The Philadelphia Phillies clinched a return trip to the postseason in thrilling style, as rookie Johan Rojas delivered an RBI single in the 10th inning for a walk-off 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.
The defending National League champion Phillies lost the World Series to the Houston Astros last season and now will have a chance to take it one step further.
After Jeff Hoffman worked a scoreless top of the 10th, Rojas’ single up the middle off David Bednar easily scored pinch-runner Cristian Pache and sent the crowd of more than 30,000 fans into a frenzy.
The Phillies celebrated their first clinch of a postseason spot at Citizens Bank Park since Sept. 18, 2011, when they won their fifth straight NL East title.
Brandon Marsh homered for Philadelphia, which is poised to earn the No. 1 wild card and host all games next week in the second year of the wild-card series.
Bryce Harper’s sacrifice fly in the sixth gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead but Bryan Reynolds homered in the seventh and Henry Davis took Craig Kimbrel deep in the eighth to forge a 2-2 tie.
Aaron Nola limited the Pirates to one run and four hits over 6 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts.
Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller took a no-hitter into the sixth before Marsh’s 11th home run opened the scoring.
Suzuki commits costly error, Cubs blow 6-run lead in loss
Seiya Suzuki dropped a fly ball in the eighth inning to allow the tying and go-ahead runs to score as the Chicago Cubs squandered a six-run lead in a disheartening 7-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
The loss gave Milwaukee the NL Central title and dropped the Cubs a game behind Arizona for the second of three NL wild cards.
Chicago is one-half game ahead of fourth-place Miami, which was rained out at the Mets.
Ronald Acuna Jr hit his 41st home run – a two-run shot - in the seventh to pull Atlanta within 6-5 after the Braves scored three in the sixth on Kevin Pillar’s homer, Matt Olson’s RBI single and Marcell Ozuna’s double.
Pilllar’s drive made the Braves the third team in major league history (2019 Twins, 2019 Yankees) with 300 home runs in a season.
Kirby stifles Astros in Mariners’ win
George Kirby pitched six scoreless innings and the Seattle Mariners took advantage of three Houston errors to snap a four-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Astros.
Kirby allowed five hits with one walk and four strikeouts to win his second straight start.
Cal Raleigh had two hits and one RBI and Ty France homered to help Seattle pull within one-half game of Houston in the race for the final AL wild card.
Jose Altuve had three hits for the Astros, who tied a season high with three errors and dropped to 9-14 this month.