The St Louis Cardinals on Saturday became the first team to clinch a playoff berth this year despite losing 5-4 to the Chicago Cubs.
San Francisco’s loss to Arizona ensured the Cardinals at least an NL wild card.
Jorge Soler and Kris Bryant hit back-to-back homers for Chicago, and tempers flared for the second consecutive game as the Cubs won their fifth straight to tighten the NL Central race.
Chicago are five games behind first-place St Louis, which got a two-run homer from Matt Carpenter in the ninth. The Cubs are comfortably in position for a wild card.
Bryant’s 25th homer tied the Cubs record for a rookie set by Billy Williams in 1961. Soler went deep for the first time since missing 23 games with a left oblique strain.
Pedro Strop got three outs for his third save, aided by a diving play from shortstop Addison Russell to end it.
Maddon used eight pitchers in a patchwork effort to cover for an empty spot in Chicago’s rotation. The second pitcher, Trevor Cahill (1-3), earned his first win with the Cubs by pitching 3-1/3 scoreless innings.
YANKEES 5, METS 0
In New York, Carlos Beltran hit a three-run homer off a 161kph fastball from Noah Syndergaard in the first inning and Michael Pineda pitched his best game in two months as the New York Yankees beat the Mets to rebound from an opening loss in the Subway Series.
Brian McCann added a two-run drive in the sixth, the Yankees’ 200th home run this season, to quiet the sellout crowd of 43,630 at Citi Field.
Hoping to reach the post-season for the first time since 2006, the Mets have a seven-game lead in the NL East over Washington.
Trying to make the playoffs after their first two-year absence since the early 1990s, the Yankees moved within three-and-a-half games of first-place Toronto in the AL East. The Yankees also lead the wild-card race.
Pineda (11-8) allowed four singles in 5-1/3 innings to win for just the second time since the All-Star break.
Syndergaard (8-7) gave up five runs in six innings.
RED SOX 7, BLUE JAYS 6
In Toronto, David Ortiz singled home the go-ahead run in a five-run ninth inning and Boston rallied to beat Toronto.
Jackie Bradley Jr snapped a zero-for-21 slump with a tying double in the seventh, then tied it again with a two-run homer off Roberto Osuna (1-5) in the ninth.
It was the first time in 74 such situations this season that the Blue Jays lost when leading after eight innings.
Xander Bogaerts also homered for the Red Sox. Tommy Layne (2-1) got two outs and Robbie Ross overcame Jose Bautista’s two-run homer in the ninth to earn his third save.
Edwin Encarnacion homered and had three RBIs for the Blue Jays, including a go-ahead single in the eighth.
In other results, it was:
‧ Angels 4, Twins 3, 1st game
‧ Angels 5, Twins 2, 2nd game
‧ Nationals 5, Marlins 2
‧ Diamondbacks 6, Giants 0
‧ Orioles 2, Rays 1
‧ Braves 2, Phillies 1
‧ White Sox 4, Indians 3
‧ Reds 9, Brewers 7
‧ Astros 10, Athletics 6
‧ Rangers 10, Mariners 1
‧ Rockies 10, Padres 2
‧ Tigers 6, Royals 5
‧ Pirates 3, Dodgers 2
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