NATIONAL LEAGUE
PHILLIES 10, METS 8
NEW YORK -- The New York Mets fell behind by 10 runs early and finished just short of what would have been the largest comeback victory in team history, losing 10-8 to the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.
New York's NL wild-card lead was cut to a half-game over St. Louis and San Francisco, which played at San Diego later Saturday.
Philadelphia's Maikel Franco and Darin Ruf each hit long a home run for the second consecutive night as Philadelphia built a 10-0 lead by the fourth.
Sean Gilmartin (0-1) fell behind 3-0 after 12 pitches and left having allowed 5 runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Jay Bruce hit his first career pinch-hit home run with one out in the ninth. Eric Campbell and Michael Conforto then drew walks before Michael Mariot got his second save by retiring Lucas Duda on a popup and Travis d'Arnaud on a comebacker.
Gavin Cecchini got his first two major league hits and drove in two for the Mets, who brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth and the winning run in the ninth, but could not overcome the early onslaught. T.J. Rivera also had two RBI.
Pressed into a spot start because Noah Syndergaard has strep throat, Gilmartin made more work for New York's exhausted bullpen. Philadelphia sent 11 to the plate in the first, and the Mets had to use six relievers after calling on 16 pitchers during the first two games of the series.
Franco's 25th home run was a 422-foot blast to center that made it 3-0.
After Ruf's three-run blast made it 10-0, Mets Manager Terry Collins pulled some of his regulars to give them a rest in a blowout. His bench players then pieced together some timely hits and the Phillies defense struggled during a nearly historic rally.
The Mets got their biggest comeback victory when they overcame an eight-run deficit to win 11-8 at Houston on Sept. 2, 1972.
The Mets got four runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth. In the eighth, Hector Neris allowed Cecchini's RBI double, but then got Rivera to fly out to center and Brandon Nimmo to pop up to end the threat.
CARDINALS 10, CUBS 4 Yadier Molina drove in four runs, Stephen Piscotty homered and St. Louis boosted its playoff hopes by getting to Jason Hammel early in a rout of host Chicago.
NATIONALS 6, PIRATES 1 Visiting Washington clinched its third National League East title in five years, beating Pittsburgh behind 5 1/3 scoreless innings from rookie reliever Reynaldo Lopez.
MARLINS 6, BRAVES 4 Derek Dietrich hit a two-run home run to help host Miami end Atlanta's winning streak at seven games. Dee Gordon had two hits, two walks and three stolen bases -- one shy of tying the Marlins' single-game franchise high.
REDS 6, BREWERS 1 Dan Straily pitched into the seventh inning and Joey Votto hit a two-run home run to lift visiting Cincinnati to a victory over Milwaukee. Straily (14-8) allowed just 1 run on 5 hits with 5 strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ROYALS 7, TIGERS 4 Paulo Orlando hit a tying, two-run double and Eric Hosmer followed with a three-run home run against Francisco Rodriguez, capping a ninth-inning comeback that led visiting Kansas City over Detroit.
RANGERS 5, ATHLETICS 0 The lone veteran in the lineup a day after Texas won another AL West title, Elvis Andrus hit a pair of two-run home runs in the team's victory against host Oakland.
BLUE JAYS 3, YANKEES 0 Jose Bautista hit a three-run home run off Tyler Clippard in the eighth inning, and Toronto beat visiting New York to send the Yankees to their third consecutive shutout defeat.
RED SOX 6, RAYS 4 Dustin Pedroia hit his fourth career grand slam to help Rick Porcello get his major league-leading 22nd victory, and AL East-leading Boston beat host Tampa Bay for its 10th consecutive victory.
WHITE SOX 8, INDIANS 1 Cleveland blew some early scoring chances against Jose Quintana and lost to visiting Chicago, keeping it from getting closer to an AL Central title.
ANGELS 10, ASTROS 4 Kole Calhoun had three hits and two RBI, and visiting Los Angeles scored nine runs in the final two innings to rally for the second consecutive game in a victory over Houston.
TWINS 3, MARINERS 2 Miguel Sano hit a tiebreaking home run in the bottom of the fourth inning and Tyler Duffey pitched seven strong innings for his best start in more than a month as host Minnesota beat Seattle.
INTERLEAGUE
ORIOLES 6, DIAMONDBACKS 1 Trey Mancini hit his third home run in nine major league at-bats, Mark Trumbo connected for his league-leading 45th home run and Baltimore beat visiting Arizona.
Sports on 09/25/2016