Sports FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2016 42 Robbed! Cespedes denied game-winning HR

NEW YORK: Center fielder Ender Inciarte robbed Yoenis won his seventh straight decision. Bobby Wilson, Evan with his third double of the game. Kluber (18-9) matched his Cespedes of a winning homer for the final out, and the New Longoria, Brad Miller and Corey Dickerson all homered in the career high in wins and is 10-1 in his last 14 starts, strengthen- York Mets were handed another costly loss by last-place third. Miller later hit another solo shot to give him 30 homers ing his case to win his second AL Award in three Atlanta when the Braves rallied for a 4-3 victory Wednesday this season. years. Cody Allen allowed Salvador Perez’s leadoff homer in night. With two runners on in the ninth, Cespedes launched a the ninth, but recorded his 28th save in 31 opportunities. Ian drive to deep right-center. Inciarte raced to the wall and MARINERS 2, BLUE JAYS 1 Kennedy (11-10) was the loser. timed his jump perfectly, catching the ball just above the Robinson Cano drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly orange line atop the fence. He held up his glove in excite- in the 12th and the Seattle beat Toronto to avoid a ANGELS 5, RANGERS 4 ment as Cespedes turned and walked slowly off the field. series sweep. Knuckleballer RA Dickey (10-15), who pitched Mike Trout hit his 28th homer and Jered Weaver went six Some fans in the stunned crowd still had their hands on their five scoreless in his last start Friday, came in on the innings for his 150th victory in an Angels uniform, helping Los heads as they filed up the aisles toward the exits. New York 12th for his first relief appearance after 29 starts. Guillermo Angeles beat the AL West-leading Texas. The magic number remained tied with St Louis and San Francisco in the NL wild- Heredia reached on a two-base throwing error by third base- for Texas (90-63) to win its second consecutive AL West title card race after all three teams lost Wednesday. Bartolo Colon man Josh Donaldson to open the 12th. Ben Gamel followed remained at two after the loss and second-place Houston’s vic- and Jeurys Familia failed to protect a three-run lead for the with an attempted sacrifice bunt, and first baseman Ryan tory at Oakland. Trout’s three-run drive off Derek Holland (7-9) Mets. An error by normally sure-handed first baseman James Goins appeared to have Heredia at third, but the ball popped in the fifth put the Angels up 5-1. Weaver (12-12) struck out six Loney helped Atlanta tie it with an unearned run in the out of Donaldson’s glove on the tag. Cano then followed with and allowed four runs. He joined Chuck Finley (165) as the eighth. Inciarte had an RBI groundout against Familia (3-4) in a run-scoring fly to left, quieting the decidedly pro-Blue Jays only to win 150 games for the Angels. A California the top of the ninth, sending the Braves to their fifth straight victory. Ian Krol (2-0) struck out pinch-hitter Kevin Plawecki with the bases loaded to end the eighth, and Jim Johnson got three outs for his 17th save. Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman extended his hitting streak to a career-best 25 games and has reached base safely in 41 straight. Asdrubal Cabrera and Rene Rivera homered for the Mets.

DODGERS 9, GIANTS 3 Yasiel Puig’s three-run homer highlighted a five-run first inning and the Dodgers routed the Giants, extending their NL West lead to six games with 10 remaining. The Dodgers pounded out 12 hits in taking two of three from the rival Giants, who remained tied in the NL wild-card race after both the Mets and Cardinals lost earlier. The Dodgers conclude the regular season with three games at San Francisco next week. Kenta Maeda (16-9) allowed two runs and three hits in five innings while improving to 4-0 against the Giants this season. The right-hander struck out six and walked one in making his 30th start of the season for just the second time in his career. Maeda is one win from tying ’s record by a rookie set in 1979. Matt Moore (11-12) gave up six runs and seven hits in one inning, walked one and struck out none in a messy outing for the left-hander who had pitched exceptionally well at Dodger Stadium.

CUBS 9, REDS 2 pitched seven solid innings for his first win in six weeks, drove in three runs, and Chicago swept Cincinnati. hit his 38th homer and also connected to help major league-leading Chicago move a season-high 42 games over .500. The Cubs (97-55) also matched their win total from a year ago and lowered their magic number for clinching home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs to two over Washington. Lackey (10-8) allowed two runs and five hits in his first win since he beat the Angels NEW YORK: ’ third baseman Jose Reyes, left, picks off Atlanta Braves Mallex Smith, who got on Aug 9. The right-hander, who retired his last 14 batters, caught off base in the sixth inning of a baseball game. — AP went 0-1 with a 2.55 ERA in his previous four starts. The last- place Reds lost for the seventh time in eight games. They man- crowd, bolstered for the third straight game by thousands of native who has spent all 11 of his MLB seasons with the aged just five runs and 19 hits in the three-game series against fans from western Canada. Nick Vincent (4-4) pitched two Angels, Weaver is 150-93 in 321 career starts. Andrew Bailey the NL Central champions. Robert Stephenson (2-2) was pulled scoreless innings for the win. After being blanked on two hits worked the ninth for his fourth save. with two out in the fourth inning. for eight innings, the Blue Jays tied it in the ninth on Jose Bautista’s 19th , a one-out solo shot to left off closer ROCKIES 11, CARDINALS 1 RED SOX 5, ORIOLES 1 Edwin Diaz. Nolan Arenado hit a , German Marquez pitched scored five unearned runs in the sixth inning after five solid innings for his first major league win and Colorado first baseman ’ throwing error and beat Baltimore NATIONALS 8, MARLINS 3 slowed St Louis’ playoff chase. Arenado made it 6-1 in the sec- to pad its AL East lead. Andrew Benintendi hit a three-run pitched 6 2-3 innings to tie for the National ond with his NL-leading 39th homer. Marquez (1-0) made his homer for the Red Sox, who will try to complete a four-game League victory lead with 18, helping Washington beat Miami. first big league start after three appearances out of the sweep today. Boston pulled five games ahead of Toronto and Scherzer (18-7) allowed three runs and struck out eight to bullpen. He allowed one run and struck out three. At 21 years, six in front of Baltimore. (8-10) allowed one run push his major league-leading total to 267. He’s tied for with 212 days, Marquez was the second-youngest in and three hits over seven innings for the Red Sox. Boston’s Chicago’s Jon Lester for the most wins in the NL. Ryan Rockies’ history to earn his first win. The youngest was Jamey seven-game winning streak, which began with a sweep of the Zimmerman hit a three-run homer and also home- Wright at 21 years, 206 days. Luke Weaver (1-4) allowed seven Yankees, is its longest since an identical run early in the 2014 red for the Nationals. They ended a four-game losing streak hits and six runs in two innings. season. Baltimore is a game behind the Blue Jays for the top and lowered their magic number to three to win the NL East AL wild card. The Orioles have lost five of seven, all at home. over the New York Mets. ASTROS 6, ATHLETICS 5 Ubaldo Jimenez (7-12) was the loser. Tom Koehler (9-12) allowed four runs - three earned - in Evan Gattis homered twice, Jason Castro threw out four innings for the Marlins. Christian Yelich hit a solo home a runner to end the game and Houston beat Oakland to com- YANKEES 11, RAYS 5 run and Derek Dietrich hit a two-run homer to chase Scherzer plete a series sweep. Oakland scored on second baseman Jose Rookie Gary Sanchez hit two more homers and drove in five in the seventh and cut it to 6-3. Altuve’s fielding error with two outs in the ninth inning to pull runs, Masahiro Tanaka won despite allowing four home runs in to 6-5. Castro then threw out pinch-runner Arismendy the third inning and New York beat Tampa Bay. The Yankees INDIANS 4, ROYALS 3 Alcantara trying to steal second. Collin McHugh (12-10) won moved within 2 1/2 games of Baltimore for the second AL Corey Kluber allowed two runs and struck out nine in 6 1/3 his fifth straight decision, allowing two runs and six hits over 5 wild-card spot. New York also would have to jump over innings, and the beat Kansas City to eliminate the 2-3 innings. Five relievers combined to record the final 10 outs, Seattle, Houston and Detroit to earn a postseason berth. reigning champions from the AL Central race. The with former A’s setup man Luke Gregerson retiring three bat- Sanchez hit a three-run shot in a four-run second off Alex Indians reduced their magic number for clinching the Central ters for his 15th save. Gattis reached 30 homers. He hit a two- Cobb (1-1) and added his 19th homer in 43 games this season to five. Carlos Santana was 4 for 5 with an RBI single in the run drive in the sixth off Daniel Mengden (2-8) for a 4-1 lead on a solo drive in the sixth against Justin Marks. Tanaka (14-4) eighth. Jose Ramirez drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth and connected again in the eighth.