TORONTO — Bo Bichette homered twice, including the tie-breaking home run off Clay Holmes in the eighth inning that lifted the Toronto Blue Jays over the Yankees 6-5 Wednesday night, tightened the AL wild card race and ended New York’s seven-game winning streak.
Marcus Semien hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the first off a faltering Gerrit Cole, setting a big league record with his 44th home run of the season as a second baseman. Semien topped the 43 by Davey Johnson for for Atlanta in 1973.
George Springer doubled on Cole’s first pitch and Semien homered on Cole’s sixth. Springer hit an RBI single in the second and Bichette’s solo homer in the third built a 4-0 lead against Cole, who allowed his first six hits on fastballs.
Kyle Higashioka hit a tying, two-run single in the seventh off Tim Mayza.
With the score 5-all, Bichette led off the eighth against Clay Holmes (8-4) with his 28th home run, an opposite-field drive that cleared the scoreboard in right-center.
Adam Cimber (3-4) got four outs for the win. With a runner on second and the crowd of 29, 601 on its feet, Jordan Romano retired Tyler Wade on a game-ending flyout for his 22nd save in 23 chances.
Boston closed within one game of the wild card-leading Yankees, and Toronto is one game back of the Red Sox.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BRAVES 7, PHILLIES 2: Max Fried pitched seven strong innings, Austin Riley drove in three runs, and Atlanta beat visiting Philadelphia to move within one victory of a fourth straight NL East title.
The Braves have won nine of 11. Philadelphia, which dropped 4 1/2 games back in the standings with its third straight loss, would be eliminated from postseason contention with one loss or one Atlanta win. The teams conclude their series on Thursday; each has three games left after that.
BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 0: A team-record 17-game winning streak ended for St. Louis, as Daniel Vogelbach hit a two-run homer to back the strong pitching of Adam Houser for visiting Milwaukee.
St. Louis was given a standing ovation after the defeat by the crowd of 35,283. The streak, the longest in the major leagues since Cleveland won 22 straight in 2017, lifted the Cardinals into next week’s NL wild-card game against the Dodgers or Giants.
ROCKIES 10, NATIONALS 5: Trevor Story had four hits in possibly his final appearance at Coors Field with Colorado, helping the Rockies beat Washington.
Ryan McMahon added a three-run homer in Colorado’s home finale, which was interrupted for two hours by rain.
Story is eligible to become a free agent, and the shortstop was treated as if this might turn out to be his final game at Coors Field in purple pinstripes.
MARLINS 3, METS 2: Miguel Rojas’ two-run single capped a three-run rally in the eighth inning, spoiling Taijuan Walker’s longest start in more than four years and sending Miami to a win at New York.
Miami snapped a seven-game losing streak and the Mets lost for the 11th time in 14 games.
NOTES
BREWERS: Reliever Devin Williams fractured his throwing hand when he punched a wall after his team celebrated its NL Central title, likely knocking him out for the entire postseason.
Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said before the Brewers’ Wednesday night game with the St. Louis Cardinals that Williams’ injury likely will require surgery. Stearns said there’s an “outside chance” the 2020 NL rookie of the year could be available for the World Series if the Brewers get that far.
The Brewers clinched the division crown Sunday by beating the New York Mets 8-4 in their regular-season home finale.
“After our celebration, I went out to have a few drinks,” Williams said Wednesday. “On my way home, I was a little frustrated and upset, and I punched a wall. That’s how it happened.”
The injury leaves the Brewers without their main setup man for All-Star closer Josh Hader.
Williams, a 27-year-old right-hander, has an 8-2 record with a 2.50 ERA in 58 games this season. He has struck out 87 batters in 54 innings. Opponents are batting .186 against him.
Williams initially didn’t realize the severity of his injury.
“Devin actually tried to throw with this yesterday,” Stearns said. “We were not aware of this. He went out and tried to throw. I think at that point, he recognized that he had hurt himself.”
Stearns said Williams then notified the Brewers’ medical staff. Williams received an X-ray during Tuesday’s game that revealed the fracture.
Williams apologized to the Brewers and their fans for the circumstances that led to his injury.
“I’m pretty upset with myself,” Williams said. “There’s no one to blame but me. I feel like I’ve let my team down – our coaching staff, our fans, everyone. I know how big of a role that I play on this team. There’s a lot of people counting on me. I guess all I can do now is cheer my team on and learn from it and don’t make that same mistake in the future.”
The Brewers placed Williams on the injured list. They recalled right-handed pitcher Colin Rea from Triple-A Nashville and designated utilityman Tim Lopes for assignment.
WHITE SOX: Shortstop Tim Anderson was suspended for three games and fined for making contact with umpire Tim Timmons during Monday’s 8-7 win at Detroit.
Anderson decided to appeal, and he was in the starting lineup for Chicago’s home game against Cincinnati.
Anderson made contact with Timmons during the ninth inning against the Tigers, according to the release from MLB.
The benches cleared after Chicago slugger Jose Abreu and Detroit shortstop Niko Goodrum exchanged words when Abreu was tagged out attempting to steal second. The dustup occurred after Abreu was hit by a pitch for the 21st time this season.
The White Sox are headed to the postseason after clinching the AL Central title. Anderson is allowed to keep playing while the appeal process plays out, so his suspension could wait until next year.
After the series finale against the Reds, the White Sox have three games left, and Anderson won’t have to complete his suspension in the playoffs.
ANGELS: Shohei Othani has thrown his final pitch this season, and the two-way All-Star will focus on his at-bats in the final few games.
“There’s really nothing left to prove on the mound,” Manager Joe Maddon said. “He’s exceeded expectations on the mound this year.”
Maddon said it was a mutual decision after a conversation with Ohtani (9-2, 3.18 ERA) that the strong AL MVP candidate not pitch in the season finale Sunday at Seattle.
Ohtani, the American League starting pitcher in the All-Star Game and also the leadoff hitter as the designated hitter, struck out 10 in each of his final two pitching starts. The last was a no-decision in the home finale against the Mariners on Sunday, when he allowed one run over seven innings.
After missing all of 2019 on the mound following Tommy John surgery, and starting only two games last season, Ohtani pitched 130 1/3 innings in 23 starts this year. The right-handed pitcher struck out 156 batters and walked 44.
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