Bryce Harper hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning to back up the strong pitching of Zack Wheeler and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Tuesday night in a matchup of division leaders.
Nick Castellanos added a solo shot and Trea Turner added three hits to help the Phillies move closer to wrapping up the NL East title while delaying the Brewers’ NL Central championship celebration.
The Phillies lowered their magic number for clinching the NL East to four. The Brewers’ magic number dropped to one with the Chicago Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
Wheeler (16-6) boosted his Cy Young Award credentials by allowing only four hits and one run in seven innings while striking out six and walking none. Wheeler, who lowered his ERA to 2.56, has given up no more than two runs in each of his last nine starts.
The score was tied at 1-all until Harper sent a 1-1 pitch from Frankie Montas over the wall in left-center for his 29th homer. Harper’s two-run shot also scored Kyle Schwarber, who led off with an infield single.
Philadelphia extended the lead to 4-1 in the seventh as Schwarber hit a ball that went off a leg of pitcher Aaron Ashby and headed into shallow right field for an RBI single after Edmundo Sosa's leadoff double.
Turner added a two-out RBI single off Enoli Paredes in the ninth.
Judge, Soto power Yankees to rout
Aaron Judge drove in four runs in his first two at-bats, Juan Soto hit his 40th homer of the season and 200th of his career, and the New York Yankees moved to the cusp of clinching a playoff berth with an 11-2 win over the Seattle Mariners.
The Yankees can clinch at worst a wild-card spot in the American League with a victory over Seattle on Wednesday. The win in the opener of New York’s six-game road trip pushed the Yankees' lead in the AL East to four games over Baltimore - their largest lead since holding a 4 1/2-game lead when play started on June 7.
Judge laced a two-run double three batters into the game and added a two-out, two-run single the next time he was up an inning later. Judge now has a league-leading 136 RBIs.
Soto joined the offensive outburst in the third inning with a two-out, two-run opposite field blast off Seattle starter Bryan Woo. It’s the first time in his career Soto has reached the 40-homer mark, and he’s now homered in all 30 parks in baseball.
Soto and Judge are the third set of Yankee teammates to each hit 40 home runs in a season, joining Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930, 1931), and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (1961).
Tigers get past Royals in extras
Parker Meadows and Riley Greene delivered RBI singles in the 10th inning and the surging Detroit Tigers continued their postseason push with a 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Tyler Holton retired all six Royals he faced, striking out a pair in the ninth to force extra innings. Jason Foley took care of the Royals in the 10th, earning the save for the second straight night and 25th time this season.
Detroit remained 1 1/2 games back of Minnesota for the final AL wild-card spot. The Royals stayed 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first wild-card spot and are 1 1/2 ahead of the Twins.
Cole Ragans allowed one run on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts over seven innings for Kansas City, and Casey Mize allowed one run on six hits and four walks while pitching into the fifth for Detroit.
MLB: Ohtani's hit snaps tie as Dodgers extend NL West lead
Shohei Ohtani singled in the go-ahead run before stealing his 56th base of the season in the sixth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-3 on Wednesday night to move within a victory of clinching the NL West.
The Dodgers increased their lead over the second-place Padres to three games with four to play and reduced their magic number to two. Los Angeles needs a win in Thursday's series finale to earn its 11th division title 12 years.
The Padres' five-game winning streak ended a night after they celebrated making the postseason with a game-ending triple play on their biggest rival's field.
Ohtani's two-strike, two-out single to center off Adrián Morejón scored Will Smith, who drew a leadoff walk, and made it 4-3. Ohtani stole second, but Mookie Betts followed with a popup to end the inning.
With two outs in the ninth, Michael Kopech walked Jake Cronenworth to put the tying run aboard, but Donovan Solano struck out.
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a 448-foot homer – the longest by a Padres player this season – to tie the game at 3 in the fifth.
Tigers defeat Rays to stay red hot
Parker Meadows and Spencer Torkelson homered, and the surging Detroit Tigers strengthened their bid for an AL wild card with a 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Detroit moved 10 games over .500 with its fourth consecutive victory. It is tied with Kansas City (84-74) for second in the wild-card standings behind Baltimore.
The Tigers play the Rays on Thursday before finishing the season with three home games against the lowly Chicago White Sox.
Detroit is 29-11 since Aug. 10, thanks to ace Tarik Skubal, one of the favourites for the AL Cy Young Award, and a cast of young pitchers. On Wednesday, rookie Keider Montero pitched 2 2/3 innings of one-run ball before five relievers combined for 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
Jackson Jobe, Detroit's best pitching prospect, worked the ninth in his major league debut.
Orioles hold off Yankees as Judge homers again
Gunnar Henderson had three of Baltimore's 12 hits in the first four innings, and the Orioles again prevented the New York Yankees from clinching the AL East title by holding on for a 9-7 victory despite another home run from Aaron Judge.
Colton Cowser drove in three runs for the playoff-bound Orioles, who tagged substitute starter Marcus Stroman early and improved to 8-4 against New York with one matchup left in their season series.
Judge went deep for the fourth game in a row, connecting on his major league-leading 57th homer in a four-run ninth inning. The three-run shot off Matt Bowman upped Judge's total to 142 RBIs, also most in the majors, and shaved New York's deficit to 9-7.
Keegan Akin entered and retired the next two batters for his third career save and first this year.
Juan Soto also homered and knocked in three runs for New York, which could have wrapped up the AL East race with a victory over the Orioles either of the past two nights.
Baltimore moved within four games of the Yankees in the division with four remaining as it tries to lock down the top AL wild card. Cedric Mullins went 3 for 4 with a walk, three runs scored and two stolen bases.
Stroman was a late replacement for injured left-hander Nestor Cortes and gave up six straight singles to begin the game as the Orioles grabbed a 3-0 lead.
Orioles, Astros, Padres clinch play-off berths
Three more teams secured play-off berths on Tuesday, with the Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros and San Diego Padres booking trips to the post-season.
The Orioles got home runs from Anthony Santander, Colton Cowser and Ramon Urias to beat the New York Yankees 5-3 and deny their division rivals the AL East crown for at least one more night.
The Yankees, who saw Aaron Judge hit his 56th homer of the season, lead the Orioles in the East by five games with five to play, although Baltimore would have the tiebreaker if they go 5-0 down the stretch and New York finishes 0-5.
The Orioles will play in consecutive post-seasons for the first time since 1996-97.
For the fourth consecutive year, the AL West crown was claimed by the Astros, who beat the Seattle Mariners 4-3. Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman and Jason Heyward each hit home runs for Houston, with Heyward’s two-run shot in the fifth putting the Astros ahead for good.
In the NL West, the Padres turned a triple play to close out their 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers and ensure them at least a wild-card spot.
Jake Cronenworth hit a two-run homer in the second and added an RBI double in the fourth to pace the Padres, who trail the Dodgers by two games in the West.
Braves take crucial series opener from Mets
Michael Harris had a home run and an RBI double, Spencer Schwellenbach was strong through seven innings and the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 5-1 as both teams continued their fight for play-off position.
Harris finished 3 for 4 with seven total bases, and Marcell Ozuna hit his 39th homer of the season, a solo shot in the fifth off Ryne Stanek.
Schwellenbach carried a shutout into the seventh, when he surrendered a solo shot to Mark Vientos. Schwellenbach allowed three hits and one walk over seven innings.
The win, Atlanta’s third in a row, moved the Braves (86-71) half a game back of the Arizona Diamondbacks (87-71) for the NL’s final wild-card spot. Arizona was routed 11-0 by the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday.
With the loss, the Mets (87-70) were left clinging to a wild-card position by the narrowest of margins. They face the Braves two more times before heading to Milwaukee for a three-game set against the NL Central champion Brewers.
Guardians secure first-round bye
Kyle Manzardo and Lane Thomas hit home runs to back a strong outing from Tanner Bibee, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-1.
With the win, the AL Central champion Guardians clinched a top-two finish in the American League and a first-round play-off bye.
Manzardo and Thomas both went deep in the first inning off Carson Spiers for the early lead, and Josh Naylor drove in a pair of insurance runs as Cleveland improved to 91-67.
Bibee, who had been 1-4 in his previous five decisions, cruised to his 12th win, allowing four hits and one run in seven innings with seven strikeouts.
The Guardians trail the Yankees by 1 ½ games for the best record in the AL.
MLB: Philadelphia Phillies clinch NL East
Home runs from J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber backed six solid innings from Aaron Nola as the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their first National League East title since 2011 with Monday's 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs.
The Phillies also received a run-scoring single from Nick Castellanos to enhance their chances of earning one of the NL's top two seeds and a first-round bye for the upcoming playoffs. Philadelphia (93-64) now trails the Los Angeles Dodgers by a half-game for the majors' best record with less than a week remaining in the regular season.
Nola (13-8) scattered seven hits and struck out seven while allowing just two runs. The steady veteran pitcher held the Cubs scoreless through the first six innings of play as the Phillies gradually built a 6-0 lead.
Realmuto opened the scoring with his 14th homer of the season, a two-run shot off Caleb Kilian in the second inning. Schwarber made it 3-0 an inning later with a lead-off homer that gave him 100 runs batted in for a second straight season.
The Phillies added another run off Kilian in the third when Trea Turner followed Schwarber's blast with a double and later scored on Castellanos' single.
Bryce Harper led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and eventually crossed the plate on an error by Chicago second baseman Nico Hoerner to increase the margin to 5-0. The Phillies scored again in the sixth when Brandon Marsh drew a walk, advanced to third on Johan Rojas' single and came home on a double-play grounder off the bat of Schwarber.
Nola was removed after surrendering back-to-back doubles by Isaac Paredes and Hoerner that got the Cubs on the board. Hoerner later scored on a groundout for the game's final run.
Kilian (0-1) allowed all six Philadelphia runs - five earned - and eight hits across 5 2/3 innings.
Mariners put Astros' AL West title plans on hold
The Seattle Mariners got seven scoreless innings from Bryce Miller and two runs batted in from Julio Rodriguez to prevent the Houston Astros from clinching the American League West with Monday's 6-1 win.
Rodriguez went 3 for 5 to lead a 13-hit attack that closed Seattle within 1 1/2 games of the co-holders of the AL's final two wild-card spots, the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers.
The Mariners still have a faint chance of winning the AL West, though Houston needs to win just one of this series' two remaining games to claim its fourth straight division title.
Miller (12-8) continued a strong finish to his season by yielding just two hits and a pair of walks. The right-hander is now 2-0 with a 0.72 ERA over his last four starts.
Hunter Brown (11-9) allowed just one run while striking out eight over six innings for Houston, but issued two walks in the third inning that led to Seattle taking a 1-0 lead on Cal Raleigh's single that plated Victor Robles.
The Mariners added on in the seventh after loading the bases on singles by Justin Turner and J.P. Crawford and a walk to Dylan Moore. Two batters later, Rodriguez singled to center to drive in Turner for a 2-0 advantage.
Seattle loaded the bases again in the eighth on three consecutive singles before Turner brought in Raleigh with a sacrifice fly. Jorge Polanco followed with a run-scoring double to stretch the margin to 4-0.
Jason Heyward finally got Houston on the board with a solo home run in the eighth, but the Mariners scored twice more in the ninth to put the game out of reach.
Back-to-back doubles by Robles and Rodriguez increased the lead to 5-1 before Rodriguez scored on Randy Arozarena's double.
Giants drop Diamondbacks back in NL wild card standings
The San Francisco Giants hit three home runs, including an inside-the-park shot from Matt Chapman, to come through with a 6-3 win over Arizona that knocked the Diamondbacks out of a tie for the NL's second wild card.
Casey Schmitt and Michael Conforto also homered to help the Giants to a fourth straight win. Chapman finished 2 for 3 and drove in three runs, while San Francisco starter Hayden Birdsong (5-5) struck out six while holding the Diamondbacks to two runs in five innings.
Arizona fell a half-game behind the New York Mets in the standings and now holds a 1 1/2-game lead on the Atlanta Braves for the final NL wild card. The Braves and Mets begin a pivotal three-game series in Atlanta on Tuesday.
The Diamondbacks had an early 1-0 lead after consecutive doubles by Geraldo Perdomo and Joc Pederson in the first inning, but the Giants went ahead with three runs in the third off Eduardo Rodriguez.
After Heliot Ramos singled and scored on Jerar Encarnacion's double, Chapman drove a pitch off the center field wall and sprinted around the bases for the first inside-the-park homer by a Giants' player since Denard Span in 2017.
Christian Walker drove in Corbin Carroll with a double in the bottom of the third to pull Arizona within 3-2, but Schmitt's solo homer in the fourth restored the Giants' two-run advantage.
Conforto went deep an inning later to increase the lead to 5-2, then doubled in the seventh before crossing the plate on a Chapman triple.
Arizona got a run back in its half of the seventh when Jose Herrera doubled and scored on Perdomo's single. The Diamondbacks failed to score thereafter, though, with Ryan Walker throwing a perfect ninth for San Francisco to record his 10th save.
Rodriguez (3-4) struck out eight in 4 2/3 innings but was tagged for five runs on seven hits.
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