Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years.
Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the NL Central champions.
Photo: AFP
“We just have to take it one step at a time and take care of business,” Marsh said. “There’s nothing like it. This is why we show up. This is the stuff we dream about.”
Nico Hoerner homered twice for Chicago, while Isaac Paredes hit four singles.
In Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani singled in the go-ahead run before stealing his 56th base of the season in the sixth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-3 to move within a victory of clinching the NL West title.
Photo: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images
The Dodgers increased their lead over the second-placed Padres to three games with four to play and reduced their magic number to two. Los Angeles need a win in the series finale to earn their 11th division title in 12 years.
“You want to think about it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s right in front of us. We’ll be ready.”
The Padres’ five-game winning streak ended a night after they celebrated making the post-season with a game-ending triple play on their biggest rival’s field. They remained 3.5 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks — who beat the San Francisco Giants 8-2 — and the New York Mets for the NL’s top wild-card spot.
Photo: AFP
“We’re just going to keep coming,” Padres slugger Fernando Tatis Jr said. “We’re definitely going to bring the same energy tomorrow [yesterday] and keep going like that.”
Ohtani’s two-strike, two-out single to center off Adrian Morejon scored Will Smith, who drew a leadoff walk, and made it 4-3. Ohtani stole second, tying him with Ichiro Suzuki for the most in a season by a Japanese-born player.
“He’s somebody I admire and look up to,” Ohtani said through a translator. “I will continue to steal when the occasion is necessary.”
However, the Dodgers could not capitalize, as Mookie Betts followed with a popup to end the inning. He popped up to every infield position.
With two outs in the ninth, Michael Kopech walked Jake Cronenworth to put the tying run aboard. Brandon Lockridge ran for Cronenworth and stole second. Donovan Solano struck out swinging on a fastball from Kopech to end the game and keep fans on their feet cheering.
Kopech earned his 15th save of the season.
Alex Vesia (5-4) got the win with one hitless inning of relief.
Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, retiring Tatis on a flyout and getting Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado on called third strikes.
“Tonight was a clinic,” Roberts said of Treinen. “He’s using his entire toolbox.”
A 137m shot from Tatis — longest by a Padres player this season — tied the game at 3-3 with two outs in the fifth. It was his seventh homer in his past 13 games. San Diego did not get a hit the rest of the game.
The Dodgers scored the tying and go-ahead runs with two outs in the fourth. Gavin Lux had an RBI single and Ohtani’s double hit the Padres bullpen gate in right as the sellout crowd of 52,310 chanted “MVP. MVP.”
“There’s some sense of elevation when it comes to playing these meaningful games,” Ohtani said. “I’m really focused on quality at-bats.”
Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada (6-3) took the loss.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, it was:
‧ Astros 1, Mariners 8
‧ Athletics 1, Rangers 5
‧ Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 1
‧ Guardians 5, Reds 2
‧ Nationals 0, Royals 3
‧ Rockies 2, Cardinals 5
‧ Tigers 7, Rays 1
‧ Twins 8, Marlins 3
‧ White Sox 4, Angels 3 (10i)
‧ Yankees 7, Orioles 9
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