Cards beat Cubs 9-0 in Maddon’s finale, clinch NL Central
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals clinched the NL Central on the final day of the regular season, using Jack Flaherty’s arm and Matt Carpenter’s bat Sunday to win their first division title since 2015 with a 9-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs lost on Joe Maddon’s last day as their manager. It was announced before the game that he won’t return next year.
Flaherty tossed seven impressive innings and Carpenter led a three-homer attack with a three-run drive to help St. Louis advanced to the NL Division Series, starting Thursday at Atlanta.
The second-place Milwaukee Brewers will play at Washington in the NL wild-card game Tuesday night, with the winner going on to play Los Angeles in the NLDS.
Paul Goldschmidt and Dexter Fowler also homered for St. Louis (91-71).
Flaherty (11-8) allowed two hits, struck out six and walked one.
Chicago starter Derek Holland (2-5) took the loss.
ROCKIES 4, BREWERS 3, 13 INNINGS
DENVER (AP) — Relegated to an NL wild-card spot, Milwaukee lost to Colorado when Jake Faria threw a wild pitch in the 13th inning that allowed the winning run to score.
The Brewers will play at Washington on Tuesday night in the wild-card game. The winner advances to take on the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run homer for Milwaukee and Hernan Perez had a pinch-hit homer.
Dom Nunez homered for Colorado, which again scored the tying run in the ninth and swept the three-game series.
Bryan Shaw (3-2) picked up the win with a scoreless inning.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Lance Lynn struck out 10, getting his career-high 16th win as Texas closed out the 26th and final season at their ballpark with a win over the AL East champion New York.
After Aaron Judge’s 27th homer in the third inning tied the game at 1-1, Lynn (16-11) retired his last 14 batters while pitching against his former team.
New York, plays Minnesota in the Division Series starting Friday, went 103-59.
Masahiro Tanaka (11-9) allowed two runs and five hits in three innings.
BOSTON (AP) — Eduardo Rodriguez missed out on a 20-win season when Boston’s bullpen blew a late lead, but the Red Sox beat Baltimore on Mookie Betts‘ ninth-inning dash home.
Betts scored from first on a single by Rafael Devers with no outs.
Stevie Wilkerson chased Jackie Bradley Jr.’s fly ball to the edge of the visitors’ bullpen, leaped over the short wall and pulled back Bradley’s would-be homer while nearly tumbling into the seats.
Brandon Workman (10-1) pitched one inning and struck out three to pick up the victory. Dillion Tate (0-2) got the loss for Baltimore (54-108), which was denied its first sweep of the season.
DODGERS 9, GIANTS 0
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Bruce Bochy bid an emotional farewell following 2 1/2 decades in what is certainly Hall of Fame managerial career, finishing with a 9-0 defeat to Los Angeles.
Los Angeles won its franchise-record 106th game, jumping to a 5-0 lead in the first that held up on Will Smith’s two-run homer right after a bases-clearing, three-run double by Corey Seager.
Lefty Rich Hill worked three scoreless innings allowing one hit in his 13th start of the season for the Dodgers. Dustin May (2-3) pitched a perfect fourth for the win.
NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Soroka recovered from a shaky start in his playoff tuneup, but banged-up Atlanta limped into October with a loss to New York.
New York’s Dominic Smith hit a game-ending, three-run homer on his first competitive swing in more than two months.
Soroka was tagged for three runs and four hits in the first inning of the regular-season finale. J.D. Davis socked a two-run homer off the right-hander, who settled down after that and lasted 85 pitches. He gave up three runs and seven hits over five innings, with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Grant Dayton (0-1) took the loss. Chris Mazza (1-1) got two outs for his first major league win.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aristides Aquino hit his 19th home run, Tyler Mahle pitched five shutout innings to pick up his first win since May and Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh shortly after the Pirates fired manager Clint Hurdle.
Brian O’Grady connected for his second home run and Alex Blandino added a solo shot as Cincinnati finished 75-87 under first-year manager David Bell,.
Mahle (3-12) struck out five and allowed three hits to win for the first time in 13 starts. Michael Lorenzen worked the ninth for his seventh save.
Jose Osuna delivered an RBI single for Pittsburgh. Trevor Williams (7-9) gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper got two hits and a standing ovation to close out his first season in Philadelphia, and the Phillies finished at 81-81 after a loss to Miami.
Brad Miller hit a pair of homers for Philadelphia, which ended a run of six straight losing campaigns but fell well short of expectations.
Starlin Castro homered and doubled, and Sandy Alcantara pitched six sold innings for Miami. Martin Prado and Isan Diaz also went deep for the Marlins (57-105), who finished with a losing record for the 10th straight season.
Alcantara (6-14) allowed one run on eight hits, struck out five and walked one.
WASHINGTON (AP) —Washington continued its surge into the playoffs by stretching its winning streak to a year-high eight games with a victory over Cleveland.
Washington will host the NL wild-card game Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Catcher Kurt Suzuki hit his 17th homer, a two-run shot in the third inning. Juan Soto delivered an RBI double in the first, and Brian Dozier and Gerardo Parra each drove in two runs in the sixth. Parra tacked on a run-scoring hit in the eighth.
Joe Ross (4-4) went six innings for Washington, allowing four hits, including Francisco Lindor’s 32nd homer leading off the third inning, and striking out eight batters.
Mike Clevinger (13-4) was charged with six runs over 5 2/3 innings and failed to collect what would have been a career-best 14th win.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Gerrit Cole earned his career-high 20th win, added to his major league-leading strikeout total and finished the best ERA in the AL in Houston’s win over Los Angeles.
Cole (20-5) posted his franchise-record 16th straight win as the Astros wound up with the top record in the majors at 107-55 and home-field advantage throughout the postseason. They begin the playoffs Friday at home against the winner of the wild-card game between Tampa Bay and Oakland.
George Springer, Aledmys Diaz and Yuli Gurriel all homered to boost Houston.
Cole allowed one earned run over five innings and struck out 10. He is the first pitcher in the majors to record double-digit strikeouts in nine consecutive games. He also became the first to reach 300 without throwing a complete game.
The Angels finished at 72-90, their fourth consecutive losing season. The Angels struggled through injuries to Mike Trout and others and the death of teammate Tyler Skaggs.
Matt Thaiss homered twice, doubled and drove in four runs for the Angels. Dillon Peters (4-4) gave up three home runs.
TORONTO (AP) — Blake Snell lost in a tuneup for a potential postseason outing, and Tampa Bay was beaten by Toronto in its last game before the wild card playoff against the Oakland Athletics.
Tampa Bay finished 96-66, one win shy of the franchise record set the 2008 pennant-winning team that lost to Philadelphia in the World Series. The Rays headed to Oakland for Wednesday’s matchup against the A’s (97-65).
Snell (6-8) allowed two runs and three hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Teoscar Hernández homered for the third straight game as the Blue Jays won for the ninth time in their final 13 games.
Breyvic Valera also homered for Toronto.
Clay Buchholz (2-5) allowed one run and four hits in five innings to win for the first time since Aug. 31 against Houston.
MARINERS 3, ATHLETICS 1
SEATTLE (AP) — Kyle Seager hit a two-run homer in the first inning, promising prospect Kyle Lewis added an RBI single and Seattle closed out the season with a win over playoff-bound Oakland.
Oakland finished 97-65 for the second straight year and rested most of its regular starters ahead of Wednesday night’s AL wild-card game at home against Tampa Bay.
The A’s had just three hits as Seattle used a variety of young arms to close out the season. Justin Dunn was impressive in his two innings and Reggie McClain (1-1) got the victory. Anthony Bass pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
CHICAGO (AP) — Tim Anderson became the third Chicago player to win an American League batting title, finishing at .335 after going 0 for 2 in a season-ending win over Detroit.
Anderson joined Luke Appling (1936 and 1943) and Frank Thomas (1997) as batting champions for the White Sox.
Detroit skidded to a 47-114 mark from last year’s 64-98 and wound up with the second-most losses in franchise history.
Chicago rallied with a four-run sixth inning. Yoán Moncada hit an RBI groundout, Eloy Jiménez followed with a run-scoring double against Spencer Turnbull (3-17) and Welington Castillo hit a two-run homer off David McKay.
Jimmy Cordero (1-1) got two outs for his second big league win.
Miguel Cabrera and Ronny Rodríguez homered for Detroit.
DIAMONDBACKS 1, PADRES 0
PHOENIX (AP) — Taijuan Walker returned from Tommy John surgery on the final day of the regular season, Tim Locastro beat out an infield grounder to drive home the winning run in the ninth inning and Arizona beat San Diego.
Locastro bounced one deep into the hole at shortstop with two outs, and Luis Urias skipped a throw to first on what would have been a close play, allowing Christian Walker to score from third. Stefan Crichton (1-0) pitched the ninth for his first major league win.
Matt Strahm (6-11) gave up three hits and the decisive run for the loss.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jorge Soler locked up the AL home run crown with his 48th homer, Brett Phillips drove a game-ending sacrifice fly in the ninth inning and Kansas City beat Minnesota in manager Ned Yost’s final game.
Phillips’ first career walk-off RBI gave Yost a celebratory send-off on the final day of the regular season. Yost finished 746-839 over 10 seasons leading Kansas City.
Soler connected in the first inning and broke a tie with Rafael Palmeiro for most home runs in a season by a Cuban-born player. The 27-year-old Soler’s previous career high was 12.
Ian Kennedy (3-2) pitched a scoreless ninth before the Royals rallied against rookie Brusdar Graterol (1-1).
The AL Central-winning Twins scored three runs in the first on back-to-back home runs by C.J. Cron —a two-run shot — and Jake Cave.
