Hunter Goodman went deep twice to surpass 40 home runs and the visiting Colorado Rockies eliminated the Chicago White Sox from the American League Central Division race with a 9-6 win on Saturday night.
Chicago’s loss and Cleveland’s 11-5 win at Kansas City locked the White Sox (83-78) into the third wild card. They will start the playoffs at the AL West champion, either Houston or Texas.
Goodman is the first National League catcher to hit at least 40 home runs since 2003. He reached the mark with a solo shot in the third and added a three-run long ball in the ninth.
Nolan Arenado was the last Colorado player to hit 40 home runs when he slugged 41 in 2019.
Ezequiel Tovar homered among his two hits and Cole Carrigg added three hits for the Rockies (58-103), who snapped a five-game skid.
Andrew Benintendi hit a three-run homer in the ninth, Brenton Doyle and Luisangle Acuna also went deep and Kyle Teel finished with two hits for Chicago.
Colorado chased starter Davis Martin after he only got two outs. TJ Rumfield had an RBI single and Adael Amador drove in two with a single to give the Rockies a 3-0 lead.
Martin (9-8) allowed three runs — two earned — before exiting after 25 pitches.
Doyle’s solo homer in the second, his fifth, cut the deficit to 3-1 and Acuna’s second homer of the season in the bottom of the third made it 4-2.
Rockies starter Jose Quintana allowed two runs in three innings and Ryan Feltner (7-10) tossed 3 2/3 innings in relief.
Tovar matched Acuna’s solo shot in the fourth, his 13th of the season, extending Colorado’s edge to 5-2.
The White Sox cut into the lead in the seventh. Miguel Vargas walked with one out, Andrew Benintendi reached on a fielder’s choice and was safe on an error to put runners on the corners. Randal Grichuk drove in a run with a groundout.
Chicago had runners on the corners with no outs in the eighth but failed to score.
Carrigg had an RBI single in the ninth ahead of Goodman’s blast.