American League

Rays 6, Blue Jays 4

Shane Baz pitched two-hit ball for five innings to win his major league debut and the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays cut Toronto's lead in the wild-card chase, holding off the Blue Jays 6-4 on Monday night.

Tampa Bay has a seven-game advantage over second-place Boston with 11 games remaining.

The Blue Jays, who scored twice in the ninth inning and left the bases loaded, had their edge over the New York Yankees for the second AL wild card drop to a half-game.

Baz (1-0) gave up a pair of home runs and little else, striking out five and walking none. The 22-year-old righty, promoted from Triple-A Durham, was on this year's silver medal-winning U.S. Olympic baseball team.

“It was like a dream come true-type thing,” Baz said.

Baz threw 51 of 65 pitches (78.5%) for strikes, the highest percentage by a starting pitcher in his MLB debut since pitches were first tracked beginning in 1988, according to STATS.

The outing put Baz on the radar for a potential postseason roster spot.

“He's done that, and we'll see how it shakes out," Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

Baz, along with family and friends, was on the field around the pitcher's mound for an extended period after the game. The group included his mother, father and sister.

“It just means everything to have them here,” Baz said. “It made me so comfortable just getting to see them this morning. It was really special.”

Toronto, which is 15-4 in September, got homers from Teoscar Hernández, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Marcus Semien.

The Blue Jays were limited to two hits and were down 6-2 entering the ninth before George Springer had a leadoff double and scored on Semien's 41st homer off David Robertson.

JT Chargois replaced Robertson after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked and got two outs before Toronto loaded the bases on Danny Jansen's single and a walk to Gurriel.

Breyvic Valera got ahead 3-0 before taking a called third strike on a full-count pitch from Dietrich Enns, who picked up his second save.

“That's just what we do; we're not going to quit,” Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo said. “The guys are not going to give up."

The Rays were without key late-inning reliever Andrew Kittredge, who was placed on the 10-day injured list before the game.

Tampa Bay had a runner reach second against Robbie Ray (12-6) in the first, second and fourth but failed to score. The Rays finally got a key hit when Yandy Díaz connected for a three-run homer in the fifth.

Taylor Walls had a potential one-out double in the Rays fifth turn into a single after his grounder down the left-field line struck umpire Nic Lentz. After Kevin Kiermaier had an infield single, Díaz hit his 12th homer.

Tampa Bay took a 4-2 lead in the sixth as Joey Wendle scored from second when third baseman Jake Lamb was charged with a throwing error on an infield hit by Kiermaier, who was thrown out trying to score on the play.

Manuel Margot had a seventh-inning RBI single and Wendle hit a solo homer in the eighth to put the Rays ahead 6-2.

Baz retired his first four batters, including striking out Springer leading off, before Hernández hit his 29th homer in the second. Baz set down the next 10 hitters until Gurriel connected for his 20th homer in the fifth.

“Another good arm from the Rays comes up from the minor leagues,” Montoyo said.

Ray, the major league strikeout leader with 238, gave up three runs, seven hits, two walks and fanned five. His team record-tying stretch of striking out eight or more in seven straight games ended.

“They just battled,” said Ray, who threw 97 pitches. “They just put up really tough at-bats.”

Kiermaier was called out at third base on an appeal play after Gurriel made a nifty running catch in left on Díaz’s third-inning liner. Kiermaier broke for third on the pitch, touched the base and took a step toward home before heading back to second without re-touching third.

Cash said standout rookie INF Wander Franco (right hamstring) will play with Triple-A Durham on Wednesday and Thursday and might return Friday.

Mariners 4, Athletics 2

Kyle Seager had a two-run single in the decisive third inning among his three hits and three RBIs, Mitch Haniger added two doubles as Seattle beat Oakland.

Tyler Anderson (2-1) struck out seven and walked one over seven innings, allowing one run on four hits to win for the first time in six starts since Aug. 17 at Texas.

Sean Manaea (10-10) matched his career high in losses.

Oakland trails Toronto by two games for the second AL wild card, while Seattle decreased its deficit to three games behind the Blue Jays.

Paul Sewald earned his ninth save as the A’s had their five-game winning streak snapped.

Royals 7, Indians 2, first game

Royals 4, Indians 2, second game

Salvador Perez hit his 46th home run, breaking Johnny Bench’s record for most by a catcher in a season to highlight the opener, then the Kansas City Royals completed a doubleheader sweep of Cleveland.

Perez hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning of the opener, topping Bench’s total from 1970 for the highest total by a player who spent at least 75% of his team’s games at catcher. Perez also moved into a tie for the major league lead in homers with Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Perez leads the majors with 115 RBIs.

Joel Payamps, Domingo Tapia, Jake Brentz. Josh Statamount and Scott Barlow combined on a four-hitter in the second game. Tapia (3-0) struck out four in 1 2/3 innings and Barlow pitched the ninth for his 14th save.

The Royals scored twice off Nick Wittgren (2-8) in the first when Carlos Santana drew a bases-loaded walk and Hunter Dozier added a sacrifice fly.

Dozier and Andrew Benintendi also hit two-run homers for the Royals in the opener.

Brady Singer (5-10), activated from the COVID-19-related injured list before the game, allowed two runs in seven innings.

Triston McKenzie (5-7) gave up all three home runs and allowed seven runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Astros 10, Angels 0

Framber Valdez pitched seven innings of six-hit ball, Marwin González hit a grand slam and drove in five runs as Houston moved closer to the AL West title with a victory over Los Angeles.

Martin Maldonado launched a three-run homer in the eighth, José Siri hit a leadoff homer and Carlos Correa had an early RBI single among his four hits as the Astros (89-61) won for the fifth time in six games.

Houston continued to close in on its fourth division title in five seasons by moving seven games ahead of second-place Oakland, which lost at Seattle. The Astros’ magic number dropped to six.

Valdez (11-5) struck out six and pitched around three walks. Jaime Barría (2-4) gave up 10 hits while pitching into the sixth inning for the Angels, who lost their fourth straight.

Tigers 4, White Sox 3

Carlos Rodón was pulled after three rocky innings and Chicago squandered a three-run lead in a loss to Detroit.

Despite the defeat, Chicago’s magic number to clinch the AL Central dropped to two when second-place Cleveland was swept by Kansas City in a doubleheader.

Harold Castro’s eighth-inning single broke a 3-all tie for Detroit.

Drew Hutchison (2-1) picked up the win with two scoreless innings of relief. Tigers rookie Alex Lange pitched the ninth for his first career save, becoming the eighth Detroit reliever to earn a save this season.

Craig Kimbrel (2-2) took the loss.

National League

Cardinals 5, Brewers 2

Jon Lester notched his 200th career win, Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer and St. Louis beat NL Central-leading Milwaukee for its ninth straight win.

The Cardinals have won nine straight for the first time since 2004 to solidify their grip on the second NL wild card. They entered the night three games ahead of Cincinnati and Philadelphia for the final postseason spot.

Milwaukee’s magic number over the Cardinals to clinch the division title remained at three.

Lester (7-6) is the third active pitcher with 200 wins, joining Houston teammates Justin Verlander (226) and Zack Greinke (219). He surrendered three runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out two and didn’t walk a batter.

Freddy Peralta (9-5) took the loss. He gave up seven hits and three runs in six innings, striking out nine and walking one. Milwaukee got home runs from Avisail Garcia and Luis Urias.

Braves 11, Diamondbacks 4

Austin Riley had three doubles and three RBIs, Adam Duvall added a two-run homer and Atlanta extended its lead in the NL East by beating Arizona.

The Braves pushed their advantage to three games over the Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 2-0 to Baltimore.

The Diamondbacks led 3-2 heading to the fifth but the Braves responded with a huge inning, scoring seven runs while sending 12 batters to the plate. Atlanta finished with seven doubles.

Jacob Webb (5-3) pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the win. Eddie Rosario added a solo homer.

Humberto Mejia (0-2) took the loss, giving up six runs over four innings. Jake McCarthy hit his first big league homer in the seventh.

Marlins 8, Nationals 7 (10 innings)

Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered twice before scoring from third on a wild pitch in the 10th inning and Miami edged Washington.

After Dylan Floro (6-6) pitched a scoreless top of the 10th, Chisholm took his place at second to start the bottom of the inning as Miami’s automatic runner.

Washington reliever Sam Clay (0-5) intentionally walked Jesús Sánchez to face Lewis Brinson. Chisholm stole third during the at-bat and raced home after Clay’s breaking pitch bounced away from catcher Keibert Ruiz.

Sánchez hit a two-run homer in the third for Miami. Lane Thomas homered for Washington.

Reds 9, Pirates 5

Joey Votto tied the game with his second homer of the game, Eugenio Suarez followed with a go-ahead shot and Cincinnati rallied from a five-run deficit in a win over Pittsburgh.

Votto tied the game 5-5 against Cody Ponce (0-5) in the fifth with his third homer in his last three at-bats spanning two games before Suarez homered off the top of the left-center field wall.

Nick Castellanos drove in three runs with three hits and Kyle Farmer also went deep as the Reds overcame back-to-back homers by Yoshi Tsutsogo and Bryan Reynolds.

The Reds couldn’t gain on St. Louis in the NL wild card race. The second-place Cardinals beat Milwaukee 5-2 to maintain a three-game lead over third-place Cincinnati.

Luis Cessa (5-2) had three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings to get the win. Lucas Sims, Michael Lorenzen and Mychal Givens combined for four more shutout innings.

Interleague

Orioles 2, Phillies 0

John Means struck out six and stymied Philadelphia as Baltimore slowed the Phillies' playoff push.

Losers of two straight, the Phillies entered two games behind Atlanta in the NL East. The Phillies were 3½ games behind St. Louis for the second wild card. Cincinnati also leads Philadelphia in the wild-card chase.

Here’s what they got instead: an offense led by Harper, an NL MVP candidate, handcuffed by Means, who tossed four-hit ball pitching into the seventh. Means, who pitched a no-hitter May 5, even doubled in the seventh for his first career extra-base hit.

Means (6-7) tossed four-hit ball into the seventh inning and helped himself with a double in the seventh for his first career extra-base hit.

Ranger Suarez (6-5) gave up consecutive RBI singles to Pedro Severino and Ryan McKenna in the first inning. He struck out five and his ERA bumped to 1.60.