Kolten Wong hit a career-high three home runs and had five RBIs as the visiting Milwaukee Brewers opened a four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds with a 5-1 victory on Thursday.
Wong recorded his sixth career multi-homer game to lead the Brewers, who remained 2 1/2 games behind Philadelphia for the third and final National League wild-card berth after the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 1-0.
Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff (12-4) allowed one run on three hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out 11, giving him 32 strikeouts in his past three starts.
Kyle Farmer homered for Cincinnati, which was held to four hits and lost for the 11th time in its past 14 games.
Yankees 5, Red Sox 4 (10 innings)
Josh Donaldson hit a game-ending single in the 10th inning as host New York rallied to beat Boston and clinch a playoff spot.
Giancarlo Stanton had three hits, including a two-run homer, as the Yankees picked up their 16th walk-off win of the season. Aaron Judge remained stuck at 60 homers, walking three times and reaching base for the 21st straight game.
Boston’s Tristan Casas homered and Reese McGuire hit a three-run shot to put the Red Sox ahead 4-3 in the seventh.
Phillies 1, Braves 0
Matt Vierling drove in the lone run with a sacrifice fly and Ranger Suarez outdueled Max Fried as Philadelphia beat visiting Atlanta to maintain its lead in the wild-card standings.
Suarez (10-5) tossed six scoreless innings, giving up five hits while striking out four and walking two. Fried (13-7) gave up five hits and one run with eight strikeouts and one walk in five innings.
After a five-game losing streak, the Phillies have now won two in a row. The Braves, who lost their second straight game, fell 1 1/2 games back of the idle New York Mets in the National League East.
Rays 10, Blue Jays 5
Rookie Jonathan Aranda hit a leadoff homer and scored three runs and Tampa Bay’s offense came alive with nine runs in the first four innings during a win over Toronto in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The top five hitters in the Rays’ order — Aranda, Manuel Margot, Wander Franco, Randy Arozarena and David Peralta — combined for 11 hits, eight runs and nine RBIs.
Whit Merrifield homered twice and drove in three runs for the Blue Jays, whose lead over the Rays for the top American League wild-card spot was cut to one game.
Guardians 4, White Sox 2
Shane Bieber tossed 7 2/3 strong innings to win for the fourth straight start and fuel streaking Cleveland to a three-game sweep of Chicago.
First-place Cleveland now leads second-place Chicago by seven games in the American League Central with 12 games to play.
Bieber (12-8) allowed two runs on seven hits to improve to 8-2 in his past 11 outings for the Guardians, who have won 13 of their past 15 games. Gavin Sheets homered for the White Sox.
Dodgers 3, Diamondbacks 2
Pinch hitter Mookie Betts delivered a game-ending RBI single as Los Angeles scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning to pull out a victory over visiting Arizona.
The Dodgers had just two hits through eight innings before pulling off the comeback. Los Angeles (104-46) moved two wins away from tying the club record for a single season while lowering their magic number for clinching the No. 1 seed in the NL playoffs to three.
Arizona’s Zac Gallen set career highs for innings pitched (eight) and strikeouts (13). He gave up two hits and one run with no walks.
Orioles 2, Astros 0
Kyle Bradish took a perfect game into the sixth inning and came within an out of a complete game as Baltimore ended visiting Houston’s four-game winning streak.
Bradish upstaged Astros starter Justin Verlander while nearly turning in Baltimore’s second complete game in as many nights. Bradish (4-7) struck out 10 without a walk while throwing 100 pitches.
Cedric Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle had two hits apiece and Rougned Odor knocked in both runs for the Orioles. Verlander tossed six innings of two-run ball.
Cubs 3, Pirates 2
Michael Hermosillo’s RBI single in the seventh inning provided the deciding run and rookie Hayden Wesneski pitched an immaculate inning visiting Chicago downed Pittsburgh.
Wesneski (2-1) threw 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. The right-hander tossed an immaculate inning in the fifth, striking out Jack Suwinski, Zack Collins and Jason Delay on nine pitches. Wesneski became the first Cubs pitcher to complete an immaculate inning since LaTroy Hawkins in 2004.
Kevin Newman homered and Bryan Reynolds was 3-for-3 with two doubles and two walks for the Pirates, who have lost seven straight. Mitch Keller (5-12) gave up two runs and four hits in six innings.
Rangers 5, Angels 3
Corey Seager connected on a two-run home run in the eighth inning that lifted Texas over Los Angeles in Arlington, Texas.
Home run No. 32 for Seager came off Jose Quijada and completed the comeback victory. Marcus Semien walked to open the eighth inning, and Seager followed with his drive to left-center.
Jose Leclerc picked up his seventh save, stranding Shohei Ohtani, who had a pinch-hit double, by striking out Mike Trout to end it. Trout had a two-run double earlier in the game as the Angels scored all their runs in the third inning.
Royals 4, Twins 1
Jonathan Heasley allowed one run and two hits over six innings as host Kansas City completed a three-game sweep of Minnesota.
Bobby Witt Jr. recorded his third straight multi-hit performance and Salvador Perez drove in a run for the seventh straight game for the Royals.
Twins starter Josh Winder (three runs in six innings) held high school teammate Vinnie Pasquantino and college teammate Nate Eaton to a combined 0-for-6. Caleb Hamilton scored Minnesota’s only run on a sacrifice fly by Nick Gordon.
Giants 3, Rockies 0
Mike Yastrzemski doubled, homered and scored twice to help San Francisco complete a four-game sweep of Colorado in Denver.
Joc Pederson went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Luis Gonzalez and Jason Vosler each contributed two hits for the Giants, who improved to 11-5 against Colorado this season. Jharel Cotton made his Giants debut and threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in the middle innings to earn the win.
Yonathan Daza and Michael Toglia had two hits apiece for the Rockies, who finished with 10 hits.
Mariners 9, Athletics 5
Jarred Kelenic made a triumphant return to the major leagues with a home run, a double and two RBIs as visiting Seattle overcame Julio Rodriguez’s recurring back issues to overpower Oakland.
Adam Frazier chipped in with a go-ahead, two-run double in a three-run sixth for the Mariners, who remain a half-game behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the second American League wild-card position.
Oakland scored all five of its runs off Seattle starter George Kirby and reliever Matt Brash in the third. Stephen Vogt had a bases-loaded triple, Shea Langeliers an RBI double and Tony Kemp an RBI single in the uprising that produced a 5-3 lead.
Cardinals 5, Padres 4
Brendan Donovan hit a seventh-inning grand slam off reliever Nick Martinez to lead visiting St. Louis to victory in San Diego, snapping the Padres’ five-game winning streak.
Donovan’s first career slam erased a 3-1 Padres lead and presented the win to Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty, who went six innings in his longest outing of the season. It was Donovan’s fifth homer of the season.
Flaherty (1-1) gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits. Giovanny Gallegos picked up his 14th save.
