The Cleveland Guardians can't stop winning, and as a result, they are in the driver's seat for the final playoff spot in the American League.
Cleveland picked up a sixth straight win Wednesday by beating the Angels, and combined with a Rangers loss, now has a two-game cushion for the final AL wild-card spot.
The Blue Jays and Orioles were able to avoid losing ground by picking up wins of their own Wednesday, but still sit three and 2.5 games back of the Guardians, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Mariners, Tigers and Twins all lost Wednesday to fall further back of Cleveland.
Here's a look at how the standings look after Wednesday's results:
Toronto: vs. Kansas City, 7:07 p.m. (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+)
Houston: at New York Yankees, 7:05 p.m.
New York Yankees: vs. Houston, 7:05 p.m.
Baltimore: at St. Louis, 12:15 p.m.
Boston: Off
Texas: Off
Cleveland: Off
Minnesota: Off
Seattle: Off
Detroit: Off
BLUE JAYS 3, ROYALS 0
TORONTO — Seven Toronto pitchers combined on a six-hitter, Nathan Lukes hit a three-run homer and the Blue Jays beat the Royals 3-0 on Wednesday night, ending Kansas City’s nine-game winning streak.
Chad Dallas (2-1) struck out four in 2 2/3 hitless innings for his second career win and Louis Varland got the final four outs for his 30th save in 31 chances.
The Royals were seeking their longest win streak since a 10-game stretch from June 7-18, 2014.
Toronto used its ninth shutout to bounce back after losing consecutive games for the first time in a month. The Blue Jays lost 8-3 at New York on Sunday and 5-3 Tuesday to Kansas City, their first back-to-back defeats since a four-game skid from July 19-22.
GUARDIANS 4, ANGELS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Steven Kwan hit a tying double in the ninth inning, Travis Bazzana followed with a sacrifice fly and the Cleveland Guardians rallied past the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 on Wednesday for their seventh straight victory.
Hunter Gaddis (2-3) retired the final two batters in the eighth to earn the win. Erik Sabrowski worked a scoreless ninth for his second major league save and first since 2024.
With a runner on second, Sabrowski struck out pinch-hitter Travis d’Arnaud and got pinch-hitter Oswald Peraza to pop up to second as Cleveland completed a three-game sweep.
Chase DeLauter, slowed this week by left hamstring tightness, sparked the winning rally with a one-out single off reliever Ryan Watson (1-1) in the ninth.
Petey Halpin ran for DeLauter and went to second on Brayan Rocchio’s single. Kwan roped a ground-rule double to right field for a 3-all tie, and Bazzana's sac fly sent the Angels to their 10th loss this season when leading after eight innings.
ORIOLES 8, CARDINALS 7
ST. LOUIS — Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit a tiebreaking RBI double, Leody Taveras and Pete Alonso homered and the Baltimore Orioles beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-7 on Wednesday night after squandering a five-run, first-inning lead.
Encarnacion-Strand's double in the top of the ninth scored Luis Vázquez, helping the Orioles (65-68) stay within 2 1/2 games of the Cleveland Guardians in the race for the final American League wild-card spot.
Encarnacion-Strand and Dylan Beavers opened the scoring with RBI singles before Taveras' three-run homer extended the lead to 5-0 in the first inning. Alonso followed in the second with his team-leading 32nd home run of the year — a two-run, 368-foot long ball to right field.
Grant Wolfram (5-2) worked a hitless eighth inning, and Andrew Kittredge picked up his seventh save of the season with a one-hit ninth as Baltimore took the first two games of the three-game set.
WHITE SOX 10, RANGERS 4
CHICAGO — Canadian Tristan Peters homered for the fifth consecutive game to match the franchise record and MLB rookie mark, Brenton Doyle hit a three-run shot and the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 10-4 on Wednesday night in the rubber match of a three-game series.
The Rangers remain a half-game behind AL West-leading Houston, which lost 9-3 to the Yankees in New York earlier Wednesday.
Peters had three hits and three RBIs and Doyle added a run-scoring single. Sam Antonacci hit two RBI singles and Miguel Vargas went 2 for 2 with an RBI.
Sean Newcomb (2-3) pitched three scoreless innings for the win. Jonathan Cannon allowed two runs over the final three innings for his first save since 2024.
Texas has lost of 12 of its last 15 games on the road has dropped six consecutive road series for the first time since it lost eight straight away from home in 2021.
YANKEES 9, ASTROS 3
NEW YORK — Cody Bellinger hit a go-ahead double with the bases loaded in the seventh inning and the New York Yankees pulled away for a 9-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday night.
Bellinger snapped a 3-all tie when he drove a 1-1 fastball from Bennett Sousa (1-3) off the top of the center-field fence to score Trent Grisham and Ben Rice. The clutch swing came after Luis García Jr. reached on an infield single when Sousa didn't cover first base in time on a grounder to the right side.
Spencer Jones added an RBI single in the seventh and Jazz Chisholm Jr. had a run-scoring double. Chisholm singled twice and finished with his third three-hit game this season.
Rice launched his 35th homer in the first inning and García tacked on a two-run shot in the eighth. García had three more hits after going 4 for 5 in Tuesday night's defeat.
PHILLIES 6, MARINERS 0
SEATTLE — Kyle Schwarber hit his MLB-leading 40th home run, Jesús Luzardo struck out nine in seven innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Seattle Mariners 6-0 Wednesday.
Schwarber hit a three-run shot in the second inning and reached 40 homers for a fourth season with Philadelphia, matching the franchise mark set by Ryan Howard. The 33-year-old Schwarber, who snapped an 0-for-7 slump with a double in the first, sent Bryan Woo's fastball 425 feet into right-center to cap a four-run inning that put the Phillies ahead 6-0.
With the win, the Phillies (74-60) avoided a series sweep against the Mariners and remain 4 1/2 games back of Atlanta in the NL East. The Braves face the Dodgers later Wednesday.
The Mariners (64-70) are 2.5 games behind first-place Houston in the AL West.
ATHLETICS 7, TWINS 4
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Lawrence Butler homered, Alika Williams hit a two-run triple and the Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins 7-4 on Wednesday night to win the three-game series.
Minnesota (64-70) fell four games behind Cleveland for the final American League playoff spot.
Tommy White had three hits for the A's, who have won four of five following a five-game losing streak. J.T. Ginn (9-8) allowed six hits and four runs in six innings.
Elvis Alvarado pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.
After Jonah Heim singled with one out in the sixth, Andrew Morris (4-6) replaced Twins starter Connor Prielipp. White singled and pinch-hitter Jeff McNeil doubled in a run before Williams' triple gave the Athletics their first lead. Darell Hernaiz added an RBI single that made it 6-4.
RAYS 3, TIGERS 0
DETROIT — Freddy Peralta pitched six scoreless innings and picked up his first win with his new team as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Detroit Tigers 3-0 on Wednesday.
Peralta (6-11) won for the first time in five starts since being acquired from the New York Mets at the trade deadline. He allowed two singles in six innings and struck out four batters without a walk.
The Rays took a 2-0 lead in the second after Chandler Simpson led off with an infield single and scored on Jonny DeLuca’s double. DeLuca took third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Cedric Mullins’ two-out base hit.
Tampa Bay added a third run in the sixth on two hits and a sacrifice fly by Liam Hicks.
Each team had lost its previous three series before splitting the first two games this week, but the Tampa Bay pitching staff made sure the Rays didn't continue the streak.
MARLINS 4, RED SOX 0
MIAMI — Javier Sanoja had three hits and drove in a run, Ryan Gusto limited Boston to four hits in 5 2/3 innings and the Miami Marlins beat the Red Sox 4-0 on Wednesday night.
Gusto (1-3) walked three, struck out two and hit two batters for his first victory since July 30, 2025. Otto López singled twice and stole two bases, while Heriberto Hernández had two hits and an RBI to help the Marlins avoid a sweep in the three-game series.
Boston starter Sonny Gray, in his bid to become the first in the major leagues to 17 wins this season, gave up two runs and seven hits over five innings. Gray (16-4) walked one and struck out five.
The Red Sox had won five straight. They committed four errors.
BRAVES 6, DODGERS 5
ATLANTA — Pinch-hitter Ha-Seong Kim singled home Lane Thomas with two outs in the ninth inning, lifting the Atlanta Braves to a 6-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night.
Thomas doubled to right field against Tanner Scott (1-5) before the Dodgers intentionally walked Austin Riley to get to Kim. Scott also took the loss in Tuesday's series opener.
Victor Mederos (3-1) pitched a perfect ninth.
Matt Olson hit his 37th homer for Atlanta and Sean Murphy hit his first. Tommy Edman went deep for Los Angeles and drove in three runs in this back-and-forth matchup of NL division leaders.
BREWERS 8, METS 1
NEW YORK — Brice Turang hit a three-run homer and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the New York Mets 8-1 on Wednesday night, overcoming an injury to starter Dustin May after one pitch.
May left in the first inning with a bruised right scapula when a 106 mph line drive off the bat of leadoff hitter A.J. Ewing ricocheted off his right shoulder blade. The right-hander was replaced by lefty Robert Gasser (4-5), who earned the win by tossing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball.
May became the first major league starter to exit after one pitch since Pablo López with the Miami Marlins on July 2, 2021.
David Hamilton, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Christian Yelich had RBI singles for the major league-leading Brewers (82-50), who clinched their sixth straight winning season and ninth in the last 10 years. Milwaukee finished over .500 just 15 times in the franchise’s first 48 seasons.
ROCKIES 13, NATIONALS 1
WASHINGTON — Connor Norby hit a grand slam, Troy Johnston, Cole Carrigg and Hunter Goodman had two-run homers, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Washington Nationals 13-1 on Wednesday night.
Goodman and TJ Rumfield singled and Willi Castro walked to load the bases in the seventh inning before Norby launched his sixth home run of the season 402 feet to center field to give Colorado an 8-1 lead.
Norby, promoted from Triple-A Albuquerque on Aug. 11, has reached base in all 14 games for the Rockies. On Wednesday, he had two hits and five RBIs and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Johnston opened the scoring for Colorado with a go-ahead, two-run homer in the fifth, and Carrigg extended the lead to 4-1 with a 395-foot shot.
Goodman added his team-leading 36th homer of the year in the eighth. Norby and Ezequiel Tovar added RBI singles to cap the scoring.
REDS 10, GIANTS 9
SAN FRANCISCO — Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam as part of Cincinnati’s seven-run ninth inning as the Reds overcame a six-run deficit and beat the San Francisco Giants 10-9 on Wednesday.
The Reds have a record of 3-1,917 when trailing by six or more runs in the ninth inning. Besides Wednesday's comeback, Cincinnati rallied from six-or-more runs down in May 1958 against the Chicago Cubs and May 1918 against St. Louis, according to the Elias Sport Bureau.
The six-run lead was the largest ever squandered in the ninth inning by the Giants since at least 1901, according to Sportradar. The Giants twice had blown five-run leads in the ninth, against the Athletics on Aug. 14, 2020, and versus the Brooklyn Dodgers on June 25, 1929.
Cincinnati's comeback prevented the Giants from completing their first three-game sweep of the season. San Francisco is the only MLB team that has not swept a three-game set this season.
DIAMONDBACKS 2, CUBS 0
PHOENIX — Eduardo Rodriguez struck out nine in seven innings, Jordan Lawlar homered and Arizona beat Chicago.
Rodriguez (14-4) outpitched Cubs starter Matthew Boyd (8-3), allowing two hits to win his fourth straight start. Relievers Brandyn Garcia and Juan Morillo completed the two-hitter, with Morillo earning his second save.
The Cubs, who occupy the top NL wild-card spot, have lost five of seven.
Lawlar led off the sixth inning with his third homer for the only run against Boyd, who allowed three hits with five strikeouts and two walks in six innings.
Ryan Waldschmidt had a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Rodriguez tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings against Cincinnati in his last start and didn’t allow a hit against the Cubs until Tyrone Taylor’s bloop single to lead off the fifth inning.
PADRES 3, PIRATES 0
SAN DIEGO — Jackson Merrill doubled, tripled, drove in a run and scored another to help Randy Vásquez reach 10 victories as San Diego beat Pittsburgh to avoid a three-game sweep.
The Padres remained in possession of the National League’s third wild-card spot, one game ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks. San Diego has won 12 of 17 and 22 of 31.
Merrill doubled to right with one out in the second off Bubba Chandler and scored on Luis Rengifo’s single to right.
Manny Machado reached on third baseman Nick Gonzales’ throwing error with one out in the fourth and came around on Merrill’s triple to the right-field wall, sliding in headfirst and dragging his left hand across the plate.
Jake Cronenworth hit an RBI double in the eighth. Merrill drew an 11-pitch walk with two outs to load the bases before Jase Bowen flied out.
Vásquez retired his first nine batters before loading the bases with two outs in the fourth. He struck out Nick Gonzales to end it after catcher Freddy Fermin challenged a ball call that was overturned by the ABS system.
The right-hander held the Pirates to one hit in five innings, with two strikeouts and two walks. He has four wins and a no-decision in his last five starts. His previous high for victories in a season was six in 2025.
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