AMERICAN LEAGUE
ATHLETICS 4, RANGERS 0
ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Oakland Athletics waited until the last day of the regular season to finally clinch their third consecutive playoff berth.
Adam Dunn's wait to make the postseason for the first time lasted much longer: 2,001 games over 14 seasons.
"It's what you work for your whole career," said Dunn, who was traded to Oakland from the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 31. "I don't know how fair it is that I get to enjoy kind of the fruit of their labor, but beggars can't be choosers."
Sonny Gray threw a six-hitter to win for the first time in five September starts, Josh Reddick had an RBI triple and Oakland beat the Texas Rangers 4-0 Sunday to clinch the American League's second wild card.
The A's play the win-or-go-home wild-card game Tuesday night at Kansas City, which won five of the seven games in the season series against Oakland (88-74).
Manager Bob Melvin stood in the middle of the clubhouse and gathered the team around him.
"We're in. That's three in a row," he said before being showered with champagne and beer.
After winning the AL West the past two seasons, the A's finally got in this time after a prolonged slump.
The A's lost 30 of their previous 45 games before winning game No. 162.
"Now the pressure's off, and now we just go out there and play," said Gray, the 24-year-old right-hander who struck out five with no walks in his second career complete-game shutout, both this season against Texas.
"That was a huge," said Jon Lester (16-11), the midseason addition who pitched in two World Series for Boston and will start will start the wild-card game. "That's one of the more impressive games I've gotten to watch in a while."
Dunn's 2,001 career games with the A's, White Sox, Cincinnati Arizona and Washington were the most by any active player before getting into the postseason. The 34-year-old slugger has said he plans to retire after this season when his contract is set to expire, and waived his no-trade clause for the White Sox to send him to the A's less than a month ago.
Dunn got doused repeatedly during the celebration, and at one point dived onto the already-soaked floor after encouraging shouts from his teammates, who then showered him again.
"I played scenarios of this day out in my head probably a thousand times," Dunn said. "I just want to celebrate with this team."
YANKEES 9, RED SOX 5
The ball, marked and numbered for the occasion, bounced high off the dirt and down the third-base line, where a rookie who was 4 years-old when Derek Jeter made his major league debut leaped into the air to attempt a bare-handed play.
It went off of his palm and onto the grass, and by that time Jeter was safe at first with hit No. 3,465 -- sixth all-time, and the most in franchise history -- along with the 1,311th RBI of a career in which he established himself as the New York Yankees' consummate captain and, for two decades, the face of baseball.
Jeter bid baseball adieu with an RBI single on a chopper, a dugout full of hugs and a final wave to the fans on Sunday, concluding his Hall of Fame career by helping the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox.
"In an era where few heroes exist, over a 20-year span he represented the sport and himself in an absolutely magnificent way. It's almost hard to believe," Commissioner Bud Selig said this weekend when he stopped by Fenway for his own farewell tour. "He makes one proud."
Three days after an emotional farewell in New York, pinstripe-wearing fans filled Fenway Park for Jeter's finale, chanting for him and the visiting Yankees and standing for each of his at-bats. After a hard line-drive out in the first inning, Jeter delivered his final hit as part of a four-run third inning, then left for a pinch hitter and headed into retirement.
"I'm ready for it now," Jeter said after the final out. "The plan was two at-bats. I was lucky I got a hit. I guess I hit the right part of the plate."
Sports on 09/29/2014