Yankees, Guardians and Padres extend their seasons; Dodgers advance to face Phillies

NEW YORK (AP) – Jazz Chisholm Jr. zipped all the way home from first base on Austin Wells’ tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, and the New York Yankees extended their season Wednesday night with a 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of their AL Wild Card Series.

Unhappy he was left out of the starting lineup in the opener, Chisholm also made a critical defensive play at second base that helped the Yankees send the best-of-three playoff to a decisive Game 3 on Thursday night in the Bronx.

In the latest chapter of baseball’s most storied rivalry, the winner advances to face AL East champion Toronto in a best-of-five Division Series beginning Saturday.

Ben Rice hit an early two-run homer and Aaron Judge had an RBI single for the Yankees, who got three innings of scoreless relief from their shaky bullpen after starter Carlos Rodón put the first two batters on in the seventh.

Devin Williams worked a one-hit eighth for the win, and David Bednar got three outs for his first postseason save.

Trevor Story homered and drove in all three runs for the Red Sox, who won the series opener 3-1 on Tuesday night behind ace lefty Garrett Crochet.

GUARDIANS 6, TIGERS 1

CLEVELAND (AP) – Brayan Rocchio and Bo Naylor homered during a five-run eighth inning and Cleveland evened its AL Wild Card Series against Detroit with a victory in Game 2.

George Valera also went deep as the Guardians forced a deciding game in the best-of-three series.

The winner Thursday faces the Seattle Mariners in a Division Series. No team has lost Game 1 of a Wild Card Series and advanced since the expanded round began in 2022.

Javier Báez had two hits and an RBI for the Tigers, who were 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 15 runners.

Detroit had the bases loaded with two out sin the ninth inning, but Cade Smith got Dillon Dingler to line out to first baseman C.J. Kayfus.

The game was tied 1-1 with one out in the eighth inning when Rocchio connected on a 99.9 mph fastball from losing pitcher Troy Melton and drove it 379 feet into the right-field stands for his second homer in three games. He had a three-run drive in the 10th inning on Sunday to give the Guardians a 9-8 victory over Texas Rangers in the regular-season finale.

The 24-year-old Venezuelan infielder has a .308 batting average (12 for 39) in 12 postseason games.

Daniel Schneemann added an RBI double before Naylor golfed a sweeper from Brant Hurter over the right-field wall for a five-run lead.

Jakob Junis got the win as the Guardians bullpen held Detroit scoreless over 5 1/3 innings.

Cleveland took the lead in the first when Valera drove a 94.1 mph fastball on the upper half of the strike zone from starter Casey Mize over the wall in center field. The homer came on a full count and the seventh pitch of the at-bat.

Detroit tied it in the fourth and nearly took the lead. Báez had a base hit up the middle to drive in Riley Greene and Dingler after Zach McKinstry appeared to beat José Ramírez’s tag at third on a great throw by Chase DeLauter, who was making his big league debut. A video review overturned the safe call by umpire Stu Scheurwater and Dingler’s run came off the board.

Detroit had runners at the corners with no outs in the seventh after Gleyber Torres was hit by a pitch and advanced to third on Kerry Carpenter’s hit. Hunter Gaddis retired Spencer Torkelson on a shallow flyout, and Tim Herrin struck out Jahmai Jones and Wenceel Pérez.

PADRES 3, CUBS 0

CHICAGO (AP) – Manny Machado hit a two-run homer, Mason Miller dominated again and San Diego beat Chicago, sending their NL Wild Card Series to a decisive third game.

Jackson Merrill hit an early sacrifice fly as San Diego avoided elimination after losing 3-1 on Tuesday. Dylan Cease struck out five in 3 2/3 innings before handing the ball to his team’s hard-throwing bullpen.

The finale of the best-of-three series is back at Wrigley Field on Thursday.

The playoff-tested Padres are looking for a repeat of 2020, when they dropped Game 1 in the special pandemic wild-card round before advancing with two straight victories against St. Louis. Machado also homered in Game 2 of that series.

Chicago finished with four hits. The franchise is making its first appearance in the playoffs in five years, and it hasn’t advanced since it eliminated Washington in a 2017 NL Division Series.

San Diego jumped in front on Merrill’s flyball to right off Andrew Kittredge in the first, driving in Fernando Tatis Jr. Kittredge started for Chicago as an opener, and the right-hander was replaced by left-hander Shota Imanaga in the second.

The Cubs threatened in the fourth, putting runners on first and second with two down. Adrian Morejon then came in and retired Pete Crow-Armstrong on a bouncer to first.

The Padres added two more runs on Machado’s 404-foot drive to left off Imanaga in the fifth. Tatis reached on a leadoff walk and advanced on a sacrifice ahead of Machado’s 12th career playoff homer.

The three runs were more than enough for San Diego’s bullpen, with Miller and Robert Suarez combining for 14 pitches of over 100 mph.

DODGERS 8, REDS 4

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out nine while pitching into the seventh inning and Los Angeles broke it open with a four-run sixth inning to beat Cincinnati and advance to the National League Division Series.

After hitting a franchise playoff-tying five home runs in a 10-5 win in the NL Wild Card Series opener Tuesday, the Dodgers eliminated the Reds by playing small ball and rapping out 13 hits – two fewer than in Game 1. Mookie Betts went 4 for 5 with three doubles.

The Dodgers advanced to face the Phillies in the NLDS starting Saturday in Philadelphia. The teams last met in the postseason in 2009, when the Phillies beat the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series for the second straight year.

After the Reds took a 2-0 lead in the first, Yamamoto retired the next 13 batters.

The Dodgers rallied to take a 3-2 lead before the Japanese right-hander wiggled his way out of a huge jam in the sixth. The Reds loaded the bases with no outs on consecutive singles by TJ Friedl, Spencer Steer and former Dodger Gavin Lux.

Austin Hays grounded into a fielder’s choice to shortstop and Betts fired home, where catcher Ben Rortvedt stomped on the plate to get Friedl. Yamamoto then retired Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz on back-to-back swinging strikeouts to end the threat.

With blue rally towels waving, Yamamoto walked off to a standing ovation from the crowd of 50,465.

He got the first two outs of the seventh before leaving to a second ovation. The right-hander allowed two runs, four hits and walked two on a career-high 113 pitches.

For the second straight night, the fans’ mood soured in the eighth. Reliever Emmet Sheehan gave up two runs, making it 8-4, before the Reds brought the tying run to the plate against Alex Vesia. He got Friedl on a called third strike to end the inning in which Sheehan and Vesia made a combined 41 pitches. On Tuesday, three Dodgers relievers needed 59 pitches to get three outs in the eighth.

Rookie Roki Sasaki pitched the ninth, striking out Steer and Lux on pitches that touched 101 mph.