Baseball-Highlights of Saturday's MLB games

Oct 1 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Saturday's Major League Baseball games. Mets 5, Phillies 3 New York's James Loney got all of a 3-1 pitch in the sixth inning and sent a tiebreaking two-run homer over the fence in right field. The Mets never relinquished the advantage and clinched a 2016 National League wild-card berth with a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday. New York hosts the San Francisco Giants or St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday. Mets starter Bartolo Colon (15-8) went five innings, scattering five hits and striking out six. He gave up a two-run homer to Ryan Howard in the fifth. Cardinals 4, Pirates 3 Jedd Gyorko's 30th home run, a two-out solo shot in the eighth inning, snapped a tie and lifted St. Louis to victory over Pittsburgh. In becoming the first Cardinals player since Carlos Beltran in 2012 to clout 30 homers in a season, Gyorko lined a 3-and-2 fastball from Felipe Rivero (1-6) some 362 feet into the right field seats. It was the 23rd homer since the All-Star break for Gyorko. Giants 3, Dodgers 0 Rookie left-hander Ty Blach pitched eight shutout innings to earn his first major-league win and Angel Pagan broke a scoreless tie with a fifth-inning home run off Clayton Kershaw to lift San Francisco over Los Angeles. The Giants' second consecutive victory in the series came after the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals recorded earlier victories, allowing San Francisco to hold its position between the two in the NL wild-card race. San Francisco is one game ahead of St. Louis for the final berth. Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 3 Ezekiel Carrera hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning as Toronto took a huge step toward an American League wild-card berth with a victory over Boston. Kevin Pillar had three RBIs for the Blue Jays (88-73), who tied Baltimore for the top wild-card spot and 1 1/2 games ahead of Detroit. Yankees 7, Orioles 3 Austin Romine delivered a tiebreaking two-run double with one out in the eighth inning and New York prevented Baltimore from clinching a postseason berth. The Orioles are tied with Toronto for the first American League wild-card spot, 1 1/2 games ahead of Detroit. Braves 5, Tigers 3 Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis homered to spark Atlanta's victory over Detroit, hindering the Tigers' postseason chances. Detroit fell 1 1/2 games behind Baltimore and Toronto in the AL wild-card race. Athletics 9, Mariners 8 (10 innings) No. 9 hitter Joey Wendle capped a four-hit night with a go-ahead RBI double in the top of the 10th inning as Oakland ended Seattle's postseason hopes. Wendle's one-out double to centre field scored pinch runner Chad Pinder on a night when the Mariners rallied from deficits in the seventh and eighth innings. The loss left Seattle (86-75) two games behind Baltimore and Toronto in the American League wild-card standings with one to play. Indians 6, Royals 3 Cody Allen logged his 31st save and Cleveland scored three unearned runs in the eighth inning to beat Kansas City. Whit Merrifield's fielding error on Abraham Almonte's grounder allowed Rajai Davis to score the go-ahead run. Francisco Lindor's two-out double with the bases loaded tacked on two runs. Nationals 2, Marlins 1 Tanner Roark won his career-high 16th game and Trea Turner had a homer and steal and scored both runs as Washington beat Miami. The Nationals wrapped up homefield advantage for the NLDS against Los Angeles when the Dodgers lost earlier in the day. Turner hit a solo homer -- his 13th home run of the year -- for Washington's final run. Reds 7, Cubs 4 Eugenio Suarez hit a two-run homer and Joey Votto doubled twice and drove in three runs, lifting Cincinnati over Chicago. Cubs left-hander Jon Lester (19-5) fell short in his pursuit of 20 victories, allowing five runs on six hits over five innings. Ben Zobrist homered for Chicago. Rays 4, Rangers 1 Tampa Bay right-hander Jake Odorizzi capped his season with another strong start as Tampa Bay topped Texas. Odorizzi (10-6) allowed one run on three hits in six innings. He struck out eight and finished his season 7-1 over his final 14 starts. Twins 6, White Sox 0 Byron Buxton and Jorge Polanco homered as Minnesota avoided its 104th loss by defeating Chicago. Twins starter Hector Santiago (13-10) allowed three hits, struck out six and walked three in 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Diamondbacks 9, Padres 5 Yasmany Tomas homered, Jean Segura had two hits and Archie Bradley had a career-high 11 strikeouts as Arizona defeated San Diego. Tomas hit a three-run homer, his 31st home run of the season, to cap a five-run first inning. Brewers 4, Rockies 3 (10 innings) Chris Carter hit his 41st home run with two outs in the 10th inning to give Milwaukee a victory over Colorado, which scored two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth. Carter tied the Rockies' Nolan Arenado for the National League lead in home runs when he drove a 3-2 slider from closer Adam Ottavino (1-3) into the left-field stands. Astros 3, Angels 0 Collin McHugh combined with two relievers on a four-hit shutout to lead Houston to victory over Los Angeles. McHugh (13-10) earned his sixth successive victory. The right-hander retired the first 14 Angels he faced, induced 10 groundouts, collected four strikeouts, allowed three hits, issued one walk and hit one batter in 7 2/3 innings. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)