Cubs eliminate Cards from playoff contention
ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals were eliminated from postseason contention when Leonys Martin leaped at the center-field fence to rob Paul DeJong of a tying home run with two outs in the 11th inning, preserving the Chicago Cubs’ 2-1 win over St. Louis on Thursday night.
St. Louis, which went 5-14 against its rival, missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2007 and 2008. At 82-77, the Cardinals are assured their fewest wins since going 78-84 in 2007.
A day after clinched their second straight NL Central title, the defending World Series champions started only two position players who had played in at least 100 games: outfielders Ian Happ and Kyle Schwarber.
• Rays 9, Yankees 6 — At New York: Aaron Judge hit his 51st home run to give the Yankees a quick lead, but New York missed a big chance to tighten the AL East race when Sonny Gray and the bullpen fell apart in a loss to the Rays.
The Yankees stayed three games behind division-leading Boston, which fell to Houston 12-2. Each team has three games left and both are assured playoff spots — if they wind up even, the Yankees would host the Red Sox in a tiebreaker Monday.
• Astros 12, Red Sox 2 — At Boston: Major league batting leader Jose Altuve had three of Houston’s 17 hits, Carlos Correa had four and the Astros chased Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez in the second inning to win and keep Boston from clinching the first back-to-back AL East championships in franchise history.
Despite the loss, the Red Sox were guaranteed no worse than a tie for the division title when the Yankees lost 9-6 to Tampa Bay.
• Marlins 7, Braves 1 — At Miami: Giancarlo Stanton homered twice to become the first player to hit 59 in a season since 2001, and the Miami Marlins opened the last series of Jeffrey Loria’s tenure as owner by beating the Braves.
Stanton hit a solo home run in the fourth, then added a two-run drive in the eighth that would have gone 467 feet unimpeded, according to MLB’s Statcast.
• Indians 5, Twins 2 — At Cleveland: Carlos Carrasco struck out 14, Jason Kipnis and Roberto Perez hit tworun homers and the Indians notched their 100th win, 5-2 over the understandably sluggish Twins. Minnesota clinched a wild-card berth hours earlier.
• Brewers 4, Reds 3 — At Milwaukee: The Brewers closed within two games of Colorado for the National League’s second wild card with three games left, rallying to beat the Reds as Brett Phillips hit a go-ahead double in the sixth inning.
• Nationals 5, Pirates 4 — At Washington: The NL East champion Nationals began their last — and meaningless — series of the regular season without a sore Bryce Harper and with a blown save by closer Sean Doolittle in what became a victory over the Pirates, whose starting pitcher, Ivan Nova, left after getting hit by a pitch on his throwing hand while batting.
• White Sox 5, Angels 4 — At Chicago: Rob Brantly hit the game-tying home run in the eighth inning and Tim Anderson hustled home for the go-ahead run as the White Sox rallied for a victory over the Angels.
• Tigers 4, Royals 1 — At Kansas City, Mo.: Daniel Norris threw five scoreless innings to pick up his first victory in more than three months as the Tigers snapped a season-high ninegame losing streak by beating the Royals.