BOSTON (AP) — Ceddanne Rafaela tripled off the center field wall to drive in the game-ending run in the ninth inning on Friday night, giving the Red Sox a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers and clinching Boston’s first postseason berth since 2021.
Boston rallied from a 3-0 deficit to move two games ahead of the Tigers and 2 1/2 ahead of Houston in the race for the last two American League wild-card berths, with two games left to play. Detroit, which has lost 12 of its last 14 games, can still reach the playoffs and even win the AL Central with help from Cleveland.
Boston tied the game in the eighth inning and then Romy Gonzalez singled to center with one out in the ninth. Rafaela, who missed clearing the Green Monster in the seventh by about a foot, sent a 1-0 pitch off the wall in center.
Gonzalez, who held up to make sure it wasn’t caught, raced around to score as his teammates streamed out of the dugout and nearly beat him to the plate.
Masataka Yoshida had three hits for Boston. Closer Aroldis Chapman (5-3) pitched the ninth for the win. Tommy Kahnle (1-5) got just one out in the bottom of the ninth.
CUBS 12, CARDINALS 1
CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong to become the first Cubs player with 30 homers, 30 doubles and 30 stolen bases in a season, Seiya Suzuki iced the game with a grand slam and Chicago pounded St. Cardinals to close in on the top National League wild card.
Michael Busch hit his team-leading 32nd homer and had two RBIs as the playoff-bound Cubs won for just the second time in eight games and trimmed their magic number to one for securing home-field advantage in their opening-round playoff series against San Diego. Game 1 of that series is Tuesday.
Suzuki’s second career grand slam, capping Chicago’s seven-run seventh, made him the third Cub with 30 homers this season. Nico Hoerner also went deep.
Colin Rea (11-7) allowed two hits in 5 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out seven. Four relievers followed to complete a five-hitter.
PHILLIES 3, TWINS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Aaron Nola took a perfect game into the sixth inning, moved into second on Philadelphia’s career strikeout list and proved he could have some postseason value for the NL East champion Phillies in a victory over Minnesota.
Nola (5-10) allowd two hits and struck out nine without a walk over eight innings.
He pitched through injuries and battled inconsistency when he has been healthy in easily his worst season since he broke in with the Phillies in 2015. Nola has made 16 postseason starts over the last three seasons with the Phillies but was not named as one of three scheduled starters in next week’s NL Division Series.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said ahead of Friday’s game that he would consider using Nola out of the bullpen in the playoffs.
Nola has never made a relief appearance in 285 regular-season appearances.
BLUE JAYS 4, RAYS 2
TORONTO (AP) — Nathan Lukes hit a two-run home run, Shane Bieber pitched five innings and Toronto stayed atop the AL East by beating Tampa Bay.
Toronto came into the final series of the season tied with the Yankees for the best record in the AL. The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker over New York.
Lukes went 2 for 4 with three RBIs and George Springer reached base three times and scored twice as Toronto improved to 52-27 at home.
Junior Caminero hit his 45th home run and Jonathan Aranda returned from the injured list with a solo homer but that was all for the Rays.
Bieber (4-2) allowed two runs and five hits.
Left-hander Mason Fluharty relieved Bieber and struck out four of the six batters he faced over two perfect innings.
RANGERS 7, GUARDIANS 3
CLEVELAND (AP) — Alejandro Osuna hit a three-run homer in the first, rookie Jack Leiter matched a career high with 10 strikeouts and Texas beat Cleveland.
The Guardians (86-74) remained tied with Detroit for the AL Central lead after the Boston Red Sox rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Tigers.
The Guardians still have a magic number of two — wins and/or Houston losses — to clinch a postseason spot. The Astros faced the Los Angeles Angels later Friday. Cleveland also has a magic number of two — wins and/or Detroit losses — to wrap up the division.
If Cleveland and Detroit end up tied after Sunday’s games, the Guardians would win the AL Central due to an 8-5 advantage in the season series and host a Wild Card Series starting Tuesday.
Kyle Manzardo had a two-run homer to center in the first inning for the Guardians, who have dropped consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 2.
Leiter (10-10) continued his mastery of Cleveland after throwing seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts on Aug. 23. The 25-year old right-hander went seven innings for the third time in 34 career starts and allowed two runs on four hits while throwing 101 pitches.
YANKEES 8, ORIOLES 4
NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a pair of two-run homers on a five-RBI night, Aaron Judge had a go-ahead, two-run drive with his 52nd long ball of the season and New York beat Baltimore to remain tied with Toronto for the AL East lead.
Toronto and New York are 92-68 and the Blue Jays have the tiebreaker over New York, which has won six straight and nine of 10.
Stanton put the Yankees in front with their major league-record 48th home run in the first inning, one more than Atlanta hit in 2023.
After Jordan Westburg’s three-run homer in the third against Will Warren (9-8), Judge hit a two-run drive in the bottom half that landed in the netting above Monument Park behind center field. Nearing his first batting title, Judge has a .330 average and 111 RBIs.
Stanton followed two batters later with a 451-foot homer that landed in the bleachers to the left of Monument Park for his 39th multi-homer game, including one in the postseason. He added an RBI groundout in the seventh.
WHITE SOX 10, NATIONALS 9
WASHINGTON (AP) — Colson Montgomery hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth inning, Lenyn Sosa was 3 for 3 with a homer and three RBIs, and Chicago beat Washington to snap a five-game losing streak.
Luis García Jr. hit a career-high three of Washington’s six home runs. Josh Bell, CJ Abrams and Daylen Lile also homered for the Nationals. It was the team’s most homers in a game since July 19, 2021 against Miami.
Fraser Ellard (1-2) pitched one-third of an inning for the win and Grant Taylor pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.
Jose A. Ferrer (4-4) gave up two runs — one earned — in the ninth, his fourth blown save.
Jordan Leasure’s string of 14 consecutive scoreless innings, which had been the third-longest active streak in MLB, was snapped.
MARLINS 6, METS 2
MIAMI (AP) — Sandy Alcantara gave up two runs in seven-plus innings, Connor Norby homered and Miami rallied to beat New York.
The Mets dropped out of the third NL wild-card position when later Friday. The Reds pulled into a tie with the Mets in the standings, but hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Xavier Edwards had three hits and Otto López doubled and singled for the Marlins.
Alcantara (11-12) settled down after allowing Francisco Lindor’s game-starting homer and Pete Alonso’s RBI double in the first. The 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner allowed six hits through the first three innings then retired 10 straight before Lindor walked to lead off the eighth that ended his outing.
The Marlins chased Mets starter Brandon Sproat (0-2) during a six-run fifth that erased a 2-0 deficit. Heriberto Hernández hit a two-run triple and scored on Jakob Marsee’s RBI groundout. Xavier Edwards hit an RBI single and Norby’s two-run, pinch-hit homer off reliever Gregory Soto capped the outburst.
REDS 3, BREWERS 1
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Gavin Lux hit two doubles and scored the go-ahead run as Cincinnati defeated Milwaukee, overtaking the New York Mets for the third National League wild-card spot.
Cincinnati’s win and to Miami enabled the Reds to tie the Mets in the standings. However, the Reds — vying for their first postseason berth since 2020 — own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Mets.
The Reds allowed just three hits and handed a rare loss to Milwaukee’s Quinn Priester, who had set a Brewers record by winning 12 straight decisions. The Brewers had won the last 19 games in which Priester had pitched, a stretch including 16 starts and three appearances in which he followed an opener.
Priester (13-3) struck out four and allowed three runs, nine hits and one walk in five innings. The last time the Brewers lost a game Priester had pitched was May 24
PIRATES 9, BRAVES 3
ATLANTA (AP) — Spencer Horwitz went 3 for 3 with two homers and four RBIs, Tommy Pham added a two-run shot and Pittsburgh beat Atlanta.
Nick Gonzales, Bryan Reynolds, Nick Yorke and Henry Davis each had two of Pittsburgh’s 14 hits.
Matt Olson and Michael Harris II, who added a double, homered for the Braves. Ronald Acuña Jr. had three hits.
Horwitz walked to lead off the second and two pitches later Pham homered off Braves stater Joey Wentz (5-7) make it 2-1.
Horwitz homered to make it 5-2 with two out in the seventh before a rain delay that lasted about 50 minutes, and his three-run home run highlighted Pittsburgh’s four-run ninth.
Pirates starter Mitch Keller gave up a run before reliever Yohan Ramírez (3-3) came on with runners on first and second with two out in the third. Ramírez retired Olson, the only batter he faced, on a third-strike foul tip.
Wentz allowed four runs and eight hits in four innings.
