Jacob Misiorowski tossed five scoreless innings, Joey Ortiz collected three hits and two RBIs, the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the host Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 on Tuesday for the start of what proved to be a celebratory night.
The Brewers won for the sixth time in seven games and later clinched their fourth consecutive National League Central title when the Chicago Cubs lost 6-3 to the Atlanta Braves.
Misiorowski (15-5) lowered his ERA to 1.89 and continued to bolster his case for this year’s NL Cy Young Award by striking out seven and walking one batter while allowing five hits. The Brewers broke the game open with four runs in the sixth inning.
Rafael Flores Jr. went 4-for-4 for Pittsburgh, which lost for the third time in four games. Lake Bachar (1-4) yielded one run in two innings.
Dodgers 4, Reds 0
Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed just one hit over seven scoreless innings while Teoscar Hernandez and Alex Freeland homered to lead visiting Los Angeles past Cincinnati.
Brock Stewart pitched a scoreless eighth and Tanner Scott finished Los Angeles’ 12th shutout of the season in the ninth. Freddie Freeman added three hits for the Dodgers, who trimmed their magic number to two for clinching the National League West title.
The Reds were blanked for a major-league-leading 17th time and fell a season-low 11 games under .500 with their seventh loss in eight games. Cincinnati has dropped all five games this season against the Dodgers.
Guardians 7, White Sox 6
Brayan Rocchio ripped a two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning as host Cleveland moved within a half-game of first-place Chicago in the American League Central.
Jo Adell belted a two-run homer and Travis Bazzana delivered two solo shots for the Guardians. The late uprising made a winner out of Cade Smith (6-1), who threw 1 2/3 perfect innings.
Miguel Vargas ripped a two-run single to highlight a four-run sixth inning for the White Sox. Grant Taylor (7-3) took the loss.
Nationals 6, Phillies 3
Pinch hitter Daylen Lile socked a three-run homer in the seventh inning, lifting host Washington to a win against Philadelphia.
Andres Chaparro had a solo homer and a double for the Nationals, who have won four straight after losing seven in a row. Richard Lovelady (3-4) pitched one inning for the win, and Erik Tolman worked the ninth for his third save.
Kyle Schwarber homered and Luis Arraez had two doubles and a walk for the Phillies, who have lost four of five and remained a half-game behind the Chicago Cubs for the first NL wild card.
Braves 6, Cubs 3
Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies and Drake Baldwin each hit a two-run homer as Atlanta won at Chicago.
Martin Perez (9-9) allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits across six innings for the 100th victory of his major league career. Raisel Iglesias worked a perfect ninth to log his 33rd save of the season.
Kevin Gausman threw 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball for the Cubs. Jacob Webb (6-5) served up Albies’ go-ahead homer in the seventh.
Rays 2, Athletics 1
Junior Caminero bashed a walk-off homer for the second time in four games as Tampa Bay beat the Athletics in St. Petersburg, Fla., and improved to 4-0 on its homestand.
The third baseman, who launched a walk-off blast Friday against the Houston Astros to send the Rays to the playoffs, repeated the feat on a 100 mph 0-2 fastball from Elvis Alvarado (5-4). It was his American League-high 41st homer.
Chandler Simpson went 3-for-3 with a double and a run for the Rays. Bryan Baker (3-2) got three flyouts in a perfect ninth for the win. The A’s managed only four hits while falling to 8-4 in their past 12 games.
Yankees 8, Twins 1
Spencer Jones belted a three-run home run, Cody Bellinger hammered a two-run shot, and New York cruised past Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Bellinger collected three hits while Heliot Ramos, George Lombard Jr. and Anthony Volpe had two apiece for New York, which earned its third win in a row. Yankees left-hander Max Fried (5-4) allowed one run on six hits in seven innings.
Luke Keaschall went 3-for-4 and Emmanuel Rodriguez finished 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Twins, who took their seventh loss in nine games. Bailey Ober (7-6) gave up three runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Orioles 7, Mets 5 (11 innings)
Coby Mayo hit a tiebreaking three-run inside-the-park home run in the 11th inning for visiting Baltimore, which stormed back to beat New York.
Carson Benge hit a solo homer in the third for the Mets. Juan Soto went 2-for-5 with an RBI while Bo Bichette had three hits.
Rockies 9, Padres 3
Cole Carrigg homered twice, including a three-run shot to cap a five-run sixth inning, and Colorado beat San Diego in Denver to snap an eight-game skid.
Carrigg finished with four hits and five RBIs, both career highs for the rookie. Troy Johnston had three hits for the Rockies, who got five innings of shutout relief from Ryan Feltner (6-10).
Fernando Tatis Jr., Austin Hays and Luis Campusano homered for the Padres, whose eight-game winning streak ended. Reliever Wandy Peralta (3-3) permitted four runs and got just two outs.
Astros 4, Royals 2
Jeremy Pena recorded his fifth career multi-homer game and Yordan Alvarez homered for just the second time this month as Houston downed visiting Kansas City.
Hunter Brown (6-3) fanned a season-high-tying 10 while allowing one run in five innings for the Astros, who maintained a one-game lead over the Texas Rangers in the American League West. Josh Hader handled the ninth inning for his 26th save.
Vinnie Pasquantino went deep for the Royals, who have lost three in a row. Michael Wacha (9-9) permitted four runs in six innings.
Rangers 4, Red Sox 2
Jacob deGrom struck out eight in five innings and Texas scored four runs in the second inning to defeat Boston in Arlington, Texas.
deGrom (11-9) gave up two runs on three hits. Jacob Latz pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to register his 30th save. Elias Diaz and Corey Seager each had a two-run hit for the Rangers.
Red Sox starter Patrick Sandoval (1-6) allowed four runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings. The Boston offense struck out 15 times and stranded nine baserunners.
Tigers 10, Blue Jays 1
Spencer Torkelson hit a three-run homer, Drew Anderson pitched five scoreless innings and visiting Detroit defeated Toronto.
Torkelson also doubled, walked and stole a base as the Tigers won their sixth straight. Hao-Yu Lee added a solo shot in the win. Anderson (5-6) allowed two hits.
Toronto fell to two games behind the Guardians for the third American League wild-card berth. Blue Jays reliever Brendan Cellucci struck out three in 1 2/3 perfect innings in his major league debut before Michael Lorenzen (3-13) surrendered five runs in two innings.
Giants 10, Cardinals 3
Bryce Eldridge hit a long home run and drove in three runs, rookie Blade Tidwell pitched effectively into the seventh inning, and visiting San Francisco beat St. Louis to stop a four-game losing streak.
Turner Hill hit his first major league homer for the Giants. He finished with three RBIs and also made three nice running catches in left field. Christian Koss had three hits and drove in two runs for San Francisco. Tidwell (1-2) allowed two runs and three hits in a career-high 6 2/3 innings.
Alec Burleson lined a solo homer, his 23rd, for the Cardinals, who had won three of four.
Angels 2, Mariners 1
Josh Lowe hit a go-ahead solo homer in the sixth inning and Ryan Johnson allowed one run on six hits over six frames, leading Los Angeles past Seattle in Anaheim, Calif.
Wade Meckler had two hits and a run while Vaughn Grissom hit an RBI double for the Angels, who clinched their first home series win since Aug. 10-13 against the Rangers. Johnson (5-8) struck out seven.
The result guaranteed the Mariners their first losing season since the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, when they went 27-33. Logan Gilbert (12-10) gave up two runs on six hits in six innings.
Marlins 4, Diamondbacks 2 (11 innings)
Esteury Ruiz hit a tiebreaking three-run double with two outs in the 11th inning and Miami outlasted Arizona in Phoenix to prevent the Diamondbacks from gaining ground in the NL wild-card race.
Griffin Conine homered for the Marlins, who did not have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position until automatic runner Javier Sanoja was placed there to open the 10th in a 1-1 game. Josh Ekness (2-3), the eighth Miami pitcher, struck out two in two innings.
Gabriel Moreno homered, singled, walked twice, stole a base and threw out two baserunners for the D-backs. Arizona remained 2 1/2 games behind San Diego in the race for the third NL wild card.