Garrett Crochet dominates as Red Sox crush Blue Jays 7-1

TORONTO (AP) – Garrett Crochet pitched eight shutout innings, Masataka Yoshida and Carlos Narváez homered, and the Boston Red Sox beat the slumping Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 on Wednesday night.

Assured a playoff berth, the Blue Jays dropped into a tie with the New York Yankees atop the AL East at 90-68 with four games left. Toronto holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Trevor Story had three hits as Boston (87-71) won for the fourth time in five games and inched closer to securing an American League wild card.

Crochet (18-5) struck out six, walked none and allowed three hits to win his fifth straight decision.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa homered off Payton Tolle in the ninth for Toronto.

The Blue Jays lost for the sixth time in seven games. They’ve scored one run or fewer in all six of those defeats.

Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was ejected by plate umpire Gabe Morales for arguing after he struck out looking in the seventh. Hitting coach David Popkins was tossed for arguing from the dugout.

Blue Jays right-hander Max Scherzer allowed four runs and 10 hits in five innings, including three runs on five consecutive hits in the first.

NATIONALS 4, BRAVES 3

ATLANTA (AP) – James Wood hit two home runs and Josh Bell added another as Washington snapped Atlanta’s 10-game winning streak with a win.

Mitchell Parker (9-16) got the final two outs of the fifth inning and earned the victory out of the bullpen for Washington. He relieved rookie Andrew Alvarez, who did not give up a run in 4 1/3 innings in his fifth career start.

Rookie Daylen Lile had three hits including an RBI single for the Nationals. Jose Ferrer earned his 10th save.

Wood’s two solo home runs gave him 30 for the season. He hit them in the sixth and eighth innings. Bell led off the fourth inning with his 21st home run.

Eli White hit a pinch-hit home run for the Braves to lead off the ninth inning. Drake Baldwin hit his 19th home run in the sixth inning, a solo shot to left field. Marcell Ozuna also hit a solo homer in the eighth. The two teams hit 10 solo home runs in the final two games of the series.

Bryce Elder (8-11) took the loss in his final start of the season, giving up three runs on six hits in seven innings. He struck out seven.

BREWERS 3, PADRES 1

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Jackson Chourio robbed Xander Bogaerts of a three-run home run in the first inning and Nick Mears got Luis Arraez to fly out to center to end a bases-loaded threat in the seventh as NL Central champion Milwaukee beat playoff-bound San Diego to avoid a three-game sweep.

The Brewers reduced to one their magic number over Philadelphia for clinching the best record in the majors and homefield advantage through the postseason.

Brice Turang singled in Chourio with the go-ahead run with two outs in the seventh inning and Danny Jansen had a solo homer in the ninth.

These teams could meet again in the playoffs. The Padres entered the day trailing the Chicago Cubs by 1 1/2 games in the race for the National League’s top wild-card spot and the right to host a best-of-three series starting Tuesday. If the current standings hold, the Cubs would host the Padres, with the winner facing the Brewers in a division series.

RAYS 6, ORIOLES 2

BALTIMORE (AP) – Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum hit solo homers, and Tampa Bay kept Baltimore hitless through the first six innings in a victory.

After the Rays built a 5-0 lead in the seventh, the only suspense was whether starter Shane Baz and a host of relievers would combine for the second no-hitter in franchise history.

Baz pitched four innings, walking three, and Edwin Uceta (10-3) and Garrett Cleavinger kept it going with a perfect inning apiece. But the Rays’ bid to complete the first no-hitter of 2025 ended when Tyler O’Neill led off the seventh with a line-drive single to center off Griffin Jax.

Baltimore added a pair of hits – including a two-run single by Jordan Westburg – in the eighth.

PHILLIES 11, MARLINS 1

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Edmundo Sosa hit three of Philadelphia’s team-record eight home runs, Kyle Schwarber had two to pad his National League lead and the Phillies wrapped up a first-round bye with a victory over Miami.

Assured one of the top two seeds in the NL, the East champion Phillies (93-65) will open the postseason at home Oct. 4 in a best-of-five Division Series.

Schwarber hit Nos. 55 and 56 and also doubled and singled. He trails Seattle’s Cal Raleigh by three for the major league homer lead after Raleigh hit his 59th in the first inning of the Mariners’ game against Colorado.

Sosa was activated before the game after being out since Sept. 16 because of a groin injury. Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and Otto Kemp also homered.

Jesus Luzardo (15-7) struck out 10 in seven innings against his former team. He allowed three hits and one run.

Marlins starter Ryan Weathers (2-2) lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits – three of them homers.

GUARDIANS 5, TIGERS 1

CLEVELAND (AP) – George Valera hit a two-run homer in the third inning, José Ramírez had a two-run double in the seventh and Cleveland became the first major league team to overcome a deficit of 15 1/2 games and take the lead in either division or league play, beating Detroit.

Cleveland (86-72) has a one-game lead over Detroit (85-73) with four games to play. The Guardians also have the tiebreaker by taking the season series.

The 1914 Boston Braves were 15 games back in the National League on July 4 and rallied to win by 10 1/2 games according to Elias. Since baseball went to division play in 1969, the biggest deficit overcome was 14 games by the 1978 New York Yankees to win the AL East.

Tanner Bibee (12-11) won his third straight start and allowed only one run in six innings, extending the streak of Guardians starters allowing two or fewer runs to 19 games. They are the first since the 2019 Tampa Bay Rays to go at least 19 games.

Detroit has dropped eight straight and is out of first place for the first time since April 22, when the Guardians led by a half- game. Jack Flaherty (8-15) took the loss.

YANKEES 8, WHITE SOX 1

NEW YORK (AP) – Aaron Judge tied the major league record by reaching 50 home runs for the fourth time, hitting a pair of longballs as New York regained a share of the AL East lead for the first time since July with a win over Chicago.

Max Fried (19-5) won his sixth straight start and became the major leagues’ first 19-game winner.

New York (90-68) has won seven of eight, moving a season-high 22 games over .500 and getting to 90 wins for the seventh time in the last eight full seasons. The Yankees, who had not held a share of the division lead since before play on July 3, are tied with Toronto atop the division with four games left. The Blue Jays, who have lost six of seven, hold the tiebreaker.

Judge’s 50th homer, a three-run drive off Jonathan Cannon (4-10), gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead in the second inning. He added a solo shot in the eighth against Cam Booser. Judge hit 52 homers as a rookie in 2017, an AL-record 62 in 2022 and 58 last year. The only other players with four 50-homer seasons were Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

Trent Grisham added his 34th homer for New York.

PIRATES 4, REDS 3, 11 INNINGS

CINCINNATI (AP) – Spencer Horwitz hit an run-scoring double in the 11th inning and Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati, preventing the Reds from gaining ground in the race for an NL wild card.

The Reds entered Wednesday’s action tied with Arizona, one game behind the New York Mets, in the battle for the third wild card. The Mets lost 10-3 to the Chicago Cubs, and the Diamondbacks faced the Los Angeles Dodgers later Wednesday.

The Pirates took the lead in the 11th when Bryan Reynolds scored his third run of the game on Horwitz’s double. In the bottom of the inning, the Reds loaded the bases before Yohan Ramirez got Noelvi Marte to ground into a force play.

Pirates starter Paul Skenes allowed four hits and struck out seven in six innings in his final scheduled start of the season. The 23-year-old right-hander, at 1.97, became the first qualified pitcher with an ERA under 2.00 since Justin Verlander in 2022, and at age 23 became the youngest with a sub-2.00 ERA since 20-year-old Dwight Gooden’s 1.53 in 1985. Skenes also finished with 0.95 WHIP and 216 strikeouts.

Cincinnati faced a two-run deficit heading into the eighth inning and used a pair of homers to force extra innings.

In the eighth, Noelvi Marte’s drive to center caromed high off the wall and rolled into left-center, and he circled the bases for his first career inside-the-park homer. Then, Tyler Stephenson added a solo homer with one out in the ninth to tie it at 2. Jack Suwinski’s RBI double in the 10th put the Pirates ahead 3-2, but the Reds rallied and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gavin Lux.

Reds right-hander Hunter Greene allowed two runs on five hits in six innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.

RANGERS 4, TWINS 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Josh Smith homered, Billy McKinney drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and Texas beat Minnesota to end a season-worst eight-game losing streak.

Ezequiel Duran had a one-out single off Travis Adams (1-4) in the seventh before stealing his 11th base. McKinney hit an RBI single to left field and went to second on the throw home. Jonah Heim singled to put runners at the corners and McKinney scored on a wild pitch for a 3-1 lead. Génesis Cabrera replaced Adams and threw a wild pitch that made it 4-1.

Byron Buxton hit his career-high 32nd home run on the second pitch from Jacob deGrom – a 447-foot shot to center field for a 1-0 Twins lead. It was the 18th time in his career that Buxton led off a game with a homer.

DeGrom allowed a single and a walk from there, striking out nine in five innings. He left his 30th start of the season after five innings and 74 pitches, finishing with a 12-8 record and a 2.97 ERA.

Robert Garcia (4-7) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.

CUBS 10, METS 3

CHICAGO (AP) – Matt Shaw homered and had three hits, Michael Busch also went deep and Chicago ended a season-high five-game losing streak with a rout of New York.

Matthew Boyd (14-8) tossed two-hit ball over 5 1/3 innings to help playoff-bound Chicago solidify its hold on the first National League wild card, 2 1/2 games ahead of San Diego. The Cubs have four games left, while the Padres have three.

Juan Soto hit his 43rd homer and Francisco Alvarez launched a two-run drive, but the Mets were held to four hits. New York remained one game ahead of Cincinnati in a scramble with Arizona for the final NL wild card.

Boyd retired 12 of the first 13 Mets batters and didn’t allow a hit until Mark Vientos singled leading off the fifth. Daniel Palencia, who returned Wednesday from the injured list, followed Boyd and got the final two outs of the sixth.

Aaron Civale pitched three innings for his first career save.