Baseball-Highlights of Saturday's Major League Baseball

(Adds details of later games) Sept 21 (The Sports Exchange) - Highlights of Saturday's Major League Baseball games Cardinals 7, Brewers 2 Matt Adams homered, Lance Lynn struck out seven and the St Louis Cardinals added five runs in the eighth for an ultimately comfortable victory over Milwaukee. St Louis beat the Brewers for the second successive night to remain on top of the National League Central, two games clear of Pittsburgh and three in front of Cincinnati. Pirates 4, Reds 2 A.J. Burnett steadied Pittsburgh after their most difficult loss of the season as the Pirates edged the Cincinnati Reds. Burnett pitched seven strong innings a night after Pittsburgh blew a 5-2 lead in the ninth and lost to the Reds in 10 innings in the opener of a three-game series between the National League Central contenders. Burnett helped keep the Pirates two games behind St Louis, while they moved one game ahead of the Reds. Dodgers 4, Padres 0 Clayton Kershaw tossed a three-hitter, and the Los Angeles Dodgers got a pair of two-run homers from Yasiel Puig and A.J. Ellis in a victory over the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers (89-66), who have won the National League West, have captured six of the last seven against the Padres (72-82). Mets 5, Phillies 4 (7) David Wright and Daniel Murphy each homered as the visiting New York Mets edged Philadelphia when the game was called because of rain in the seventh inning. Wright homered for the second straight game for New York, which won for the sixth time in its last nine contests. Marlins, Nationals rained out Rain washed out the game between the Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals. The teams instead will play a doubleheader on Sunday. Diamondbacks 7, Rockies 2 Matt Davidson hit a three-run home run that helped the Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies in a game between two teams out of playoff contention. Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 2 Now that they've clinched their first American League East title since 2007, the Boston Red Sox are going about the business of trying to wrap up the best overall record in the league. But one night after their celebration, they ran into a stingy Mark Buehrle, who helped the last-place Toronto Blue Jays to a road win over the Red Sox and previously undefeated Clay Buchholz. Tigers 7, White Sox 6 (12) The Detroit Tigers made an unlikely comeback, scoring six runs in the ninth inning to tie the game before beating the Chicago White Sox in the bottom of the 12th. Omar Infante's infield single with one out scored Don Kelly from third base to give the Tigers victory. They need only two more wins to clinch the American League Central title. Angels 6, Mariners 5 The Los Angeles Angels survived a late rally by the Seattle Mariners, who scored three runs in the final two innings but still came up short, losing by one run for the third game in a row. Rays 5, Orioles 1 A dominant pitching performance by Alex Cobb led the Tampa Bay Rays to a comfortable victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Less than 11 hours after completing their marathon 18-inning game in the wee hours of Saturday, the teams fronted up again - and this time the Rays polished off their opposition in less than three hours. Tampa Bay (85-69) won for the seventh time in 10 games and fortified its hold on the top wild card spot in the American League. The Orioles (81-73) slumped to 3 1/2 games out of the second wild card spot. Indians 4, Astros 1 Scott Kazmir pitched seven scoreless innings on four hits and Michael Brantley homered as the Cleveland Indians kept pace in the American League wild card race with a comfortable win over the Houston Astros. The streaking Indians have won eight of their last 10 games while Houston, which absorbed its 104th loss of the season, has lost eight in a row. The victory keeps the Indians in the second wild card spot, a half-game behind wild card leader Tampa Bay. Rangers 3, Royals 1 Matt Garza pitched eight strong innings as the Texas Rangers clinched a vital road victory over fellow American League wild card contender Kansas City. The Rangers won for just the sixth time in their past 21 games to remain one game behind Tampa and a half-game behind Cleveland in the race for the two wild card spots. Kansas falls 3 ½ games behind Cleveland. Yankees 6, Giants 0 Ivan Nova pitched a six-hitter for the second shutout of his career, leading the New York Yankees to an emphatic victory over the San Francisco Giants at Yankee Stadium. Eduardo Nunez and Alfonso Soriano hit home runs for the Yankees, who won for only the seventh time in 17 games. The Yankees (82-73) still have a small chance of claiming the second American League wild card spot, three games behind the Cleveland Indians. Athletics 9, Twins 1 Pitcher Jarrod Parker gave up just one run and four hits in six innings as the Oakland A's closed in on their second consecutive American League West title with a big victory over the Minnesota Twins. The A's clinched a tie for first in the division and reduced their magic number to win the West to one. One more A's win or one more Texas Rangers loss, and the Athletics can start celebrating and planning their 25th trip to postseason in franchise history and 17th since moving to Oakland. Cubs 3, Braves 1 Travis Wood threw seven strong innings and the Chicago Cubs scored three times in the eighth inning, vaulting past the Braves to delay Atlanta's inevitable National League East championship. Atlanta was five outs away from winning its first division title since 2005, thanks to another strong start from Kris Medlen. (Editing by Ian Ransom)