Baseball-Highlights of Wednesday's Major League games

Sept 18 (Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Wednesday's Major League Baseball games. - - - - Rays 4, Rangers 3 (12 innings) Desmond Jennings singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning as the Tampa Bay Rays took back the top American League wild-card spot with a critical victory. Tampa Bay (83-68) entered the game tied with the Rangers (82-69) for that position. The walk-off, the 11th this season for the Rays and the second for Jennings, atoned for a defensive miscue hours earlier that had given Texas a 2-0 lead. Texas had taken back a 3-2 lead in the top of the 11th but David DeJesus responded with an RBI in the bottom half to send the game further into extras. - - - - Royals 7, Indians 2 Alcides Escobar stole home and drove in two runs to keep the Cleveland Indians from making progress in the American League playoff race. Escobar swiped home plate in the fifth inning to put his team up 4-2 then delivered a two-run single in the eighth to put the game out of reach. - - - - Angels 5, A's 4 (11 innings) Josh Hamilton hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning then hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in 11th, lifting the Los Angeles Angels to a victory over the Oakland Athletics. The A's had taken a 4-2 lead in the top of the ninth before Los Angeles rallied against closer Brant Balfour to win the series and keep the A's magic number to win the American League West at six. The Angles and A's combined to hit four two-run homers. Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes each hit a two-run homer for the A's, while Trout and Hamilton hit two-run blasts for the Angels. - - - - Orioles 5, Red Sox 3 Chris Davis delivered a bases-loaded two-run single in the 12th inning to lift Baltimore past Boston. By winning for the fourth time in the last five games, the Orioles moved within a game of a wild card spot. The Red Sox came in again and needed a win and a Cleveland loss to clinch their first playoff spot since 2009. They got the Cleveland loss but couldn't come through themselves, scoring just three runs on 15 hits. - - - - Cardinals 4, Rockies 3 The St Louis Cardinals extended their lead in the National League Central to two games over the Pittsburgh Pirates, by holding off the Colorado Rockies for a win. Starter Adam Wainwright (17-9) gave up four straight hits and two runs to open the first inning but recovered to finish 7 2/3 innings. - - - - Padres 3, Pirates 2 Logan Forsythe tied the game with a pinch-hit RBI single and Rene Rivera followed with the game-winning single in the ninth inning as the Padres rallied to beat Pittsburgh and again set the Pirates back in their National League playoff race. The Padres have won the first three games of the four-game series and will go for the sweep Thursday afternoon against the Pirates, who are trying to reach the post-season for the first time since 1992. Pittsburgh has fallen two games behind first-place St Louis and leads Cincinnati, who is playing late Wednesday, by just one game in the National League Central. - - - - Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3 The New York Yankees rallied for four runs in the eighth inning, capped by Vernon Wells' two-run double, to snap a five-game losing streak with a victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees trailed 3-0 in the eighth but got RBIs from Robinson Cano and Alfonso Soriano to spark the winning comeback. - - - - Braves 5, Nationals 2 Justin Upton and Dan Uggla both homered in a three-run sixth inning that gave Atlanta the lead, and the bullpen helped the Braves lock up a victory over the Washington Nationals. Atlanta prevented Washington from sweeping the three-game series. The Braves reduced their magic number to two for clinching the National League East title. - - - - Mariners 8, Tigers 0 Hisashi Iwakuma tossed eight shutout innings to lead the Seattle Mariners to a win over the Detroit Tigers. Iwakuma (13-6) gave up four hits and struck out six while Justin Smoak had two hits, including his 17th homer of the season. Detroit maintained their six-game lead in the American League Central. - - - - Twins 4, White Sox 3 Scott Diamond (6-11) picked up his first win since June 20 at Target Field - also against the White Sox - and the Minnesota Twins won the last meeting of the season between the American League Central cellar dwellers. Minnesota, which won the season series against Chicago with an 11-8 record, heads to Oakland for a four-game series against the A's. The Twins (65-86) also avoided being swept for the 11th time this season. - - - - Mets 5, Giants 4 Josh Satin's two-run single capped a four-run ninth-inning rally by the New York Mets as they edged the San Francisco Giants. San Francisco starter Matt Cain allowed an unearned while striking out six over 7 2/3 innings but the Mets did their damage against the bullpen. - - - - Marlins 4, Phillies 3 (10 innings) Ed Lucas led off the top of the 10th inning with a tie-breaking homer, lifting the Miami Marlins to a victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Lucas' homer, his fourth of the year, came on a 2-2 slider from reliever Cesar Jimenez (1-1). - - - - Brewers 7, Cubs 0 Sean Halton and Khris Davis homered and Tyler Thornburg threw six scoreless innings as the Brewers rolled to a 7-0 victory over the Cubs. Thornburg, in his sixth start of the year, continued his strong audition for 2014 by holding the Cubs to just two hits and two walks with four strikeouts. He retired nine of his first 11 batters and didn't allow a runner into scoring position. - - - - Reds 6, Astros 5 (13) Cincinnati right fielder Jay Bruce hit a two-run double in the 13th inning, and the Reds completed a three-game interleague series sweep of the Houston Astros with a win. Bruce, a native of nearby Beaumont, Texas, capped his 10-RBI series by crushing a 2-0 fastball from Jorge De Leon (0-1) to center field. Billy Hamilton, who finished 3-for-4 with two walks and four stolen bases in his first career start, and Shin-Soo Choo (1-for-3, four walks) scored. Cincinnati moved within a half-game of Pittsburgh for the top National League wild card spot. - - - - Diamondbacks 9, Dodgers 4 Paul Goldschmidt hit his third home run in four games and Arizona prevented the Los Angeles Dodgers from clinching the National League West title with a victory. Goldschmidt had a two-run homer in the first inning, his NL-leading 34th, and Brandon McCarthy (5-9) gave up three runs in six-plus innings to leave the Dodgers' magic number at two. Yasiel Puig had three hits including his 17th home run for the Dodgers (87-65), who can clinch their first playoff berth since 2009 with a victory in the final game of the series Thursday afternoon. (Editing by John O'Brien)