The National League (NL) West-leading Colorado Rockies on Friday locked up a playoff berth for the second straight season, beating the Washington Nationals 5-2 for their eighth win in a row behind a resilient start from Kyle Freeland.
David Dahl homered for the fifth consecutive game and Ian Desmond hit a two-run homer to help Colorado clinch at least a wild card with two games remaining.
The Rockies entered the night with a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers as they try to wrap up the team’s first division crown.
Photo: AFP
Wade Davis struck out Bryce Harper looking to end the game and earn his 43rd save. The sellout crowd at Coors Field roared and fireworks went off.
The Rockies are headed to the post-season in back-to-back years for the first time in team history. This is their fifth playoff trip since the franchise began in 1993.
Freeland wiggled out of jam after jam on a cool night to finish the season with a 2.4 ERA in games at the hitter-friendly ballpark.
Joe Ross allowed four runs in five innings in his third start since undergoing surgery last year.
YANKEES 11, RED SOX 6
New York clinched home-field advantage for the American League (AL) wild-card game, hitting four homers to tie the major league single-season record and beat Boston.
Aaron Judge hit his first homer since coming off the disabled list on Sept. 14, and Gary Sanchez, Aaron Hicks and Luke Voit also homered to match the mark of 264 set by the 1997 Seattle Mariners.
The win in the opener of the three-game series settled the AL’s last remaining post-season question with two games to go.
The Yankees are to host Oakland on Wednesday, with the winner playing Boston.
The Red Sox, who clinched the best record in baseball with a franchise-record 107 wins, were hoping to make things difficult for their archrivals — and the Athletics — by forcing the winner of the wild-card game to have to fly cross-country next week.
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