St. Louis — Anthony Rizzo hit a pair of home runs and Jon Lester pitched eight dominant innings as the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-0 on Wednesday to clinch at least a wild-card playoff berth.
The Cubs improved their MLB-best record to 93-52 and their magic number is one to clinch their first National League Central title since 2008. Chicago secured a playoff berth because St. Louis and San Francisco are the only teams that could pass them in the standings, but since those teams open a four-game series on Thursday both teams wouldn’t be able to do so.
Rays 8, Blue Jays 1
Toronto — Alex Cobb pitched 6 innings to win for the first time in almost two years and Kevin Kiermaier and Corey Dickerson hit two-run homers for Tampa Bay.
Cobb (1-0) allowed one run and two hits to win for the first time since Sept. 23, 2014, against Boston.
Reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson sat out his third straight game for Toronto and was scheduled to get an MRI on his sore right hip.
Dodgers 2, Yankees 0
New York — Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw pitched five nearly perfect innings before Justin Turner hit an RBI double off Dellin Betances in a two-run ninth.
The Dodgers took advantage of errors by second baseman Starlin Castro and Betances (3-5) to increase their NL West lead to five games over San Francisco.
The Yankees completed a 7-3 homestand and remained two games behind Toronto for the second AL wild card. Next up, they begin an 11-game trip — their longest of the season — to Boston, Tampa Bay and Toronto.
Nationals 1, Mets 0
Washington — Tanner Roark pitched seven scoreless innings and Wilson Ramos homered in the seventh inning for the game’s only run as Washington beat New York.
With one out in the seventh, Ramos hit his 21st home run deep over the center-field wall on the first pitch from Fernando Salas (0-1). The Nationals have won five of six.
Padres 3, Giants 1
San Francisco — Madison Bumgarner missed a chance at his milestone 100th career win and San Francisco wasted another chance for a potential push in the NL West, losing to San Diego to be swept by the division’s second-to-last-place club.
Indians 6, White Sox 1
Chicago — Josh Tomlin pitched five effective innings in his return to the Indians rotation, Coco Crisp hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning to break the game open and Cleveland defeated Chicago to remain six games ahead of Detroit in the AL Central.
Tomlin (12-8) allowed one run on four hits and walked none as he ended a personal five-game losing streak that led to the right-hander being demoted to the bullpen after his last start on Aug. 30.
Tigers 9, Twins 6
Detroit— Miguel Cabrera’s homer broke a seventh-inning tie, and Detroit rallied for a crucial victory. The Tigers trailed 5-2 in the fourth inning, but came from behind to pull one game behind Toronto for the second AL wild card.
Athletics 8, Royals 0
Kansas City, Mo. — Yonder Alonso and Marcus Semien hit two-run doubles as Oakland beat Kansas City for the third straight game to further ruin the Royals’ postseason chances.
Marlins 7, Braves 5
Atlanta — Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer and Miami rallied to beat Julio Teheran and Atlanta in a testy game.
The benches for both teams emptied in the seventh inning after Atlanta reliever Jose Ramirez threw inside to Miami ace Jose Fernandez, who had been knocked to the ground by a pitch from Teheran (5-10) in the fifth.
No punches were thrown and Ramirez was ejected.
Phillies 6, Pirates 2
Philadelphia — Freddy Galvis continued his home run surge, hitting his 19th of the season to lead Philadelphia.
Galvis connected on a two-run shot in the second inning off Steven Brault (0-3) for his 10th homer in the last 32 games.
Brewers 7, Reds 0
Cincinnati — Junior Guerra pitched six shutout innings, Scooter Gennett and Domingo Santana homered and Milwaukee beat Cincinnati to avoid a three-game sweep.
