DETROIT (AP) — Jose Ramirez hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the seventh inning after Tarik Skubal was replaced and the surging Cleveland Guardians swept the slumping Detroit Tigers with a 3-1 win on Thursday.
Cleveland has won seven straight to close within 3 1/2 games of the AL Central-leading Tigers with a little more than a week left in the regular season. The teams are scheduled for three more games Sept. 23-25.
Detroit has lost six of its last seven games and 15 of 22, turning an 11 1/2-game cushion into a lead that isn’t comfortable.
Returning from an injury scare last week, Skubal gave up one run, seven hits and struck out nine over six innings.
The and pitching Triple Crown winner was replaced by right-hander Troy Melton in the seventh in a 1-all game. Nine pitches later, Ramirez broke the tie with a 368-foot shot to right.
Cleveland’s Jhonkensy Noel hit a game-tying solo homer in the fourth.
Tanner Bibee (11-11) gave up one run and four hits while striking out eight over six innings. Tim Herrin and Kolby Allard followed with two innings of scoreless relief and Hunter Gaddis pitched the ninth for his third save.
RAYS 4, BLUE JAYS 0
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Chandler Simpson had his second straight three-hit game and Tampa Bay beat º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøto split their series.
Toronto’s magic number to clinch a postseason spot remained at three. The AL East leaders have lost two straight following a six-game winning streak.
Shane Baz (10-12) pitched five scoreless innings with two hits and four strikeouts. Four relievers combined to finish the shutout, Tampa Bay’s ninth of the season.
Simpson lined a two-run single in the second inning to put Tampa Bay ahead. His consecutive three-hit games have bumped the rookie speedster’s batting average to .301. He was caught stealing for the 12th time in 54 tries this season.
Brandon Lowe followed Simpson with an RBI single in the second. Carson Williams extended the lead in the sixth with his fourth home run.
The Rays forced Chris Bassitt (11-9) into long at-bats, running his pitch count to 89 before knocking him out in the fifth. The right-hander allowed three runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.
METS 6, PADRES 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Jonah Tong threw five encouraging innings and earned the win Thursday afternoon for the New York Mets, who lengthened their lead in the race for the final National League playoff spot with a 6-1 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Pete Alonso homered for the fourth straight game, Brandon Nimmo also went deep and Juan Soto collected his 100th RBI for the Mets, who won a series for the first time since taking two of three from the Detroit Tigers from Sept. 1-3.
The Mets lead the idle Arizona Diamondbacks by two games for the third wild card and moved within four games of the Padres, the second wild card.
Tong (2-2), who allowed six runs while recording only two outs last Friday, gave up an unearned run on four hits Thursday while racking up eight strikeouts. Beginning with Luis Arráez’s third-inning sacrifice fly, the 22-year-old Tong retired the final eight batters he faced, five by strikeout.
Soto reached 100 RBIs for the third straight season with a tie-breaking groundout in the third against Randy Vásquez (5-7). Alonso, who homered in the first, then walked before Nimmo greeted Wandy Peralta with a 389-foot homer to right.
Alonso added a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Vásquez surrendered four runs in 2 1/3 innings.
ATHLETICS 5, RED SOX 3
BOSTON (AP) — Brent Rooker homered in a three-run first inning and J.T. Ginn limited Boston to five hits over six innings to lead the Athletics to a victory.
The A’s started the game with four straight hits, including Rooker’s two-run shot — his 30th of the season. Ginn (4-6) allowed two runs while walking one and striking out three.
Hogan Harris pitched two innings for his fourth save.
David Hamilton and Trevor Story each hit a solo homer for Boston, which lost for the fifth time in seven games. The Red Sox entered the day tied with Seattle for the third and final AL wild-card spot; Cleveland, on Thursday, was 1 1/2 games back.
Brayan Bello (11-8) allowed four runs — three earned — on five hits and two walks while striking out three in four innings.
MARLINS 9, ROCKIES 7
DENVER (AP) — Liam Hicks matched a career high with four RBIs, including his sixth homer of the season, and Miami beat Colorado to complete a three-game sweep.
Otto Lopez and Heriberto Hernández also homered for the Marlins, who finished with 34 hits in the series at Coors Field.
Miami has won seven of eight and remained six games back of the New York Mets for the final National League wild-card spot.
Sandy Alcantara (10-12) struck out eight and gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings. Over his past 11 starts, the former Cy Young Award winner is 6-3 with a 3.18 ERA. He went 4-9 with a 7.14 ERA in his first 19 starts this season.
The Rockies mounted a late charge with a four-run ninth inning, but with the tying run at the plate, Calvin Faucher forced Jordan Beck into a groundout to pick up his 14th save.
In his 11th major league game, Blaine Crim homered twice for the MLB-worst Rockies, who have lost five in a row, 11 of 12 and 22 of 26. Mickey Moniak hit a two-run home run in the ninth to extend his streak of games with a homer to four.
Tanner Gordon (6-7) allowed four runs (three earned) over six innings.
MARINERS 2, ROYALS 0
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Luis Castillo pitched six innings of three-hit ball, Jorge Polanco and J.P. Crawford drove in runs, and Seattle beat Kansas City to climb back into a first-place tie with the Houston Astros in the AL West.
The Mariners are headed to Houston for a three-game series beginning Friday night.
Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier tossed an inning apiece for Seattle. Andres Muñoz stranded two in the ninth by striking out Adam Frazier on three pitches for his 36th save.
Castillo (10-8) dueled with Kansas City counterpart Stephen Kolek, who allowed two runs — one earned — while pitching into the eighth inning. One run came on Polanco’s double and the other after an astute move by manager Dan Wilson in the eighth.
Kolek appeared to have retired the first two batters of the inning when Wilson challenged that second baseman Michael Massey set up on the grass ahead of Dominic Canzone’s groundout, in violation of Major League Baseball’s defensive shift rules. The challenge was successful, Canzone was awarded first base, and reliever Daniel Lynch IV eventually gave up Crawford’s run-scoring double to make it 2-0.
Castillo and Kolek (5-6) were so stingy that each allowed just a pair of runners over the first four innings, and both times they were on back-to-back hits. The difference was the Royals paired together singles and stranded both runners while the Mariners got Josh Naylor’s single and an RBI double by Polanco for a 1-0 lead.
Castillo only allowed one other runner, a single by Royals rookie Carter Jensen in the fifth. Kolek similarly breezed through the Seattle lineup until a two-out walk to Naylor in the seventh; he promptly struck out Polanco to end the inning.
YANKEES 7, ORIOLES 0
BALTIMORE (AP) — Max Fried struck out 13 over seven innings while earning his major league-leading 18th victory, and surging New York blanked Baltimore.
The victory moved the Yankees within three games of first-place º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøin the AL East. Both teams have nine games left.
New York has gone 17-7 since Aug. 23 to climb out of third place in the division and take charge of the AL wild card.
Mixing fastballs, changeups and a tantalizingly slow curve ball, Fried (18-5) dominated the last-place Orioles. His 13 strikeouts tied a career high, set last year against Boston while with the Atlanta Braves.
Fried allowed only three hits — all singles — to win his fifth straight start and reach a career high in victories. The lefty notched 17 wins in 2019 with Atlanta.
Amed Rosario provided the Yankees the lead for good with a two-run, two-out double in the first inning off Cade Povich (3-8).
It was 3-0 before New York pulled away with a four-run seventh.
BREWERS 5, ANGELS 2
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Christian Yelich went 2 for 4 and reached 100 RBIs for the season as Milwaukee defeated Los Angeles.
Yelich Brice Turang as part of the Brewers’ three-run outburst in the seventh inning that broke a 2-all tie. This marks Yelich’s first 100-RBI season since 2018, when he had 110 and was named the
The Brewers completed a three-game sweep and reduced their magic number for clinching the NL Central to four. The Angels have lost seven straight.
Milwaukee’s Quinn Priester struck out eight of the first nine batters he faced and didn’t allow a baserunner until the fifth inning, when Jo Adell drew a leadoff walk and Luis Rengifo homered. Those were the only runs allowed by Priester, who struck out 10 and gave up three hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings.
Priester has won a Brewers-record 12 straight decisions. He left this game with Milwaukee trailing 2-1, but the Brewers rallied after his departure.
Milwaukee tied it in the sixth when Caleb Durbin greeted José FermÃn with a two-out single that scored Yelich.
Jackson Chourio led off the seventh with a ground-rule double off Luis GarcÃa (2-2) and scored the go-ahead run on Turang’s single. After Yelich doubled home Turang, William Contreras came home on Andrew Vaughn’s sacrifice fly.
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