Associated Press
TORONTO — After holding onto the AL East lead for more than 3½ months, the Yankees appeared set to fall out of first place on Sunday. Then they rallied from a four-run deficit and headed home still tied with Baltimore.
“Tonight was a season-defining game for us,” New York’s Nick Swisher said after a 9-6 win at the Toronto Blue Jays. “We could have gone down big like that and just packed it in, but that’s not this team’s M.O. That’s not how we approach it.”
Eduardo Nunez drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly. Eric Chavez homered for the Yankees (92-67), who completed a 4-3 trip and headed home for a season-closing series against Boston. The Orioles (92-67) beat the Red Sox 6-3 and traveled to Florida for their final series, at Tampa Bay.
“Every game feels like it’s a playoff game right now,” Russell Martin said. “That’s our attitude.”
New York has overcome four-run deficits to win twice in a nine-game span for the second time this season, according to STATS LLC. The Yankees tied Baltimore and Texas (92-66) for the most wins in the AL.
With both the division title and the AL’s best record still up for grabs, the Yankees aren’t relishing the prospect of playing the last-place Red Sox, who have lost 90 games for the first time since 1966.
“They would like nothing better than to spoil our season,” Martin said. “Us knowing that, I don’t think anybody is going to take them lightly.”
A wild-card berth and the one-game playoff that comes with it isn’t to New York’s liking. The Yankees opened a 10-game AL East lead in mid-July and have never failed to finish first in a season in which they led by at least 6½ games.
“This team wants to win a division,” Swisher said. “That’s it. I don’t ever think in the history of Yankee baseball we’ve shot for the wild card. That’s not how we get down over here. This city, this team expects to win and that’s what I expect us to go out and do.”
Toronto took a 5-1 lead in the fifth against Phil Hughes, but the Yankees closed in the sixth on a run-scoring pitch by Henderson Alvarez and tied it an inning later on Ichiro Suzuki’s sacrifice fly, Robinson Cano’s RBI double against Steve Delabar and Aaron Loup’s run-scoring wild pitch.
“It seemed liked we just kept at it, kept at it, kept picking away,” manager Joe Girardi said.
Darren Oliver (3-4) walked Curtis Granderson leading off the seventh, Raul Ibanez singled, Martin sacrificed and Nunez drove in the go-ahead run. Derek Jeter’s RBI single put the Yankees ahead 7-5.
“It’s a big win for us to be able come back in that situation,” Girardi said.
Granderson added a two-run single in the ninth off Jason Frasor, reaching 100 RBIs for the second straight year despite a .226 batting average.
Boone Logan (7-2) got the final two outs of the seventh as the Yankees avoided consecutive defeats for the first time since a three-game skid from Sept. 2-4. Rafael Soriano allowed Toronto to load the bases with no outs in the ninth before Yunel Escobar hit into a run-scoring, double-play grounder and Adam Lind grounded out.
Hughes gave up five runs, eight hits and two walks in 4 2-3 innings. He allowed his 35th home run, one behind major league leader Ervin Santana of the Los Angeles Angels.
“It was a bad day,” Hughes said. “Fortunately the guys battled back and we got a win, which we really needed.”
New York’s rally spoiled a strong start by Alvarez, who closed his season by allowing two runs and seven hits in six innings.
“He goes into the offseason, I would think, with a lot of confidence about the way he’s pitched late in the season,” Blue Jays manager John Farrell said.
Toronto went ahead in the first on Escobar’s RBI double and Lind’s sacrifice fly. Chavez hit his 16th home run in the third, connecting off Brett Cecil, but the Blue Jays scored three times in the bottom half on Brett Lawrie’s two-run homer, a second-deck drive to left, and Moises Sierra’s RBI single.
Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles lowered the magic number to one for their first playoff berth since 1997, extending their winning streak to four by beating the Boston Red Sox 6-3 Sunday as Nate McLouth, J.J. Hardy and Chris Davis hit solo homers.
With three games left, the Orioles (92-67) are tied with the New York Yankees for the AL East lead and already have 23 more wins than a year ago
New York begins a season-ending series against visiting Boston on Monday night, and the Orioles travel to Tampa Bay
Joe Saunders (3-3) allowed three runs, eight hits and no walks in 7 1-3 innings, and Jim Johnson worked the ninth for his 50th save.
Boston (69-90) has lost 90 games for the first time since 1966. Zach Stewart (0-2) gave up five runs and seven hits in 2 2-3 innings.ANGELS 5, RANGERS 4
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Torii Hunter hit a two-run double with two outs in the ninth when the Angels rallied off Joe Nathan (3-5) in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.
Los Angeles (88-70) has won 11 of its last 15 and is 2½ games behind Oakland (91-68) for the AL’s second wild card.
Texas (92-66) saw its division lead over the A’s cut to 1½ games with four to play. The Rangers finish the regular season with three games at Oakland, starting Monday.
Garrett Richards (4-3) retired Nelson Cruz with two runners on in the eighth, and Ernesto Frieri pitched a perfect ninth for his 24th save.
ATHLETICS 5, MARINERS 2
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Yoenis Cespedes broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth with a home run off Shawn Kelley (2-4) as Oakland closed on its first playoff berth in six years. Josh Reddick connected with a two-run shot for his team-leading 32nd homer two batters later as the A’s completed a three-game sweep.
Sean Doolittle (2-1) pitched a perfect eighth for the win, and Grant Balfour finished for his 22nd save.
TIGERS 2, TWINS 1
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prince Fielder hit a two-run, opposite-field homer to left off Jared Burton (3-2), his 30th of the season, and Detroit opened a season-high, three-game lead over the second-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central with three games to play.
Detroit, which lost to Texas in last year’s AL championship series, closes at Kansas City while Chicago is at Cleveland.
Miguel Cabrera, who is trying to become the first player since 1967 to win the triple crown, went 0 for 3 with an intentional walk, dropping his AL-leading batting average to .325. Minnesota’s Joe Mauer went 3 for 4 with an intentional walk to raise his average to .323.
Phil Coke (2-3) got the win in relief and Jose Valverde picked up his 34th save.
RAYS 6, WHITE SOX 2
CHICAGO (AP) — David Price (20-5) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings to become Tampa Bay’s first 20-game winner, B.J. Upton hit his 27th and 28th homers and Tampa Bay (88-71) remained three games behind Oakland for the AL’s second wild-card berth with three games left.
Tampa Bay won for the 10th time in 11 games. Chicago, which held at least a share of the AL Central lead from July 24 until Wednesday, has lost 10 of 12.
Jose Quintana (6-6) gave up four runs and six hits in four innings.
INDIANS 15, ROYALS 3
CLEVELAND (AP) — Asdrubal Cabrera capped a 10-run fifth inning with a grand slam as Cleveland
tied season highs for runs and hits (19), improving to 2-1 under interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr.
Zach McAllister (6-8) pitched five-hit ball over 6 2-3 innings, allowing three runs. Royals starter Luke Hochevar (8-16) was tagged for nine runs over 4 2-3 innings.
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Carlos Beltran homered from both sides of the plate for the ninth time in his career and drove in five runs, and the St. Louis Cardinals closed in on the NL’s second wild-card berth by beating the Washington Nationals 10-4 Sunday.
St. Louis (86-73) took a 7-0 lead by the third inning and reduced its magic number for clinching to two. They lead the Dodgers by two games for the second NL wild card.
Washington (96-63), already assured of the capital’s first postseason baseball since 1933, saw its magic number for clinching the NL East remain at one over second-place Atlanta (93-66).
Lance Lynn (18-7) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings, improving to 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last five appearances.
Beltran hit a pair of two-run homers, connecting right-handed off Ross Detwiler (10-8) in the second and left-handed against Chien-Ming Wang in the fourth.
BRAVES 6, METS 2
ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Braves won for a major league record 23rd straight time in games started by Kris Medlen, beating the Mets in the regular-season home finale for Chipper Jones.
Medlen (10-1) gave up one unearned run and three hits in six innings.
According to STATS LLC research going back to 1921, only two other teams won 22 straight starts by a pitcher: the New York Giants with Carl Hubbell (1936-37) and the Yankees with Whitey Ford (1950-53). Ford’s streak was interrupted by military service.
Atlanta is 12-0 in Medlen’s starts this season after he moved to the rotation on July 31. The team’s streak of 23 straight wins in Medlen’s starts began in 2010.
David Ross hit a three-run homer in the second off Jenrry Mejia (1-3). Jones had a single and two walks.
REDS 4, PIRATES 3
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pirates ensured they’d finish with a record 20th straight losing season Sunday when they blew a ninth-inning lead in a 4-3 defeat to the Reds.
Pinch-hitter Xavier Paul led off the ninth with a home run off Joel Hanrahan (5-2) and Zack Cozart had a go-head double for Cincinnati, who clinched home-field advantage in the NL division series.
The Pirates extended their major North American professional sports record. Pittsburgh was 16 games over .500 on Aug. 6, but has lost 18 of 23 to fall to 77-82.
Sean Marshall (5-5) got two outs for the win.
DODGERS 7, ROCKIES 1
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Josh Beckett earned his first victory in his last five starts and the Los Angeles Dodgers backed him with three homers, beating Colorado for their fifth straight win to stay in contention for an NL wild-card spot.
Matt Kemp, Luis Cruz and A.J. Ellis each hit two-run homers as the Dodgers remained two games behind St. Louis for the second wild card.
The Dodgers have their first five-game winning streak in more than two months.
Beckett (2-3) allowed one run and six hits in six innings, struck out five and walked three for his first victory since Sept. 1 against Arizona.
Jorge De La Rosa (0-2) gave up four runs and five hits in four innings.
PHILLIES 4, MARLINS 1
MIAMI (AP) — Cole Hamels struck out eight and allowed one run over seven innings to finish his season with a flourish, and the Phillies beat the Marlins.
Hamels (17-6) allowed five hits and walked only one in his final start of the year for the Phillies (80-79), who need one win in the final three-game series at Washington starting Monday to finish at least .500 for the 10th straight season.
Jose Reyes had a pair of hits and Carlos Lee drove in a run for Miami, which lost for the 21st time in its last 29 games.
Marlins starter Nathan Eovaldi (4-13) gave up three runs — all in the first — and struck out seven in six innings.
ASTROS 7, BREWERS 0
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jordan Lyles pitched his first major league shutout and hit his first home run as Houston eliminated the Brewers from wild-card playoff contention.
The Brewers, who reached the NL championship series last year, had surged since mid-August to get back into the postseason race. But the last-place Astros won two of three at Miller Park to finish off Milwaukee.
The 21-year-old Lyles (5-12) threw a four-hitter in his first complete game in 40 big league starts.
Mike Fiers (9-10) struck out 10 in six innings, but also gave up Houston’s four home runs. He had gone 1-3 with a 6.97 ERA over his previous five starts and ran into more trouble.
GIANTS 7, PADRES 5
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Pinch-hitter Xavier Nady homered off Huston Street to tie the game with one out in the ninth and Hunter Spence hit a go-ahead, two-run shot as the Giants rallied to beat San Diego.
Tim Lincecum might no longer be a lock for the No. 3 spot in NL West champion Giants playoff rotation — he gave up a season-high three homers. Manager Bruce Bochy instead might consider lefty Barry Zito (14-8), who was left off the roster for all three postseason rounds during the team’s improbable 2010 run to the World Series championship. San Francisco has won Zito’s last 10 outings.
With the Giants trailing 5-4, Nady drove a 1-0 pitch from Street (2-1) into the sandy play area beyond the fence in right-center.
Shane Loux (1-0) pitched one inning for the win.
CUBS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 2
PHOENIX (AP) — Anthony Rizzo had three hits, David DeJesus homered and the Chicago Cubs ended a seven-game losing streak, beating the Diamondbacks.
The Cubs had lost 18 in a row against NL West opponents. The win allowed them to avoid a 100th loss this season, with three games remaining.
Chris Rusin (2-3) allowed one earned run and three hits in five innings.
Brian LaHair’s two-run single capped a four-run sixth inning against Bryan Shaw (1-6) and two other Arizona relievers.
