Dansby Swanson on Friday hit one of the Atlanta Braves’ four home runs as the World Series champions took sole possession of first place for the first time all season with a 6-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Robbie Grossman, Travis d’Arnaud and rookie Michael Harris II also went deep for the streaking Braves, who won their eighth straight and finally jumped a 0.5 games ahead of the New York Mets in the National League East after chasing them for five months.
New York lost 6-3 against the Miami Marlins earlier in the night.
Photo: AFP
Atlanta were seven games back on Aug. 8 and 10.5 behind on June 1.
Carlos Santana homered twice for the Mariners and J.P. Crawford also connected. Grossman had three hits and two RBIs. Charlie Morton (8-5) allowed four runs in 6-1/3 innings.
Swanson gave Atlanta a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a two-run homer off Robbie Ray (12-9), who gave up four runs in five innings.
PADRES 5, DODGERS 4
In San Diego, California, Jake Cronenworth singled home the winning run in the 10th inning as San Diego kept Los Angeles’ magic number at six for clinching the NL West.
The Padres won for just the third time in 13 games against the Dodgers this year and only the fourth time in their past 23 meetings. The Padres jumped into the second NL wild-card spot ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies, who beat the Washington Nationals 5-3.
Juan Soto started out as the automatic runner on second base in the 10th and the Dodgers walked Manny Machado. One out later, Cronenworth singled off Heath Hembree (3-1) to bring in Soto.
Adrian Morejon (4-0) pitched a perfect 10th for the win.
Trayce Thompson and Freddie Freeman homered for the Dodgers, who have a chance to clinch a playoff spot when they play the Padres this morning Taiwan time.
RANGERS 3, BLUE JAYS 4
In Arlington, Texas, Bo Bichette homered for the fifth time in the past four games, while Danny Jansen hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth inning as playoff-contending Toronto beat Texas.
Bichette’s 23rd homer was a two-run shot in the third inning that put the Blue Jays up 3-0. He also drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder in the first.
Top Rangers prospect Josh Jung hit a home run in his first career at-bat in the third inning. After Texas tied it at 3-3 on Corey Seager’s RBI double in the eighth, Rangers reliever Jose Leclerc (0-2) issued a leadoff walk in the ninth. Raimel Tapia then stole second base, went to third on a long flyout and scored on Jansen’s hit.
Tim Mayza (6-0), the fourth Toronto pitcher, got two outs in the eighth inning before Jordan Romano worked the ninth for his 32nd save in 36 chances. With a runner on second, Romano struck out Jung and got pinch-hitter Adolis Garcia on an game-ending flyout.
The Blue Jays, who maintained a 4-1/2-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles — who beat the Boston Red Sox 3-2 — for the American League’s third and final wild-card spot, won for the 16th time in their past 22 games.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Astros 4, Angels 3
‧ Athletics 3, White Sox 5
‧ Brewers 2, Reds 8
‧ Cubs 4, Giants 2
‧ Pirates 8, Cardinals 2
‧ Twins 6, Guardians 7
‧ Rockies 13, Diamondbacks 10
‧ Royals 2, Tigers 10
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