The Rays beat the Phillies 2-0 to deny a wild-card clinch
The Rays beat the Phillies 2-0 to deny a wild-card clinch
By The Sat, September 26, 2026 at 4:09 AM UTC
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Freddy Peralta pitched into the sixth inning to help Tampa Bay deny Philadelphia a third straight shot at clinching a wild-card spot, as the AL East champion Rays beat the Phillies 2-0 on Friday night.
The Phillies entered leading Arizona by two games for an NL wild card with three to play. The Phillies would have clinched their fifth straight playoff berth with a win against the Rays and an Arizona loss to San Diego.
The Phillies instead lost their third straight and delayed a potential clincher at least until Saturday when they will throw a bullpen game against the Rays.
Jonny DeLuca had an RBI single in the first inning and Nick Fortes hit a homer in the second to back Peralta (10-11) as the Rays tune up for the playoffs. The Rays have home-field advantage in the AL Division Series and would have it if they reach the AL Championship Series.
Tampa Bay received a scare when .300-hitting left fielder Chandler Simpson fouled a ball off his right foot. He was in pain but finished the at-bat and struck out.
Peralta struck out four and allowed four hits over 5 1/3 innings. Bryan Baker tossed a scoreless ninth for his 41st save.
For the moment, Tampa Bay has surrendered its home field. Major League Baseball moved a regular-season series finale between the Red Sox and Chicago Cubs from Fenway Park to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, because of a weekend storm threat in the Boston area.
Cristopher Sánchez (18-7) struck out 10 and walked one in seven innings.
RED SOX 4, CUBS 3, 1ST GAME
RED SOX 2, CUBS 0, 2ND GAME
BOSTON (AP) — Wilyer Abreu hit a two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 Friday night to sweep a doubleheader.
Brayan Bello allowed four hits over four innings and rookie Jedixson Páez (1-1) gave up three hits in five innings with four strikeouts in his first big league win.
Chicago dropped two games back of San Diego for the top NL wild card. The Padres hosted Arizona later Friday.
Javier Assad (6-2) was the loser. Chicago starter David Petersen allowed three hits over five innings and struck out six.
In the first game, Connor Wong hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning, to help the Red Sox rally from a three-run deficit in a 4-3 win that clinched the No. 5 seed in the AL playoffs.
Boston will play its Wild Card Series for the second year in a row at the New York Yankees, who won last season’s best-of-three matchup 2-1. It will be the seventh Red Sox-Yankees postseason series.
Friday’s opener was originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon but was moved up because a significant storm was forecast. The series finale, which had been slated for Saturday night, will now be played on Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Florida.
ORIOLES 10, YANKEES 2, 1ST GAME
YANKEES 6, ORIOLES 3, 2ND GAME
NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Volpe hit a two-run double in his first appearance at shortstop since Aug. 1 and New York beat Baltimore for a doubleheader split.
Ryan McMahon hit a run-scoring single in the fifth and rookie Spencer Jones had an RBI single in New York’s three-run sixth.
Volpe gave the Yankees (93-68) a 4-0 lead with a fly ball in a three-run sixth that carried over right fielder Rece Hinds and bounced into the stands. He hit hitting .265 (11 for 49) with nine RBIs in 14 games since he was recalled from the minors on Sept. 10, raising his season average to .245.
Volpe made his big league debut at third base during New York’s 10-2 loss in the opener. The only ball hit toward Volpe was a drive off the third-base bag by Christian Encarnacion-Strand.
In the nightcap, Volpe caught a popup by Dylan Beavers in the fourth and dropped a throw from catcher Austin Wells on a stolen base by Christian Franklin in the sixth.
Heliot Ramos and Luis García Jr. added RBI singles in the seventh. Garcia was in a 3-for-38 slide before his hit gave the Yankees a 6-1 lead.
Will Warren (11-6) struck out seven and allowed three hits in 3 2/3 innings after Ryan Yarbrough pitched 2 1/3 innings. Warren is likely to be on New York’s postseason roster as a reliever.
MARLINS 3, BRAVES 0
MIAMI (AP) — Eury Pérez pitched a one-hitter for just the 11th complete-game shutout in the major leagues this season, and Miami beat playoff-bound Atlanta.
A 23-year-old right-hander, Pérez (8-11) allowed his only hit when Sean Murphy linked a single to left on a first-pitch sinker starting the sixth.
Pérez struck out eight and walked one, throwing 105 pitches for his first complete game in 68 big league starts. Pérez entered 0-3 with a 9.76 ERA in six career starts against the Braves.
This year’s MLB shutout total is one below last year. The only seasons with fewer were from 1871-73.
Pérez threw the 21st complete game. There were a record-low 28 in 2024 and 29 last year.
Joe Mack and Griffin Conine homered for the Marlins, who snapped a six-game losing skid against the NL East champion Braves. Miami (79-81) equaled last season’s wins total and is trying to avoid a third straight losing season.
Mack homered in the seventh off Grant Holmes (10-6), his 14th this season. Holmes made his second relief appearance of the season after 29 starts.
Heriberto Hernández had an RBI single and Conine homered off Didier Fuentes in a two-run eighth.
NATIONALS 7, METS 6
WASHINGTON (AP) — The high-spending New York Mets were assured their first last-place finish since 2003, losing to Washington as Josiah Gray earned his first major league save in his first home appearance in more than two years,
Dylan Crews homered for the Nationals (76-84), who have won nine of 12 and are guaranteed fourth in the NL East. They have been fourth or fifth for seven straight seasons since winning the 2019 World Series,
New York (73-87), which began the season with a major league record $358.4 million payroll, will finish last for the first time since it was 66-95 in 2002.
Bo Bichette and Carson Benge homered for the Mets. Benge became the first Mets rookie with 20 homers and 20 steals in a season.
Gray worked around Juan Soto’s two-out walk in the ninth, getting Bichette to hit a soft grounder to the mound to cap his first outing at Nationals Park since April 4, 2024. An All-Star in 2023, Gray underwent Tommy John surgery the following year and did not return to the major leagues until last week.
Gus Varland (2-2) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Jonathan Pintaro (2-3) was the loser.
BLUE JAYS 6, REDS 5
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TORONTO (AP) — Nathan Lukes hit a go-ahead single in a four-run seventh inning, Kazuma Okamoto had two hits and three RBIs, and Toronto rallied to beat Cincinnati.
Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz stole third base in the third inning to become the fourth player in Reds history with at least 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season.
De La Cruz, who started at DH on Friday, hit his 30th home run in Thursday’s 7-6 win at Atlanta.
Mason Fluharty (7-1) got two outs for the win and Louis Varland worked a 1-2-3 ninth against the top of the lineup for his 35th save in 37 chances.
Alejandro Kirk and Okamoto hit RBI doubles off Nick Lodolo in the first. Cincinnati’s Eugenio Suárez hit a home run in the second to make it 2-1.
The Reds chased José Soriano with a four-run third. De La Cruz hit a two-run double, stole third and scored on Sal Stewart’s single. Héctor Rodríguez drove in the fourth run with a fielder’s choice.
Soriano allowed five runs and eight hits.
TIGERS 8, PIRATES 7
DETROIT (AP) — Spencer Torkelson finished a single short of the cycle, Jackson Jobe allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings and tDetroit beat Pittsburgh after nearly wasting a six-run lead.
Detroit led 8-2 after seven innings, but RBI singles by Nick Gonzales and Ryan O’Hearn and a three-run homer by Rafael Flores Jr. pulled the Pirates within one run in the eighth.
Torkelson got some help from the Pirates defense - his second-inning triple was a sinking liner to right that evaded a diving Jake Mangum, and his double was a routine fly ball to shallow right-center that fell untouched among three fielders. He hit his 26th homer in the seventh and was on deck when the Tigers made the final out of the eighth.
Pittsburgh (81-79) needs one win for its first winning season since 2018.
Jobe (3-3) allowed three hits and two walks while striking out eight. He returned in August from Tommy John surgery and finished with a 3.91 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 46 innings.
Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 498th save, his 22nd in 28 chances this season.
Bubba Chandler (9-9) gave up six runs, four hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings.
WHITE SOX 6, ROCKIES 1
CHICAGO (AP) — Munetaka Murakami homered twice to increase his season total to 35, and playoff-bound Chicago beat Colorado as it tried to gain ground in the AL Central.
Already assured at least a wild card, Chicago (83-77) has won five of six. The White Sox failed to gain ground on the Guardians (84-76), who pulled out a 12-9 win at Kansas City by scoring five runs in the top of the ninth inning.
Both the White Sox and Guardians have two games remaining. Chicago has the tiebreaker if they finish with identical records.
Sean Burke (11-7) allowed one run and four hits in in 5 1/3 innings, and three relievers completed a four-hitter.
Chicago’s Colson Montgomery set the season record for strikeouts with 224 when he was set down looking in the fifth inning by Tomoyuki Sugano. Montgomery topped Mark Reynolds’ 223 in 2009.
Colorado has lost 17 of 20 and dropped to a major league-worst 57-103, matching 2023 for the second-most losses in club history behind 119 last year The Rockies are the first team with four straight 100-loss seasons since the 1962-65 New York Mets.
Murakami has the third multi-homer game of his rookie season .Kyle Teel drove in two runs and Sam Antonacci lined three hits for the White Sox.
BREWERS 8, CARDINALS 4
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Brice Turang delivered a tiebreaking two-run single in the eighth inning for his third hit of the game as Milwaukee defeated St. Louis.
Turang also hit a pair of doubles for the Brewers, who earned their 101st win of the season. Milwaukee was playing one night after clinching home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Iván Herrera, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson homered for St. Louis.
Milwaukee’s eighth-inning rally started when Jackson Chourio hit a leadoff single against Luis Gastelum (5-4). Justin Bruihl came out of the bullpen and his first pitch hit David Hamilton, who was squaring around to bunt.
Garrett Mitchell then hit a sacrifice bunt of his own but reached safely because Bruihl’s throw to first was high, loading the bases.
Turang hit a ground-ball single through a drawn-in infield and into left to bring home Chourio and Hamilton. William Contreras added an RBI single and Jake Bauers drove in a run with a sacrifice fly later in the eighth.
Abner Uribe (6-3) pitched a scoreless eighth inning to earn the win.
TWINS 10, RANGERS 2
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jacob deGrom matched a career high by allowing eight earned runs and Texas stumbled again in the AL West race with a loss to Minnesota.
Texas (79-81) began the night tied with Houston, which has the tiebreaker. The Astros played at the Athletics later Friday,
Given a 2-0 lead, deGrom (11-11) gave up six runs in the second inning and two more in the fourth. He allowed eight hits and three walks while striking out five over four innings. It’s the fourth time deGrom has allowed eight earned runs in a game.
Luke Keaschall had four hits, including a double and a triple, and drove in three runs for the Twins. Kody Clemens went 3 for 4 and hit his team-leading 27th homer of the season in the sixth inning.
Twins starter Joe Ryan (7-10) allowed two runs and four hits with eight strikeouts over six innings.
GUARDIANS 12, ROYALS 9
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — José Ramírez, Chase DeLauter and Petey Halpin drew consecutive bases-loaded walks in a five-run ninth inning capped by Angel Martínez’s two-run double, and Cleveland beat Kansas City to maintain a one-game lead over the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.
Cleveland (84-76) and Chicago (83-77) are both assured at least wild card berths. Each team has two games left, and the White Sox hold the division tiebreaker.
Rookie Carter Jensen, who had a career-high five RBIs, tied the score 7-7 in the eighth with his second homer of the game, a two-run shot off Hunter Gaddis (6-3). Jensen has 27 homers this season.
Nate Pearson (2-4) walked Nathaniel Lowe on four pitches starting the ninth and, after Travis Bazzana flied out, issued consecutive four-pitch walks to pinch-hitter Patrick Bailey and Brayan Rocchio.
Steven Kwan grounded to third baseman Maikel Garcia, who threw home for a forceout, and Ramírez forced in the go-ahead run with a five-pitch walk.
Source: “AOL Sports”
