TORONTO (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2013, clinching an AL wild card berth with a 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night behind Tommy Pham’s two-run homer and 4 1/3 hitless innings from Tyler Glasnow.
Tampa Bay will play Oakland in the wild-card game on Wednesday night. The Rays will start Charlie Morton.
At 96-64, the low-budget Rays have their most wins since 2010 and can tie the team record of 97 set in 2008, when they won their only AL pennant and lost to Philadelphia in the World Series.
Tampa Bay began the night with a magic number of two to clinch, and Cleveland lost 8-2 at Washington while the Rays were in the eighth inning.
Jubilant players poured out of Tampa Bay’s dugout for a celebration around the mound after right-hander Emilio Pagan retired Reese McGuire to end it.
Austin Meadows also homered for the Rays, hitting his 33rd this season off Ryan Dull in the ninth.
Orioles 4, Red Sox 1
BOSTON — Renato Nunez hit a three-run homer, Asher Wojciechowski pitched six shutout innings and Baltimore beat Boston.
Wojciechowski (4-8) struck out six as the Orioles took the opener of the season-ending, three-game series for both clubs.
Baltimore also guaranteed that the Red Sox will finish with a losing record at Fenway Park. The Red Sox fell to 37-40 at Fenway, where they last finished with a losing record in 2014 — when they were also coming off a World Series championship.
Nunez’s three-run shot to left in the third off of Nathan Eovaldi (2-1) was just about all the scoring the Orioles needed. It was the 30th homer of the season for Nunez, who added an RBI single in the ninth and drove in all four of Baltimore’s runs.
Twins 6, Royals 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Minnesota became the record fourth team in the major leagues to win 100 games this season, beating Kansas City behind two-run homers from Miguel Sano and Ryan LaMarre in a game shortened to 6¢ innings because of rain.
Minnesota reached the century mark in wins for just the second time in franchise history. The 1965 Twins went 102-60, then lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games.
Houston, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees also have 100 wins. Before this year, the only seasons with as many as three 100-game winners were 1942, 1977, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2016 and 2017.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Mets 4, Braves 2
NEW YORK — Pete Alonso hit his 52nd homer to match Aaron Judge’s rookie record, and New York beat Atlanta.
Alonso connected in the first inning against Dallas Keuchel, narrowly clearing the wall in left field for a solo shot that tied Judge’s mark from his breakout season with the New York Yankees in 2017.
Braves star Freddie Freeman returned to the lineup and went 0 for 5 after taking four days off to rest his sore right elbow.
Pirates 6, Reds 5
PITTSBURGH — Kevin Newman hit a two-run homer with two out in the ninth inning to give Pittsburgh a win over Cincinnati.
Jake Elmore set up Newman’s game-ending swing with a leadoff single against Raisel Iglesias (3-12). Newman, who also hit a three-run homer in the fifth, hit a drive into the bleachers in left for his 12th homer.
It was Iglesias’ sixth blown save opportunity. Yacksel Rios (1-0) worked a scoreless inning for his fifth career victory.
INTERLEAGUE
Nationals 8, Indians 2
WASHINGTON —Cleveland will miss out on the postseason for the first time since 2015, eliminated from the AL wild-card race in a loss to the playoff-bound Washington.
Gerardo Parra had four RBIs to lead the Nationals to their sixth straight win. The Indians have lost three straight, totaling just two runs and seven hits in the last two, and their loss clinched a wild-card berth for Oakland.
Parra broke a 2-all tie for Washington with a sacrifice fly in the sixth off Nick Goody (3-2), and Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a double that added two more runs.
Parra also hit two-run double off Zach Plesac in the second, and a solo homer off Dan Otero in the eighth.
The Indians’ runs came on an RBI double by Ryan Flaherty and a sacrifice fly by Francisco Lindor against Austin Voth (2-1), who went six innings.
