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Cards beat Cubs 9-0 in Maddon’s finale, clinch NL Central Division
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ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals clinched the NL Central on the final day of the regular season, using Jack Flaherty’s arm and Matt Carpenter’s bat Sunday to win their first division title since 2015 with a 9-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs lost on Joe Maddon’s last day as their manager. It was announced before the game that he won’t return next year.
Flaherty tossed seven impressive innings and Carpenter led a three-homer attack with a three-run drive to help St. Louis advanced to the NL Division Series, starting Thursday at Atlanta.
The second-place Milwaukee Brewers will play at Washington in the NL wild-card game Tuesday night, with the winner going on to play Los Angeles in the NLDS.
ROCKIES 4,
BREWERS 3,
13 INNINGS
DENVER (AP) — Relegated to an NL wild-card spot, Milwaukee lost to Colorado when Jake Faria threw a wild pitch in the 13th inning that allowed the winning run to score.
The Brewers will play at Washington on Tuesday night in the wild-card game. The winner advances to take on the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run homer for Milwaukee and Hernan Perez had a pinch-hit homer.
RANGERS 6,
YANKEES 1
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Lance Lynn struck out 10, getting his career-high 16th win as Texas closed out the 26th and final season at their ballpark with a win over the AL East champion New York.
After Aaron Judge’s 27th homer in the third inning tied the game at 1-1, Lynn (16-11) retired his last 14 batters while pitching against his former team.
RED SOX 5,
ORIOLES 4
BOSTON (AP) — Eduardo Rodriguez missed out on a 20-win season when Boston’s bullpen blew a late lead, but the Red Sox beat Baltimore on Mookie Betts’ ninth-inning dash home.
Betts scored from first on a single by Rafael Devers with no outs.
Stevie Wilkerson chased Jackie Bradley Jr.’s fly ball to the edge of the visitors’ bullpen, leaped over the short wall and pulled back Bradley’s would-be homer while nearly tumbling into the seats.
METS 7, BRAVES 6,
11 INNINGS
NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Soroka recovered from a shaky start in his playoff tuneup, but banged-up Atlanta limped into October with a loss to New York.
New York’s Dominic Smith hit a game-ending, three-run homer on his first competitive swing in more than two months.
Soroka was tagged for three runs and four hits in the first inning of the regular-season finale. J.D. Davis socked a two-run homer off the right-hander, who settled down after that and lasted 85 pitches. He gave up three runs and seven hits over five innings, with seven strikeouts and two walks.
REDS 3, PIRATES 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aristides Aquino hit his 19th home run, Tyler Mahle pitched five shutout innings to pick up his first win since May and Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh shortly after the Pirates fired manager Clint Hurdle.
Brian O’Grady connected for his second home run and Alex Blandino added a solo shot as Cincinnati finished 75-87 under first-year manager David Bell,.
MARLINS 4,
PHILLIES 3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper got two hits and a standing ovation to close out his first season in Philadelphia, and the Phillies finished at 81-81 after a loss to Miami.
Brad Miller hit a pair of homers for Philadelphia, which ended a run of six straight losing campaigns but fell well short of expectations.
NATIONALS 8,
INDIANS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) —Washington continued its surge into the playoffs by stretching its winning streak to a year-high eight games with a victory over Cleveland.
Washington will host the NL wild-card game Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Catcher Kurt Suzuki hit his 17th homer, a two-run shot in the third inning. Juan Soto delivered an RBI double in the first, and Brian Dozier and Gerardo Parra each drove in two runs in the sixth. Parra tacked on a run-scoring hit in the eighth.
Joe Ross (4-4) went six innings for Washington, allowing four hits, including Francisco Lindor’s 32nd homer leading off the third inning, and striking out eight batters.
ASTROS 8, ANGELS 5
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Gerrit Cole earned his career-high 20th win, added to his major league-leading strikeout total and finished the best ERA in the AL in Houston’s win over Los Angeles.
Cole (20-5) posted his franchise-record 16th straight win as the Astros wound up with the top record in the majors at 107-55 and home-field advantage throughout the postseason. They begin the playoffs Friday at home against the winner of the wild-card game between Tampa Bay and Oakland..
BLUE JAYS 8, RAYS 3
TORONTO (AP) — Blake Snell lost in a tuneup for a potential postseason outing, and Tampa Bay was beaten by Toronto in its last game before the wild card playoff against the Oakland Athletics.
Tampa Bay finished 96-66, one win shy of the franchise record set the 2008 pennant-winning team that lost to Philadelphia in the World Series. The Rays headed to Oakland for Wednesday’s matchup against the A’s (97-65).
WHITE SOX 5,
TIGERS 3
CHICAGO (AP) — Tim Anderson became the third Chicago player to win an American League batting title, finishing at .335 after going 0 for 2 in a season-ending win over Detroit.
Anderson joined Luke Appling (1936 and 1943) and Frank Thomas (1997) as batting champions for the White Sox.
DIAMONDBACKS 1, PADRES 0
PHOENIX (AP) — Taijuan Walker returned from Tommy John surgery on the final day of the regular season, Tim Locastro beat out an infield grounder to drive home the winning run in the ninth inning and Arizona beat San Diego.
Locastro bounced one deep into the hole at shortstop with two outs, and Luis Urias skipped a throw to first on what would have been a close play, allowing Christian Walker to score from third. Stefan Crichton (1-0) pitched the ninth for his first major league win.
ROYALS 5, TWINS 4
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jorge Soler locked up the AL home run crown with his 48th homer, Brett Phillips drove a game-ending sacrifice fly in the ninth inning and Kansas City beat Minnesota in manager Ned Yost’s final game.
Phillips’ first career walk-off RBI gave Yost a celebratory send-off on the final day of the regular season. Yost finished 746-839 over 10 seasons leading Kansas City.