The Toronto Blue Jays lost on the field and on the out-of-town scoreboard on Tuesday.
The Blue Jays were the only team jockeying for the final wild-card spot to lose, dropping an 10-1 decision to the Detroit Tigers. As a result, the Texas Rangers jumped ahead of Toronto with a win over the Red Sox, while the Cleveland Guardians moved two games clear with a walk-off win over the White Sox.
Here is how the American League standings look after Tuesday's games.
Cleveland: vs. Chicago White Sox, 1:10 p.m.
Toronto: vs. Detroit, 3:07 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Baltimore: vs. NY Mets, 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Texas: vs. Boston, 8:05 p.m.
Houston: vs. Kansas City, 8:10 p.m., Sportsnet+
TIGERS 10, BLUE JAYS 1
TORONTO — Spencer Torkelson smashed a three-run homer as part of a four-run inning and the Detroit Tigers routed the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 on Tuesday.
Max Clark had a one-run double earlier in the fourth inning as Detroit (72-79) won its sixth straight. Riley Greene and John Peck had RBI singles in the fifth and sixth innings respectively.
A throwing error by Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk in the eighth allowed two more runs to score and Hao-Yu Lee hit a solo home run in the ninth.
Drew Anderson (5-6) struck out four over five scoreless innings in which he allowed just two hits and three walks. Relief pitchers Jacob Waguespack, Kyle Finnegan and Brant Hurter followed him to the mound.
Kirk had an RBI single in the eighth for Toronto's (75-77) only offence.
The Blue Jays dropped to two games back of Cleveland for the third and final wild-card spot in the American League after the Guardians rallied past the Chicago White Sox 7-6.
GUARDIANS 7, WHITE SOX 6
CLEVELAND — Brayan Rocchio came through again, hitting a two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Cleveland Guardians a comeback 7-6 win over the Chicago White Sox that tightened the AL Central race on Tuesday night.
With runners at second and third, Rocchio, who has seven career walk-off plate appearances, hit a fly toward the left-field corner off Grant Taylor (7-3) that just eluded a diving try by outfielder Sam Antonacci.
When the ball hit the turf, Rocchio flung his helmet in the air and Cleveland's dugout emptied onto the field to celebrate. Rocchio has developed a knack for late-season heroics with four of his walk-off hits coming in September.
The Guardians' rally moved them within a half game of the first-place White Sox. The teams will play the series finale on Wednesday. The White Sox, who lost at least 100 games in each of the past three seasons, have held at least a share of first since July 4.
Rookie Travis Bazzana hit a pair of homers for Cleveland.
RANGERS 4, RED SOX 2
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jacob deGrom struck out eight in five innings, Corey Seager had a two-run single and the Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox 4-2 on Tuesday night in a series opener between playoff contenders.
All-Star closer Jacob Latz, the fourth Texas reliever, got the five outs for his 30th save in 33 chances after deGrom (11-9) needed 92 pitches while giving up two runs. Latz struck out pinch-hitter Andruw Monasterio with the bases loaded to end the eighth.
Texas (75-76) stayed within one game of AL West-leading Houston (76-75) after the Astros also won Tuesday. The Rangers moved ahead of Toronto (75-77), which lost to Detroit, to stay within 1 1/2 games of Cleveland (77-75) for the third and final wild card.
Boston (82-69) is second in the wild-card race, 5 1/2 games ahead of the Guardians.
ORIOLES 7, METS 5, 11 INNINGS
NEW YORK — Pete Alonso launched his 300th career home run Tuesday night, a tying shot in the ninth inning against his former team, and Coby Mayo’s inside-the-park homer in the 11th sent the Baltimore Orioles to a 7-5 victory over the New York Mets.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Jeremiah Jackson also went deep for the Orioles (74-78), who stayed three games behind Cleveland for the last American League playoff spot.
Mayo snapped a 4-all tie with a three-run homer in the 11th. He connected on an 0-2 pitch from Jonathan Pintaro with two outs and sent a long drive to center field that glanced off rookie A.J. Ewing's glove as he crashed into the fence.
The ball rolled away from Ewing as he fell to the ground, allowing Mayo to circle the bases and score standing up.
YANKEES 8, TWINS 1
MINNEAPOLIS — Max Fried earned his first victory since April 27, backed by home runs from Cody Bellinger and Spencer Jones that helped the New York Yankees keep pace in the AL East race with an 8-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.
Fried (5-4) allowed one run over seven smooth innings and 88 pitches, logging his longest start in almost five months to ensure the Yankees (88-63) stayed 3 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay (91-59) for the division lead. The Yankees, who clinched at least a wild card spot on Monday, will need Fried to keep this up in the postseason.
Fried, who spent 71 games on the injured list over two stints for a bone bruise in his elbow, has a 1.83 ERA with 50 strikeouts over 44 1/3 innings in nine starts after the All-Star break.
Bellinger, who had three hits and a walk, quickly got the Yankees going with his 16th homer, a two-run drive after Ben Rice began the game with a single off Bailey Ober (7-6). Bellinger is batting .377 (26 for 69) in his last 17 games.
RAYS 2, ATHLETICS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Junior Caminero hit his second game-ending homer in four games, an opposite-field liner leading off the ninth inning that gave the Tampa Bay Rays a 2-1 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday night.
Caminero hit the third pitch from Elvis Alvarado (5-4) just inside the foul pole in right. It was the AL-leading 41st homer this season for the 23-year-old, who hit his first career walk-off homer to beat Houston on Friday.
Bryan Baker (3-2) pitched a perfect ninth for the Rays, who’ve won four in a row and are an MLB-best 35-17 since July 20.
Chandler Simpson, who began the night five points behind leader AL batting leader Yordan Alvarez of Houston, had half of the Rays’ six hits. Continuing his pursuit of a batting crown, Simpson went 3 for 3, raising his average to .308, and scored after reaching on a second-inning double.
The left fielder also made a sliding catch to rob Shea Langeliers in the ninth.
ASTROS 4, ROYALS 2
HOUSTON — Jeremy Peña homered in his first two at-bats and Yordan Alvarez slugged his 39th home run to lead the Houston Astros to a 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.
The Astros, who entered the day leading the AL West by one game over the Texas Rangers, got back on track after a three-game sweep by Tampa Bay over the weekend.
Peña hit Michael Wacha’s first pitch over the wall in left-center field for his first homer since Aug. 30.
There was one out in the third when he connected off Wacha (9-9) again, a shot to the seats in left to make it 2-0 and give him a fifth career multi-homer game.
The Astros led by one when Peña singled with two outs in the fifth. Alvarez followed with his soaring long ball to right field. His 39 homers are a career best and trail the Rays' Junior Caminero by two for the AL lead.
ANGELS 2, MARINERS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Ryan Johnson pitched six strong innings, Josh Lowe hit a tiebreaking home run and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Vaughn Grissom had an RBI double and Johnson (5-8) gave up one run on six hits with seven strikeouts and no walks. He won consecutive starts for the first time in his career.
Julio Rodríguez had an RBI double for the Mariners and Logan Gilbert allowed two runs on six hits over six innings. Gilbert (12-10) fanned seven in his first outing since becoming the first Seattle pitcher with double-digit strikeouts in consecutive starts since 2018.
The Mariners (70-82) dropped their third straight game, clinching their first losing record in a full season since 2019. They also had a losing mark during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
BRAVES 6, CUBS 3
CHICAGO — Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies and Drake Baldwin hit late-inning, two-run homers, and the Atlanta Braves rallied to beat the Chicago Cubs 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Chicago's loss clinched Milwaukee's fourth straight NL Central title. The Cubs (84-68) maintained a half-game lead over Philadelphia (83-68) for the top NL wild card.
NL East-leading Atlanta (89-63) opened a 5 1/2-game NL East lead over the second-place Phillies.
Given a 3-0 lead, Cubs starter Kevin Gausman retired 16 of his first 18 batters.
Acuña homered off Gausman in the sixth to pull the Braves within a run. Albies went deep in the seventh off Jacob Webb (6-5), his eighth home run in 23 games at Wrigley Field, and Baldwin connected in the ninth against Edward Cabrera.
BREWERS 5, PIRATES 1
PITTSBURGH — Jacob Misiorowski struck out seven in five shutout innings and the Milwaukee Brewers won their fourth straight National League Central title with a 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.
About 50 minutes after the final out, the Brewers clinched the division when the second-place Chicago Cubs lost to Atlanta. Milwaukee players watched the end of that game on television, raising hands and cheering at the final out.
The flamethrowing Misiorowski (15-5) dropped his ERA to a major-league-best 1.89 and boosted his season strikeout total to 243. Nine of the towering right-hander's first 10 pitches topped 100 mph and he worked around five hits — all singles — to win his fourth straight decision.
Joey Ortiz and Luis Lara drove in two runs each for the Brewers, who have become postseason fixtures for the last decade but are still seeking the franchise's first World Series appearance since 1982. Swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers last season's NL Championship Series, Milwaukee has qualified for the postseason for the eighth time in nine years.
NATIONALS 6, PHILLIES 3
WASHINGTON — Pinch-hitter Daylen Lile hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the seventh inning, and the Washington Nationals defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Andrés Chaparro also homered for Washington, which won its fourth in a row for the first time since June 13-16.
Kyle Schwarber hit his majors-leading 45th homer for Philadelphia, which has dropped four of five but continues to hold an NL wild-card spot.
With the game tied at 3-all, Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez (17-6) surrendered consecutive singles to open the seventh before Nasim Nuñez bunted both runners over. Philadelphia interim manager Don Mattingly summoned Jonathan Bowlan, and Lile hammered his first pitch to center for his first career pinch homer.
Sánchez allowed five runs and struck out five. He is 1-2 with a 6.87 ERA in three September starts, and his season ERA has risen from 2.52 to 2.93 since the start of the month.
GIANTS 10, CARDINALS 3
ST. LOUIS — Bryce Eldridge hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 10-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.
Eldridge is hitting .343 (36 for 105) with 28 RBI in his last 28 games.
Christian Kross and rookie Turner Hill each added two hits and drove in two runs, helping the Giants snap a four-game losing streak. Hill hit his first career home run in the ninth.
Alex Burleson hit a two-out homer, his 23rd of the season, in the first inning. He has driven in league-leading 111 runs.
Blade Tidwell (1-2) allowed two runs on three hits over 6 2/3 innings. Since his Aug. 4 recall, the Giants are 2-6 in his eight starts, with both wins coming against the Cardinals.
DODGERS 4, REDS 0
CINCINNATI — Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one hit through seven innings as Los Angeles beat Cincinnati to edge closer to an NL West division title.
The Dodgers reduced the magic number to clinch their 13th division title in the past 14 seasons to two. Los Angeles wrapped up a playoff spot on Monday and still is vying for the top seed in the NL.
Cincinnati is assured of a non-winning season after its 81st loss.
Yamamoto (14-8) made his team-high 27th start and allowed only a third-inning double to Elly De La Cruz, after which he retired 10 straight. He walked two and struck out seven. It was the second straight game a Dodgers starter went seven scoreless after Tarik Skubal on Monday.
Dodgers pitching recorded its 12th shutout of the season. The Reds were blanked for the 17th time.
Freddie Freeman returned to the Dodgers lineup after missing three of the past five games with right knee soreness and had three singles in five at-bats. Freeman was 3 for 30 coming into Tuesday.
Josue De Paula batted leadoff for the first time in just his fifth career game for the Dodgers and went 0 for 5 with a strikeout. He’s 2 for 14 since his callup.
ROCKIES 9, PADRES 3
DENVER — Cole Carrigg homered twice on a 4-for-5 night, Troy Johnston had three hits and two RBIs, and Colorado defeated San Diego to end an eight-game losing streak.
It was the first career multi-homer game for Carrigg, the 24-year-old rookie who finished a triple shy of the cycle and whose three-run shot to right field capped a five-run sixth inning that gave Colorado a four-run lead.
The loss snapped an eight-game win streak for the Padres, who entered 2 1/2 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final National League wild-card spot.
After relieving Rockies starter Kyle Freeland in the top of the fifth, Ryan Feltner (6-10) gave up just five hits and struck out five batters in five scoreless innings.
TJ Rumfield had two hits for Colorado to extend his on-base streak to 20 games.
MARLINS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 2, 11 INNINGS
PHOENIX — Esteury Ruiz hit a three-run double in the 11th inning to lift the Miami Marlins over the Arizona 4-2 on Tuesday night, dealing a major blow to the Diamondbacks' playoff hopes.
The D-backs could have gained a game in the National League wild-card race after the San Diego Padres lost to Colorado, but instead remained 2 1/2 games back for the final playoff spot with 10 remaining.
With two outs in the 11th, Ruiz ripped a sinker from reliever Taylor Clarke (2-4) deep into the left-center gap, scoring Otto Lopez, Jared Serna and Kyle Stowers. It was just the Marlins' fifth hit of the night.
The D-backs nearly won the game in the 10th inning, but Geraldo Perdomo was thrown out at home by Serna on a grounder to second base by Ryan Waldschmidt.
Arizona left 15 runners on base.
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