Braves comeback victory over Blue Jays moves them into a tie with Mets for wild card
ATLANTA (AP) — Sean Murphy’s infield ground ball with the bases loaded scored a sliding Eli White in the 11th inning, and the Atlanta Braves rallied for a gritty 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.
The Braves now have 12 extra-inning wins, which leads the big leagues. They took two of three games from the Blue Jays and are tied with the New York Mets for the final wild card in a tight National League playoff race.
Atlanta got another brilliant outing from left-hander Chris Sale, who pitched six shutout innings. White entered the game as a defensive replacement at second base, which was just his fourth game in the big leagues at the position.
The Braves’ decisive rally started when White led off the 11th inning with a bunt single that advanced automatic runner Michael Harris II to third base. Adam Duvall then reached on an error by Blue Jays third baseman Addison Barger, whose throw sailed wide to first and scored Harris to tie the game.
Murphy followed with the bouncing ball up the middle and White was able to score, sliding in ahead of the throw.
George Springer put the Blue Jays up 3-2 in the 11th with a bouncing single up the middle that scored Barger, who had advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Brian Serven.
MARINERS 10, CARDINALS 4
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Randy Arozarena and Jorge Polanco hit two-run home runs and Seattle scored five times in the first inning on their way to a victory over St. Louis.
After getting shut out for the ninth time this season, Seattle started the game with five straight hits and all five batters came around to score.
Julio Rodríguez led off with a double to left field and scored on Cal Raleigh’s single. Luke Raley followed Arozarena’s single with a two-run double. He and Justin Turner would eventually score on Mitch Garner’s two-out single that made it 5-0.
Arozarena’s 390-foot drive to left field off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (8-11) in the second inning pushed the lead to seven. It was the first career home run at Busch Stadium — and first against the Cardinals —for the outfielder who started his career with St. Louis before emerging as a postseason sensation and MVP of the 2020 AL championship series with Tampa Bay.
Polanco added a 419-foot shot into the center-field bleachers in the fifth against Steven Matz for a 9-2 lead.
WHITE SOX 7, RED SOX 2
BOSTON (AP) — Dominic Fletcher’s RBI double sparked a five-run ninth inning and Chicago avoided a three-game sweep with a victory over Boston.
Chicago starter Chris Flexen’s winless streak extended to 21 straight starts — the longest in team history — after he was pulled with the game tied in the seventh inning. The 30-year-old right-hander gave up two runs on six hits, striking out six and walking one.
Chicago (33-11) had lost 14 of its last 15 games before rallying against against Boston reliever Zack Kelly (6-3). Zach DeLoach added a two-run double in the ninth inning.
The MLB-worst White Sox are nine losses away from tying the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses since 1900, and are on pace to finish 37-125. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the MLB loss record at 20-134.
CUBS 2, YANKEES 1
CHICAGO (AP) — Jameson Taillon allowed only one run in six innings and Chicago beat New York to avoid a series sweep.
Taillon (10-8) struck out six against his former team. He gave up Anthony Volpe’s second-inning, RBI sacrifice fly and allowed six hits.
New York remained a half-game ahead of second-place Baltimore in the AL East.
Chicago won 10 of 13 games in late August, but had dropped four of five to the Pirates and Yankees during its homestand entering Sunday.
RANGERS 7, ANGELS 4
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) —Andrew Heaney snapped an eight-start winless streak as Texas took an early five-run lead and beat Los Angeles.
Heaney (5-13), one short of the major league lead in losses, allowed four runs, three earned, on three hits in six-plus innings to win for the first time since July 21. He was backed by home runs from Marcus Semien, Nathaniel Lowe and Ezequiel Duran.
It was rare run support for Heaney. The 33-year-old left-hander received two runs or fewer of support in his previous seven starts and 18 of his 27 this season before Sunday. His 3.55 average run support as a starter was fourth lowest in the American League.
Kirby Yates earned his 29th save in 30 chances after David Robertson left runners on the corners in the eighth with a one-run lead.
RAYS 2, ORIOLES 0
BALTIMORE (AP) — Zack Littell and four relievers combined on a five-hit shutout, Jonny DeLuca hit a two-run homer and Tampa Bay beat Baltimore.
Littell and Corbin Burnes were locked in a scoreless duel until the sixth inning, when DeLuca followed a leadoff walk with his sixth home run in 289 at-bats this season, a drive to left on a 1-1 pitch.
That was enough to outdo a struggling Baltimore offense that scored only three runs in the three-game series.
Tampa Bay took two of three from the Orioles, who are chasing the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East. It’s the Rays’ first series win on the road since early August and the first time they won a series in Baltimore since Aug. 27-29, 2021.
PIRATES 7, NATIONALS 3
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jared Jones cruised through seven innings, striking out nine, as Pittsburgh beat Washington for a split of the four-game series.
Jones (6-7) allowed two runs and four hits, all coming in the first two innings. The 23-year-old rookie right-hander retired 16 straight to end his outing, striking out five of the final six.
CJ Abrams led off the game with a homer to right-center, his 19th, for a lead that was erased when the Pirates scored four runs in the bottom half.
Joey Bart sent a liner to left off a cutter from Patrick Corbin (5-13), a two-run home run for his 13th of the season. Billy Cook, who was 2 for 4 in his major league debut after being selected from Triple-A Indianapolis, then dropped a two-run double just inside the left-field line.
MARLINS 10, PHILLIES 1
MIAMI (AP) — Edward Cabrera pitched seven scoreless innings, Connor Norby homered twice and Miami beat Philadelphia.
The 26-year-old Cabrera, who struck out six and walked one, didn’t allow a hit until Brandon Marsh singled with no outs in the sixth. He finished with three hits allowed.
Cabrera (4-6) originally was scheduled to start against Philadelphia on Friday, but was a late scratch after experiencing migraine-like symptoms.
Rookie Griffin Conine had three hits while Javier Sanoja doubled and singled for the Marlins, who split the four-game set against the NL-East leading Phillies. Philadelphia won the season series 7-6.
ROYALS 2, TWINS 0
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Michael Wacha pitched seven innings of four-hit ball, Garrett Hampson and Salvador Perez drove in runs and Kansas City beat Minnesota to complete a series sweep of their closest pursuers in the AL wild-card race.
Wacha (12-7) struck out seven while allowing just one walk is 100th career win. He got plenty of help from his defense, which turned two double plays and threw out a runner trying to score from first base in the first inning.
Kris Bubic handled the eighth for Kansas City before Lucas Erceg worked around a leadoff single in the ninth for his 11th save.
Simeon Woods Richardson (5-4) allowed two runs on three hits and two walks before he was pulled with one out in the fifth inning. The Twins bullpen did not allow a run the rest of the way, though it didn’t matter with their offense getting shut out.
The Royals moved 2 1/2 games ahead of AL Central-rival Minnesota for the second wild-card spot.
REDS 3, METS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Santiago Espinal hit a tie-breaking two-run double in the ninth inning to lift Cincinnati to a victory and snap New York’s nine-game winning streak.
Phil Maton (2-3) opened the ninth by plunking Spencer Steer before Ty France legged out an infield single. Both runners advanced a base on Jake Fraley’s groundout before Espinal’s hit down the left-field line.
The two-run rally ended an 80-inning streak in which the Mets hadn’t trailed, the longest streak in the majors this season.
Buck Farmer (3-0) threw a perfect eighth and Alexis Díaz earned his 26th save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Noelvi Marte had a game-tying RBI single in the seventh.
ROCKIES 4, BREWERS 1
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Kyle Freeland pitched one-run ball for six innings and Sam Hillard hit a three-run homer as Colorado beat NL Central-leading Milwaukee.
Freeland (5-7) allowed an unearned run on three hits and struck out four for his ninth quality start of the season. The 31-year-old left-hander improved to 5-3 in his last 13 starts since returning from a left elbow strain that landed him on the injured list on June 23rd.
Freeland allowed a base bit to Issac Collins in the second inning and then retired the next 14 batters. Relievers Seth Halvorsen, Angel Chivilli and Angel Chivilli teamed up for three hitless innings of relief.
Halverson pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. Chivilli handled the eighth, and Kinley retired the side in order in the ninth, extending his career-high save total to 11 out of 12 chances.