Bichette powers Jays past Yanks, AL wild card race tightens

Bo Bichette homered twice, including a tiebreaking drive off Clay Holmes in the eighth inning that lifted the Toronto Blue Jays over the Yankees 6-5 Wednesday night, tightened the AL wild card race and ended New York’s seven-game winning streak. Marcus Semien hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the first off a faltering Gerrit Cole, setting a big league record with his 44th home run of the season as a second baseman. With the score 5-all, Bichette led off the eighth against Holmes (8-4) with his 28th home run, an opposite-field drive that cleared the scoreboard in right-center. Adam Cimber (3-4) got four outs for the win. With a runner on second, Jordan Romano retired Tyler Wade on a game-ending flyout for his 22nd save in 23 chances. Boston closed within one game of the wild card-leading Yankees, and Toronto is one game back of the Red Sox. BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 0 ST. LOUIS (AP) – St. Louis’ team-record 17-game winning streak ended as Milwaukee’s Daniel Vogelbach hit a two-run homer that backed Adrian Houser. Manny Piña added a solo homer for the NL Central champion Brewers, who have won four of five. A night after clinching a postseason berth, the Cardinals did not start regulars Nolan Arenado, Tyler O’Neill and Tommy Edman. Houser (10-6) allowed three hits in five innings. Vogelbach homered in the sixth off Miles Mikolas (2-3), who allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. BRAVES 7, PHILLIES 2 ATLANTA (AP) – Max Fried pitched seven strong innings, Austin Riley drove in three runs, and Atlanta beat Philadelphia to move within one victory of a fourth straight NL East title. The Braves have won nine of 11 and reduced their magic number to one. Philadelphia, which dropped 4 1/2 games back in the standings with its third straight loss, can be eliminated from postseason contention with one loss or one Atlanta win. Fried (14-7) improved to 7-0 with a 1.46 ERA over his last 11 starts. The lefty allowed two runs – one earned – and four hits with no walks and six strikeouts. Aaron Nola (9-9) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings. RED SOX 6, ORIOLES 0 BALTIMORE (AP) – J.D. Martinez homered and drove in three runs to back a dominant pitching performance by Nathan Eovaldi, and Boston beat Baltimore to break a four-game skid and bolster its playoff hopes. Martinez hit his 28th homer in the second inning for a 1-0 lead, and the Red Sox used a broken-bat single and an error to tack on two unearned runs in the sixth. Eovaldi (11-9) took it from there, limiting Baltimore to four hits and striking out seven over six innings. Rookie Zac Lowther (1-3) was pulled after Rafael Devers cracked his bat on a leadoff single in the sixth. Xander Bogaerts subsequently reached on an error by third baseman Kelvin Gutiérrez before Martinez smacked a two-run double. RAYS 7, ASTROS 0 HOUSTON (AP) – Drew Rasmussen and three relievers combined for a three-hitter, Brandon Lowe and Ji-Man Choi both homered and Tampa Bay coasted past Houston to earn the No. 1 seed in the AL playoffs. Tampa Bay improved to 98-60, outdoing the 2008 team for most wins in franchise history. The Astros lost for the fifth time in six games. Rays rookie Wander Franco doubled and singled twice, and safely reached base for the 43rd straight game, tying him with Frank Robinson in 1956 for the longest streak by a player at age 20 or younger. Rasmussen (4-1) allowed one hit over five innings. Rookie Luis Garcia (11-8) permitted seven hits and six runs, but only three were earned. GIANTS 1, DIAMONDBACKS 0 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Alex Wood and three relievers combined for a four-hitter, Kris Bryant hit a sacrifice fly and San Francisco reached 104 wins for the first time since 1905 by beating Arizona.