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Pirates squeak past Cubs, earn playoff spot
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The Pittsburgh Pirates are headed to the playoffs for the first time in 21 years, clinching at least a National League wild-card spot on Monday when they beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 and the Washington Nationals lost to St Louis.
It will be Pittsburgh’s first trip to the postseason since Barry Bonds and Jim Leyland led the team to three straight NL East division titles from 1990-92. Bonds then left for San Francisco as a free agent, and the small-budget Pirates piled up 20 consecutive losing seasons — the longest streak in major professional sports.
Starling Marte hit a tiebreaking homer off Kevin Gregg (2-6) in the ninth inning before the Pirates threw out a runner at the plate for the final out.
Cincinnati also clinched at least a wild-card berth when it beat the New York Mets 3-2 in 10 innings. Shin-Soo Choo drove in the winning run with a single off the wall.
The Pirates and Reds both trail first-place St Louis by two games in the NL Central division with five to go.
The Cardinals, who are looking for their first NL Central title since 2009, beat the Nationals 4-3.
Carlos Beltran homered and Adam Wainwright earned his 18th win as St Louis eliminated Washington from playoff contention.
In the American League, James Loney hit a leadoff homer in the ninth as the Tampa Bay Rays completed a four-game sweep of Baltimore with a 5-4 win, putting a serious damper in the Orioles’ wild-card playoff hopes.
The win pushed the Rays a full game ahead of idle Cleveland for the top AL wild card spot.
Baltimore fell five games behind the Indians with six games to go for both teams.
The Texas Rangers pulled within a game of Cleveland for the second wild-card spot with a dominating 12-0 win over the Houston Astros.
Alex Rios hit for the cycle for the first time in his career and only the seventh time in Rangers history.
Rios finished off the cycle with a triple to right-center field in the sixth inning, and later scored to put Texas up 11-0. He doubled in the first inning, had an infield single in the third and hit his 18th homer in the fourth.
The Kansas City Royals also stayed in the hunt for an AL wild-card spot with a 6-5 win over the Seattle Mariners.
Alex Gordon threw out a runner at the plate in extra innings and scored on Salvador Perez’s two-out double in the 12th to lift the Royals to victory. Kansas City moved within three games of Cleveland with six remaining.
In other games, it was: Brewers 5, Braves 0; Athletics 10, Angels 5; Marlins 4, Phillies 0; Padres 4, Diamondbacks 1; Twins 4, Tigers 3 (11 innings); and White Sox 3, Blue Jays 2.
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