Blue Jays clinch postseason spot
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Hyun Jin Ryu pitched seven shutout innings and the Toronto Blue Jays clinched their first postseason spot since 2016, beating the Yankees 4-1 Thursday night and further damaging New York’s chances of hosting a first-round playoff series.
New York lost for the fourth time in five games and remained two games behind the slumping White Sox for the fourth seed.Toronto secured at least an AL wild-card spot and ensured its eighth trip overall to the postseason.
The Blue Jays trail the Yankees by two games for second place in the AL East. Both teams have three games remaining.
Ryu (5-2) scattered five hits, walked two and struck out four. Luke Voit and Hicks hit back-to-back singles to begin the sixth but Ryu struck out Giancarlo Stanton, got Gleyber Torres to fly out and retired Gio Urshela on a groundball.
INDIANS 5, WHITE SOX 4: Jose Ramirez delivered a go-ahead, two-run double in the seventh inning and host Cleveland completed a four-game sweep of Chicago in a matchup of playoff-bound teams. The victory pulled the Indians within one game of Chicago for the fourth seed and home-field advantage in the first round of the postseason. The Indians have won five straight and the White Sox have lost five in a row.
MARLINS 4, BRAVES 2: Jon Berti had three hits, Pablo Lopez allowed only two hits in five scoreless innings and host Miami beat Atlanta to snap a four-game losing streak. The Braves ended their four-game winning streak and were denied a chance to clinch the NL’s No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
DODGERS 5, ATHLETICS 1: Walker Buehler pitched four scoreless innings as Los Angeles won at home.
ROCKIES 5, GIANTS 4 (11): Raimel Tapia hit a goahead sacrifice fly in the 11th inning, and Colorado rallied to keep host San Francisco from gaining ground in the NL wild-card race.
METS 3, NATIONALS 2: Robinson Chirinos homered and drove in three runs, and New York won at Washington to keep its flickering postseason hopes on alive.
PIRATES 7, CUBS 0: Chad Kuhl pitched seven sharp innings and Colin Moran and Bryan Reynolds each homered in three-hit games in host Pittsburgh’s victory over slumping Chicago. The Cubs, who clinched a postseason berth on Tuesday, have lost five of six.
CARDINALS 4, BREWERS 2: Yadier Molina singled twice to reach 2,000 career hits and host St. Louis (2826) kept its slim lead over Cincinnati (29-28) for second place in the NL Central.
ORIOLES 13, RED SOX1: Jose Iglesias, Pat Valaika and Austin Hays homered, and Alex Cobb pitched seven effective innings to lead Baltimore over host Boston.
ROYALS 8, TIGERS 7: Salvador Perez hit a three-run home run as Kansas City won at home.