BALTIMORE: The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals became the second and third teams to book their places in Major League Baseball’s play-offs, clinching the American League East and National League East titles respectively with victories on Tuesday.
Baltimore clinched their first divisional title since 1997 by beating Toronto 8-2, boosted by home runs from Steve Pearce and Jimmy Paredes, while Washington defeated Atlanta 3-0 to reclaim the division title from the Braves, who won it last year.
They joined the Los Angeles Angels in booking their places in the play-offs. The Angels, who secured their postseason berth on Monday, may have celebrated too hard because they were routed 13-2 by Seattle, who made up ground in the wild card race.
In another key play-off-shaping game, Milwaukee edged St. Louis in 12 innings to tighten the AL Central struggle.
Since last winning the World Series in 1983, the Orioles went into a decline, including a spell of 14 successive seasons with more losses than wins, but have now taken two AL East titles in three years.
The franchise has enjoyed a rebirth under the guidance of manager Buck Showalter, whose 1,254th victory thrust him past mentor Billy Martin into sole possession of 36th place on the career list.
Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jimenez (5-9) survived a rocky start to limit the Blue Jays to two hits over five innings.
Steve Pearce hit a three-run homer in the first inning and Jimmy Paredes added a solo shot in the second to set up the win.
Washington also has two division titles in three years, clinching it with a 3-0 victory over Atlanta.
Nationals’ starter Tanner Roark (14-10) pitched seven scoreless innings as the Braves failed to get any runners past second base.
Ian Desmond’s two-run homer broke a scoreless tie and set Washington on their way to a satisfying victory over the team that beat them to the NL East crown last season.
The Braves have lost five straight and are now 5-1/2 games off the wild card with only 11 to play.
Seattle closed within one game of the AL wild card spots by thrashing the Angels 13-2.
Mike Zunino hit a two-run double which keyed a four-run fifth inning for the Mariners, who tied a season high for runs.
Los Angeles is guaranteed of a spot in the playoffs — as they cannot possibly be overtaken in a wild card race — but still have not secured the AL West title. They are 10-1/2 games clear of Oakland with 11 games to play.
Milwaukee’s Carlos Gomez walked, stole second and third and scored the go-ahead run to give the Brewers a vital 3-2 win over St. Louis.
The Brewers have won five of six since an extended slump and closed to within four games of the division-leading Cardinals, and stayed within 1-1/2 games of the last wild card spot.
The Cardinals scored both their runs in the first inning and were then held scoreless for the next 11, allowing Milwaukee to tie the game in the ninth through a homer by Gerardo Parra and a sacrifice fly by Matt Clark.
