UNDATED (AP) — Brendan Rodgers hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the fifth inning, Trevor Story went deep in the second and the Colorado Rockies held on to beat the Atlanta Braves 5-4.
Jon Gray pitched five innings as the Rockies, far back in the NL West standings, moved to 22-51 on the road coming off a four-game series win at Philadelphia. NL East-leading Atlanta, going for its fourth straight division title, began the night with a 4 1/2-game lead over Philadelphia. The Braves had won five of seven. Atlanta put two on in the ninth inning before Carlos Estévez got Jorge Soler to pop out for his eighth save in 13 chances.
In other Tuesday action:
— Buster Posey homered in the first inning and scored the go-ahead run on an error in the third, and the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 6-1 for their ninth straight victory a day after becoming the first team in the big leagues to clinch a playoff berth. Brandon Belt and Darin Ruf each hit run-scoring doubles and Tommy La Stella added an RBI single to back Anthony DeSclafani, who won for the first time in five starts since defeating Colorado on Aug. 13. The pitcher allowed six earned runs over his previous 14 2/3 innings.
— The Los Angeles Dodgers have clinched a postseason berth by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-4 for their fifth straight win. The Dodgers got home runs by Max Muncy, Trea Turner and Will Smith. Their victory, combined with losses by Cincinnati and San Diego, secured the Dodgers’ ninth consecutive playoff spot in pursuit of a second straight World Series championship. LA’s home record of 51-23 leads the majors. Arizona got a three-run blast by Ketel Marte, but never led.
— Pinch-hitter Kyle Schwarber hit a tiebreaking three-run double in the eighth inning and the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 8-4 to keep pace in the competitive AL wild-card race. Schwarber, out of the lineup in favor of Alex Verdugo, entered against reliever Drew Steckenrider with one out in the eighth and the bases loaded. His double to right ended a tense standoff with the Mariners, who beat the Red Sox 5-4 on Monday with the help of Schwarber’s fielding error. Verdugo added a two-run home run in Boston’s next at-bat against Yohan Ramirez.
— Triston McKenzie turned in another stellar start for Cleveland. He cruised through six innings of the first game of a doubleheader to lead the Indians past Minnesota 3-1. Twins starter Joe Ryan took a comebacker off the wrist in the sixth inning to remove half of the pitching duel. McKenzie had seven strikeouts with just three hits, one run and one walk allowed. This was his fifth straight outing of six innings or more and one run or less. Ryan gave up three hits, one run and one walk with seven strikeouts in five innings.
— Drew Rasmussen combined with four relievers on a three-hitter. Brandon Lowe and Ji-Man Choi homered and the Tampa Bay Rays became the first AL team to reach 90 wins by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0. After losing four of their previous five, the East-leading Rays hit the 90-win mark for the eighth time — all in the past 14 seasons. Tampa Bay stopped a two-game losing streak. The Rays have not lost three in a row since July 25-28.
— Salvador Perez hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning, the Kansas City bullpen bailed out starter Jackson Kowar and the Royals rallied from an early six-run hole to beat Oakland 10-7. Kyle Isbel hit his first career homer and Hunter Dozier also went deep for the Royals. Jake Brentz earned the win and Scott Barlow picked up a save for Kansas City. Yusmeiro Petit took the loss after giving up Perez’s 43rd home run of the season. The A’s have lost three straight and seven of 10 to fall farther out of contention in the AL wild-card race.
— Edmundo Sosa hit the go-ahead single in a three-run 11th inning and the hard-charging St. Louis Cardinals climbed all the way back into playoff position with a wild 7-6 victory over the New York Mets. New York scored twice in the bottom of the 11th and had two runners on when Kwang Hyun Kim retired pinch-hitter Albert Almora Jr. for his second career save, ending a back-and-forth game that took 4 hours, 34 minutes. Tyler O’Neill homered and drove in three runs for the streaking Cardinals, who vaulted into the second NL wild-card slot.
— Rookie Gavin Sheets hit a long three-run homer and had four RBIs in his first three-hit game, and the White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 9-3 in Joe Maddon’s first game back in Chicago. Sheets hit a go-ahead single in the second inning off Packy Naughton and made it 6-1 with a three-run homer in the third. He narrowly missed a second home run when he doubled to the right-field wall in the fifth. Maddon managed the Cubs for five years, leading them to a World Series title in 2016 that ended the team’s 108-year championship drought.
— Wade Miley surrendered six runs on 10 hits and the Cincinnati Reds lost for the sixth time in eight games, 6-5 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Miley gave up three runs in the first and three more in the fifth before being pulled with one out. The six runs allowed were Miley’s most since the Rockies scored eight off him May 14. The Reds entered the day half a game ahead of the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild card in the National League.
— All-Star slugger Adolis García tied the Rangers’ single-season rookie record with his 30th home run and last-place Texas beat the AL West-leading Houston Astros 8-1. The homer by García was one of three long balls allowed by Zack Greinke in his return after testing positive for COVID-19 last month. Rangers starter Jordan Lyles allowed only three singles and struck out seven over seven scoreless innings. Nathaniel Lowe and DJ Peters also homered off Greinke.
— Aaron Judge started a five-homer barrage that backed Gerrit Cole, and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-2 to win consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 1 and 3. Cole returned from left hamstring tightness that cut short his Sept. 7 start against Toronto. He stranded the bases loaded in a 29-pitch first inning when he struck out Ramón Uris and allowed one run and four hits in five innings with seven strikeouts and three walks. He threw 108 pitches. Judge hit a two-run homer in the first off a changeup from Alexander Wells.
— Ryan Zimmerman homered, Erick Fedde pitched five solid innings and the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 8-2. One night after being no-hit for 6 2/3 innings, the Nationals scored early and pounded out 14 hits in winning for the second time in three games. Fedde beat the Marlins for the second time in less than a month, allowing a run on three hits with eight strike outs and no walks. On Aug. 24, he gave up a run on six hits in 6 1/3 innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts. Juan Soto had three hits, an RBI and a walk for Washington.
— Patrick Wisdom and Alfonso Rivas hit back-to-back homers for the Chicago Cubs in a 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies have lost six of seven games. Wilson Contreras led off the fifth inning with a single, Wisdom hit his 26th homer of the year, and Rivas followed with the first of his big league career. It was 3-1 on 12 pitches. Adrian Sampson gave up two runs in five innings for the win. The Phillies have not made the playoffs since 2011.
— Derek Hill hit a leadoff RBI double in the 11th inning, giving the Detroit Tigers a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers loaded the bases with one out against Bryan Garcia (2-1) in the 11th before Christian Yelich grounded into an inning-ending double play. Hill fell behind 0-2 while trying to bunt Victor Reyes to third, then lined Hunter Strickland’s next pitch into right-center for a game-winning double. The loss ended Milwaukee’s five-game win streak.
