Baseball Roundup: Jays Top Sox in Ninth

Boston — Ezequiel Carrera hit a ninth-inning sacrifice fly to give Toronto the lead after the Red Sox tied it in the eighth on a balk, and the Blue Jays beat Boston 4-3 on Saturday night to move into a tie with Baltimore for the top spot in the AL wild-card race.

The Blue Jays and Orioles each have 88 wins with one game to play, and Toronto owns the tie-breaker. Detroit and Seattle are also still in the hunt.

With the loss, Boston fell one-half game behind Cleveland in the race for home-field advantage when their ALDS series begins on Thursday.

With Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel (2-6) pitching, Michael Saunders drew a leadoff walk, and then pinch-runner Dalton Pompey took second on a sacrifice bunt, third on a wild pitch and scored on Carrera’s fly to left.

Indians 6, Royals 3

Kansas City, Mo.— Francisco Lindor hit a two-out two-run double during an eighth-inning rally, helping Cleveland beat Kansas City.

All three Indians runs in the eighth were unearned after second baseman Whit Merrifield’s error on pinch-hitter Abraham Almonte’s grounder, which allowed Rajai Davis to score with one out.

Yankees 7, Orioles 3

New York — On the verge of assuring at least a tiebreaker for a playoff berth, Baltimore stumbled.

Tyler Austin tied the score with a seventh-inning home run, Austin Romine and Brett Gardner drove in two runs each in the eighth and New York rallied from a three-run deficit to beat the Orioles.

The Blue Jays, Tigers and Mariners all played Saturday night, and because the Blue Jays beat Baltimore 10-9 in the season series, the Orioles may have cost themselves their chance to host the wild-card game.

Braves 5, Tigers 3

Atlanta — Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis homered, rookie Aaron Blair had a career-high 10 strikeouts and last-place Atlanta damaged the Tigers’ playoff hopes.

The Tigers will have ace Justin Verlander on the mound today. Depending on the playoff scenario, Detroit’s regular season might extend with a makeup home game Monday against Cleveland.

Mets 5, Phillies 3

Philadelphia — New York clinched a playoff spot, beating Philadelphia to secure the top National League wild card.

The defending NL champions will host San Francisco or St. Louis on Wednesday night at Citi Field, with the winner advancing to face the Chicago Cubs.

Nationals 2, Marlins 1

Washington — Rookie Trea Turner hit his 13th homer, Tanner Roark tuned up for the playoffs with 5 innings of one-run ball and Washington beat Miami while clinching home-field advantage for the NL Division Series.

NL East champion Washington’s third trip to the postseason in five years will begin Friday in the nation’s capital against the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers, with Max Scherzer slated to face Clayton Kershaw.

Giants 3, Dodgers 0

San Francisco — Rookie Ty Blach outpitched Clayton Kershaw, and the Giants held onto their lead for the last NL playoff spot going into the final day of the regular season.

Matt Moore will start for the Giants today, and a win — or St. Louis loss — puts them in the playoffs. The New York Mets will host the NL wild-card game on Wednesday night.

Cardinals 4, Pirates 3

St. Louis — Jedd Gyorko hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning, Matt Holliday provided another big boost and St. Louis pushed the playoff race to the final day of the regular season.

Either the Cardinals or Giants will play at the New York Mets on Wednesday night in the wild-card game.

Reds 7, Cubs 4

Cincinnati — Left-hander Jon Lester failed to become a 20-game winner, struggling for the first time since mid-July as Cincinnati pulled away to a victory over what’s likely to be the Cubs’ lineup for the first game of the playoffs.

Twins 6, White Sox 0

Chicago — Byron Buxton and Jorge Polanco each hit a two-run home run to send James Shields to a major league high-tying 19th loss, and Minnesota beat Chicago.