MLB roundup: Giants claim NL wild card by beating Dodgers
By The Sports Xchange
SAN FRANCISCO -- Left-hander Matt Moore pitched eight innings of shutout ball and batterymate Buster Posey drove in three runs with three hits on Sunday as the San Francisco Giants competed a three-game sweep of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers with a 7-1 win Sunday to capture the second wild-card playoff spot in the National League.
The Giants (87-75) will face the New York Mets (87-75) in the single-elimination wild card game on Wednesday in New York. The Mets earned the home-field advantage in the game by virtue of their 4-3 season-series win over the Giants.
The Dodgers will open the NL Division Series on the road Friday against the Washington Nationals. Los Angeles clinched the NL West title last Sunday, then lost five of six this week to the San Diego Padres and Giants.
Moore, who took a no-hitter into the ninth inning of a game in Los Angeles on Aug. 25, was nearly as good on Sunday. The three hits he allowed all came in the fourth inning, by Justin Turner, Adrian Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal.
Angel Pagan also had three hits for the Giants, who out-hit the Dodgers 16-4.
Blue Jays 2, Red Sox 1
BOSTON -- Troy Tulowitzki singled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth inning to help Toronto clinch an American League wild-card berth with the win over Boston.
Toronto (89-73) claimed the top American League wild-card spot despite the Baltimore Orioles' 5-2 win over the New York Yankees earlier in the day. By virtue of a better head-to-head record, the Blue Jays will host the Orioles on Tuesday.
AL East champion Boston (93-69) will open its AL Division Series with the Indians on Thursday in Cleveland after its loss and the Indians' 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
Devon Travis launched a solo homer, his 11th home run of the year, and Blue Jays starter Aaron Sanchez threw 6 2/3 hitless innings before his no-hit bid was broken up. Sanchez (15-2) gave up a run, two hits and two walks while striking out six.
Boston' s David Ortiz, playing in the 2,408th and final regular-season game of his career, was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Orioles 5, Yankees 2
NEW YORK -- Matt Wieters homered from both sides of the plate in consecutive at-bats and Baltimore Orioles clinched a spot in the American League wild-card game with the victory over the New York Yankees.
Wieters became the first Orioles player to homer from both sides of the plate since Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar on July 25, 1996 against Cleveland at Camden Yards. The switch-hitting catcher recorded his seventh career multi-homer game and third this season.
The Orioles (89-73) clinched their third postseason in five seasons and will play at Toronto on Tuesday. The Blue Jays host because they won the season series 10-9.
New York' s Mark Teixeira ended his 14-year career by going 0-for-3 and making a diving stop on Wieters in the second inning.
Cardinals 10, Pirates 4
ST. LOUIS -- Stephen Piscotty knocked in Yadier Molina with the tie-breaking run on a single to center during a six-run seventh inning as St. Louis defeated Pittsburgh.
The victory at sold-out Busch Stadium was rendered meaningless by San Francisco' s 7-1 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers, eliminating St. Louis from the National League playoffs for the first time since 2010.
The Cardinals finished 86-76, winning their last four games, but couldn' t catch the Giants, who also won their last four games. It was the first time in manager Mike Matheny' s five seasons that St. Louis didn' t reach the playoffs.
Andrew McCutchen and John Jaso each had two RBIs for the Pirates.
Nationals 10, Marlins 7
WASHINGTON -- Max Scherzer won his league-high 20th game of the year and drove in a career-high four runs with two hits as National League East champion Washington beat Miami.
Washington' s Wilmer Difo broke a 5-5 tie as he drove in a run with a fielder' s choice in the last of the fifth. Danny Espinosa followed with a two-run homer -- his 24th of the year -- to make it 8-5 off reliever Austin Brice.
Those runs gave Scherzer (20-7) the win, as he left after giving up five runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts in five innings. He led the league with 284 strikeouts this year and gave up 31 homers, including two Sunday.
The Nationals (95-67) open the NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.
Braves 1, Tigers 0
ATLANTA -- Julio Teheran made one run stand up and outdueled Justin Verlander as Atlanta closed Turner Field by blanking Detroit.
The loss eliminated Detroit from the American League wild-card race.
Teheran (7-10) did not allow a run in seven innings of work. He threw 100 pitches and 69 were strikes. He gave up three hits and only one walk. He struck out 12, which matched his career high set on May 24 against Milwaukee.
Verlander (16-9) worked seven innings and gave up only one run on six hits. He struck out eight and had one intentional walk.
The game was the final one contested at Turner Field, the club' s home for the last 20 years. Atlanta will move to the new Sun Trust Park in the northwest suburbs of Marietta next spring.
Indians 3, Royals 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Yan Gomes homered in his first at-bat since coming off the disabled list and Josh Tomlin pitched effectively into the eighth inning as Cleveland nipped Kansas City.
The Indians went 14-5 against the Royals this season. The 2015 World Series champion Royals ended the season with four straight losses and finished at 81-81.
Francisco Lindor' s sacrifice fly in the eighth scored Carlos Santana with the go-ahead run. Tomlin limited the Royals to two runs and six hits over 7 1/3 innings, throwing 64 strikes in 88 pitches.
Cleveland hosts the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the ALDS on Thursday.
Athletics 3, Mariners 2
SEATTLE -- Oakland' s Stephen Vogt homered in his only at-bat, and the A' s finished off a frustrating 2016 season on a two-game winning streak by downing Seattle.
Vogt' s first inning home run help the A' s (69-93) jump out to a 3-0 lead on the way to their first back-to-back wins since mid-September.
Seattle (86-76) fell short in its first game since being eliminated from postseason contention the previous night. The Athletics scored three times on Mariners starter Felix Hernandez, who made an abbreviated appearance while throwing just 47 pitches over three innings.
Angels 8, Astros 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jhoulys Chacin pitched seven scoreless innings to lead Los Angeles to the rout of Houston.
Chacin scattered three hits, issued one walk, amassed seven strikeouts and induced 11 groundouts. Mike Trout stole his 30th base and drove in his 100th run of the season. Jefry Marte added his 15th home run as the Angels finished the season by winning nine of their final 11 games.
Houston' s Jose Altuve secured the American League' s batting championship with a .338 average and finished first with 216 hits after going 1-for-4. But the Astros lost seven of their final 10 games.
Diamondbacks 3, Padres 2
PHOENIX -- Brandon Drury had three hits, including a game-tying homer, and pinch-hitter Phil Gosselin singled in the winning in the bottom of the ninth inning as Arizona edged San Diego.
Tuffy Gosewisch doubled with two outs in the ninth against left-hander Brad Hand (4-4) and was replaced by pinch-runner Socrates Brito to bring up Gosselin, who leads the major leagues with 20 pinch hits. Arizona (69-93) swept the three-game series to finish ahead of the Padres (68-94) for fourth place in the National League West.
Ryan Schmipf hit an apparent go-ahead homer down the right-field line with one out in the top of the ninth, but the ball was ruled foul after an replay review initiated by Arizona manager Chip Hale.
Phillies 5, Mets 2
PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia honored long-time first baseman Ryan Howard before the game and its bats came alive for a comeback win over the New York Mets.
Mets first baseman Lucas Duda committed a double error in the seventh inning to aid the Phillies. Duda' s errors allowed Andres Blanco to score the tying run and set up Cesar Hernandez' s go-ahead RBI single.
The Mets ended the regular season winning four of their last five games. They had already clinched home field advantage for Wednesday' s National League wild-card game against San Francisco.
Twins 6, White Sox 3
CHICAGO -- Byron Buxton went 2-for-4, including an leadoff inside-the-park home run, as Minnesota cruised past the Chicago White Sox.
Buxton reached base three times, scored twice and added two RBI to help shoot down White Sox left-hander Chris Sale' s bid for a career-high 18th victory.
The Twins (59-103) closed with three wins in their final four games. The White Sox finished 78-84 with losses in three of their last four.
Cubs 7, Reds 4
CINCINNATI -- Matt Szczur' s two-run double and a two-run home run by Miguel Montero in a four-run, ninth-inning outburst lifted the Chicago Cubs to the victory over Cincinnati.
The Cubs trailed 4-3 going into the ninth inning against Raisel Iglesias, but with runners on first and second, Szczur lined a pitch down the right-field line to put them ahead 5-4. Montero then crushed his eighth home run to right-center.
Catcher Willson Contreras hit his 12th home run for National League Central champion Chicago (103-58), which will host either the New York Mets or San Francisco Giants on Friday in Game 1 of the NLDS.
Brewers 6, Rockies 4
DENVER -- Andrew Susac hit a two-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning as Milwaukee knocked off Colorado.
Susac' s homer came off Chris Rusin (3-5). Susac' s homer was his first since July 12, 2015, against Philadelphia while playing for San Francisco.
Colorado' s DJ LaMahieu didn' t play for the second straight day and won the batting title with a .348 average, one point better than Washington' s Daniel Murphy. Milwaukee' s Chris Carter and Colorado' s Nolan Arenado shared the National League home run title with 41.
The Brewers' two-run second put them ahead 2-1. Hernan Perez was hit with a pitch to open the inning and scored when Arcia followed with a double as Blackmon lost the ball in the sun. Arcia stole third and scored on Jake Elmore' s ground out.
Rays 6, Rangers 4
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Tampa Bay scored twice in the 10th inning to end its season with a victory over Texas.
Richie Shaffer scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and Alexei Ramirez scored on Curt Casali' s RBI double for the Rays. Ramirez, who doubled in the 10th, finished with a season-high four hits, scored twice and picked up an RBI.
The Rangers will now rest up to play either Toronto or Baltimore in the ALDS starting Thursday in Arlington, Texas.
Texas forced extra innings on Hanser Alberto' s single off Alex Colome in the ninth inning.
