CLEVELAND – Pinch-hitter Jason Giambi belted a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a stunning 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race.
Giambi drove a 1-1 pitch from Addison Reed (5-4) into the lower deck in right field to save the Indians from a potentially devastating loss. Giambi’s shot bailed out closer Chris Perez, who gave up two homers in the top of the ninth.
Additional Photos
As he rounded third base, the 42-year-old Giambi slowed down before being engulfed by his teammates as the Indians celebrated their 13th straight win over Chicago.
Bryan Shaw (6-3) came in after Perez blew a 3-2 lead.
RANGERS 3, ASTROS 2: Adrian Beltre homered at home for the first time in more than a month as host Texas stayed close in the wild-card race, handing Houston its 11th straight loss.
With five games left in the regular season, Texas remained a game behind Cleveland for the AL’s second wild-card spot.
TIGERS 4, TWINS 2: Doug Fister struck out seven and Detroit homered three times in the fourth inning to clinch a playoff berth with a win at Minneapolis.
RAYS 7, YANKEES 0: Matt Moore had New York flailing for five wild innings, and Tampa Bay beat host New York, pushing the Yankees to the brink of missing out on the postseason for the second time in 19 years.
Tampa Bay roughed up Hiroki Kuroda in tightening its grip on an AL wild-card spot with its fifth straight win.
BLUE JAYS 3, ORIOLES 2: Toronto eliminated host Baltimore from the playoff hunt, using two clutch RBI singles by Mark DeRosa to win in 10 innings.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
PHILLIES 2, MARLINS 1: Darin Ruf and Kevin Frandsen drove in runs without a hit in the first inning, and Philadelphia won at Miami.
CARDINALS 2, NATIONALS 0: Rookie Michael Wacha lost his no-hit bid on Ryan Zimmerman’s infield single with two outs in the ninth inning, and St. Louis beat visiting Washington to close in on the NL Central title.
Making his ninth career start, Wacha came about as close as possible to finishing off the third no-hitter in the majors this season. Instead he became the third pitcher to have a bid broken up with one out to go.
Zimmerman hit a chopper just over Wacha’s glove and the ball bounced slowly toward shortstop. A charging Pete Kozma grabbed it with his bare hand and whipped a throw to first that was a little wide, pulling Matt Adams off the bag just as Zimmerman arrived.
BRAVES 3, BREWERS 2: Andrelton Simmons’ single to the gap in right-center drove in Justin Upton with two outs in the ninth inning to give Atlanta a win at home.
METS 4, REDS 2: Daniel Murphy hit a three-run homer off Mike Leake, whose long streak of scoreless innings got shattered early, and New York won at Cincinnati.
Leake (14-7) gave up four runs and eight hits in only 12/3 innings, matching the shortest start of his career. Wilfredo Tovar ended his scoreless innings streak at 212/3 with an RBI single.
PIRATES 8, CUBS 2: Gerrit Cole threw six strong innings and visiting Pittsburgh took over the NL wild-card lead.
The Pirates moved one game ahead of Cincinnati and remained two games behind NL Central-leading St. Louis.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.