Wednesday's AL wild-card update
The race continued to narrow, as the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox were officially eliminated, by the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays, respectively. But the Royals, Tigers, Twins and Mariners all kept pace with each other by winning.
Here's what happened in the American League's key games as the Tigers' magic number dropped to three:
Tigers 7, Rays 1: Parker Meadows homered to lead off the bottom of the first, and Spencer Torkelson added a double and a two-run home run to back an impromptu bullpen day (capped by the MLB debut of 2021 No. 3 overall pick Jackson Jobe).
Orioles 9, Yankees 7: Every Baltimore position player had a hit, led by shortstop Gunnar Henderson's three of them, while scoring three times, and the O's held off a ninth-inning rally to keep their hopes of an AL East title alive. They're four games back of the Yankees, with four to play (including Thursday's series finale), but hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Royals 3, Nationals 0: K.C. actually managed to score in regulation Wednesday after needing 10 innings to scratch a run out Tuesday. Washington did not, as the Royals bullpen allowed just two hits after starter (and ex-Tiger) Michael Lorenzen departed with an injury.
Twins 8, Marlins 3: Down 3-0 before recording an out, Minnesota tied it on a fourth-inning homer from oft-injured Byron Buxton, then pushed across five runs in the seventh, fueled by a bases-loaded double from Carlos Santana (who was thrown out going for three).
Mariners 8, Astros 1: Julio Rodriguez joined the 20/20 club — that's 20 homers and 20 steals — for the third straight season, and George Kirby scattered four hits and a walk over six innings for the M's.
White Sox 4, Angels 3: OK, this one isn't wild-card related, but the ChiSox did manage to win their second straight (and their second series of the month) as they attempt to avoid setting the MLB record for most losses in a season — they're tied with the 1962 Mets at 120 defeats, with four games to go (including three in Detroit this weekend).
Tuesday's update
The Tigers have gained another full game on the struggling Minnesota Twins in the American League wild-card race.
The Tigers started off Tuesday's baseball slate by outlasting the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-1, thanks to another Tarik Skubal masterclass, giving themselves a 1½ game lead over the Twins at the time.
With the pressure on and the chance of falling back another game to the Tigers, the Twins couldn't deliver, losing 4-1 to a bad Miami Marlins team that is 41 games below .500. The Marlins scored four runs in the second inning off Twins starter Bailey Ober and never looked back.
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With the Tigers win and Twins loss, the Tigers are now two full games ahead of the Twins in the wild-card standings, though the Twins hold the tiebreaker if the two teams finish with the same record. The Tigers' magic number for eliminating the Twins is now four, meaning they need a combination of four wins or losses to officially finish ahead of them for the regular season.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals, who like the Twins, suddenly found themselves at risk of falling behind the Tigers after losing seven straight games, managed to get the train back on the track Tuesday and beat the Washington Nationals. The Royals outhit the Nationals, 8-5, but couldn't score a single run in regulation and only won in the 10th inning when the free runner for extra innings scored because of an error by Nationals shortstop Nasim Nuñez. The Royals held on in the bottom of the 10th inning to remain in a tie with the Tigers in the standings. The Royals hold the tiebreaker, so the Tigers will have to beat them by a game to take over the second wild-card spot.
Elsewhere across the American League, there were more close games that the Tigers had their eyes on.
The Seattle Mariners, slowly running out of time to gain ground on the Tigers and Royals, lost to the Houston Astros, 4-3, despite getting three runs off Astros ace Framber Valdez. The Mariners held a 3-1 lead after the third inning, but the Astros fought back, scoring one run in the fourth and two in the fifth and ended up winning, 4-3. The Mariners are now 2½ game behind the Tigers and do not hold the tiebreaker, as Detroit won 5 of 6 games this year.
Last but not least, the Boston Red Sox stayed in the wild-card race by beating the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5, in extra innings as well. Trevor Story led off the scoring in the 10th inning, driving in Jarren Duran with an RBI double, and the Red Sox added two more runs before turning the bats over to the Blue Jays. Toronto responded with two runs of their own, but couldn't tie the game, ultimately losing by one. Despite the win, the Red Sox are still 3½ games behind the Tigers with five games to play and like the Mariners, do not hold the tiebreaker since they lost the season series.
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Although the Tigers suddenly find themselves in the driver's seat for a wild-card spot, the margins are very tight. The Tigers will face a Tampa Bay team again Wednesday that still technically isn't eliminated from the playoffs, though they're down five games with give games to play.
Even though the calendar says September and the regular season is still going, we've essentially started playoff baseball for a lot of the teams in the American League.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers magic number: Win over Rays shaves another game off countdown
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