The Tampa Bay Rays are the only unbeaten team remaining after improving their record to 5-0 with a come-from-behind 10-6 road victory over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.
Tampa Bay began their season with a three-game series sweep at home against the Detroit Tigers, and they have now won all five of their games by at least four runs.
But it was far from smooth sailing against the Nationals, despite the Rays jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Alex Call brought home two runners for Washington in the bottom of the first with a single, and after Jose Siri put Tampa ahead 4-2 with his solo home run in the second frame, the Nationals began to take over.
Lane Thomas tied the game up in the second with a two-RBI double, and Thomas then gave the Nats their first lead with his next at-bat in the fourth inning with an RBI single in an impressive three-hit, three-RBI showing from the right-fielder.
The Rays did not score from the third inning through the seventh, but Randy Arozarena injected some life back into the visitors with his second RBI double of the contest to cut the Nationals' lead to 6-5 going into the last.
Tampa Bay first baseman Luke Raley tied the contest with a solo home run from the very first pitch of the ninth inning, and just three pitches later the Rays had the lead after Josh Lowe followed suit with his own solo homer.
A single from Taylor Walls and a double from Siri put two more runners on base, setting up Yandy Diaz for the 414-foot, three-run bomb to seal the comeback win.
Alcantara shuts out the Twins
The Minnesota Twins came into Tuesday's action unbeaten, before running into a spectacular showing from reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara in a 1-0 Miami Marlins triumph.
Alcantara, who had a shaky start in his season opener against the New York Mets, looked right back to his best against the Twins. He pitched the complete nine innings for only three hits and one walk, while striking out five in his 100 pitches.
The only run of the contest came from a solo home run in the second inning from Miami right-fielder Avisail Garcia, snapping a three-game Marlins losing streak.
Another Riley rocket lifts the Braves
Atlanta Braves slugger Austin Riley hit his second home run in as many days to help lift his side to a 4-1 road win against the St Louis Cardinals.
Despite the loss, all 10 Cardinals players to take an at-bat finished with exactly one hit each, but they could not match the power of the Braves.
Following his monstrous 473-foot blast in the opening inning of Monday's game, Riley again went deep in the first inning, this time taking Steven Matz 410 feet over the left-field wall. Orlando Arcia followed Riley's two-run shot with his own solo home run in the second inning.
In his very first start in the majors, 24-year-old Braves rookie Dylan Dodd collected the win as he made it through five innings while giving up six hits and no walks for one run, striking out three in his 73 pitches.
MLB: Ohtani hits 3 home runs, steals 2 bases to become first with 50-50 season
Shohei Ohtani became the first major league player to exceed 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season during the most spectacular game of a history-making career for the Los Angeles Dodgers star, going deep three times and swiping two bags in a 20-4 rout of the Miami Marlins on Thursday.
Ohtani hit his 49th homer in the sixth inning, his 50th in the seventh and his 51st in the ninth. He finished 6 for 6 with a franchise-record 10 RBIs while becoming the first big league player to hit three homers and steal two bases in a game.
The Japanese superstar reached the second deck in right-center on two of his three homers at LoanDepot Park. In the sixth inning, he launched a 1-1 slider from George Soriano 438 feet for his 49th.
Ohtani hit his 50th homer in the seventh inning, an opposite-field, two-run shot to left against Marlins reliever Mike Baumann. Then, in the ninth, his 51st travelled 440 feet to right-center, a three-run shot against Marlins second baseman Vidal Brujan, who came in to pitch with the game out of hand.
Ohtani took care of the stolen bases earlier in the game, swiping his 50th in the first and his 51st in the second. He has been successful on his last 28 stolen base attempts.
He led off the game with a double against Edward Cabrera and swiped third on the front end of a double steal with Freddie Freeman, who reached on a walk.
Ohtani finished 6 for 6 with two doubles and four runs scored, falling a triple shy of the cycle.
He reached the milestone in his 150th game. Ohtani was already the sixth player in major league history and the fastest ever to reach 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a season, needing just 126 games.
Oakland's José Canseco became the first 40-40 player in 1988 and has been joined by San Francisco's Barry Bonds in 1996, Seattle's Alex Rodriguez in 1998, Washington's Alfonso Soriano in 1996, Atlanta's Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2023.
Lost in Ohtani’s historic game was the Dodgers clinching a playoff spot for the 12th straight season and extending their NL West lead over idle San Diego to four games.
Jake Burger, Griffin Conine and Nick Fortes homered for the Marlins, who dropped to 56-96.
Guardians secure postseason berth
Andrés Giménez singled home José Ramírez from second base in the 10th inning and the Cleveland Guardians clinched a playoff berth in dramatic fashion, beating the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Thursday.
With Ramírez on second as the automatic runner, Minnesota reliever Caleb Thielbar struck out Josh Naylor and the Twins walked Lane Thomas intentionally to face Giménez.
Cleveland's second baseman then hit a 3-2 pitch into right to easily score Ramírez.
As the All-Star third baseman rounded third, Cleveland's dugout emptied onto the field in celebration as the Guardians posted their MLB-leading 42nd comeback win and second straight in extra innings.
The Guardians are the second AL team to qualify for the postseason, following the New York Yankees, who locked up a spot Wednesday night.
The Twins threatened in the 10th, loading the bases with one out against Eli Morgan. But the right-hander got out of the jam by retiring Carlos Correa on a foul pop and Byron Buxton on a liner to right.
Cleveland's bullpen, which has carried the team all season, combined for 5 2/3 hitless innings.
Rookie Kyle Manzardo homered for the Guardians, who lowered the magic number to clinch the AL Central title to three.
The Twins fell into a tie with Detroit for the final AL wild card. The Twins own the tiebreaker.
Sale wins MLB-best 18th as Braves roll
Matt Olson hit two of Atlanta's six home runs, Chris Sale cruised to his major league-leading 18th win and the Braves cruised to a 15-3 rout of the Cincinnati Reds.
The Braves became the first team in major league history to hit four three-run homers in a game.
Along with his career-best win total, Sale (18-3) also leads the majors in ERA (2.38) and strikeouts (225).
The left-hander pitched five innings, allowing two runs and five hits with two walks and six strikeouts. It was the 18th consecutive game in which he allowed two runs or fewer.
Olson hit his 27th home run and second of the series leading off the second inning. Ramon Laureano hit a three-run homer in the third off rookie Julian Aguiar.
Marcell Ozuna doubled in a run in the fifth after Aguiar hit Michael Harris II and Jorge Soler to lead off the inning. Olson greeted Yosver Zuleta with his second homer of the game. It was his fourth multi-homer game of the season and 25th of his career.
Harris hit the Braves' sixth home run with two on in the ninth off Brandon Leibrandt.
MLB: Padres hit 3 straight homers to back stellar Cease
Dylan Cease pitched two-hit ball into the ninth inning and Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Donovan Solano hit consecutive homers in the eighth to give San Diego Padres a 4-0 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
Machado homered twice for the Padres, who won two of three against the Astros and stayed 2 1/2 games ahead of Arizona and the Mets for the first NL wild card.
Cease, who threw his first career no-hitter on July 25 at Washington, took a one-hitter into the ninth before Mauricio Dubón beat out an infield single to shortstop. Cease struck out Jake Meyers but then shortstop Xander Bogaerts booted Jose Altuve's grounder for an error that allowed Dubón to take third, and that was it for the right-hander after 103 pitches.
Cease retired the first 15 Astros batters before allowing a single to right field by Jason Heyward to open the sixth. Cease then retired the side.
He struck out five and walked none before Tanner Scott got two outs for his 21st save.
Machado lined a shot to left-center off Framber Valdez, opening the sixth for his 29th home run.
Tatis, who struck out in his first three at-bats, hit reliever Kaleb Ort's first pitch into the first row in left-center leading off the eighth. Machado followed with a shot deep into the seats in left and Solano hit a liner to left.
Valdez went seven innings, allowing one run and five hits while striking out six and walking two.
Skubal wins 17th as Tigers stay hot
Tarik Skubal allowed three hits over five innings for his AL-best 17th win and the streaking Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 to move within a half game of a playoff spot with 10 games remaining.
Riley Greene hit a go-ahead home run as the Tigers won their fourth straight and ninth in the last 11 games. With the series sweep, Detroit won for the 25th time in 35 games to move within a half game of Minnesota for the third AL wild-card spot.
Skubal, who has won his last five decisions, made his case for the AL Cy Young Award stronger by matching Atlanta’s Chris Sale for the major league lead in wins and lowered his AL-leading earned run average to 2.48. He walked one and struck out seven.
Skubal had struggled against the Royals in the past, entering Wednesday with a 2-9 record and 5.05 ERA in 12 starts over 14 appearances. After allowing three hits and Yuli Gurriel’s two-out RBI single in the first inning, he threw four hitless innings.
The Royals lost their fourth straight and were swept for the first time at home this season. They remained 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first wild-card spot and 1 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota for the second wild card.
Guardians rally past Twins
Brayan Rocchio singled in Andrés Giménez to cap a three-run 10th inning and lift the Cleveland Guardians to a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins, reducing their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to one.
Kyle Manzardo and Will Brennan had RBI singles off Ronny Henriquez before Michael Tonkin entered and gave up Rocchio’s second career walk-off hit, a chopper to right through a drawn-in infield.
Josh Naylor hit a pair of solo homers and scored three times for Cleveland, which leads the division by six games over Kansas City. Naylor’s first shot was a 445-foot rocket to right-center, giving him his first 30-homer season.
The Guardians, who now have a major league-leading 41 comeback victories this season, can lock up a postseason spot Thursday with a win over Minnesota.
Carlos Correa had a two-run single off Hunter Gaddis that gave the Twins a 4-2 lead in the top of the 10th. Correa finished with four RBIs and extended his hitting streak to 16 games, matching his career high with Houston in 2019.
Minnesota had its lead for the final AL wild card cut to one-half game over surging Detroit.
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober struck out a career-high 12 over seven innings, but remained winless in seven starts since Aug. 9. He allowed two runs without issuing a walk.
MLB: Harper's homer lifts Phillies over Brewers in matchup of division leaders
Bryce Harper hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning to back up the strong pitching of Zack Wheeler and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Tuesday night in a matchup of division leaders.
Nick Castellanos added a solo shot and Trea Turner added three hits 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.
Wheeler (16-6) boosted his Cy Young Award credentials by allowing only four hits and one run in seven innings while striking out six and walking none. Wheeler, who lowered his ERA to 2.56, has given up no more than two runs in each of his last nine starts.
The score was tied at 1-all until Harper sent a 1-1 pitch from Frankie Montas over the wall in left-center for his 29th homer. Harper’s two-run shot also scored Kyle Schwarber, who led off with an infield single.
Philadelphia extended the lead to 4-1 in the seventh as Schwarber hit a ball that went off a leg of pitcher Aaron Ashby and headed into shallow right field for an RBI single after Edmundo Sosa's leadoff double.
Turner added a two-out RBI single off Enoli Paredes in the ninth.
Judge, Soto power Yankees to rout
Aaron Judge drove in four runs in his first two at-bats, Juan Soto hit his 40th homer of the season and 200th of his career, and the New York Yankees moved to the cusp of clinching a playoff berth with an 11-2 win over the Seattle Mariners.
The Yankees can clinch at worst a wild-card spot in the American League with a victory over Seattle on Wednesday. The win in the opener of New York’s six-game road trip pushed the Yankees' lead in the AL East to four games over Baltimore - their largest lead since holding a 4 1/2-game lead when play started on June 7.
Judge laced a two-run double three batters into the game and added a two-out, two-run single the next time he was up an inning later. Judge now has a league-leading 136 RBIs.
Soto joined the offensive outburst in the third inning with a two-out, two-run opposite field blast off Seattle starter Bryan Woo. It’s the first time in his career Soto has reached the 40-homer mark, and he’s now homered in all 30 parks in baseball.
Soto and Judge are the third set of Yankee teammates to each hit 40 home runs in a season, joining Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930, 1931), and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (1961).
Tigers get past Royals in extras
Parker Meadows and Riley Greene delivered RBI singles in the 10th inning and the surging Detroit Tigers continued their postseason push with a 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Tyler Holton retired all six Royals he faced, striking out a pair in the ninth to force extra innings. Jason Foley took care of the Royals in the 10th, earning the save for the second straight night and 25th time this season.
Detroit remained 1 1/2 games back of Minnesota for the final AL wild-card spot. The Royals stayed 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first wild-card spot and are 1 1/2 ahead of the Twins.
Cole Ragans allowed one run on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts over seven innings for Kansas City, and Casey Mize allowed one run on six hits and four walks while pitching into the fifth for Detroit.
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