Adolis Garcia capped a five-run second with a three-run homer and the Texas Rangers rolled to a 7-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles to complete an AL Division Series sweep on Tuesday.
Corey Seager got Texas started with a first-inning home run against Dean Kremer and the Rangers knocked the Baltimore starter out in the second.
Nathaniel Lowe also went deep for the Rangers, who are perfect in five games this postseason and will face either Houston or Minnesota in the ALCS.
Nathan Eovaldi allowed one run and five hits over seven innings, striking out seven while throwing 76 of his 98 pitches for strikes.
Jose Leclerc got the final four outs, the first one with the bases loaded in the eighth when he induced an inning-ending groundout by Aaron Hicks.
The Orioles won an AL-best 101 games and were never swept during the regular season, but gave up 18 runs in losing the final two games.
Lowe battled Kremer in a 15-pitch at-bat to lead off the second before lining out.
Singles by Josh Jung and Marcus Semien put runners on the corners with two outs. After Seager was intentionally walked to load the bases, Mitch Garver stroked a two-run double before Garcia’s homer to left made it 6-0.
Astros rout Twins, take 2-1 ALDS lead
Jose Abreu’s three-run homer keyed a four-run first inning, he added a two-run blast in the ninth and the Houston Astros routed the Minnesota Twins 9-1 to take a 2-1 series lead.
Yordan Alvarez continued his red-hot start by going 3 for 5 with a solo home run – his fourth of the series – and two doubles. He became the 11th player in history to homer in each of his first three games of a single postseason.
Alex Bregman had a pair of hits, including a solo home run, and two RBIs.
The Astros pounced early on Minnesota starter Sonny Gray, who gave up five runs and eight hits in four innings.
Cristian Javier pitched five shutout innings for Houston, allowing just one hit but walking five batters.
The Astros can clinch the series Wednesday with a win, sending them to the ALCS for the seventh straight year.
MLB: Christopher Morel’s HR in 9th rallies Cubs over Mets
Christopher Morel hit a go-ahead home run off Edwin Diaz with two outs in the ninth inning, and the Chicago Cubs rallied to a 3-1 win over the New York Mets on Monday.
Morel’s heroics came an inning after Michael Busch scored the tying run on a fielder’s choice.
Mets starter Luis Severino carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, when Dansby Swanson singled to left center with no outs.
Making his sixth start for the Mets, Severino threw eight innings and allowed one run with five strikeouts.
Jameson Taillon was nearly as good for the Cubs. After giving up a lead-off home run to Brandon Nimmo to open the game, Taillon allowed four hits in 7 1/3 innings.
Cubs closer Hector Neris walked two batters in the bottom of the ninth but finished the game with back-to-back strikeouts for his fourth save of the year.
Twins extend winning streak to 8 games
Max Kepler hit an RBI single in the ninth inning, lifting the Minnesota Twins to a 3-2 win over the White Sox as their winning streak reached eight games.
After the White Sox scored two runs in the first inning, Minnesota’s Carlos Santana tied the game with a home run in the second off of Chicago starter Garrett Crochet.
The teams played six scoreless innings before Byron Buxton scored from second on Kepler’s single off John Brebbia.
The White Sox got the tying run to third base in the bottom of the ninth, but Caleb Thielbar punched out Korey Lee to seal the Minnesota win.
After a rough start to the season, the Twins’ current win streak has them at 15-13, one game back of the surprising Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers.
Garver’s walk-off lifts M’s over Braves
Mitch Garver hit a two-run, walk-off home run in the ninth inning to lift the Seattle Mariners over the Atlanta Braves 2-1.
The Mariners had only four hits in a game dominated by excellent pitching, but two of those hits came in the ninth against A.J. Minter, including Garver’s game-winning blast.
The Braves carried a combined no-hitter into the eighth inning that was broken up by a Josh Rojas single. Atlanta starter Max Fried went six innings, walking two and striking out seven.
Seattle starter Bryce Miller pitched seven strong innings, allowing two hits and one run with 10 strikeouts.
Twins pound out 17 hits again, beat struggling Angels to push win streak to seven
For the second straight day, the Minnesota Twins roughed up the Los Angeles Angles.
The latest rout helped the defending AL Central champions move over .500 for the first time since the first week of the season.
The Twins again racked up 17 hits in an 11-5 victory over the Angels on Sunday to extend their winning streak to seven games.
Minnesota is now 14-13, moving back over .500 for the first time since it was 3-2 on April 3.
The Twins have notched at least 10 hits in each game of the win streak, the first time they've won at least seven consecutive games while tallying 10 or more hits in each since an eight-game run from July 14-21, 2006.
Minnesota completed the weekend sweep as Ryan Jeffers, Jose Miranda, Christian Vázquez and Willi Castro each had three hits, while Austin Martin and Alex Kiriloff drove in two runs apiece.
The Twins pounded out a season-high six doubles one day after recording four doubles as part of a 17-hit attack in a 16-5 rout.
This is the first time Minnesota has totaled 17 or more hits in consecutive games since July 2010, when it did it in three games in a row.
While the Twins are on a roll, the Angels (10-18) have lost four straight games and nine of 10.
Blue Jays end Dodgers' six-game win streak
Kevin Gausman earned his first victory of the season, throwing seven innings of one-run ball in the Toronto Blue Jays' 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Gausman, who won 12 games for the Blue Jays last year, struck out five and allowed five hits without a walk to help the Blue Jays (14-15) end a five-game losing streak.
The NL West-leading Dodgers (18-12) had won six straight games before going 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position in the series finale.
Los Angeles' lone run came on a Freddie Freeman home run - just his second of the season and first since March 28.
Freeman is batting .444 with 11 RBIs during an eight-game hitting streak.
Toronto's Alejandro Kirk hit his first homer of the season and finished with three hits after entering the day mired in an 0-for-11 slump.
Yankees break out bats in rout of Brewers
Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Anthony Volpe all homered in the New York Yankees' 15-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Rizzo went 4 for 4 and his homer was the 300th of his career, while Judge had three hits and three RBIs.
The AL East-leading Yankees (19-10) tallied 18 hits one day after registering 19 hits in a 15-3 win over the NL Central-leading Brewers (17-10).
This is the first time New York has scored 15 runs in consecutive games since July 21 and 22, 2007.
The game was tied at 4 before New York scored seven runs in the sixth inning. All the runs came with two outs and came after a controversial play at second base.
With no outs and Judge on first base, Alex Verdugo hit a ball to second baseman Brice Turang, who fielded it and threw to shortstop Willy Adames at second base to force out Judge.
Adames then threw to first to try to turn the double play, but his throw bounced off Judge's hand as the slugger raised his left arm while sliding into second base.
The Brewers argued that Judge should have been called out for interference but the umpires allowed Verdugo to remain safe at first.
After the game, umpire crew chief Andy Fletcher admitted the runner should've been ruled out for interference.
MLB: Ohtani has career-high 3 doubles in Dodgers' 20-hit attack
Shohei Ohtani had a career-high three doubles and the Los Angeles Dodgers collected 20 hits in an 11-2 rout of the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.
Ohtani went 3 for 6 with RBI doubles in the eighth and ninth innings. He leads the majors in batting average (.371), slugging (.695), OPS (1.128), extra-base hits (21) and doubles (14).
Mookie Betts and Will Smith each had four hits and rookie Andy Pages homered as the Dodgers won their third straight following a three-game skid.
Landon Knack earned his first win in his second career start, allowing two runs and three hits in six innings. He retired his last 13 batters and struck out five.
Nick Senzel homered for the Nationals, who didn’t have a baserunner after the second inning.
Trout hits MLB-leading 10th home run in loss
Mike Trout became the first player in the majors to reach 10 home runs this season, but Gunnar Henderson had three hits and three RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles held off the Los Angeles Angels, 6-5.
Trout got the Angels on the board with a solo shot off starter Dean Kremer in the sixth inning. This is the third time in the past seven seasons that Trout has been the first in MLB to reach double digits in homers.
Los Angeles rallied back from a 6-0 deficit and had the tying run on first in the ninth, but Jo Adell was caught stealing to end the game.
Henderson homered for the second straight game and added a two-run single in Baltimore’s four-run sixth. He is 9 for 20 in the past five games and 18 for 40 with five home runs and 11 RBIs in his last 10 games, helping the Orioles win eight.
Kremer struck out 10 over 5 2/3 innings and allowed two runs and three hits for his first win of the season.
Surging Braves win in 10 innings
Michael Harris II doubled home Ronald Acuna Jr. in the 10th inning and the red-hot Atlanta Braves topped the Miami Marlins, 4-3, after blowing a two-run lead in the ninth.
The Marlins scored twice in the ninth off Braves closer Raisel Iglesias to tie it but failed to score in the top of the 10th.
Harris led off the bottom half with a single to center to score the winning run and send Atlanta to its ninth win in 10 games.
Harris went 3 for 5 and Marcell Ozuna had three hits and two RBIs, giving him an MLB-best 29.
The Marlins were swept for the third time this season and dropped to an NL-worst 6-20.
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