The American League wild-card race remains a rollercoaster.
The Toronto Blue Jays won on Saturday, and the Cleveland Guardians lost, while the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox each gained on the Guardians, too, with their respective victories.
Toronto is now one game behind Cleveland for the final wild-card spot again. The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker between the two teams after winning the season series last week.
The Baltimore Orioles fell three games behind the Guardians with their loss to the Blue Jays.
Here is how the American League standings look after Saturday's games:
New York Yankees: vs. NY Mets, 1:35 p.m.
Toronto: vs. Baltimore, 1:37 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Houston: at Rays, 1:40 p.m.
Cleveland: at Minnesota, 2:10 p.m., Sportsnet+
Chicago White Sox: at St. Louis, 2:15 p.m.
Boston: vs. Kansas City, 3:05 p.m.
Texas: vs. Arizona, 4:10 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
SATURDAY's RESULTS
BLUE JAYS 7, ORIOLES 3
TORONTO — Alejandro Kirk hit a two-run home run, Brett Bateman added a solo shot and Toronto beat Baltimore.
Pete Alonso hit his 35th home run for Baltimore, a two-run blast off Paul Sewald in the seventh inning, but the Orioles lost for the eighth time in 11 September games.
Kirk had two hits and drove in three as the Blue Jays won for the second time in six games and ensured they would not lose ground in the AL wild card race. Toronto entered two games behind Cleveland for the final playoff spot.
Kirk and Bateman both connected off Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish (7-14) in the third.
Bateman’s first career home run came in the ninth inning of Friday’s 7-4 loss. Saturday’s was his second.
TWINS 4, GUARDIANS 3
MINNEAPOLIS — Emmanuel Rodriguez homered in his first career at-bat to spark a four-run inning and Minnesota held off Cleveland.
Andrew Morris, Kody Funderburk and Jeff Hoffman combined for 2 2-3 innings of scoreless relief before A.J. Minter earned his first save since May 13, 2024, with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Travis Bazzana, Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan had RBIs for the Guardians, now one game behind Chicago in the American League Central Division.
Cleveland is one game up on Toronto for the final AL wild-card spot, with Minnesota 4 1/2 games behind.
RANGERS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 2
PHOENIX — Ezequiel Duran had a two-run single and Wyatt Langford hit a solo homer during a six-run fifth inning to lead Texas over Arizona to even the three-game series.
The Rangers improved to 73-76 and are just two games back of the final American League wild card despite a sub-.500 record.
Arizona fell to 79-70 and is 1 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres for the final National League wild card.
The Rangers took advantage of a close replay call that went in their favor during the decisive fifth.
The D-backs thought they were out of the jam with the score tied at 1-all after turning an inning-ending double play, but first base umpire Bill Miller ruled Corey Seager safe at first, signaling that pitcher Brandon Pfaadt's foot was off the bag. Arizona challenged the call, but the video review proved inconclusive and Miller's call was upheld.
The Rangers would go on to score five more runs after the review. Duran's two-run single was among the clutch hits.
WHITE SOX 6, CARDINALS 5
ST. LOUIS — Randal Grichuk hit a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth inning as Chicago snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over St. Louis.
Grichuk, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the fourth inning, hit his 13th home run of the season off Riley O’Brien (3-8).
Bryan Hudson pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his eighth save after Jordan Hicks (3-2) recorded the final out of the eighth inning for Chicago, which has a 1 1/2 game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.
Cardinals rookie Leo Bernal hit his third homer of the season to right field in the eighth inning off Grant Taylor to give St. Louis a 5-4 lead.
METS 12, YANKEES 2
NEW YORK — Francisco Lindor hit a leadoff homer and added a grand slam in the eighth inning as the New York Mets chased Gerrit Cole early and pounded the crosstown Yankees 12-2 on Saturday.
Luis Torrens added a two-run homer in the second and an RBI double in a five-run eighth at Yankee Stadium. Rookie Carson Benge had a solo drive and an RBI single in the fifth that chased Cole (8-9), who was tagged for five runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Juan Soto homered in the seventh as the Mets totaled 13 hits and won for 22nd time in 35 games since the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Jared Young also homered for the Mets, who slugged six homers against the Yankees for the first time.
Mets rookie Zac Thornton (4-5) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings during an impressive Subway Series debut. He ended his outing by getting a double-play grounder from Anthony Volpe.
Cody Bellinger homered and hit an RBI single off Thornton as the Yankees’ four-game winning streak ended.
The Yankees (85-63) lost for the eighth time in their past 25 games.
In his last three Subway Series starts, Cole is 0-3 with a 10.92 ERA and has permitted 10 homers.
RAYS 3, ASTROS 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Richie Palacios had a two-run single in fifth, Ian Seymour threw six strong innings and Nick Madrigal had a clutch sacrifice fly to help postseason-bound Tampa beat Houston.
All-Star Bryan Baker got the final four outs for his majors-leading 40th save. He has converted 29 consecutive opportunities, the longest active streak in the majors. Baker helped the Rays improve their AL East lead to four games with 14 games remaining.
Victor Mesa Jr. singled and scored in the fifth, when Palacios drove in the tying and go-ahead runs off Houston starter Peter Lambert (8-9). Mesa secured the game’s final out with a leaping grab against the right-field wall to retire Taylor Trammell.
Yainer Diaz had three hits and an RBI for the AL West-leading Astros.
TIGERS 11, ROCKIES 7
DETROIT — Hao-Yu Lee doubled and tripled in a seven-run eighth inning as Detroit rallied for a win over Colorado.
Detroit extended its winning streak to three games and handed Colorado its ninth straight road loss.
Trailing 7-4, Lee and Gleyber Torres started the eighth with back-to-back doubles off Jaden Hill (1-4), and Riley Greene followed with an RBI single. Eduardo Valencia’s single put runners on the corners, and Max Clark walked to load the bases.
Hill left, not having recorded an out, and was replaced by Jordan Romano. He walked his first two batters, Spencer Torkelson and Ben Malgeri, to give the Tigers an 8-7 lead. John Peck added a sacrifice fly, and Lee lined a two-run triple off the right-field wall.
Beau Briske (1-0), the fourth Tigers pitcher, got five outs before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth.
The Tigers stranded 12 runners over the first seven innings. Detroit loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Peck grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
CUBS 4, PIRATES 3
CHICAGO — Alex Bregman scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning when Gregory Soto hit Nico Hoerner with a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs, and Chicago rallied to beat Pittsburgh.
Before Hoerner’s at-bat, Soto walked pinch-hitter Matt Shaw to force in Pedro Ramirez from third to tie it at 3 as the Cubs won their second straight. Soto relieved after seven strong innings from Paul Skenes, who left with a 3-2 lead.
Skenes settled in after giving up solo shots to Michael Busch and Ramirez off high fastballs as the Pirates dropped a second straight after winning nine of 11. Ramirez led off the eighth with a double off Soto (6-5), who allowed two runs on one hit, two walks and hit two batters.
Ryan Rolison (9-1) got five outs for the win. Ryan Zeferjahn got the final out of the ninth for his sixth save.
Ryan O’Hearn hit his career-best 18th homer of the season, a three-run drive in the sixth, to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. O’Hearn connected for the first time since being reinstated on Friday following six weeks on the injured list (left quad strain) and upped his career-high RBI total this season to 72.
Skenes allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings while striking out four and walking one.
NATIONALS 6, ANGELS 5, 10 INNINGS
WASHINGTON — Andrew Alvarez pitched seven innings of one-hit ball and Washington earned a 10-inning victory over Los Angeles when CJ Abrams scored on an error despite another bullpen collapse.
Andrés Chaparro’s single off Ben Joyce tied it in the ninth. Abrams scored against José Fermín (4-3) when shortstop Zach Neto could not handle Harry Ford’s grounder with the infield in.
Before that, the Angels rallied to a 5-4 lead while handing Washington’s bullpen an MLB record-extending 39th blown save. Vaughn Grissom connected for a two-run homer during a three-run eighth against Brad Lord, and Wade Meckler, Denzer Guzman and Moisés Ballesteros also had RBIs.
Jack Sinclair (1-0) retired four batters for his first career win.
PADRES 7, GIANTS 6
SAN FRANCISCO — Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. each hit solo homers, Mason Miller pitched a flawless ninth inning and San Diego beat San Francisco.
Michael King (11-9) worked around solo homers from Rafael Devers and Shay Whitcomb to pitch three-run ball over seven innings, but the Giants rallied against reliever Bradgley Rodriguez. Drew Cavanaugh led off with his first career homer, and Drew Gilbert added a two-run shot to get within a run.
Miller stifled the Giants from there, striking out two on 19 pitches for his 36th save.
RED SOX 5, ROYALS 1
BOSTON — Ranger Suarez struck out eight in seven innings of one-run ball, Wilyer Abreu hit a tiebreaking two-run double and Boston beat Kansas City to halt a three-game skid.
Nick Sogard had an RBI double, and Adley Rutschman and Caleb Durbin each added a run-scoring single for the Red Sox, who are comfortably in the second of the AL’s three wild-card spots.
Carter Jensen hit his 24th homer for Kansas City, which won the series opener Friday night.
Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. reached 40 stolen bases for the second time in his career when he swiped second in the first inning.
MARLINS 4, DODGERS 3
MIAMI — Kyle Tucker hit his sixth career grand slam and fell a double shy of the cycle as Los Angeles beat Miami to stretch their season-best winning streak to eight games.
Tucker connected on a 1-1 sweeper from reliever Cade Gibson for a 6-1 lead in the seventh. He singled in the first and tripled in the sixth.
Max Muncy had three hits and a walk and Will Smith added a run-scoring single for the NL West-leading Dodgers.
Blake Snell (4-1) allowed one run and struck out eight while scattering four hits over 5 2/3 innings.
MARINERS 19, ATHLETICS 1
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Randy Arozarena hit one of Seattle's five home runs in a shellacking of the Athletics.
J.P Crawford, Dominic Canzone and Cole Young each added two-run homers, and Michael Arroyo had a solo shot for his first big league home run. Weston Wilson had five hits and scored three runs.
Seattle had 23 hits, its most in a game since 2004, and its 19 runs were its most in a game since 2012. Five players had three or more hits, tying a team record set on Aug. 22, 2001 against Detroit.
Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo (12-9) allowed an unearned run over six innings with three hits, two walks and five strikeouts. Woo has a 1.78 ERA in 12 career starts against the A's, the lowest by a Seattle pitcher against any opponent in franchise history, minimum 10 starts.
A's left-hander Gage Jump (6-10) allowed five runs in two innings before being removed with left shoulder soreness.
BREWERS 13, REDS 9
MILWAUKEE — Garrett Mitchell went 4 for 5 with a homer and four RBIs as Milwaukee scored all their runs in the first five innings of a victory over Cincinnati.
William Contreras hit a tie-breaking three-run homer in the fourth inning and Brice Turang added a two-run shot one night after the Brewers clinched a playoff berth by trouncing the Reds 20-0. Never before in franchise history had the Brewers totalled that many runs in a two-game stretch.
The Reds headed to Milwaukee after losing 14-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, so they’ve allowed 47 runs over their last three games. According to Sportradar, the last time the Reds gave up 47-plus runs over a three-game stretch was in September 1901.
No major league team has given up that many runs in a span of three games since July 2022, when the Boston Red Sox allowed 55.
The Brewers’ magic number for clinching the NL Central dropped to three.
BRAVES 12, PHILLIES 2
ATLANTA — Ronald Acuña Jr. homered to spark an eight-run fourth inning and Tyler Mahle turned in another stellar outing to lead Atlanta to their second straight victory over Philadelphia.
The Braves had to rally three times in 11 innings to win the series opener between the two top NL East teams. This one was a lot easier.
Acuña hit a towering shot that barely cleared the wall in front of the Phillies bullpen off Brooks Raley (5-7), who took the loss for the second straight night. Acuña tacked on a run-scoring single to close out the big inning.
1:39
1:31
1:28