A day of grand slam home runs for Aledmys Diaz, Jefry Marte and Hunter Renfroe, all the while the Chicago Cubs keep winning, the New York Yankees stay alive by stopping the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays complicating things for the Baltimore Orioles, the Detroit Tigers staying close, and the status quo in the National League remaining: The New York Mets and San Francisco Giants in the lead of the wild card standings, the St. Louis Cardinals one game behind.
Boston Red Sox 4 New York Yankees 6: David Price gave up 3 home runs and the Red Sox lost for the first time in 11 games, as both Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius hit their 20th home runs of the season. The Yankees now sit 4 behind the wild card spot, with 7 games left to play.
Arizona Diamondbacks 2 Washington Nationals 4: Max Scherzer struck out 10 in six innings, while a three-run homer by Anthony Rendon put the Nationals ahead, resulting in a weird celebration involving Dusty Baker and Scherzer in the dugout.
Chicago Cubs 6 Pittsburgh Pirates 4: The Cubs aren’t slowing down as they pick up win number 101, their highest since a 104-win season in 1910. John Lackey pitched 93 times before leaving at the end of the fifth, enough for the earned win. Chris Coghlan stood out with 2 hits and 3 RBIs.
Baltimore Orioles 1 Toronto Blue Jays 5: The Blue Jays open a two game lead at the top of the wild card standings, while the Orioles have just a one game lead over the Tigers. Aaron Sanchez was terrific with 10 strikeouts in six innings, helped by the offense of Josh Donaldson, hitting his 37th home run of the season.
Cleveland Indians 0 Detroit Tigers 12: The Tigers move to one game from the wild card spot again, shutting out the Indians with 7.2 innings and 11 strikeouts from Justin Verlander, while both Miguel Cabrera and Justin Upton hit 3-run homers to drive the win forward.
Philadelphia Phillies 6 Atlanta Braves 7: Julio Teheran got shelled, and yet the Braves came back from six runs down, as Mallex Smith tied the game in the 8th, followed by a game winning RBI single by Emilio Bonifacio.
New York Mets 12 Miami Marlins 1: A day after remembering Jose Fernandez, the Mets got back to business, keeping their advantage over the Giants and Cardinals in the wild card standings. Both Jay Bruce and Yoenis Cespedes hit home runs, their 31st of the season. Noah Syndergaard struck out 8 as he earned win number 14 this season.
Minnesota Twins 3 Kansas City Royals 4: The Royals win the game on an 11th inning sacrifice fly by Billy Burns, winning for the third time in a row.
Milwaukee Brewers 4 Texas Rangers 6: Jonathan Lucroy hit a two-run double in the 6th inning to bring the Rangers back from behind and take the lead. The finish came from Adrian Beltre grounding out and still resulting in a run, while Sam Dyson picked up save number 37.
Tampa Bay Rays 6 Chicago White Sox 13: Chris Sale wasn’t special, giving up 8 hits and 3 runs, but he also struck out 7 and got run support for a change, in the form of three home runs: Melky Cabrera, Tim Anderson, and the first this season for Leury Garcia, and only the second of his career.
Seattle Mariners 4 Houston Astros 8: The Mariners slip to two games behind the Orioles and the 2nd wild card ticket. The Astros scored six runs in the sixth inning to turn the game around, taking the lead on a ground rule double from George Springer, helping two score and break the tie.
Cincinnati Reds 5 St. Louis Cardinals 12: The Cardinals remain one game behind the Giants and the 2nd wild card ticket, hitting five home runs in the game, including a grand slam by Aledmys Diaz, who was back in the lineup after attending a private ceremony for Fernandez in Florida on Monday.
Oakland Athletics 1 Los Angeles Angels 8: Ricky Nolasco gave up only 5 hits and one run in 8 innings of work, while rookie Jefry Marte hit a grand slam home run, helping the Angels take a 5-0 lead in the 4th.
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 San Diego Padres 7: Another grand slam by a rookie, this time Hunter Renfroe, who finished with seven RBIs on his two home runs, enough to score all of the Padres points.
Colorado Rockies 3 San Francisco Giants 12: Nothing is easy for the Giants in the second half of the season, but his win was, as home runs from Buster Posey, Hunter Pence and Conor Gillaspie paved the way to remain in the 2nd NL wild card spot.
American League Wild Card Standings
| Division Leaders | W | L | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Rangers | 93 | 65 | 0.589 |
| Boston Red Sox | 92 | 65 | 0.586 |
| Cleveland Indians | 91 | 66 | 0.580 |
|
(Top 2 qualify for 1-game playoff) |
W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Blue Jays | 87 | 70 | 0.554 | +2 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 85 | 72 | 0.541 | — |
| Detroit Tigers | 84 | 73 | 0.535 | 1 |
| Seattle Mariners | 83 | 74 | 0.529 | 2 |
| Houston Astros | 83 | 75 | 0.525 | 2½ |
| New York Yankees | 81 | 76 | 0.516 | 4 |
| Kansas City Royals | 80 | 77 | 0.510 | 5 |
| Chicago White Sox | 76 | 81 | 0.484 | 9 |
| Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim | 71 | 87 | 0.449 | 14½ |
| Oakland Athletics | 67 | 90 | 0.427 | 18 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 65 | 92 | 0.414 | 20 |
| Minnesota Twins | 56 | 101 | 0.357 | 29 |
National League Wild Card Standings
| Division Leaders | W | L | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Cubs | 101 | 56 | 0.643 |
| Washington Nationals | 92 | 65 | 0.586 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 90 | 67 | 0.573 |
|
(Top 2 qualify for 1-game playoff) |
W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Mets | 84 | 74 | 0.532 | +½ |
| San Francisco Giants | 83 | 74 | 0.529 | — |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 82 | 75 | 0.522 | 1 |
| Miami Marlins | 78 | 79 | 0.497 | 5 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 77 | 80 | 0.490 | 6 |
| Colorado Rockies | 73 | 84 | 0.465 | 10 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 71 | 87 | 0.449 | 12½ |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 70 | 87 | 0.446 | 13 |
| San Diego Padres | 67 | 90 | 0.427 | 16 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 66 | 91 | 0.420 | 17 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 65 | 92 | 0.414 | 18 |
| Atlanta Braves | 64 | 92 | 0.410 | 18½ |