Giants blank Orioles
BALTIMORE (AP) — Blake Snell struck out 12 over six innings and allowed just one hit to carry the San Francisco Giants past the faltering Baltimore Orioles 10-0 on Tuesday night.
The Orioles have lost seven of nine to fall 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East, pending New York’s game later Tuesday night at Seattle. Baltimore held a half-game lead on Sept. 5 before its current tailspin, during which it has been outscored 46-18.
Colton Cowser had two of the Orioles’ five hits in their most lopsided shutout loss of the season.
RAYS 8, RED SOX 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Shane Baz allowed two runs and two hits over seven innings, Jose Siri homered and drove in four runs, and Tampa Bay beat Boston.
Baz (3-3) struck out six and walked one, and set a team mark with his fifth consecutive start of giving up three hits or fewer over five-plus innings.
Siri hit one Tampa Bay’s three homers during a four-run fifth inning and extended the Rays lead to 8-3 with his three-run bloop double to left in the eighth.
Junior Caminero, Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe also homered for the Rays. Tampa Bay trails Minnesota by six games for the final AL wild card, and would also have pass Boston, Seattle and Detroit.
Triston Casas and Romy Gonzalez homered for Boston, which is five back of the Twins with 11 games remaining.
MARLINS 11, DODGERS 9
MIAMI (AP) — Jesús Sánchez doubled twice and drove in three runs, and Miami beat Shohei Ohtani and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ohtani struck out three times but hit his 48th home run as he tries to become the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season. He did not steal a base for the fifth straight game and remains at 48.
Sánchez went 5 for 5, while Otto Lopez and Jake Burger homered for the Marlins.
Connor Norby became the first Marlin with four runs scored in a single game this season. He went 2 for 3 with a single, double and two walks. Kyle Stowers had an RBI triple in the fourth and added a run-scoring double in the sixth for the Marlins, who had 15 hits.
TWINS 4, GUARDIANS 1
CLEVELAND (AP) — Willi Castro hit a two-run homer, Matt Wallner had two RBIs and Minnesota bounced back from a crushing loss in the series opener to beat Cleveland and stay locked into the final AL wild card.
Castro connected in the eighth inning, and both of Wallner’s RBI singles came off Gavin Williams (3-10), who has just one win in his last seven starts.
The Twins entered with a 1 1/2-game lead over Detroit for the last playoff berth.
Lane Thomas homered for the AL Central-leading Guardians, who are closing in on the postseason. They can still clinch a spot on Wednesday.
REDS 6, BRAVES 5
CINCINNATI (AP) — Michael Harris II and Matt Olson homered for Atlanta, but the Braves blew a four-run lead in a costly loss to Cincinnati.
Pierce Johnson and Jesse Chavez struggled as Atlanta dropped its third consecutive game. The Braves (81-70) are battling the New York Mets for the third NL wild card.
Harris hit a leadoff drive in the first against Brandon Williamson. Marcell Ozuna reached on a one-out single before Olson made it 3-0 with his 26th homer.
Jorge Soler’s 19th homer made it 5-1 in the fourth. But that was it for Atlanta, which went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.
Spencer Steer homered for Cincinnati, and Tyler Stephenson had two hits and drove in a run. The Reds improved to 4-0 against the Braves this year.
METS 10, NATIONALS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Alonso homered and drove in five runs, Luisangel Acuña added his first major league longball to cap a huge night at the plate, and the New York Mets routed Washington to boost their chances in a close National League playoff race.
Tylor Megill (4-5) provided another terrific outing in place of injured starter Paul Blackburn, and Francisco Alvarez also went deep as the Mets improved to 10-2 against Washington this year.
New York moved two games ahead of rival Atlanta for the last NL wild card with 11 to play. A loud cheer went up in the crowd of 24,932 at Citi Field when the out-of-town scoreboard showed that Cincinnati had polished off a 6-5 comeback victory over the Braves.
Jose Iglesias had three hits and scored twice, batting leadoff with Francisco Lindor sidelined by a sore back. The 22-year-old Acuña, subbing for Lindor at shortstop, finished a triple shy of the cycle and scored three times from the No. 9 spot in his fourth big league game.
CARDINALS 3, PIRATES 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lance Lynn threw six strong innings in his 100th appearance at Busch Stadium, Jordan Walker homered and St. Louis beat Pittsburgh.
Lynn (7-4) allowed one run on four hits and struck out five. Lynn is 9-0 over his last 21 starts at Busch, where he pitched for the Cardinals from 2011-17 before rejoining St. Louis this season. His last loss in the Cardinals’ ballpark came on July 4, 2017, against Miami.
The Cardinals (76-75) are seven games out of the final NL wild card spot with 11 games remaining.
Bryan De La Cruz hit his 20th homer of the season, taking Lynn deep in the second inning. De La Cruz’s drive to the left-center bleachers traveled 431 feet and was his second for Pittsburgh after being acquired from Miami.
PHILLIES 5, BREWERS 1
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bryce Harper hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning to back up the strong pitching of Zack Wheeler and Philadelphia beat Milwaukee in a matchup of division leaders.
Nick Castellanos added a solo shot and Trea Turner went 3 for 5 to help the Phillies move closer to wrapping up the NL East title while delaying the Brewers’ NL Central championship celebration.
The Phillies lowered their magic number for clinching the NL East to four. The Brewers’ magic number dropped to one with the Chicago Cubs 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
