ST. LOUIS — The Milwaukee Brewers were eliminated from playoff contention Saturday when they squandered a six-run lead in a 7-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, handing baseball’s final postseason spot to the Colorado Rockies.
Brewers reliever Anthony Swarzak gave up a two-run single to Stephen Piscotty that tied it in the eighth inning and a go-ahead single to Harrison Bader. Milwaukee tried to rally and save its season in the ninth, but Brett Phillips struck out with a runner on second to end it.
Milwaukee’s loss clinched the second NL wild card for Colorado, which will play at NL West rival Arizona in the wild-card game Wednesday.
PIRATES 4, NATIONALS 1: Washington ace Max Scherzer was pulled from his start while tuning up for the playoffs after an apparent injury to his right leg in the Nationals’ loss at home.
CUBS 9, REDS 0: Jon Lester struck out seven over five innings, Kyle Schwarber hit his 30th home run and host Chicago pounded Cincinnati for its 15th win in 18 games.
PADRES 3, GIANTS 2: Matt Cain pitched five shutout innings, then raised his arms and waved his cap, fighting off tears amid a standing ovation as he walked off the mound for the final time at San Francisco in the Giants’ loss to San Diego.
AMERICAN LEAUGE
YANKEES 2, BLUE JAYS 1: New York wound up with an AL wild-card spot, beating Toronto at home on Aaron Judge’s 52nd home run shortly before Boston clinched the AL East crown.
New York needed two wins and two losses by Boston to force a tiebreaker Monday at Yankee Stadium. Instead the Yankees will host Minnesota in the wild-card game Tuesday.
Replacement starter CC Sabathia (14-5) won his fifth straight decision. With the Yankees still in contention for the division title to begin the day, Manager Joe Girardi opted for Sabathia to pitch on his regular four days’ rest in place of originally scheduled Jaime Garcia.
TIGERS 3, TWINS 2: Andrew Romine became the fifth player in history to play all nine positions in one game, helping Detroit win at Minneapolis.
Romine, a 31-year-old utilityman, played catcher for the first time in his career and got one out on the mound.
NOTES
INDIANS: Outfielder Michael Brantley was activated from the disabled list, and Manager Terry Francona said he may put Brantley on the playoff roster.
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