Dansby Swanson, Austin Riley and Matt Olson produced a second straight big night Saturday, combining for seven hits and all four RBIs as the host Atlanta Braves took over first place in the National League East by beating the New York Mets 4-2.
The Braves have won the first two games of the three-game series to move past the Mets atop the NL East. Atlanta, which has gone 76-32 since June 1 to make up a 10 1/2-game deficit, has spent just two days with sole possession of the division lead — 166 fewer days than New York has spent alone in first place.
The two wins by the Braves have tied the season series at 9-9. Whomever wins Sunday’s finale will have the tiebreaker should the teams finish with the same record.
Swanson, Riley and Olson, all of whom hit solo homers in the Braves’ 5-2 win on Friday night, are batting a combined .478 (11-for-23) with five homers and seven RBIs in the series.
Yankees 8, Orioles 0
Nestor Cortes matched a career high with 12 strikeouts in 7 1/3 dominating innings and New York cruised to a victory over visiting Baltimore.
Aaron Judge, in search of his 62nd home run to break Roger Maris’ American League record, went 0-for-2 and reached base twice. Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka hit home runs for New York while Josh Donaldson and Gleyber Torres drove in two runs apiece.
Baltimore’s Austin Voth allowed seven hits and four runs in five innings. Baltimore lost for the sixth time in eight games.
Nationals 13, Phillies 4 (Game 1)
Luis Garcia hit a home run and drove in a career-high five runs, Joey Meneses hit a home run and had four RBIs and Washington earned a victory over visiting Philadelphia in the first game of a doubleheader.
Anibal Sanchez (4-6) allowed four runs on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks in five innings for the Nationals, who defeated the Phillies for the first time in the past 10 meetings.
The Phillies’ loss, which was their sixth in their past seven games, kept their magic number to clinch their first postseason berth since 2011 at five. Washington won for just the fourth time in its past 12 games.
Phillies 8, Nationals 2 (Game 2)
Matt Vierling drove in three runs with a homer and a triple, and Philadelphia responded to an earlier loss with a vengeance in a romp over host Washington to split their doubleheader.
Kyle Schwarber belted the second pitch of the first and fourth innings for home runs for Philadelphia. The Phillies jumped on the Nationals for all eight of their runs in the first four innings, including a five-run third that opened a 7-0 lead. Philadelphia pulled away in the third behind a two-run homer by Alec Bohm, a solo shot by Brandon Marsh, a two-run blast by Vierling.
The Phillies took a shutout into the ninth before Luis Garcia doubled home Josh Palacios, who had singled to open the inning. Garcia eventually came around to score on an RBI infield out by Ildemaro Vargas. Washington starter Tommy Romero (1-1) was pulled after 3 2/3 innings, charged with all eight runs (six earned) on eight hits.
Diamondbacks 8, Giants 4
Sergio Alcantara drove in a career-high four runs with a pair of doubles as Arizona stopped San Francisco’s five-game winning streak.
Arizona rookie starter Drey Jameson threw six innings and allowed six hits and two runs to remain unbeaten on the season. Alcantara, who led the offensive attack, also set a career high with two doubles.
San Francisco received a home run from J.D. Davis in the sixth inning. Jakob Junis, charged with four runs and eight hits, took the loss.
Cubs 2, Reds 1
Seiya Suzuki snapped a tie in the seventh inning with a solo home run and host Chicago won its sixth straight game by defeating Cincinnati.
Nelson Velazquez had an RBI triple and Adbert Alzolay had four strikeouts during three perfect innings of relief for Chicago, which won for the 10th time in its last 11 games. Wade Miley (2-2), making his first appearance since Sept. 24 when he tweaked his left oblique in a start, picked up the win with two hitless innings of relief.
Kyle Farmer went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Spencer Steer doubled and scored a run for Cincinnati, which lost its fifth straight game and for the eighth time in the last nine contests.
Mariners 5, Athletics 1
Luis Castillo pitched six strong innings and Sam Haggerty drove in three runs as Seattle defeated visiting Oakland, just hours after clinching its first postseason berth since 2001.
After allowing a first-inning run, Castillo (8-6), who lost to the A’s twice since being acquired from Cincinnati at the trade deadline, retired the final 16 batters he faced. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits.
Oakland’s Tony Kemp lined the game’s first pitch into center field for a single. Sean Murphy drew a walk, and, with two outs, Jordan Diaz hit a run-scoring single to left for the Athletics’ only run. Haggerty broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run single in the first inning and added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Blue Jays 10, Red Sox 0
Right-hander Ross Stripling pitched six shutout innings, Danny Jansen had five RBIs and Toronto defeated visiting Boston.
Jansen had a single, a double, a solo home run and a sacrifice fly for the Blue Jays, who have won the first two games of a three-game series, outscoring Boston 19-0.
Teoscar Hernandez added four hits, including a homer and two doubles and two RBIs, to lead a 21-hit barrage. Right-hander Brayan Bello (2-8) allowed four runs, 10 hits and two walks with four strikeouts in four innings for Boston.
Royals 7, Guardians 1
Kris Bubic went five dominant innings, Drew Waters and Salvador Perez each homered and visiting Kansas City evened its weekend series with rival Cleveland.
Bubic (3-13) enjoyed one of his better starts of a tough 2022 campaign, tossing five frames of shutout ball while striking out a season-high eight against just one walk.
Oscar Gonzalez scored the lone Guardians run after doubling in the sixth and coming home on Owen Miller’s double. Gonzalez has hits in 16 of his last 19 contests.
Tigers 3, Twins 2
Eric Haase hit a solo homer and host Detroit took advantage of two errors to defeat Minnesota.
Javier Baez scored a run and knocked in another for the Tigers, who have won seven of their last eight games. Haase had three of Detroit’s six hits.
Mark Contreras hit a solo homer for the Twins. Ronny Henriquez (0-1) gave up an unearned run in three innings of relief but was charged with the loss.
Marlins 4, Brewers 3
Bryan De La Cruz singled in two runs in the ninth inning to give visiting Miami a comeback victory over Milwaukee, delivering a serious blow to the Brewers’ wild-card chances.
Milwaukee dropped a game behind Philadelphia for the third National League wild card. The Phillies split a doubleheader at Washington on Saturday, winning the nightcap 8-2 after dropping the opener 13-4. However, Philadelphia also holds the tiebreaker with Milwaukee, so the Brewers have to finish ahead of the Phillies.
The Brewers’ Devin Williams (6-4) came in to start the ninth and walked Jon Berti, who took second with his NL-leading 39th stolen base. Brian Anderson walked with one out and both advanced on a wild pitch. De La Cruz then battled back from an 0-2 count and lined a 3-2 pitch to left.
Cardinals 13, Brewers 3
Corey Dickerson hit a grand slam as St. Louis rolled over visiting Pittsburgh.
Albert Pujols, Alec Burleson and Dylan Carlson drove in two runs each for the Cardinals, who won for the third time in their last four games. Pirates starting pitcher Luis Ortiz (0-2) retired just two batters and allowed six runs on three hits and three walks.
The Cardinals jumped on Ortiz to take a 6-0 first-inning lead. Brendan Donovan hit a leadoff double, Lars Nootbaar and Paul Goldschmidt drew walks and Pujols started the scoring with a one-out, two-run single. After Burleson walked, Dickerson launched his grand slam. The Pirates cut the lead to 6-2 in the second inning. Miguel Andujar hit a leadoff single, Diego Castillo laced a one-out double and Jason Delay hit a two-out, two-run single.
Astros 2, Rays 1
Cristian Javier extended his scoreless streak to 25 1/3 consecutive innings as Houston evened its three-game series with visiting Tampa Bay with a win.
Javier (11-9) produced his fourth consecutive scoreless start, limiting the Rays to a pair of singles and two walks while recording seven strikeouts over six innings. Javier threw 95 pitches, 62 for strikes, and induced 13 swings and misses — 10 among 58 four-seam fastballs.
Javier faced the minimum through three innings and did not allow a hit until Rays left fielder David Peralta opened the fourth inning with a single. Javier did issue a one-out walk to Randy Arozarena in the first, but Astros catcher Martin Maldonado erased Arozarena as he attempted to steal second base to conclude that frame.
Angels 3, Rangers 2
Livan Soto drove in the tying run with a double and scored the winning run with an acrobatic slide, lifting Los Angeles to a victory over Texas in Anaheim, Calif.
The Angels trailed 2-1 when David Fletcher led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and went to second when Kurt Suzuki was hit by a pitch. Soto, who went 3-for-3 in the game, followed with a drive to the right-center field gap off Rangers reliever Jonathan Hernandez (2-3), scoring Fletcher easily.
Angels starter Jose Suarez (8-8) flirted with a no-hitter. In fact, he was perfect through six innings, retiring all 18 batters faced. But Marcus Semien led off the seventh inning by hitting Suarez’s first pitch into left field for a single. One out later, Nathaniel Lowe hit a 2-0 slider over the fence in right field for a two-run homer and a 2-1 Texas advantage.
Dodgers 6, Rockies 4
Cody Bellinger had three hits and two RBIs to help the Los Angeles Dodgers rally past visiting Colorado in the second game of their six-game series.
Trea Turner had two hits and scored two runs and Joey Gallo contributed two late-inning RBIs for the National League West champion Dodgers, who scored three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to pull out their fourth straight win. Dodgers starter Michael Grove allowed four runs and six hits in five innings.
Rockies starter Kyle Freeland allowed one run and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. Randal Grichuk and Ryan McMahon homered, and Yonathan Daza and Brendan Rodgers had two hits each for the Rockies, who have lost seven in a row and 11 of 12.
Padres 5, White Sox 2
Jake Cronenworth hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth as San Diego reduced its magic number to one in the National League wild-card race with a win over visiting Chicago.
Juan Soto and Manny Machado also homered for the Padres, who can clinch their first, full-season playoff berth since 2006 on Sunday.
The Padres are now two games ahead of Philadelphia (which split a doubleheader) in the race for the second NL wild-card berth with four games to play and three ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers, who lost to Miami.
–Field Level Media
