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Highlights of Thursday's MLB games

[September 30, 2016] Sept 29 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Major League Baseball games on Thursday:

Orioles 4, Blue Jays 0

Ubaldo Jimenez allowed one hit in 6-2/3 scoreless innings and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Blue Jays to tie Toronto for the first American League wild-card spot.

The Orioles (87-72) victory eliminated Houston and the New York Yankees from wild-card contention.

Jimenez (8-12) walked three and struck out five, while Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (9-10) allowed nine hits, two walks and four runs in seven-plus innings. He struck out three in losing his fifth straight decision.

Yankees 5, Red Sox 1

CC Sabathia pitched 7-1/3 effective innings, but despite victory over Boston, New York was eliminated from postseason contention.

Sabathia finished his eighth season with the Yankees by allowing one run and four hits. He struck out the first four hitters, eight overall and threw 105 pitches.

Starlin Castro, Jacoby Ellsbury and Aaron Hicks had RBI doubles for the Yankees. Rookie Tyler Austin had a bases-loaded walk and Chase Headley scored on a wild pitch.

Xander Bogaerts homered for the Red Sox, who dropped their third straight following an 11-game winning streak.

Mariners 3, Athletics 2

Mike Zunino broke a tie with a leadoff homer in the seventh inning as the Seattle Mariners held off a ninth-inning Oakland rally to keep their slim postseason chances alive.

Zunino took Oakland reliever Liam Hendriks (0-4) deep in the seventh, and Ketel Marte added an RBI single in the eighth.

The Mariners (85-74) stayed within two games of co-leaders Toronto and Baltimore in the American League wild-card standings.

The Detroit Tigers (85-73) are 1-1/2 games out in the wild-card race after their scheduled game against the Cleveland Indians was rained out.

Toronto, Baltimore and Seattle have three games remaining. Detroit has four to go, including a potential makeup game.

Cubs 1, Pirates (6 innings)

The Cubs and Pittsburgh were tied 1-1 when rain washed out the rest of the game and will go down as the first tie in Major League Baseball since the Houston Astros and Reds played to a 2-2 tie in Cincinnati on June 30, 2005.

The game, which counts towards player stats, would have been official if either team had been in the lead at the time play was called.

Cubs rookie left-hander Rob Zastryzny pitched 3-1/3 innings in his first career start.

Nationals 5, Diamondbacks 3

A patchwork lineup made up of young players and veterans trying to prove themselves for a postseason roster spot led the National League East division champion Washington Nationals to a 5-3 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

That trimmed Washington's magic number to two to clinch the homefield edge over the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NLDS that begins Oct. 7.

Wilmer Difo hit the first homer of his career, Pedro Severino clubbed his second and Michael A. Taylor had three hits and two RBIs for the Nationals.

Dodgers 9, Padres 4

Joc Pederson had three RBIs to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers past the San Diego Padres to remain two games behind the Washington Nationals for homefield advantage in next week's National League Division Series.

Los Angeles scored four times in the sixth to seize control as they roughed up starter Christian Friedrich (5-12) and reliever Jose Torres.

Friedrich went 5-2/3 innings and gave up five runs, seven hits and a walk. He struck out three.

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Brett Anderson (1-2) got the win after pitching 2-1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Indians-Tigers (postponed)

Heavy rain with the prospect of more on the way postponed the game between the wild card-hunting Detroit and the American League Central Division champion Cleveland.

The game will be made up on Monday if it has a bearing on whether the Tigers can make the playoffs or if Cleveland could take the top spot in the AL standings and gain home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Cardinals 4, Reds 3

St. Louis rallied to beat Cincinnati in controversial fashion on Yadier Molina's two-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Molina rammed a 2-0 pitch to left and the ball appeared to hit off signage behind the wall, but the ball was ruled in play and Matt Carpenter scored from first.

Closer Seung Hwan Oh (6-3) gave up the tying run in the ninth and still picked up the win as the Cardinals pulled within two games of the idle New York Mets for the NL's first wild-card spot.

Giants 7, Rockies 2

Johnny Cueto returned from a groin injury to pitch seven strong innings and lead San Francisco to a victory over Colorado.

The win allowed the Giants to remain one game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in the duel for the National League second wild-card playoff spot. The New York Mets sit atop the wild-card standings, one game ahead of the Giants.

Cueto limited the Rockies to two runs on nine hits. He struck out 11 and walked one. He also delivered an RBI bunt single that help San Francisco break the game open with three runs in the sixth inning.

Braves 5, Phillies 2

Matt Kemp doubled in the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning as Atlanta defeated Philadelphia for their 10th victory in the past 11 games.

Rookie shortstop Dansby Swanson hit his third homer to tie the game in the sixth and walked to start the four-run eighth as the Phillies bullpen faltered.

Jeanmar Gomez (3-5) got just one out and gave up the four runs on three hits, two walks (one intentional) and a hit batter. Jace Peterson had a RBI hit and rookie Rio Ruiz a two-run single.

Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman failed to reach base for the first time since Aug. 6 after going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts to snap a 30-game hitting streak and 46-game on-base stretch.

Twins 7, Royals 6

Byron Buxton tripled, doubled, drove in two runs and scored twice as Minnesota defeated Kansas City.

Buxton delivered a one-out double in the ninth inning and after Jorge Polanco reached on an infield hit, Robbie Grossman and Miguel Sano delivered consecutive RBI singles to give Minnesota a 6-4 lead. Max Kepler's two-out single made it 7-4.

Rays 5, White Sox 3

Right-hander Chris Archer survived seventh-inning struggles and avoided a 20-loss season as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago White Sox and ended a six-game losing streak.

Archer (9-19) allowed three runs on six hits for the win. He walked two and struck out five over 6-2/3 innings.

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