American League

Twins 7, Blue Jays 2

The Toronto Blue Jays were relieved when surging left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. escaped a freak play in the outfield without serious injury.

Now they've got some hard work ahead of them to return to the postseason.

Nick Gordon drove in four runs and Michael Pineda won his third straight start as the Minnesota Twins beat Toronto 7-2 on Thursday night to bump the Blue Jays back in the AL wild-card race.

“Well, we’ve got nine games left. Back-to-back tough losses, it’s about flushing it and going on to the next game," catcher Danny Jansen said. "We can’t dwell on it.”

The loss was doubly painful for Toronto, which fell a full game behind New York for the second spot and three games behind wild-card leader Boston. Gurriel exited in the fifth inning after teammate Randal Grichuk accidentally stepped on his right hand. The Blue Jays said X-rays revealed no breaks, but he needed two stitches on his middle finger.

“Everything we’ve heard is I think the best news we could get,” said coach John Schneider, who filled in while manager Charlie Montoyo served a one-game suspension. “We’ll see how he is tomorrow, and hopefully it’s not too long.”

Gurriel had an RBI double and has driven in a major league-most 30 runs to go with a .364 batting average in September, matching Kelly Gruber (1990) for the most RBIs in the month in franchise history.

“When he’s swinging at the right pitches, he’s really dangerous,” Schneider said.

Blue Jays starter Steven Matz finished just three innings with seven hits and two walks allowed. He needed 80 pitches to get that far, and Toronto turned the game over to the bullpen trailing 2-1.

Teoscar Hernández tied it in the fourth with his 30th homer off a first-pitch slider from Pineda, but the game unraveled for the Blue Jays in the fifth.

On a double by Mitch Garver — who was 3 for 4 with an RBI — to the gap, Grichuk grabbed the ball to make a quick throw to the infield to keep Josh Donaldson from scoring. As Gurriel crouched down to give him space, Grichuk’s cleat landed on Gurriel’s hand during the follow-through.

Blood was dripping from his middle finger as Grichuk knelt next to him, before a team athletic trainer arrived for assessment and heavily wrapped the hand in a towel before Gurriel walked off.

Gordon later greeted reliever Julian Merryweather with a three-run homer. Thomas Hatch (0-1), who replaced Matz for the fourth, exited with right hamstring discomfort before Merryweather entered.

Five teams are still within striking distance of the two AL wild cards. The Red Sox (88-65) and Yankees (86-67) were idle. Seattle (84-69) pulled within one game of Toronto (85-68) and two of New York by beating Oakland (82-71).

The Blue Jays play three more times at Minnesota this weekend, before returning home for their final six games — three against the Yankees and three against AL-worst Baltimore. New York plays a three-game series at Boston starting on Friday and concludes the regular season at home with a three-game series against AL East leader Tampa Bay.

The Blue Jays left 11 runners on base, one in each of the first eight innings. Corey Dickerson, who replaced Gurriel, was thrown out at home by left fielder Luis Arraez to end the sixth. George Springer lined out sharply to the pitcher with the bases loaded to end the eighth after Ralph Garza entered in relief for the Twins.

Pineda (8-8) gave up eight hits, two runs and one walk in five innings. The right-hander, who can become a free agent this fall, also picked up the victory with three scoreless innings on Sept. 6 at Cleveland in his first career major league relief appearance.

“I like to be a team guy, so I love to work together. I know I’m a leader right now,” Pineda said.

White Sox 7, Indians 2, Game 1

Indians 5, White Sox 3, Game 2

The Chicago White Sox clinched their first AL Central title since 2008 with a win over Cleveland behind two home runs by Tim Anderson.

Chicago, in its first season under 76-year-old Hall of Famer manager Tony La Russa, is going to the postseason in consecutive years for the first time.

Anderson hit his fifth leadoff home run of the season and added a three-run drive in the second for his sixth career multi-homer game. Luis Robert and Eloy Jiménez hit consecutive homers in the second for a 7-0 lead off Aaron Civale (11-5).

Aaron Bummer (4-5) retired all three batters in the fifth.

Cleveland won the second game 5-3 when Oscar Mercado hit a two-run homer in the seventh off José Ruiz (1-3), making a winner of Emmanuel Clase (4-5).

Mariners 6, Athletics 4

Chris Bassitt pitched three scoreless innings less than a month after surgery to repair three facial fractures, but Seattle rallied against Oakland’s bullpen for a four-game sweep.

Seattle matched its season high with its fifth straight win and moved within two games of the idle Yankees for the second AL wild-card spot. Oakland fell four games back of New York.

Bassitt was struck by a 100 mph line drive off the bat of Brian Goodwin of the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 17 and had surgery seven days later. He allowed one hit in three scoreless innings.

Mitch Haniger’s 35th homer tied the score in the sixth, and Luis Torrens followed with a go-ahead, two-run homer off Jake Diekman (3-3).

Joe Smith (3-4) pitched a scoreless fifth and Paul Sewald got his 10th save.

Angels 3, Astros 2

Shohei Ohtani scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and Los Angeles snapped a six-game losing streak.

The game was tied 1-all when Jack Mayfield lined a double down the left-field line off Lance McCullers Jr. (12-5) to score Ohtani and Jared Walsh. Ohtani got aboard on a one-out walk and stole second. Ohtani has 24 stolen bases this year and is the fourth player in American League history to have at least 45 home runs and 24 steals in one season, joining Jose Canseco, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.

Jason Castro smashed a pinch-hit homer to center with two outs in the ninth off Raisel Iglesias to draw Houston within a run. Jose Altuve followed with a bloop hit before Iglesias got Jose Siri on a check-swing third strike to stop Houston’s four-game winning streak.

Iglesias picked up his 33rd save, which is second in the American League. Austin Warren (2-0) worked 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball.

Orioles 3, Rangers 0

Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays homered, rookie Zac Lowther (1-2) pitched five sparkling innings to earn his first major league victory and Baltimore beat Texas.

Tyler Wells worked the ninth to complete the five-hitter and earn his fourth save.

Mountcastle hit a solo shot in the fifth inning off Glenn Otto (0-3) for a 2-0 lead. Otto gave up two runs and five hits with seven strikeouts in five innings.

National League

Phillies 12, Pirates 6

J.T. Realmuto homered and drove in four, Ronald Torreyes hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the sixth inning and Philadelphia erased a six-run deficit to pull within two games of NL East-leading Atlanta.

It's the fourth time this season and third time this month Philadelphia won after trailing by at least six runs. The Phillies are the first team in the modern era to win by at least six runs after trailing by at least six runs twice in the same season, according to STATS. The other was last week, when they rallied from down 7-0 in the fourth inning to defeat the Chicago Cubs 17-8 on Sept. 16.

Aaron Nola (9-8) bounced back from a shaky start that saw the Pirates take a 6-0 lead, including homers by Ke'Bryan Hayes and Colin Moran.

Torreyes lined a 2-0 fastball from Anthony Banda (2-2) over the wall in left to put the Phillies up 8-6.

Dodgers 7, Rockies 5

Max Muncy homered off Lucas Gilbreath (2-2) to start the 10th, and Los Angeles closed within one game of NL West leader San Francisco.

Kenley Jansen (4-4) pitched the ninth and Blake Treinen got his sixth save when C.J. Cron hit into a game-ending double play.

Padres 7, Giants 6

Jurickson Profar raced home on Victor Caratini’s infield single off Dominic Leone (3-5) with one out in the 10th, denying San Francisco its 100th win. San Diego stopped a five-game losing streak. and remained six games behind St. Louis for the second NL wild card.

Ross Detwiler (3-1) pitched the 10th for the win.

Cardinals 8, Brewers 5

Paul Goldschmidt homered twice, and St. Louis overcame a 5-0 deficit to extend its longest winning streak since 1982 to 12 games.

On a day Adam Wainwright faltered early, St. Louis rallied with one run in the fifth, four in the seventh, two in the eighth and one in the ninth. The Cardinals moved five games ahead of Cincinnati and Philadelphia, who played later Thursday, for the second NL wild card.

Milwaukee has lost five straight since clinching its fourth consecutive playoff berth on Sept. 18, four to St. Louis.

T.J. McFarland (4-1) pitched a one-hit seventh, and Giovanny Gallegos struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 12th save, Aaron Ashby (3-1) was the loser.

Nationals 3, Reds 2

National League batting leader Juan Soto homered in consecutive innings, and Washington pushed Cincinnati further from playoff contention.

Seeking his second straight NL batting title, Soto raised his average to .325 with a three-hit night and is four points ahead of the Los Angeles’ Dodgers Trea Turner. He led off the sixth against Luis Castillo (8-16) with an opposite-field drive to left that bounced off the top of the wall and into the stands. He homered to the opposite field again in the seventh for his 29th homer and third in two nights.

Patrick Corbin (9-15) allowed four hits in 6 2/3 shutout innings with seven strikeouts and four walks as last-place Washington won for the fourth time in five games.

Diamondbacks 6, Braves 4

Carson Kelly hit a tying three-run homer off Jacob Webb (5-4) in a five-run seventh and Daulton Varsho followed with a go-ahead double for last-place Arizona against the NL East-leading Braves.

Seeking its fourth straight division title, Atlanta saw its lead cut to 2 1/2 games over Philadelphia.

Arizona, which began the day tied with Baltimore for the major leagues’ worst record at 48-104, announced before the game that manager Torey Lovullo was given a one-year contract extension through 2022.

Sean Poppen (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh for his first major league victory. J.B. Wendelken got his second save.