Rays beat Blue Jays, becoming 1st AL team to reach 90 wins

TORONTO (AP) – Drew Rasmussen combined with four relievers on a three-hitter, Brandon Lowe and Ji-Man Choi homered and the Tampa Bay Rays became the first AL team to reach 90 wins by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 Tuesday night. After losing four of their previous five, the East-leading Rays hit the 90-win mark for the eighth time – all in the past 14 seasons. Tampa Bay (90-55) stopped a two-game losing streak. Toronto began the day in the AL wild card lead, one game ahead of the New York Yankees and Boston. Rasmussen (3-1) allowed two hits in five innings. Andrew Kittredge pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in eight chances. Choi’s leadoff drive in the second, his 10th home run this season, was the only run allowed by José Berríos (11-8), who lost for the first time in four starts despite scattering four hits over seven innings. Lowe hit his 34th home run of the season in the eighth on the first pitch he saw from left-hander Tim Mayza. YANKEES 7, ORIOLES 2 BALTIMORE (AP) – Aaron Judge started a five-homer barrage that backed Gerrit Cole, and New York beat Baltimore, winning consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 1 and 3. Cole (15-7) returned from left hamstring tightness that cut short his Sept. 7 start against Toronto. He stranded the bases loaded in a 29-pitch first inning when he struck out Ramón Uris and allowed one run and four hits in five innings with seven strikeouts and three walks. Judge hit a two-run homer in the first off a changeup from Alexander Wells (1-3), his 34th homer of the season. Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer in the third and Luke Voit followed for back-to-back homers. Joey Gallo added his 34th homer in the eighth and DJ LeMahieu homered in the ninth. New York won for the third time in 11 games and tied Toronto for the AL-wild card lead with 17 games left. Boston was a half-game back heading into a late game at Seattle. Ryan Mountcastle had an RBI double in the fifth for the Orioles, who at a major league-worst 46-98 are headed to 100 losses for the third straight full season. ROCKIES 5, BRAVES 4 ATLANTA (AP) – Brendan Rodgers hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the fifth inning, Trevor Story went deep in the second and Colorado held on to beat Atlanta. Jon Gray pitched five innings as the Rockies moved to 22-51 on the road coming off a four-game series win at Philadelphia. Carlos Estévez earned his eighth save in 13 chances. NL East-leading Atlanta maintained its 4 1/2 game lead over Philadelphia. The Braves had won five of seven. Adam Duvall, the NL RBI leader with 101, hit his 35th homer in the eighth. Gray (8-10) allowed two runs and five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Toussaint (3-3) was charged with four runs and five hits with three walks and five strikeouts in four-plus innings. WHITE SOX 9, ANGELS 3 CHICAGO (AP) – Rookie Gavin Sheets hit a long three-run homer and had four RBIs in his first three-hit game, and the White Sox beat Los Angeles in Joe Maddon’s first game back in Chicago. Sheets hit a go-ahead single in the second inning off Packy Naughton (0-2) and made it 6-1 with a three-run homer in the third. He narrowly missed a second home run when he doubled to the right-field wall in the fifth. Maddon managed the Cubs for five years, leading them to the playoffs four times and a World Series title in 2016 that ended the team’s 108-year championship drought. He left the Cubs after the 2019 season and was hired by the Angels. Luis Robert had a solo homer and a double as the AL Central-leading White Sox expanded their margin over second-place Cleveland to 12 1/2 games.