Red Sox rally past Nats, in control of AL wild-card race

WASHINGTON (AP) – Christian Vázquez tripled home the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning and the Boston Red Sox moved to the brink of a postseason berth with a 5-3 win over the Washington Nationals on Saturday. Boston is tied with the Yankees for the top AL wild card entering the final day of the regular season. The Red Sox will send ace Chris Sale to the mound Sunday needing a victory to punch a playoff ticket. If they win, they’ll host Tuesday’s wild-card game regardless of New York’s outcome because Boston won the season series 10-9. If the Red Sox lose Sunday, they will still be assured entry into a tiebreaker game Monday. The Red Sox are a game ahead of Toronto and 1 1/2 clear of Seattle, with the Mariners set to play the Angels on Saturday night. Tanner Houck pitched five perfect innings, striking out eight, but Washington tied the game at 1 in the eighth inning on Juan Soto’s long, bases-loaded sacrifice fly to center off Austin Davis (1-2). J.D. Martinez led off the ninth with a walk for Boston, and Vázquez drilled a ball to right off closer Tanner Rainey (1-3) that easily scored pinch-runner José Iglesias for a 2-1 lead with two outs. Travis Shaw singled to drive in Vázquez, then Kiké Hernández homered into the Boston bullpen against Mason Thompson to push the lead to 5-1. RAYS 12, YANKEES 2 NEW YORK (AP) – Brandon Lowe hit three home runs and Tampa Bay rolled to a blowout that prevented New York from clinching a playoff spot. With a chance to pitch his team into the postseason, Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery (6-7) instead was rocked for a career-worst seven earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. He gave up a pair of early three-run homers to Lowe, who also went deep in the seventh against Michael King. New York is assured at least a tiebreaker game Monday that could put the team in the playoffs for the fifth straight season. But after dropping the first two games of this series, the Yankees no longer control their own destiny to host the wild-card game. They now need a Boston loss to do so. Luis Patino (5-3) worked two hitless innings for the win. BLUE JAYS 10, ORIOLES 1 TORONTO (AP) – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 47th home run and Toronto pressed its AL wild-card chase to the final day of the regular season by thumping Baltimore. The Blue Jays launched five homers while Alek Manoah (9-2) allowed one hit over seven innings to help Toronto close within one game of the wild card-leading New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. George Springer, Teoscar Hernández, Bo Bichette and Danny Jansen all went deep for Toronto. The Blue Jays lead the majors with a franchise-record 258 home runs, topping the 257 they hit in 2010. With his 450-foot drive off John Means (6-9) in the first, Guerrero closed within one of Kansas City’s Salvador Perez for the major league lead. MARINERS 6, ANGELS 4 SEATTLE (AP) – Mitch Haniger drove in five runs and his two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning gave Seattle the lead as the Mariners took their playoff hopes to the final day of the regular season. Haniger had an RBI single in the third inning, clubbed his 39th homer in the fifth and came through with the bases loaded in the eighth after Seattle blew a 3-1 lead. Seattle won’t be able to claim one of two AL wild-card spots on the final day of the regular season, but it made game No. 162 matter, which hasn’t been said often during Seattle’s 20-year postseason drought. Steve Cishek (0-2) couldn’t find the plate in the eighth, hitting a batter and walking another to load the bases before Haniger’s go-ahead hit. Drew Steckenrider pitched the ninth for his 14th save. Jared Walsh hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning off reliever Paul Sewald (10-3) to give the Angels a 4-3 lead. DODGERS 8, BREWERS 3