Pablo Sandoval hit a splash shot into McCovey Cove, while Andres Torres and Buster Posey also connected as the West Division-leading San Francisco Giants beat Arizona 4-1 on Thursday for a three-game sweep.
The win, coupled with San Diego’s 1-0 loss to Chicago, means the Giants have clinched at least a share of the division title.
Even if the Giants are swept in this weekend’s three-game series with visiting San Diego, they will finish level. The Giants’ last division title and playoff berth was in 2003.
Torres’ go-ahead, solo homer in the fifth inning helped rookie Madison Bumgarner (7-6) earn his first home victory in eight tries.
Posey hit a two-run homer in the sixth, the rookie’s seventh shot in September.
Cubs 1, Padres 0
In San Diego, California, Brad Snyder hit an RBI single off Heath Bell with one out in the ninth inning to lead Chicago over San Diego, pushing the Padres to the cusp of elimination from the playoff race.
The loss reduced San Francisco’s magic number for clinching the West to one and idle Atlanta’s magic number for clinching the wild-card to two.
San Diego have lost 22 of 34 games since Aug. 25, when they had a six-and-a-half game lead over the Giants.
Aramis Ramirez started the Cubs’ ninth with a broken-bat single to right-center off Bell (6-1) and was replaced by pinch-runner Darwin Barney. Xavier Nady laid down a sacrifice bunt and Barney scored on Snyder’s single to left.
San Diego had only three hits. It was the second time in the four-game series that San Diego lost 1-0.
Sean Marshall (7-5) got two outs in the eighth for the win.
Carlos Marmol pitched a perfect ninth for his 37th save in 42 chances.
Brewers 9, Mets 2
In New York, Casey McGehee got to 100 RBIs in the ninth inning on one of several sloppy plays by the Mets and Corey Hart reached 100 RBIs two batters later as the Milwaukee Brewers beat New York.
Chris Narveson (12-9) matched a season-high with nine strikeouts and Lorenzo Cain hit a two-run double after All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes dropped a routine pop-up, helping the Brewers win for the seventh time in nine games.
Reds 9, Astros 1
In Cincinnati, Ohio, Drew Stubbs homered and drove in four runs to help the Reds stay in the race for home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Brandon Phillips and Jonny Gomes homered for the Central Division champions and Bronson Arroyo (17-10) pitched seven solid innings in his playoff tuneup. The Reds are two games behind San Francisco in the race to finish with the league’s second-best record behind Philadelphia.
Cardinals 6, Rockies 1
In St Louis, Missouri, Chris Carpenter threw his first complete game of the season as the Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies.
Carpenter (16-9) ended a four-game losing streak — during which he posted a 7.17 ERA — with a four-hitter.
Carpenter, who threw just 100 pitches, retired the last 10 batters in making his major league-leading and career-best 35th start. He walked two and struck out four in the 29th complete game of his career.
Cole Hammel (10-9) went just three innings, allowing five runs and eight hits.
Marlins 11, Pirates 9
In Miami, Mike Stanton homered and drove in five runs as the Marlins held off the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Pedro Alvarez hit a three-run homer off Jose Veras in the ninth.
Leo Nunez came in and struck out the final two batters to record his 30th save in 38 opportunities.
Alvarez went four-for-five with five RBIs.
Wes Helms drove in two runs in the Marlins’ four-run first inning and starter Chris Volstad (12-9) pitched six innings, allowing two runs.
Rookies Stanton, Logan Morrison, Gaby Sanchez and Ozzie Martinez accounted for 10 of the Florida Marlins’ 13 hits.
Stanton had an RBI single in the first, a three-run homer off Zach Duke (8-15) to deep center-field in the fourth and another RBI single in the sixth.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite