ST. LOUIS — Yasiel Puig homered three times and had a career-high seven RBI, giving him five homers in two games, and the Los Angeles Dodgers routed St. Louis 17-4 on Saturday to move ahead of the Cardinals into sole possession of the second National League wild card.
Puig hit a solo homer in the fourth off John Gant (7-6), and three-run drives in the fifth against Mike Mayers and in the seventh versus Luke Weaver. Puig raised his season total to 21 homers with the first three-homer game of his major league career. He became the fourth Dodgers hitter since 2000 with consecutive multihomer games after Cody Bellinger, Adrian Beltre and Shawn Green.
Bellinger hit a three-run homer in the ninth off Luke Weaver and had a career-high six RBI.
CUBS 1, REDS 0: Jon Lester allowed two hits over seven innings with a season-high nine strikeouts, Willson Contreras hit a run-scoring single in the sixth inning and Chicago won at home to maintain its NL Central lead.
NATIONALS 7, BRAVES 1: Washington’s 19-year-old rookie Juan Soto became the youngest player to steal three bases in a game, had an RBI single and scored the tiebreaking run, helping the visiting Nationals stop Atlanta’s season-best, six-game winning streak.
PHILLIES 5, MARLINS 4: Cesar Hernandez hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the fifth, seven relievers combined on seven shutout innings and Philadelphia won at home.
PIRATES 3, BREWERS 1: Zach Davies failed to hold an early lead and gave up a go-ahead double to Francisco Cervelli in the fourth inning that lifted Pittsburgh at Milwaukee.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
INDIANS 15, TIGERS 0: Unchallenged for months, Cleveland clinched its third straight AL Central title with a blowout at home as Detroit made four errors and managed only two hits.
BLUE JAYS 8, YANKEES 7: CC Sabathia got clocked early and New York, despite hitting four home runs during a furious rally, kept wobbling toward a playoff spot with a loss at home.
RAYS 7, ATHLETICS 5: Jake Bauers hit a three-run homer off Jeurys Familia in the eighth inning to help Tampa Bay win at St. Petersburg, Florida.
WHITE SOX 2, ORIOLES 0: Reynaldo Lopez was sharp over seven innings to continue his late-season surge and lift Chicago at Baltimore.
ROYALS 10, TWINS 3: Ian Kennedy pitched six innings to earn his first win since the first week of April, Alex Gordon drove in five runs and Kansas City won at home.
NOTES
INDIANS: Trevor Bauer moved a little closer to pitching in the postseason, throwing 40 pitches off a mound.
NATIONALS: Pitcher Jeremy Hellickson left his start against Atlanta after re-injuring his right wrist while batting in the fourth inning.
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