Rays clinch AL East title, Guards top Red Sox
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Drew Rasmussen allowed his only hit in the seventh inning and struck out 11 as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 6-1 on Tuesday in the second game of a day-night doubleheader to clinch their fifth AL East title.
The Rays (96-61) secured home-field advantage throughout the American League playoffs and took their first division crown since 2021, when they won 100 games. Tampa Bay also earned AL East championships in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season along with 2010 and 2008, when the team had its first winning season after entering the league as an expansion franchise in 1998.
Yandy Díaz hit two-run single off reliever John Schreiber in the seventh and had another two-run single in the ninth for his AL-leading 175th hit. Tampa Bay opened a six-game lead over the second-place Yankees (90-67) with five to play.
In the opener, Carlos Rodón allowed three hits in eight sharp innings as New York delayed Tampa Bay’s division celebration with a 2-0 victory.
Taylor Walls started the three-run seventh with a bunt single against Max Fried (5-5) when first base was left uncovered. Ryan Vilade hit an RBI groundout in the third after Díaz’s flyball moved runners to second and third.
Rasmussen (16-5) was nine outs from joining Matt Garza as Tampa Bay pitchers with a no-hitter when he gave up a leadoff double to Heliot Ramos on his 97th pitch. Garza held the Detroit Tigers hitless at Tropicana Field on July 26, 2010.
After allowing Ramos’ hit to left field, Rasmussen got the next two outs before walking Jazz Chisholm Jr. on a full count. Kevin Kelly entered and permitted rookie George Lombard Jr.’s RBI single before retiring Austin Wells on a groundout.
Rasmussen threw a career-high 114 pitches, 72 for strikes. He threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 24 hitters and notched his fourth career double-digit strikeout game.
GUARDIANS 3, RED SOX 2
BOSTON (AP) -- Nathaniel Lowe had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly off reliever Erik Miller in the ninth inning, and Cleveland maintained its slim first-place lead in the AL Central with a victory over Boston.
Angel Martínez had three hits for the Guardians, who entered the day with a one-game lead over the White Sox atop the Central. Chicago owns the tiebreaker by winning the season series. Cleveland stranded 15 baserunners.
The loss was Boston’s eighth in 12 games, spoiling Chad Tracy’s first game as manager after the club named him its 49th in team history.
Adley Rutschman added three hits for Boston, which clinched one of the AL’s wild-card spots Sunday.
Boston pinch hitter Mickey Gasper hit Hunter Gaddis’ first pitch, tying it at 2-2 leading off the eighth.
Gaddis (5-3) got the win and Cade Smith the final three outs for his 40th save.
Miller (4-2) hit a batter and gave up two hits in an inning.
A strong candidate for the AL Rookie of the Year, Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick gave up a run over five innings. He lowered his ERA to 2.55 and is on pace to become the fourth rookie starting pitcher in MLB history with an ERA under 2.60 and averaging 9.0 or more strikeouts per nine innings.
PIRATES 2, CARDINALS 0
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jared Jones allowed one hit over seven dominant innings and Pittsburgh inched closer to the franchise’s first winning season in eight years with a win over St. Louis.
The hard-throwing Jones (5-6) retired the first 16 batters he faced before Nathan Church’s bloop landed just beyond the outstretched glove of Pirates third baseman Jacob Gonzalez with one out in the sixth. Church sprinted to second for a double but remained there after Masyn Wynn lined out and J.J. Wetherholt struck out to end the inning.
Jones, who returned from Tommy John surgery in late May, tied a season high with nine strikeouts in seven innings and improved to 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA in four starts in September. Gregory Soto worked around a leadoff walk to record his 16th save.
Ryan O’Hearn delivered an RBI-single for the Pirates and rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin had two hits for Pittsburgh, and Bryan Reynolds added his major league-leading 40th double. The Pirates have won five straight to improve to 80-77 with five games remaining. Pittsburgh is seeking its first winning campaign since going 82-79 in 2018.
REDS 4, BRAVES 0
ATLANTA (AP) -- Elly De La Cruz closed in on a 30-30 season, Brandon Williamson threw six sharp innings and Cincinnati blanked NL East champion Atlanta.
De La Cruz got his 29th stolen base in the first inning and opened the scoring with his 29th homer in the third. He tacked on a run-scoring single in the seventh.
Dane Myers and Eugenio Suárez also homered for Cincinnati. It was Suárez’s 350th career homer.
Braves slugger Ronald Acuña Jr. left the game in the third after fouling a ball off his left leg. He went down with a big grimace, hobbled out of the batting circle and dropped to his knees again while attended to by manager Walt Weiss and an athletic trainer for several minutes.
X-rays were negative and Acuña was listed as day-to-day, a big relief for the Braves with the playoffs just a week away.
Williamson (5-4) permitted just three hits, with no walks and two strikeouts over his 68-pitch outing. He didn’t allow a runner past first base -- an unlikely performance from a pitcher who has largely struggled during an injury-plagued season and worked out of the bullpen in his last three appearances for the last-place Reds.
Brock Burke, Tejay Antone and Emilio Pagán worked a scoreless inning apiece to finish the seven-hitter.
WHITE SOX 14, ROYALS 11
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Chase Meidroth hit a three-run homer and had a career-high five RBIs, Randal Grichuk added a three-run shot among his four hits, and Chicago beat Kansas City to stay a game behind Cleveland in the AL Central.
The Guardians, who end the regular season with three games in Kansas City, beat the Red Sox 3-2 earlier Tuesday.
Brenton Doyle and Munetaka Murakami added home runs for the White Sox, who also helped their wild-card cause should they fail to catch Cleveland. They have two more games against the Royals before finishing with three against last-place Colorado.
Anthony Kay had a two-run lead before he even took the mound Tuesday night, and the Chicago left-hander ended up allowing four runs while pitching into the fifth. Noah Schultz (4-9) and the bullpen finished the game, though it wasn’t pretty -- White Sox relievers coughed up three runs in the eighth and allowed Vinnie Pasquantino’s first career grand slam in the ninth.
Daniel Lynch IV wasn’t exactly pretty, either. He allowed a career-worst nine earned runs in just four innings for Kansas City.