The AL East-leading Rays (94-59) secured a post-season berth for the third season in a row and the seventh time since 2008. In St Petersburg, Florida, Austin Meadows hit a three-run homer in a six-run third inning as the Tampa Bay Rays clinched a post-season berth with a 7-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Junk had retired 10 straight before Castro led off the fourth with a homer into the elevated stands in right field to give the Astros a three-run advantage. “You knew he hit it out, you just didn’t know how far that was going to go,” he added. “That was a high rocket like what Willie Stargell and Big Willie McCovey used to hit,” Baker said. It was the longest home run of Alvarez’s career and the second-longest by an opposing player at The Big A this season. The Astros jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first when Alvarez drove a fastball by Janson Junk to the berm in right-center. Alvarez hit an RBI double and scored on Yuli Gurriel’s single through the hole at shortstop. The Astros quickly responded with a pair of runs in the eighth to tie. Mayfield provided the key hit with a two-out, three-run double down the right-field line to give Los Angeles a 5-3 lead. The Angels, who have dropped six straight, trailed 3-0 going into the seventh before scoring five times. Yimi Garcia (4-9), the seventh of eight Houston pitchers, got the win. Castro also homered and Luis Garcia tossed six shutout innings. Yordan Alvarez had three hits, including a two-run homer, and drove in three runs for the Astros. Altuve advanced to third on the throw home and scored on Alex Bregman’s sacrifice fly. Altuve then provided some insurance with a double down the right-field line to make it 8-5. Pinch-runner Marwin Gonzalez scored the go-ahead run on Jake Meyers’ single off Sam Selman (0-1). We had opportunities to end it and they wore us down.” “I know it wasn’t that deep, but we have challenged it in the past,” Maddon said. The one on Mayfield was one of my better plays, but the biggest play was throwing out Ohtani,” he said.Īngels manager Joe Maddon said that he did not have any problems with sending Ohtani. I know he can run a little bit and was doing everything to win,” said McCormick, who prevented an RBI single by Jack Mayfield with a diving catch in the third. Houston Astros right fielder Chas McCormick makes a catch on a hit by Jack Mayfield of the Los Angeles Angels during their MLB game in Anaheim, California, on Wednesday.

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