PHILADELPHIA — Jay Bruce homered for the third straight game and drove in three runs, Robert Gsellman threw six sharp innings and the New York Mets moved closer to securing a wild-card berth with a 5-1 win over the host Philadelphia Phillies Friday night.
The defending NL champions reduced their magic number to one. The Mets began the night atop the wild-card race, with San Francisco one game back and the Cardinals two behind.
Gsellman (4-2) scattered seven hits and struck out seven in another strong performance. The rookie righthander has allowed only three earned runs in his last four starts.
Giants 9, Dodgers 3: Brandon Belt highlighted a seven-run sixth inning with a three-run homer, helping San Francisco move closer to an NL wild-card berth.
Madison Bumgarner limited Los Angeles to three runs in 7 1/3 innings and contributed a two-run double to the game-breaking uprising, allowing the Giants to remain one game behind the New York Mets and one ahead of St. Louis in the wild-card race.
Cardinals 7, Pirates 0: Carlos Martinez gave St. Louis the shutdown outing it needed to keep them in the National League’s wild-card hunt.
Martinez allowed just five hits and fanned nine in seven scoreless innings.
Rangers 3, Rays 1: Yu Darvish struck out a season-high 12 batters as Texas wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Darvish became just the third pitcher in club history to strike out at least 12 in six innings, joining Nolan Ryan and Matt Perisho.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3: David Ortiz, honored before the game, singled home a run in the first inning and ripped a two-run homer in a four-run seventh that gave the Boston an important win over fading Toronto.
The win, in a game delayed at the start and played in a steady mist, kept the Red Sox one half-game ahead of Cleveland for home-field advantage in their American League Division Series.
Orioles 8, Yankees 1: Jonathan Schoop tied a career-high with five RBIs and hit one of three home runs for Baltimore.
Schoop had his second five-RBI game with a two-run double and a three-run homer as the Orioles scored their runs in the fourth and fifth innings. He became the fifth Oriole to hit at least 25 home runs.
Tigers 6, Braves 2: Miguel Cabrera hit a pair of home runs and Daniel Norris threw 6 2/3 strong innings to keep the Tigers’ playoff hopes alive.
Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a solo shot in the third, his 37th and 38th of the season, in recording the 39th multi-homer game of his career, sixth of the season.
Mariners 5, Athletics 1: Seattle blasted four early home runs and kept alive their slim playoff chances.
Robinson Cano hit two home runs, his 37th and 38th of the season, as Seattle moved to within a game of the Toronto Blue Jays in the race for the final wild-card spot in the American League. The Mariners’ 15-year playoff drought is the longest current streak in baseball.
Indians 7, Royals 2: Francisco Lindor homered, doubled and drove in three runs and Carlos Santana had three hits and two RBIs for Cleveland.
Ryan Merritt picked up a victory in his first major league start. Merritt went 6-1 with a 2.72 ERA in his final 10 starts with Triple-A Columbus before being recalled.
Cubs 7, Reds 3: Ben Zobrist homered twice, and Anthony Rizzo singled home two more runs, lifting Chicago over Cincinnati to open the final regular season series for both clubs.
The Cubs (102-57) improved to 14-3 this season against the Reds.
White Sox 7, Twins 3: Carlos Rodon struck out 10, including the first seven batters he faced and Tim Anderson and Melky Cabrera each had three hits and two RBIs for Chicago.
Rockies 4, Brewers 1: Chad Bettis pitched into the seventh inning and Colorado scored four runs in the first three innings.
Bettis (14-8) finished his season with career-highs in wins, innings (186), starts (32) and strikeouts (138).
Marlins 7, Nationals 4: Justin Bour had three hits and drove in two runs and Christian Yelich had two hits, including a homer and two RBIs as Miami held on.
Angels 7, Astros 1: Daniel Wright held Houston to one run in six innings to earn his first major league win.
It took Wright seven starts to get his first win.
Diamondbacks 5, Padres 3: Chris Owings hit a two-run homer to break a 3-3 tie and lift Arizona to the win.
