American League

Athletics 3, White Sox 1

Sean Manaea struck out nine in seven dominant innings, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Thursday.

Manaea (9-9) allowed one run and five hits in his first win since July 28. The left-hander went 0-3 with an 8.00 ERA in his previous six starts.

Tony Kemp and Matt Chapman each drove in a run for Oakland, which took two of three games in the series.

“It’s huge,” Manaea said. “Especially against those guys. Those guys are a playoff team. Anytime you get a team like that, it’s a good indication of how we stack up. So playing against those guys and getting these last two wins was huge and definitely, I think a big momentum push for us."

Added A's manager Bob Melvin: “This was a big series for us. ... To be able to come back after the first loss and win two games kind of shows you what this team is made of."

José Abreu had two hits and drove in a run for the AL Central-leading White Sox, who have lost 10 of their last 11 regular-season games at the Oakland Coliseum.

Kemp put the A’s ahead with a run-scoring triple against Reynaldo López (3-2) in the second. The White Sox tied it when Abreu singled home César Hernández in the third, giving him 104 RBIs on the year.

Oakland answered with two unearned runs in the bottom of the third. López attempted to pick off Starling Marte at second base, but his throw went into center field, allowing Marte to score and Matt Olson to go from first to third. Chapman then drove in Olson with a sacrifice fly.

López was charged with one earned run and six hits in five innings.

“I had to battle through a few things,” the right-hander said through an interpreter. “My stuff wasn’t as good as it usually is. Today was one of those days you have to battle through, and even though I didn’t have my best stuff I was able to get through five innings. I made one mistake, I paid for it.”

Andrew Chafin pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his third save.

Indians 4, Twins 1

Franmil Reyes, Oscar Mercado and José Ramirez homered, and Cleveland scored for the first time in three games.

Reyes’ two-run shot in the third inning against Andrew Albers (1-2) snapped the Indians’ 25-inning scoreless streak. The 418-foot blast to center also gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead.

The Indians managed just two runs while dropping the first three games of the series, including 3-0 losses on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Indians starter Cal Quantrill (5-3) pitched a career-high 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run on Miguel Sanó’s homer in the second. Emmanuel Clase pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 22nd save.

Royals 6, Orioles 0

Carlos Hernández pitched six impressive innings for Kansas City, and Nicky Lopez and Hunter Dozier homered.

Hernández (6-1) allowed three hits, walked three and struck out one. Then Kansas City’s bullpen threw three scoreless frames — a night after the Royals allowed nine runs in the eighth inning and lost 9-8.

Baltimore’s John Means (5-7) allowed two runs and five hits in seven-plus innings.

Kansas City won for only the fifth time in its last 19 games in Baltimore.

National League

Cardinals 2, Dodgers 1

Tyler O’Neill hit a tiebreaking homer, and St. Louis salvaged a split of its four-game series.

The Cardinals climbed within three games of idle San Diego for the second NL wild card, while the Dodgers fell 2 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants.

O’Neill’s fifth-inning drive off Phil Bickford (3-2), his 25th homer this season, barely cleared the wall in left, inching past the outstretched glove of Steven Souza Jr.

The homer made a winner out of Alex Reyes (6-8), who pitched two scoreless innings in his fifth appearance since being demoted from the closer’s role. Giovanny Gallegos earned his sixth save with a perfect ninth.

The Dodgers mustered just four hits against five Cardinals pitchers.

Rockies 4, Phillies 3

Pinch-hitter Ryan McMahon and Sam Hilliard hit back-to-back home runs with two outs in the ninth inning, rallying the Rockies to the victory.

Bryce Harper hit his 30th homer to bolster his MVP candidacy, and the Phillies looked as if they were going to start a pivotal home stretch with a victory before their bullpen faltered.

Philadelphia began the day 2½ games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East.

With a 2-1 lead, closer Ian Kennedy (1-1) retired the first two Colorado batters in the ninth. After Colton Welker singled, McMahon drove an 0-2, 80-mph curveball over the wall in right. Hilliard followed with a long drive to right.

Lucas Gilbreath (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth, and Carlos Estévez got out of a jam in the ninth to earn his sixth save. Colorado snapped a four-game losing streak.