MLB Roundup: Yanks Fall to Pirates, Still Land AL’s No. 1 Seed

Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal (6) follows through on an RBI single against the New York Yankees during the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium in New York on Sept. 28, 2024. Brad Penner/Imagn Images via Reuters

Yasmani Grandal hit the first of the Pirates’ five homers on Saturday, and Pittsburgh never trailed in a 9–4 win over the host New York Yankees, who saw Aaron Judge strike out five times.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered in the fifth and laced an RBI double in the eighth for the American League East-winning Yankees, who still managed to lock down the AL’s top seed for the playoffs thanks to the Houston Astros’ 4–3 win over the Cleveland Guardians later Saturday.

Grandal went deep in the second inning off Luis Gil (15–7), who gave up a solo homer by Nick Gonzales in the fourth and two-run shots by Billy Cook and Jared Triolo in the fifth and sixth, respectively.

Mike Burrows (1–0) earned the win in his major league debut by allowing two runs (one earned) in 3 1/3 innings of relief. Burrows followed Paul Skenes, who concluded his rookie season by striking out three in two perfect innings.

Skenes, a top contender for the National League Rookie of the Year award, finished the season 11–3 with a 1.96 ERA. He had 170 strikeouts in 133 innings.

Nationals 6, Phillies 3

James Wood homered, tripled and scored two runs and Joey Gallo hit a three-run homer to highlight a four-run eighth inning to lead host Washington over Philadelphia.

Keibert Ruiz also had two hits to go along with an RBI and Dylan Crews went 2-for-3 with a stolen base and a run for the Nationals. Starter MacKenzie Gore allowed just three singles over six shutout innings.

Trea Turner homered and Nick Castellanos tripled and scored a run for Philadelphia. Starter Zack Wheeler allowed two runs on three hits over 6 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out 11. The loss meant the NL East-champion Phillies, who already had earned a bye into the NL Division Series, will finish as the No. 2 seed in the NL behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cubs 3, Reds 0

Kyle Hendricks threw 7 1/3 shutout innings in what could be his final start for Chicago, guiding the Cubs past visiting Cincinnati in the second game of a three-game series.

Hendricks, who has been with Chicago since 2014 and helped it win a World Series title in 2016, struck out two and walked two. He retired the first batter of the eighth inning before being replaced by Tyson Miller (5–1), getting hugs from his teammates and a standing ovation from the crowd.

Reds starter Rhett Lowder threw five shutout innings, allowing three hits to go along with one strikeout and three walks. The Reds have lost five in a row and haven’t scored in the past 19 innings.

Braves 2, Royals 1

Travis d'Arnaud hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to lift Atlanta over visiting Kansas City.

With one out, d'Arnaud sent a fastball from Royals reliever Sam Long (3–3) 421 feet to center. The Braves hold a one-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets for the second NL wild-card spot.

The Royals, who were held to three hits—including one for extra bases—have lost nine of their past 12.

White Sox 4, Tigers 0

Andrew Benintendi blasted a two-run homer and visiting Chicago cooled off playoff-bound Detroit.

Benintendi also doubled and scored two runs as the White Sox won for the fourth time in five games. Bryan Ramos had a solo homer for Chicago, which set the modern era record for most losses in a single season on Friday.

Sean Burke (2–0), making his fourth career appearance, limited the Tigers to two hits in five innings while notching six strikeouts. Detroit saw its six-game winning streak snapped.

Marlins 8, Blue Jays 1

Dane Myers had a three-run homer and a two-run double as visiting Miami clubbed Toronto.

Former Blue Jays minor-leaguer Griffin Conine had three hits and an RBI as the Marlins clinched a season-ending three-game series. Right-hander Xzavion Curry (2–2) allowed one run, two hits and one walk to go along with one strikeout in five innings.

Nathan Lukes hit his first career major league home run, a solo shot, for the Blue Jays. Toronto right-hander Yariel Rodriguez (1–8) allowed three runs, four hits and two walks while striking out five in five-plus innings. Alejandro Kirk popped out to end the game and was 0-for-3 with a walk, snapping an 18-game hitting streak.

Giants 6, Cardinals 5

St. Louis reliever Matthew Liberatore fielded a Brett Wisely two-out bunt in the eighth inning and threw wildly past first base, allowing Tyler Fitzgerald to score from first for San Francisco’s difference-making run in a home victory.

Ryan Walker (10–4), who pitched out of a second-and-third, two-out jam to preserve a tie in the top of the eighth, was credited with the win. Rookie Spencer Bivens picked up his first career save with a scoreless ninth. Andrew Bailey finished with two RBIs and Matt Chapman had a pair of doubles and scored twice for the Giants, who kept their hopes alive for a .500 season.

The Cardinals’ Andre Pallante went five innings, during which he was charged with four runs (three earned) on seven hits. Paul Goldschmidt and Brendan Donovan had three hits and two RBIs apiece for the Cardinals.

Rays 7, Red Sox 2

Junior Caminero collected three hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs to lead visiting Tampa Bay to a victory over Boston.

Caminero hit a two-run homer in the third—his sixth home run of the season—and collected his other RBI on an infield single in the fifth. The Rays took control by scoring four runs on five hits in the fifth. That stretched their lead to 6–1.

Triston Casas hit a solo home run for the Red Sox. It was his 13th home run of the season. Boston starting pitcher Kutter Crawford (9–16) allowed six runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Astros 4, Guardians 3

Justin Verlander allowed three early runs but grinded out six innings and Houston used a three-run second to beat host Cleveland.

Looking to be a contributor for the Astros in the postseason, Verlander (5–6) allowed a two-run, first-inning homer to Jose Ramirez, and another run in the third, but nothing else.

Rookie Zach Dezenzo had two hits and an RBI for Houston. The Astros’ Hector Neris, Ryan Pressly and Shawn Dubin combined to hold Cleveland to two hits over the final three innings. Cleveland’s Ben Lively (13–10) lasted four innings, allowing four runs (two earned) and five hits.

Orioles 9, Twins 2

Emmanuel Rivera went 4-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs as Baltimore cruised past Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Ryan O'Hearn finished 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs for the Orioles. Adley Rutschman also drove in two runs as Baltimore achieved back-to-back 90-plus-win seasons for the first time since 1982-83.

Twins right-hander Zebby Matthews (1–4) surrendered six runs on seven hits in three innings. Ryan Jeffers hit a two-run homer to account for the only scoring for Minnesota, which has lost six of its past seven games.

Brewers 6, Mets 0

Joey Ortiz drove in three runs and six Milwaukee pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout of visiting New York, preventing the Mets from gaining an advantage in a tightly contested NL wild-card race.

The Mets are tied with the Diamondbacks for the final NL wild-card spot. After finishing the three-game series at Milwaukee on Sunday, New York will play a makeup doubleheader on Monday in Atlanta.

Tobias Myers (9–6) got the victory with four innings of one-hit relief after reliever Jared Koenig pitched the first.

Padres 5, Diamondbacks 0

Kyle Higashioka broke open a scoreless game with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth, Brandon Lockridge followed with a solo shot and San Diego, playing mostly reserves, downed Arizona in the second meeting of a three-game series in Phoenix.

Donovan Solano finished 4-for-5 and added another two-run homer with two outs in a stunning five-run ninth inning for the Padres.

A.J. Puk (4–9) took the loss for Arizona after coming on with one out in the ninth, allowing three hits and two long balls for the first time ever in his career as a reliever. The Diamondbacks finished with only two hits.

Dodgers 13, Rockies 2

Enrique Hernandez homered and singled twice, Teoscar Hernandez also went deep and Los Angeles routed Colorado in Denver on Saturday night.

Shohei Ohtani stole his 58th base of the year and had two hits to raise his average to .310, four points behind San Diego’s Luis Arraez with one game left. Ohtani is looking to become the first NL Triple Crown winner since 1937. The Dodgers had 18 hits.

Charlie Blackmon singled and scored a run for the Rockies in the penultimate game of his career. Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela (0–1) allowed seven runs (six earned) on six hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Rangers 9, Angels 8

Pinch hitter Jonathan Ornelas hit a game-tying two-run single and Nathaniel Lowe scored the tiebreaking run thanks to a throwing error in the ninth inning as Texas stormed back for a victory over Los Angeles in Anaheim, Calif.

Texas entered the ninth facing an 8–5 deficit and loaded the bases against Jose Quijada (2–2) when Matt Duffy was grazed on the foot by a pitch. Lowe fouled off four straight pitches before working a walk to make it a two-run game. Ryan Miller replaced Quijada, and Ornelas hit a sharp ground ball past Niko Kavadas. Gustavo Campero was slow to retrieve the ball and overthrew shortstop Jack Lopez, allowing Lowe to score on the play.

Texas’ Dane Dunning (5–7) pitched a 1–2–3 eighth to set up the comeback, and Kirby Yates retired the side in order in the ninth for his 33rd save of the year. Campero hit a three-run homer, his first long ball in the majors, and Kavadas also went deep for the Angels.

Mariners 7, Athletics 6 (10 innings)

Justin Turner’s pinch-hit fielder’s choice scored Leo Rivas from third base with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, lifting Seattle over visiting Oakland.

Rivas, who started the inning at second base as the automatic runner, took third on J.P. Crawford’s groundout to the right side of the infield. After an intentional walk to Dylan Moore, Turner hit a slow grounder to second baseman Zack Gelof, who threw home, but Rivas slid around the tag to score the winning run.

Oakland’s Shea Langeliers hit a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth to give the A’s a 6–4 lead. Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom also went deep for the Athletics.