AL Wild-Card Roundup: Astros beat Mariners, gain ground on Blue Jays

The Houston Astros picked up a big win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night, gaining a full game on the Toronto Blue Jays in the process.

Houston (87-72) is now just a half-game back of the Blue Jays (87-71) for the second wild-card spot.

The Mariners (85-73) are now on the outside looking in, as they drop 1.5 games back of the Astros for the final wild-card spot with just four games remaining.

The Texas Rangers (89-69) also won on Wednesday, pushing their lead in the race for the AL West crown to 2.5 games over the Astros.

Here is where the American League playoff picture stands after Wednesday’s games.

ASTROS 8, MARINERS 3

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SEATTLE — Mauricio Dubon hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the fourth inning, and Houston boosted its lead over Seattle for the last AL wild card with a contentious victory.

Benches cleared in the sixth with Houston ahead 4-3 after Hector Neris struck out Julio Rodriguez for the inning’s final out. Neris pounded his chest, shouted and walked toward Rodriguez as the Seattle star was returning to the dugout. Umpires restored order after a few tense minutes of shouting.

Rodriguez went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts and was 0 for 9 in the series. Mariners batters struck out 16 times and Seattle, held scoreless over the last five innings, went 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position.

Defending champion Houston moved 1 1/2 games in front of Seattle for the third and final wild card and headed to a three-game series at Arizona in control of its fate. The Mariners, who hold the tiebreaker, host AL West leader Texas in a four-game series. The Rangers lead Seattle by 2 1/2 games.

Kendall Graveman (5-6) pitched a scoreless fifth in relief of Framber Valdez. Bryce Miller (8-7) was the loser.

YANKEES 6, BLUE JAYS 0

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TORONTO — Gerrit Cole pitched a two-hitter to near his second AL ERA title, Aaron Judge homered twice and New York blanked Toronto to ensure they won’t finish with a losing record.

Cole (15-4) faced two batters over minimum, allowing a single and double to Brandon Belt. He struck out five and walked none, throwing 72 of 105 pitches for strikes. Cole finished his season with 222 strikeouts in 209 innings.

Toronto was shut out by the Yankees for the second straight night.

Back in the lineup after a day off Tuesday, Judge hit his 36th and 37th home runs. The reigning AL MVP homered to right field off Jose Berrios (11-12) in the fourth, then hit a second-deck drive to left off Trevor Richards in the seventh.

RANGERS 5, ANGELS 0

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Adolis Garcia had a homer and an RBI double, Dane Dunning yielded three hits over seven dominant innings, and Texas moved to the brink of clinching its first playoff berth since 2016.

Evan Carter hit a two-run homer and Marcus Semien added a solo shot in the ninth inning for the Rangers, who have won seven of eight. They’ve also set the stage to wrap up both a postseason spot and their first AL West title in seven years when they finish the regular season with four consecutive games in Seattle.

Dunning (12-6) remained unbeaten since Aug. 25 and shook off memories of shaky recent starts by throttling the Angels. The right-hander walked one and struck out seven in his longest appearance in his last eight starts.

Griffin Canning (7-8) pitched six innings of five-hit ball with five strikeouts in the final start of his decent rebound year with the Angels, who have lost 11 of 14 in the final week of their eighth consecutive losing season and ninth consecutive non-playoff season.

— With files from Sportsnet

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