NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cards wait until the eighth to catapult Brewers

Cincinnati Reds' Jason Bourgeois, left, scores past St. Louis Cardinals catcher Tony Cruz, right, on a single by Brandon Phillips during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, in St. Louis.
Cincinnati Reds' Jason Bourgeois, left, scores past St. Louis Cardinals catcher Tony Cruz, right, on a single by Brandon Phillips during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, in St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS -- Rookie Stephen Piscotty doubled in the go-ahead run in a two-run eighth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals turned it on late for a 2-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.

photo

AP

Chicago White Sox second baseman Carlos Sanchez is congratulated by teammates after hitting a home run during the sixth inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers on Monday in Detroit.

Rookie Tommy Pham tripled off J.J. Hoover (8-2) to open the eighth and Jhonny Peralta's one-out single tied it ahead of Piscotty's drive off the wall in left-center.

Johnathon Broxton (3-5) allowed one hit in the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal earned his 47th save in 49 chances to match the franchise record.

The Cardinals maintained a four-game National League Central lead over Pittsburgh, which also won Monday night. St. Louis is a major league-best 51-24 at home and has the best overall record, too, at 94-56.

Reds rookie starter John Lamb held St. Louis scoreless for the second time this month, striking out six and allowing five hits in six-plus innings. Brandon Phillips had three hits including a first-inning RBI single.

Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia allowed a run on five hits in seven innings. He lacked control in the first but survived with minimal damage after throwing two wild pitches, walking two and allowing two hits, then retired the side in order the next four innings -- once with the help of a double play.

PIRATES 9, ROCKIES 3 Starling Marte had four hits, and he came within a triple of the cycle, and visiting Pittsburgh beat Colorado. Aramis Ramirez had a home run and Jody Mercer had four hits for the Pirates, who reduced their magic number for clinching a postseason berth to two. A victory today and a San Francisco loss would clinch at least a wild card for the third consecutive season. A.J. Burnett (Central Arkansas Christian) improved to 9-5 by allowing 3 runs on 6 hits in 5 2/3 innings while walking 4 and striking out 5.

METS 4, BRAVES 0 Jonathon Niese won for the first time in a month, Michael Conforto hit a home run and host New York moved closer to the National League Eastern Division title. Daniel Murphy lined a two-run double, Yoenis Cespedes had three hits and the Mets handed Shelby Miller (5-16) his 15th consecutive defeat. New York stretched its lead to 6 1/2 games over the second-place Nationals with 12 to play and lowered its magic number for clinching the division to seven.

CUBS 9, BREWERS 5 Anthony Rizzo had three hits and scored three runs, Jorge Soler hit a pinch-hit, 3-run home run and host Chicago beat Milwaukee The Cubs inched closer to a National League playoff berth as their magic number to clinch fell to four. Chicago remains two games behind Pittsburgh for the first wild card berth and has won six of seven. Soler's first career pinch-hit home run broke the game open in the seventh inning after the Cubs snapped a 4-4 tie in the fifth with two runs. Starlin Castro, who had two hits and two RBI for Chicago, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly before Miguel Montero singled in Rizzo, who doubled.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

BLUE JAYS 4, YANKEES 2 David Price pitched seven shutout innings, Jose Bautista had two hits and host Toronto used a three-run first inning to beat New York. Toronto stretched its lead in the American League East to 3 1/2 games in the opener of a three-game showdown between the division's top teams. The Blue Jays snapped a two-game losing streak, avoiding their first three-game skid since July 8-10. Price (17-5) improved to 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA against New York since joining the Blue Jays in a July 30 trade. Roberto Osuna overcame Greg Bird's two-out home run in the ninth to earn his 17th save.

ASTROS 6, ANGELS 3 Evan Gattis and Carlos Correa hit two-run home runs, and host Houston beat Los Angeles. Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) improved to 18-8 by pitching 7 2/3 innings to remain undefeated at home this season. More important, the All-Star left-hander helped Houston keep momentum by winning its third consecutive. The Astros (80-71) lead the Minnesota Twins by three games and the Angels by 3 1-2 for the AL's second wild-card spot. The victory put the Astros within a game of first-place Texas in the AL West. Both the Twins and Rangers were off Monday.

RED SOX 8, RAYS 7 Xander Bogaerts hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to lift host Boston past Tampa Bay. David Ortiz collected his 99th RBI and was honored at Fenway Park for hitting his 500th career homer run. It was his first home game since he hit No. 500 against the Rays on Sept. 12. Dustin Pedroia had three hits and Brock Holt drove in a run for Boston, which moved out of last place for the first time since June 8.

WHITE SOX 2-3, TIGERS 0-2 Erik Johnson followed a one-hitter by Jeff Smardzija with six strong innings Monday night, leading visiting Chicago to a doubleheader sweep of Detroit. Samardzija allowed a leadoff single to Victor Martinez in the fifth inning as the White Sox won the opener 2-0. Gordon Beckham hit a home run, Jose Abreu had an RBI double and Avisail Garcia a sacrifice fly in the night cap of the split-doubleheader. All the runs came off Detroit's Randy Wolf (0-4).

Sports on 09/22/2015

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