ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Yandy Díaz hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the Tampa Bay Rays a 7-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.
Taylor Walls drew a two-out walk from Tayler Saucedo (3-2) before Díaz connected on his opposite-field drive to right.
Díaz also had a pinch-hit RBI double during a two-run seventh as Tampa Bay went up 5-4.
The Rays hold a 7 1/2-game lead over Seattle and Toronto for the top AL wild card. Tampa Bay started the day four back of AL East-leading Baltimore, while the Mariners were a half-game behind first-place Houston in the AL West.
Colin Poche (11-3) pitched a perfect ninth to get the win.
Seattle slugger Julio Rodríguez hit his career-high 29th homer and is one short of joining Alex Rodriguez as the only Mariners to have 30 homers and 30 steals in the same season.
DIAMONDBACKS 3, CUBS 2, 10 INNINGS
CHICAGO (AP) — Tommy Pham hit an RBI single in the 10th inning, and Arizona got its fourth straight win.
Gabriel Moreno scored on a wild pitch before Pham drove in Jordan Lawlar with a liner to left against rookie Daniel Palencia (5-1). Lawlar was hit by a pitch and advanced on Yan Gomes’ passed ball before taking third on the wild pitch.
Kevin Ginkel (8-0) got three outs for the win and Paul Sewald worked the 10th for his 32nd save. Cody Bellinger hit a two-out RBI single, but Sewald got Dansby Swanson to foul out to the catcher.
The Diamondbacks moved within one game of the Cubs for the No. 2 slot in the NL wild-card standings.
Chicago has just four runs and 16 hits through the first three games of the four-game series.
TWINS 8, METS 4
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Farmer went 3 for 4 with a pair of two-out RBIs, Max Kepler hit a three-run triple and AL Central-leading Minnesota beat New York.
Kenta Maeda won for the first time in six starts and Willi Castro went 3 for 4 with a home run for the Twins, who moved a season-best eight games above .500. They cut their magic number for clinching the division to 14 with 20 games to go.
Brandon Nimmo hit his fifth leadoff homer of the year and Daniel Vogelbach added an RBI single in the first inning to give the Mets a quick lead, but starter David Peterson didn’t hold it.
All of Minnesota’s runs scored with two outs, starting with a two-run single by Donovan Solano in the first. After Jordan Luplow hustled for a double in the third inning, Farmer drove him in with a single. Then with the bases loaded in the seventh against Drew Smith, Kepler pinch hit for Luplow and missed a grand slam by a few inches when his drive off the wall in right-center landed below the flower boxes.
Pete Alonso hit his 43rd homer and D.J. Stewart also went deep in the eighth inning off rookie Louie Varland, but the Mets fell to 29-44 on the road.
BLUE JAYS 5, ROYALS 1
TORONTO (AP) — George Springer homered twice and drove in four runs, Kevin Gausman struck out 10 over eight sharp innings and the Toronto Blue Jays moved a season-best 16 games above .500.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits for the Blue Jays, who began the day 1 1/2 games ahead of Texas for the final AL wild-card berth. Toronto has won five of six and is 6-2 in September.
Springer homered against Zach Greinke (1-15) in the fourth and Angel Zerpa in the seventh, his 21st multihomer game and first this year. Springer has 19 homers.
Gausman (11-8) allowed one run and two hits, and raised his AL-leading strikeouts total to 217 with his eighth eighth double-digit strikeout game this season and first since June 27. He struck out the side in the eighth.
Kansas City lost its third straight. The Royals are one defeat from their first 100-loss season since 2019.
Greinke is one loss shy of tying teammate Jordan Lyles for the major league lead.
BREWERS 9, YANKEES 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Tyrone Taylor hit a go-ahead homer as Christian Yelich’s fill-in to start a three-run eighth inning that sparked Milwaukee after New York celebrated the 25th anniversary of its 1998 championship team.
With the score 2-2, Taylor hit a 1-0 sinker off Jonathan Loáisiga (0-2) down the left field line for his sixth homer. Taylor was inserted into Milwaukee’s lineup when Yelich was scratched due to lower back soreness about 10 minutes before the scheduled start of a game delayed by rain for 2 hours, 34 minutes.
Milwaukee opened a four-game NL Central lead over the second-place Chicago Cubs.
New York had four hits and managed just seven in the first two games of the series, getting outscored 13-0 from the seventh inning on. The Yankees have lost three straight after winning eight of nine and are in danger of their first losing season since 1992.
Taylor got his seventh career three-hit game and reached four times.
Joel Payamps (5-4) struck out rookie Jasson Domínguez with Aaron Judge on first to end the seventh.
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