MLB roundup: Reds make NL wild card despite loss to Brewers

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Danny Jansen belted a two-run homer to pace the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-2 comeback victory Sunday over the visiting Cincinnati Reds, who clinched their first postseason appearance since 2020 despite the loss.

Elly De La Cruz and TJ Friedl homered for the Reds, who earned a National League wild-card spot due to Sunday’s loss by the New York Mets. It is the Reds’ first postseason berth in a 162-game season since 2013.

As the No. 6 seed in the NL, the Reds begin their best-of-three wild-card series at the third-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.

The Brewers, who have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with the best overall record in the majors, have a bye into the NL Division Series, which begins Saturday. Milwaukee (97-65) set a franchise record for victories in a season with help from Jansen’s blow during a three-run fourth inning.

Marlins 4, Mets 0

Edward Cabrera pitched five scoreless innings as host Miami eliminated New York from playoff contention. Cabrera (8-7) allowed just two hits and worked around five walks.

The Marlins scored four runs off three pitchers in a crucial fourth inning. Reliever Brooks Raley (3-1) started that inning, but it was Ryne Stanek, who allowed RBI doubles to Eric Wagaman and Brian Navarreto.

In the next half inning, the Mets loaded the bases with two outs and Pete Alonso lined a pitch 116 mph, but it found the glove of a leaping left-fielder Javier Sanoja. The game ended with Francisco Lindor (1-for-3, two walks) grounding into a double play.

Red Sox 4, Tigers 3

Boston clinched the No. 5 seed in the American League postseason with a win over visiting Detroit.

Masataka Yoshida and David Hamilton both homered, Ceddanne Rafaela went 2-for-3, and Jarren Duran had the game-winning RBI to lead Boston past Detroit, which will be the No. 6 seed in the AL field after a late-season collapse. Cleveland trailed Detroit by 15 1/2 games in the division race on July 9.

Jose De Leon struck out eight and allowed three runs in a quality start of 6 2/3 innings. He was recalled from Triple-A Worcester before the game for his first MLB appearance since 2023. Tigers starter Chris Paddack pitched 4 1/3 innings in the loss, allowing four runs and seven hits while striking out five.

Yankees 3, Orioles 2

Ben Rice drilled two home runs, including the go-ahead solo shot in the eighth, as host New York defeated Baltimore to tie Toronto for the AL East title.

Yankees starter Luis Gil allowed two runs and three hits over five innings before four relievers each threw one scoreless inning, which included Devin Williams (4-6) in the eighth and David Bednar (27th save) in the ninth. New York, which lost the division tiebreaker, hosts Boston in the best-of-three wild-card series that begins Tuesday.

Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson hit back-to-back homers in the eighth for the Orioles (75-87), who posted their first losing record since 2021. Starter Kyle Bradish allowed two runs over five innings with eight strikeouts while Rico Garcia (0-2) gave up Rice’s second blast.

Blue Jays 13, Rays 4

Alejandro Kirk homered twice, including a grand slam, as host Toronto clinched the American League East, routing Tampa Bay. Kirk also doubled and had six RBIs to help the Blue Jays to their first division title since 2015.

Addison Barger and George Springer added two-run homers. Mason Fluharty (5-2) replaced starter Kevin Gausman in the fifth inning and retired all four batters he faced.

Jonathan Aranda had two hits and three RBIs for the Rays in their final game of the season. Richie Palacios added three hits. Ian Seymour (4-3) allowed six runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Padres 12, Diamondbacks 4

Manny Machado homered and Jackson Merrill drove in three as host San Diego swept Arizona to enter the playoffs with seven wins in its final eight regular-season games.

J.P. Sears (9-11) allowed two runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings for the Padres, who reeled off five consecutive hits to spark a five-run first inning. Machado, Merrill and Ryan O’Hearn each collected two of the Padres’ 11 hits.

Brandon Pfaadt (13-9) surrendered eight runs (seven earned) and six hits over four-plus innings for the Diamondbacks. Ketel Marte slugged his 28th homer to lead off the game while Geraldo Perdomo drove in his 100th run of the year in the ninth.

Cubs 2, Cardinals 0

Seiya Suzuki homered for the fifth time in four games as host Chicago capped the regular season with a three-game sweep of St. Louis.

Suzuki’s fifth-inning solo shot opened the scoring for the Cubs, who host the San Diego Padres in a best-of-three wild-card series that starts Tuesday. Starter Javier Assad (4-1) posted a season-high six strikeouts while scattering three hits and one walk over 5 1/3 innings. Jordan Wicks fanned four over the last three innings for his first save.

Kyle Leahy allowed just one hit over three innings in his first big-league start before giving way to John King (2-1), who gave up Suzuki’s homer. Thomas Saggese and Victor Scott II posted two hits apiece for the Cardinals (78-84), who closed the season on a four-game slide.

Royals 9, Athletics 2

Mike Yastrzemski homered twice to help visiting Kansas City top the Athletics in the season finale for both teams.

Carter Jensen also homered, singled twice and scored three times, while Michael Massey added four hits, an RBI and two runs scored and Maikel Garcia had two hits, two RBIs and scored a run for the Royals, who won three of their last four to finish with a winning record (82-80). Kansas City starter Cole Ragans blanked the A’s on two hits over 4 1/3 innings, striking out eight, and Daniel Lynch IV (6-2) pitched 2 1/3 innings of hitless relief to earn the win.

Brady Basso (1-1) started for the Athletics and took the loss after allowing one run on three hits over 1 1/3 innings. Nick Kurtz homered for the A’s, who went 13-11 in September to finish with 76 wins.

White Sox 8, Nationals 0

Shane Smith took a perfect game into the sixth inning before combining with three relievers on a one-hitter as visiting Chicago ended its season with a win over Washington.

Brooks Baldwin homered for the second straight game, doubled and drove in three runs for the White Sox. Dominic Fletcher also homered and doubled, and Miguel Vargas added a home run. Smith (7-8) retired the first 16 Nationals before Brady House lined a single to right with one out in the sixth. He allowed one hit over six innings and struck out eight batters without a walk. Chicago (60-102) improved noticeably on its record-setting 2024 campaign, when it went 41-121.

Washington’s Brad Lord (5-10) gave up five runs on five hits over four innings. The Nationals (66-96) suffered its sixth consecutive losing season since winning the 2019 World Series.

Guardians 9, Rangers 8 (10 innings)

Brayan Rocchio hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning, completing a four-run rally and lifting American League Central champion Cleveland to a wild win over visiting Texas in the teams’ regular-season finale.

The Guardians will open the best-of-three wild-card round against the Detroit Tigers in Cleveland on Tuesday. Rocchio’s walk-off round-tripper came off the Rangers’ Jose Corniell (0-1), who was making his major league debut with a three-run lead.

Rowdy Tellez had staked the Rangers to an 8-5 cushion with his own three-run shot in the top of the frame. The Guardians’ Bo Naylor doubled home automatic runner George Valera to open the bottom of the 10th, and after a walk to Petey Halpin, Rocchio homered to right field.

Astros 6, Angels 2

Yainer Diaz and Ramon Urias each homered and drove in a pair of runs, propelling visiting Houston to a victory over Los Angeles.

Brice Matthews and Victor Caratini also homered for the Astros, who were eliminated from postseason contention Saturday for the first time since 2016. Starter Lance McCullers Jr. allowed one run on two hits across three innings. Astros reliever Colton Gordon (6-4) then threw five no-hit innings in relief.

Mike Trout homered in his only at-bat for the Angels before Logan O’Hoppe replaced him in the third. Sam Aldegheri (0-2) threw 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. The Angels (72-90) missed the postseason for the 11th straight year and finished with a losing record for the 10th straight time.

Phillies 2, Twins 1 (10 innings)

Nick Castellanos hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to lift Philadelphia to a win over visiting Minnesota.

Max Kepler added a solo home run for Philadelphia, which is headed to the postseason after winning the National League East. The Phillies finished with an MLB-best 55-26 mark at home. Ryan Jeffers went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI to lead Minnesota.

Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out eight. Simeon Woods Richardson struck out nine over six scoreless innings for the Twins.

Giants 4, Rockies 0

Willy Adames hit his 30th home run of the season, Rafael Devers added his 35th and San Francisco, getting a combined shutout from Logan Webb and three relievers, completed a season-ending sweep of visiting Colorado.

Webb (15-11) matched his career high in wins by limiting the Rockies to three hits in 5 1/3 innings while Adames finished off his second straight 30-homer season and Devers reached the 35-homer milestone for the second time. With the win, the Giants (81-81) finished the season at .500.

Brenton Doyle and Hunter Goodman had doubles for Colorado (43-119), which wrapped up the season with six straight defeats. Their 119 losses tied for the third-most in Major League Baseball since 1900.

Braves 4, Pirates 1

Chris Sale pitched 5 2/3 strong innings, Ronald Acuna Jr. provided the offense with a home run and Atlanta closed its season with a win over visiting Pittsburgh.

Sale entered the game with one out in the second inning. He approved the idea of coming out of the bullpen to give 41-year-old veteran Charlie Morton what is expected to be the final start of his career. Morton made his major league debut with the Braves in 2008 and also pitched for Atlanta in 2021-24 before signing with them this week. In his first appearance out of the bullpen since 2012, Sale (7-5) pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run on four hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.

Morton, signed by the Braves after he was released by Detroit, pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and left after striking out Alexander Canario on a curveball, the signature pitch of Morton’s career. Pirates starter Johan Oviedo (2-1) pitched five innings and allowed two runs on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Pittsburgh got its run in the sixth on an RBI single by Joey Bart.

Dodgers 6, Mariners 1

Clayton Kershaw (11-2) pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings in the final regular-season start of his illustrious 18-year career to lead Los Angeles over host Seattle.

Shohei Ohtani hit his 55th homer of the season — breaking his own franchise record — and Hyeseong Kim and Freddie Freeman also went deep for the National League West champion Dodgers. Los Angeles will be the No. 3 seed in the NL playoffs and will host the Cincinnati Reds in the best-of-three wild-card round that begins Tuesday.

The Mariners’ Bryce Miller (4-6) allowed four runs on five hits over four innings. Eugenio Suarez drove in his squad’s lone run and finished the season with 118 RBIs.

–Field Level Media