Canada's team and a Canadian pitcher delivered strong performances on Thursday in the tight American League wild-card race.
The Toronto Blue Jays pulled within 0.5 games of Cleveland with a 6-3 win over the Guardians in the afternoon before Canadian right-hander Cal Quantrill led the Texas Rangers to a 6-0 win over the AL-best Tampa Bay Rays.
With the victory, the Rangers pulled into a tie with Toronto in the wild-card race.
The Baltimore Orioles missed a chance to make it a three-way tie as they lost 6-3 to the Boston Red Sox.
Here's a look at the standings Thursday night with only the Seattle Mariners still playing:
Toronto: at Kansas City, 8:10 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Cleveland: doubleheader vs. Detroit, 2:10 p.m., 7:15 p.m.
Texas: vs. Tampa Bay, 8:05 p.m.
Baltimore: vs. Boston, 7:05 p.m., Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+
Minnesota: at Chicago White Sox, 7:40 p.m.
Seattle: vs. Athletics, 10:10 p.m.
Detroit: doubleheader at Cleveland, 2:10 p.m., 7:15 p.m.
New York Yankees: at San Diego, 9:40 p.m., Sportsnet+
Boston: at Baltimore, 7:05 p.m., Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+
THURSDAY'S GAMES
BLUE JAYS 6, GUARDIANS 3
CLEVELAND — Brett Bateman had three hits, Nathan Lukes lined a two-run double with the bases loaded in the fifth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays moved within striking distance of the third AL wild-card spot with a 6-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday.
Toronto (70-71) has won five of six and is a half-game behind Cleveland (70-70) after taking two of three in the series. The Blue Jays also won four of six in the season series.
Tanner Bibee took a major league-leading 15th loss for the Guardians. Austin Hedges had a two-run, bases-loaded single in the fifth inning to get Cleveland within 5-3.
Angel Genao came up as the potential tying run with runners on first and second and two outs in the ninth, but Louis Varland struck him out to pick up his 32nd save in 33 opportunities. Spencer Miles (6-2) got the win.
The game was tied at 1 before Toronto sent 10 to the plate in its four-run fifth.
RANGERS 6, RAYS 0
ARLINGTON, Texas — Cal Quantrill allowed two singles and two walks in seven innings, and Corey Seager hit a two-run homer as the Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-0 on Thursday night.
Quantrill (7-5), from Port Hope, Ont., has a 1.25 ERA over eight outings, including seven starts, since July 28 at Tampa Bay. His ERA in seven career starts against the Rays is 1.77.
Jakob Junis and Chase Silseth finished the combined three-hitter, Texas' 13th shutout this season.
Seager’s blast to right field in the fifth inning followed Ezequiel Duran’s flare to right that scored Logan O’Hoppe. Seager previously hit balls to the warning track in left and center.
The Rangers (70-71) are one-half game behind Cleveland for the AL’s final wild-card spot and trail first-place Houston in the West by two games.
Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan (10-7) allowed four runs in five innings. McClanahan hasn’t made it through six innings since July 8.
RED SOX 6, ORIOLES 5
BALTIMORE — Adley Rutschman homered twice in his return to Baltimore, and the Boston Red Sox rallied to beat the Orioles 6-5 on Thursday night.
Nick Sogard's two-run shot in the eighth broke a 3-3 tie. Baltimore led 3-1 after consecutive fourth-inning homers by Luis Robert Jr. and Pete Alonso, but the Orioles had just two hits after that.
Luis De León (0-2) took the loss. One of Baltimore's top pitching prospects, he was called up earlier in the week, and both his appearances have been in the late innings with the game tied. He lost each time.
After a leadoff single by pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones, Rutschman hit a grounder to third. Jones slid hard into to second to break up a double play, and after De León struck out Wilyer Abreu, Yennier Cano came on.
Sogard hit a drive to right-center field for just his fourth homer of the year and only the second allowed by Cano in 61 appearances.
Roman Anthony added a solo homer in the ninth to make it 6-3.
ASTROS 6, WHITE SOX 2
HOUSTON — Jose Altuve hit a two-run homer and former Blue Jay Daulton Varsho drove in two runs with a triple to lead the Houston Astros to a 6-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.
The Astros lead the AL West by 2 1/2 games over the second-place Rangers after winning three of four games in this series against the AL Central leaders.
The game was tied and the Astros had runners on first and second with one out in the third after Luis Castillo hit Yordan Alvarez on the shoulder with a pitch.
Isaac Paredes smashed an RBI double off the left-field wall to put the Astros on top. There were two outs in the inning when Varsho's triple scored two more and push the lead to 5-2.
An RBI single by Christian Walker made it 6-2.
Castillo (4-11) yielded six hits and six runs in just four innings in the loss.
ROYALS 7, MARLINS 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Carter Jensen finished a single shy of hitting for the cycle with a home run, triple and a double while driving in three runs and scoring three times as Kansas City defeated Miami to avoid a three-game sweep.
The game was played in front of just 10,803 with a game-time temperature of 97 F (36 C).
Jensen has three home runs in the last two games for the Royals, who are tied with the Colorado Rockies and the Athletics with 10 series in which they’ve been swept this season.
Michael Wacha (9-8) allowed three runs in six innings, walked two and struck out seven.
Sandy Alcantara (13-9) allowed four runs and six hits through six innings for the Marlins, who were attempting to earn their third sweep against an American League team this season.
CUBS 2, BREWERS 1
CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit his 39th homer, Kevin Gausman threw seven sharp innings and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 on Thursday night.
The Cubs salvaged a split of a four-game series with the NL-Central leading Brewers and are eight games behind in the division standings. Milwaukee, which leads the season series 4-6, will host the Cubs for three games next week.
Gausman (9-11) allowed one run on five hits in his sixth start with the Cubs since they acquired the veteran right-hander from Toronto at the trade deadline. He struck out nine and walked one.
Brewers rookie Logan Henderson (9-3) yielded two runs on three hits in seven innings, striking out seven and walking none. The 24-year-old right-hander's three-game winning streak ended, even though he's allowed just five runs and has a 1.67 ERA over his last four starts.
Henderson retired 14 straight after Crow Armstrong’s two-run drive in the third inning put the Cubs ahead and moved the All-Star centre fielder to one behind Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber for the major league home run lead. Crow-Armstrong golfed Henderson’s low changeup 413 feet to the basket in center field.
Milwaukee’s Andrew Vaughn hit a solo shot over the left-field bleachers in the fourth to end a 24-game home-run drought and cut it to 2-1. Vaughn's 420-foot drive came off a low, inside corner splitter and reached Waveland Avenue.
PIRATES 5, GIANTS 2
PITTSBURGH — Six relievers combined on a two-hitter to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday afternoon.
Rookie Khristian Curtis (1-0) earned the victory by working three-plus innings. The 24-year-old right-hander gave up the first two runs of his career in the seventh after 11 straight scoreless innings. Yohan Ramirez came on to limit the damage. Mason Montgomery worked the ninth for his 8th save.
The Pirates managed just five hits of their own but took advantage of some early control issues by San Francisco's Blade Tidwell (0-2) to win for the sixth time in their last nine games.
Oneil Cruz walked three times, including a first-inning bases-loaded free pass from Tidwell that drove in a run. Jake Mangum reached base four times and drove in a run when Tidwell hit him with a pitch in the first immediately following Cruz's at-bat.
The Pirates have won five of their last six series to remain on the very fringe of the National League wild card race with just over three weeks to go in the season. The club expects rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin to return from a two-month absence due to a left ring finger issue on Friday.
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