie Freeman hit a two-run single to tie the Series record of 12 RBIs, set by Bobby Richardson over seven games in 1960. With the Dodgers one out from losing Friday’s opener, Freeman hit a game-ending grand slam reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s homer off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in 1988’s Game 1 that sparked Los Angeles to the title.
The Dodgers earned their eighth championship and seventh since leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles - their first in a non-shortened season since 1988. They won a neutral-site World Series against Tampa Bay in 2020 after a 60-game regular season and couldn’t have a parade because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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