UNDATED (AP) — The Toronto Blue Jays will own no worse than a share of the first AL wild card at the end of the night following a lopsided win over the AL East leaders.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. belted his major league-leading 45th home run and Alek Manoah set a career high by pitching eight shutout innings in the Blue Jays’ 8-1 trouncing of the Rays. Manoah allowed just one hit, walked none and struck out 10 in winning for the first time since August 11.
Teoscar Hernández had his first career five-hit game to help the Jays improve to 12-1 this month. Bo Bichette smacked his 24th homer of the season in the rout.
Tampa Bay lost for the fourth time in five games and is 5-7 this month after going 21-6 in August.
Checking out the rest of Monday’s major league action:
— The Yankees stormed back from a five-run deficit to win for just the fourth time in 16 games, 6-5 over the Twins. Gary Sanchez lined a game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th, two innings after Aaron Judge tied it with a three-run homer. Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sanó slammed two-run homers in the first inning for Minnesota.
— The Mariners earned a 5-4 win over the Red Sox on Mitch Haniger’s three-run homer in the seventh inning following a two-out error by first baseman Kyle Schwarber. Haniger went 4 for 4 and homered for the third straight game as Seattle moved within two games of an AL playoff berth. Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers hit back-to-back homers for the Red Sox, who fell into a tie with the Yankees for the second AL wild card.
— The Astros put together a 15-1 laugher against the Rangers as Jose Siri homered twice and added a two-run single in his first big league start. Siri finished 4 for 5 with five RBIs while scoring three times for the AL West leaders, who lead the Mariners by 6 1/2 games. Yordan Alvarez hit a pair of 400-foot homers and Alex Bregman added a two-run homer for Houston, which also received two-run doubles from Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve.
— The Giants became the first major league team to wrap up a playoff berth by earning their eighth straight win, 9-1 over the San Diego Padres on Monday. Tommy La Stella connected on the fourth pitch from Padres starter Yu Darvish and Evan Longoria followed with a three-run shot five batters later. Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Belt also went deep as San Francisco secured a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2016.
— The Giants’ lead in the NL West remains 2 1/2 games after the second-place Dodgers wrapped up their seventh consecutive home win, 5-1 versus the Diamondbacks. Clayton Kershaw made his first start since July 3, scattering four hits and fanning five over 4 1/3 innings after missing 57 games with elbow inflammation. Justin Turner supplied a two-run double and a solo homer to highlight the Dodgers’ attack.
— Adam Wainwright tossed six innings and won his fifth straight start as the Cardinals whipped the Mets, 7-0. The 40-year-old Wainwright has 16 wins this season and is 9-2 with a 2.02 ERA in his last 12 starts, a span in which he’s gone at least six innings every time. Paul Goldschmidt homered and finished with two RBIs for the Cardinals, who entered Monday one game of a wild-card berth.
— The Marlins earned a 3-0 shutout of the Nationals as Sandy Alcantara allowed one hit over eight innings. Alcantara had a no-hitter until Josh Bell lined a two-out single in the seventh. Jesus Sanchez had a first-inning RBI single and Alex Jackson doubled home two runs in the ninth.
