Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-4 on Wednesday to advance in the Major League Baseball playoffs as the New York Yankees stayed alive with a 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox. The Cleveland Guardians and San Diego Padres also fended off elimination in their best-of-three wild card series, Cleveland downing the Detroit Tigers 6-1 and the Padres topping the Chicago Cubs 3-0.
Mookie Betts had four hits and drove in three runs for the Dodgers, who overcame three fielding errors to win their series 2-0 and line up a best-of-five National League division series with the Philadelphia Phillies. Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto scattered four hits over six-plus innings, rebounding after the Reds put up two runs in the first inning with the aid of a Teoscar Hernandez error. Yamamoto worked out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the sixth inning before recording the first two outs of the seventh and departing to cheers. Betts equaled a franchise playoff record with three doubles, Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani drove in a run, and after two Dodgers relief pitchers allowed two runs in the eighth, Roki Sasaki pitched a sparkling ninth to seal the win.
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In New York, Jazz Chisholm raced from first base to score the go-ahead run as the Yankees beat archrivals Boston to force a decisive game three in their American League wild card series. The Yankees, who fell to the Dodgers in last year’s World Series, were facing elimination after dropping game one. But Chisholm’s mad dash from first, on an eighth-inning single by Austin Wells, means they will host game three at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Chisholm, who was clearly irked that he didn’t get a starting nod from manager Aaron Boone on Tuesday, also came up with a run-saving catch at second base. Ben Rice, who also watched game one from the bench, delivered a two-run home run in the first inning for the Yankees. Boston’s Trevor Story belted a two-run single and homered in the sixth inning.
But the Yankees, who also had a run-scoring single from star slugger Aaron Judge, are still alive. “It was a lot of fun,” Chisholm said. “It came down to the wire, last pitch, last battle — but we just kept on fighting and we prevailed.”
In Cleveland, the Guardians put up five runs in the eighth inning against the Tigers. Brayan Rocchio ignited Cleveland’s surge with a 379-foot go-ahead home run to right field off rookie pitcher Troy Melton. Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann followed with back-to-back doubles, and with two outs in the eighth, catcher Bo Naylor belted a three-run homer. The Tigers were left to regret missed chances. They stranded 15 runners on base and were just one for 15 at the plate with runners in scoring position.
In Chicago, Manny Machado’s monster two-run homer off Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga in the fifth was the big difference-maker for the Padres in the win that leveled their National League series. Padres starter Dylan Cease pitched three-plus shut-out innings and reliever Mason Miller dazzled again. Miller struck out five of six batters he faced, including retiring Carson Kelly with a 104.5 mph fastball.
© 2024 AFP
