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• MLB: Blue Jays' Francis loses no-hit bid in 9th as Mets rally for win

  Francisco Lindor broke up Bowden Francis’ no-hitter with a tying homer leading off the ninth and ignited a six-run inning to lift the New York Mets to a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

  With the crowd of 29,399 on their feet to start the ninth, Francis got ahead of Lindor 0-2 before the four-time All-Star drilled a 92 mph fastball 398 feet to right field for his 31st home run and a 1-1 tie.

  It was the second time in four starts Francis lost a no-hitter on a leadoff homer in the ninth - Taylor Ward connected off the right-hander for the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 24.

  Francis became the first pitcher to lose two no-hit bids in the ninth inning during one season since Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan with Texas in 1989.

  With the crowd of 29,399 on their feet to start the ninth, Francis got ahead of Lindor 0-2 before the four-time All-Star drilled a 92 mph fastball 398 feet to right field for his 31st home run.

  Lindor's drive was New York’s first home run in the last four games, and the first by either team in the series.

  Chad Green relieved Francis and gave up Jose Iglesias’ infield single and walked Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo before Pete Alonso lifted a sacrifice fly. After J.D. Martinez walked, Starling Marte delivered another sacrifice fly.

  Genesis Cabrera replaced Green and was greeted by Francisco Alvarez’s three-run homer that gave New York a 6-1 lead.

   

  Dodgers hit 4 home runs in 1st in win over Cubs

  Tommy Edman hit one of the Dodgers’ four home runs in the 1st inning and went deep again in the eighth as Los Angeles avoided a sweep with a 10-8 win over the Chicago Cubs.

  Gavin Lux singled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the seventh after the Cubs scored four runs in the fifth to erase a 7-3 deficit.

  Shohei Ohtani hit his 47th home run and stole his 48th base, while Edman, Will Smith and Max Muncy also went deep in the first for the Dodgers, whose magic number to clinch the division dropped to 11 after San Diego lost at Seattle.

  Edman’s two-out, two-run shot off Trey Wingenter in the eighth extended the Dodgers' lead to 10-7. The switch-hitter went deep in the first from the right side and then from the left.

  Trailing by three, the Cubs threatened in the ninth. Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech loaded the bases on consecutive walks to Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki and former Dodger Cody Bellinger.

  Kopech was called for a pitch-clock violation, giving an automatic ball to Isaac Paredes, whose sacrifice fly cut Chicago's deficit to 10-8. Suzuki was thrown out trying to steal third and former Dodger Michael Busch struck out swinging to end the game as Kopech eked out his 13th save.

   

  Tigers continue surge

  Kerry Carpenter matched a career-high with four hits and the Detroit Tigers kept their improbable wild-card hopes alive with a 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies.

  Carpenter came up in the seventh needing a homer for the cycle - the first for a Tiger since Carlos Guillen in 2006 - but hit an infield single.

  Riley Greene and Trey Sweeney homered for Detroit, which won its fourth straight and improved to 20-8 since Aug. 11. They are three games behind the Minnesota Twins for the last American League wild-card spot after both teams won on Tuesday.

  The 2023 Tigers finished second in the AL Central - they are currently fourth - but their 78-84 record left them out of the wildcard race.

  One night after beating the Rockies 11-0, the Tigers got off to another flying start with six runs in the first. Greene hit his 21st homer, Carpenter had an RBI triple and scored, and Sweeney hit a three-run homer.

• Ronaldo: 'You cannot rebuild Man United without knowledge'

  Cristiano Ronaldo believes Manchester United "cannot rebuild without knowledge" as he urged Erik ten Hag to take advice from assistant coach - and former Red Devils striker - Ruud van Nistelrooy.

  United opened the Premier League season with a 1-0 win over Fulham, but then suffered back-to-back defeats against Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool.

  It is the second time under Ten Hag the Red Devils have lost as many as two of their first three league games in a season (also 2022-23); as many times as in their previous 29 campaigns combined.

  United have also scored three goals fewer than their xG suggests they should have so far this term (two goals, 5.2 xG), the biggest such difference for any team in the Premier League.

  Ten Hag was recently joined in the dugout by compatriot Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 in 219 appearances at Old Trafford between 2001 and 2006.

  And Ronaldo - the scorer of 145 in 346 games across his two spells - thinks the Red Devils will benefit from the wisdom of people with prior experience and knowledge of the club.

  "[As the] Man United manager; you cannot say that you're not going to fight to win the Premier League or Champions League," he told former team-mate Rio Ferdinand on FiveUK.

  "You've to say: 'maybe we've not got the potential, but we're going to try'. You have to try!

  "If Ten Hag listens to Ruud van Nistelrooy, maybe he can help. He knows the club and the club should listen to the guys who were there [like] Rio, Roy Keane, [Paul] Scholes, Gary Neville, Alex Ferguson. You cannot rebuild a club without knowledge."

  United return to action this weekend away at pointless Southampton, against whom they are unbeaten in their last 12 Premier League visits since a 1-0 defeat in August 2003.

  The Red Devils have also lost just one of their last 30 Premier League matches against promoted sides, winning 15 of their last 17 such games.

• MLB: Machado becomes Padres' all-time home run leader in win

  Manny Machado hit his 164th home run to set the Padres’ franchise record and drove in four runs to lift San Diego to a 7-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

  Machado’s 164th homer in a Padres uniform was a line drive to center field off George Kirby in the sixth inning and gave San Diego a 5-2 lead. Machado watched from home plate as the ball left the bat at nearly 109 mph.

  Machado’s homer was his 26th this season and snapped a tie with Nate Colbert atop the Padres list. Machado has 339 career homers among Baltimore, the Dodgers and San Diego.

  While Machado’s homer set a mark, Fernando Tatis put San Diego ahead with a three-run shot in the third inning. It was his first home run since June 20 - prior to a lengthy stint on the injured list due a stress reaction in his right thighbone.

  Machado added a two-run single in the seventh inning that clipped the back of pitcher Austin Voth and bounced into center field.

  Yu Darvish threw five innings in his second start since rejoining the Padres. Darvish allowed solo home runs to Cal Raleigh and Luke Raley but pitched out of a jam in the third after Seattle put the first two runners on. Darvish struck out Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena both looking sandwiched around fly out from Raleigh.

   

  Lugo baffles Yankees in Royals’ win

  Seth Lugo struck out 10 in seven stellar innings and Salvador Perez had a pair of run-scoring singles to reach 100 RBIs as the Kansas City Royals blanked the New York Yankees, 5-0.

  Tommy Pham homered and Bobby Witt Jr. had an RBI single for the Royals, who remained 3 ½ games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. They also stayed 2 ½  games ahead of Minnesota for the second AL wild card.

  New York, which matched a season low with three hits, had its lead in the AL East cut to one-half game over Baltimore.

  Lugo carved up a full-strength Yankees lineup that entered leading the majors in homers and ranked second in runs. The right-hander allowed only three singles and walked none, retiring 17 straight batters after Gleyber Torres' bloop hit to begin the bottom of the first.

  Torres snapped the string on another soft single with two outs in the sixth.

  With his 16th win, Lugo tied Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Atlanta’s Chris Sale for the major league lead.  

  Kyle Isbel scored twice after leadoff singles for the Royals, who had dropped six consecutive road games. They won for the fifth time in 13 games overall and improved to 2-4 against the Yankees this season.

   

  Yamamoto returns as Cubs rally past Dodgers

  Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched four strong innings in his return but the Chicago Cubs rallied for the tying and go-ahead runs in a five-run eighth inning in a game that featured a matchup of Japanese pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga.

  The NL West-leading Dodgers blew a 3-1 lead and lost to the Cubs for the second straight night, assuring their first series loss since Aug. 5-7 against visiting Philadelphia. Los Angeles' division lead was cut to 4 1/2 games over San Diego.

  Chicago is four games back of Atlanta and the New York Mets, who are tied for the last NL wild card.

  Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong robbed Max Muncy of a potential two-run homer with two outs in the ninth. He made a terrific sliding catch in the dirt of Kiké Hernández to end the seventh.

  A leadoff walk by Alex Vesia, a throwing error by catcher Austin Barnes, center fielder Tommy Edman’s errant throw that went into the camera well near the Dodgers dugout and a fielding error by second baseman Hernández helped the Cubs take a 6-3 lead.

  Yamamoto struck out his first four batters of his first start in nearly three months, facing off against Chicago’s Imanaga in a matchup of former Japanese big league rivals pitching against each other for the first time in Major League Baseball.