Rookie Tristan Beck won a pitchers’ duel against Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Fitzgerald homered and the San Francisco Giants denied the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers their 100th win of the season for at least one more day with a 2-1 victory on Saturday night.

In presenting interim manager Kai Correa with his first major league win, the Giants (79-82) scored the go-ahead run on a Max Muncy error in the sixth inning.

Making his final start before the upcoming playoffs, Kershaw (13-5) worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and five hits. He walked two and struck out five.

The veteran hurt his own cause with inning-opening walks to Austin Slater and Luis Matos in the sixth with the score tied at 1.

After a forceout at second for the first out, Kershaw appeared to pitch himself out of the jam by getting Wilmer Flores to send a routine grounder to Muncy at third. But in his haste to start an around-the-horn double play, Muncy never got a grip on the ball, allowing Slater to score from third.

The only other run off Kershaw was Fitzgerald’s homer, a solo shot that opened the scoring in the third. It was the rookie’s second homer in just nine big league games, having connected off the Dodgers’ Ryan Yarbrough when the clubs met in Los Angeles last week.

Meanwhile, making just his third major league start (33rd appearance), Beck limited the National League West champs to one run and six hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out three.

The Dodgers (99-62) tied the score against him in the fifth when David Peralta connected for a ground-rule double and, with two outs, Mookie Betts recorded his 107th RBI of the season with a single.

Ryan Walker (5-3), Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval threw the final four innings for the Giants, combining to allow just two hits. Doval was credited with his 39th save of the season after a one-hit ninth.

Peralta was the only player in the game who had multiple hits, finishing with two. His double was one of just four extra-base hits in the contest, with Fitzgerald’s homer and doubles by Muncy and Slater accounting for the other three.

–Field Level Media

Arizona and Houston each celebrated a postseason berth on Saturday night after the Astros defeated the Diamondbacks 1-0 in Phoenix.

Houston (89-72) solidified a spot in the American League playoffs with the victory, clinching at least a wild-card spot.

The Astros extended their postseason streak to seven years.

Arizona (84-77) earned the third and final National League wild card with the Cincinnati Reds’ 15-6 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Saturday’s contest was a pitchers’ duel between Houston’s Justin Verlander and Arizona’s Merrill Kelly until Verlander was relieved by Phil Maton to start the Diamondbacks’ half of the sixth inning.

Verlander (13-8) allowed two hits with five strikeouts and three walks in five scoreless innings.

Kelly (12-8) recorded 93 pitches in his seven innings and allowed five hits and one run to go with five strikeouts and two walks.

Jose Abreu’s double with one out in the top of the fourth inning scored Kyle Tucker, who walked before him and stole second, to plate the lone run of the game.

The Diamondbacks put a runner on base in each of the first four innings but failed to score, leaving five on base. Verlander retired the side in order in the fifth inning.

Verlander walked Evan Longoria and Gabriel Moreno consecutively with two outs in the bottom of the second inning before Geraldo Perdomo flied out to right field.

The Diamondbacks loaded the bases in the seventh with one out.

Longoria reached on an infield single, Moreno singled and Perdomo sacrificed the runners to second and third base before Corbin Carroll walked. Hector Neris relieved Kendall Graveman and struck out Ketel Marte and got Tommy Pham to ground out to end the threat.

Bryan Abreu pitched the ninth inning to earn his fifth save this season.

The Diamondbacks have scored one run in their two losses to Houston in the three-game series that concludes Sunday. They produced four hits Friday and five Saturday.

–Field Level Media

Lars Nootbaar hit a three-run homer and Jose Fermin drove in three runs as the host St. Louis Cardinals routed the Cincinnati Reds 15-6 on Saturday to eliminate them from the National League wild-card race.

Jordan Walker, Ivan Herrera, Luken Baker and Masyn Winn each drove in two runs for the Cardinals (70-91), who snapped a three-game skid.

St. Louis starting pitcher Drew Rom allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings. Reliever Drew VerHagen (5-1) earned the victory.

Noelvi Marte hit a homer and a two-run double for the Reds (82-79), who fell short of the third NL wild-card berth by losing six of their past nine games.

Cincinnati starter Connor Phillips (1-1) faced three batters and walked each of them on four pitches. All three scored after Reds manager David Bell pulled Phillips from the game.

The Cardinals teed off on relievers Fernando Cruz (five runs on six hits in one inning) and Buck Farmer (two runs on two hits and a walk in one inning) while racing to a 10-0 lead in the first two frames.

After Phillips issued his walks, Walker and Herrera hit two-run doubles and Baker hit an RBI double to put the Cardinals up 5-0.

St. Louis scored five more runs in the second inning. Tommy Edman hit a leadoff single and went to third on Paul Goldschmidt’s ground-rule double.

Nootbaar hit his three-run homer, then a double by Walker, a walk to Herrera and Fermin’s two-run double made it 10-0.

In the third inning, Goldschmidt’s RBI double pushed the Cardinals’ lead to 11-0.

The Reds got one run back in the fourth inning on singles by Marte, TJ Friedl and Elly De La Cruz.

Then Cincinnati scored four runs in the fifth inning to cut its deficit to 11-5. Nick Senzel hit a homer, Spencer Steer hit a double, Christian Encarnacion-Strand walked, Tyler Stephenson had an RBI double and Marte ripped his two-run double.

Marte’s seventh-inning homer cut the Cardinals’ lead to 11-6.

The Cardinals expanded their advantage to 15-6 in the eighth inning on bases-loaded walks to Baker and Fermin and Winn’s two-run single.

–Field Level Media

Atlanta right-hander Spencer Strider set the franchise record for most strikeouts in a season, Marcell Ozuna hit a go-ahead, three-run homer and the Braves beat the visiting Washington Nationals 5-3 on Saturday night.

Strider (20-5), who now has 281 strikeouts on the season, fanned seven batters in five innings to break the Braves’ modern-era, single-season strikeout record of 276 set by John Smoltz in 1996. Strider gave up three runs on six hits with three walks while throwing 94 pitches.

Pierce Johnson, Kirby Yates and A.J. Minter combined for three scoreless innings before Raisel Iglesias worked around a leadoff double in the ninth for his 33rd save.

Ozuna hit his go-ahead, three-run homer in the fifth inning for Atlanta (104-57), which has clinched the National League East and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

Washington (70-91) jumped on Strider for three runs on four hits in the first inning. CJ Abrams singled to begin the game, stole second base and scored on Keibert Ruiz’s one-out double. Joey Meneses followed with an RBI single and scored on Luis Garcia’s double.

Abrams’ stolen base was his 45th of the season, one shy of Trea Turner’s single-season team record set in 2017.

Atlanta pushed a run across in the third inning against Nationals starter Joan Adon when Ronald Acuna Jr. drew a leadoff walk, stole second base and scored on Austin Riley’s one-out single.

Acuna’s stolen base set a Braves modern-era franchise record with 73 steals for the season, surpassing Otis Nixon’s 72 in 1991.

The Braves moved ahead with four runs in the fifth inning. Acuna sparked the rally by extending his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff double and scoring on Ozzie Albies’ single.

Jordan Weems (5-1) replaced Adon and allowed Matt Olson’s one-out single ahead of Ozuna’s three-run homer. The 432-foot blast was Ozuna’s career-high 38th homer of the season, breaking his previous high set in 2017 with the Miami Marlins.

Ozuna’s homer gave Atlanta a total of 305 for the season, leaving them two away from matching the major league record set by the 2019 Minnesota Twins.

Adon allowed three runs on six hits over four-plus innings. He walked two and struck out five.

–Field Level Media

Andrew Heaney came out of the bullpen to make a spot start, pitching 4 1/3 scoreless innings as the Texas Rangers clinched a postseason berth with a 6-1 victory against the host Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.

Jonah Heim drove in three runs for the Rangers (90-71), who guaranteed themselves at least one of the three American League wild-card spots. Texas is headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Eugenio Suarez homered for the Mariners (87-74), who were eliminated from the playoff race when Houston beat Arizona later Saturday night.

Heaney, a left-hander who last started on Sept. 4 and pitched in relief in the series opener on Thursday night, allowed five hits, walked one and struck out two.

Reliever Josh Sborz (6-7) entered with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning and got out of the jam to earn the victory.

Mariners ace Luis Castillo (14-9) failed to last five innings for the first time this season. The right-hander gave up four runs on five hits in 2 2/3 innings, his shortest start since May 2019 while with Cincinnati. He walked five and struck out four.

The Rangers broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the third inning.

Marcus Semien drew a leadoff walk before Castillo retired the next two batters. Adolis Garcia reached on an infield single and Nathaniel Lowe grounded a single to center, scoring Semien. Josh Jung walked to load the bases and Heim then fouled off three 0-2 pitches before grounding a two-run single to right. Leody Taveras lined a base hit to right to make it 4-0.

Texas added a run in the fourth as Mariners reliever Matt Brash struggled with his command. Corey Seager led off by grounding a single into left field. An out later, Brash threw a wild pitch to allow Seager to take second before walking Garcia. With two outs, Brash hit Jung with a pitch and then walked Heim to bring home the run.

The Rangers also scored in the eighth as Evan Carter drew a leadoff walk and scored on Semien’s double to left.

The Mariners avoided the shutout on Suarez’s solo shot to left off Cody Bradford in the eighth.

–Field Level Media

Yan Gomes hit a first-inning grand slam and had five RBIs as the visiting Chicago Cubs overcame blowing an early six-run lead to snap their nine-game road losing streak with a 10-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.

Gomes’ slam highlighted a six-run first, and he also had an RBI groundout for the Cubs (83-78), who lost that 6-0 lead after two innings. But the Cubs rebounded to score four times in the fourth through sixth innings to snap a four-game overall slide.

However, Chicago, which went 12-16 in September, was officially eliminated from postseason contention with Miami’s 7-3 victory at Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, Willy Adames had three hits and William Contreras added two to extend his hitting streak to 17 games. Blake Perkins and Carlos Santana homered for the NL Central-champion Brewers (91-70), who had won three straight.

Chicago’s Christopher Morel opened the game with a towering homer off Milwaukee’s Eric Lauer (4-6), pitching in the majors for the first time since May 20. The left-hander walked three of the next four batters before Gomes cleared the center-field wall for his 10th homer. Two batters later, Patrick Wisdom clubbed his 23rd homer.

The Brewers got half of those runs back in the bottom of the first. Rookie Chicago starter Jordan Wicks allowed the first three batters to reach, then yielded a two-run double to Adames. Santana later scored on Tyrone Taylor’s groundout.

Milwaukee erased its six-run hole with three more runs in the second on Perkins’ two-run drive into the left-field seats. Then with two outs, Santana went deep to chase Wicks, who also allowed six hits in 1 2/3 innings.

Chicago, which blew a 6-0 lead during Tuesday’s 7-6 loss at Atlanta, regained the edge with two runs in the fourth. Ian Happ delivered an RBI single and Cody Bellinger a run-scoring double.

All eight runs allowed by Lauer, who also yielded nine hits and four walks over four innings, were earned.

Chicago’s Alexander Canario (3-for-5) had an RBI triple in the fifth to make it 9-6. Meanwhile, Jameson Taillon, in his first career relief appearance, earned the save with four scoreless innings.

–Field Level Media

Anthony Santander’s two-run single capped a three-run eighth inning and the Baltimore Orioles beat the visiting Boston Red Sox 5-2 on Saturday night.

Baltimore (101-60) led 2-1 going to the bottom of the eighth. Jordan Westburg singled, went to third on Gunnar Henderson’s double and beat the throw home to score on Jorge Mateo’s one-out grounder to Reyes. Mateo stole second and Santander followed with a two-run single to right to make it 5-1.

Reliever Bruce Zimmermann (2-0) pitched two innings for the win. Jacob Webb allowed an RBI single to Masataka Yoshida before closing out the ninth.

Adam Duvall had a triple and a single for the Red Sox (77-84).

Boston starter Kutter Crawford tossed six innings of one-hit baseball, striking out seven batters without a walk.

Kyle Gibson blanked Boston for five innings while allowing seven hits. He walked one and struck out four.

Adley Rutschman singled leading off the seventh inning of a scoreless game against Josh Winckowski (4-4). Pinch runner Mateo stole second and, with two outs, Mountcastle doubled down the left-field line, scoring Mateo. Heston Kjerstad then smacked a grounder up the middle that second baseman Pablo Reyes knocked down but couldn’t corral, and Mountcastle scored to make it 2-0.

Boston’s Justin Turner was hit by a pitch leading off the eighth. With one out, Duvall singled. Wilyer Abreu grounded out, advancing the runners to second and third. Trevor Story then reached on an infield single up the middle as Turner scored to cut the lead to 2-1.

Duvall tripled and Abreu walked with one out in the Boston second, but Gibson struck out Story and retired Enmanuel Valdez.

Yoshida singled leading off the Boston sixth and went to second on Zimmermann’s wild pitch, but Zimmermann retired the next three batters.

Before the game, the Orioles announced that closer Felix Bautista will undergo surgery in October to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and will not pitch in the postseason or in 2024. Bautista had been rehabbing with an eye toward potentially rejoining the team this season.

–Field Level Media

Michael Wacha pitched seven scoreless innings in his final start of the season and Jurickson Profar notched a season-high four RBIs as the San Diego Padres cruised to a 6-1 win over the host Chicago White Sox on Saturday night.

Ji Man Choi and Juan Soto added one RBI apiece for San Diego (81-80), which won its fourth game in a row. Ha-Seong Kim went 4-for-5, scored a run and stole two bases.

Lenyn Sosa hit a solo homer to provide the lone run for Chicago (61-100). The White Sox reached triple digits in losses for only the fifth time in franchise history.

Wacha (14-4) scattered three hits, walked one and struck out seven to notch his third victory in a row. He lowered his ERA from 3.39 to 3.22 to finish the season.

White Sox right-hander Mike Clevinger (9-9) gave up six runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings. His ERA climbed from 3.40 to 3.77.

San Diego jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

Profar stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out and cleared the bases with a double to right field. Moments later, Profar advanced to third base on a wild pitch by Clevinger and came home to score on a double by Choi.

The Padres’ barrage against Clevinger continued with two more runs in the second.

Soto drove in the first run of the inning with a double to right that scored Xander Bogaerts. Profar added a run-scoring single for his fourth RBI of the game.

Chicago got on the scoreboard in the eighth. Sosa hit a 373-foot shot to right field for his sixth homer in 51 games this season.

After Clevinger departed, the White Sox bullpen combined for 7 1/3 scoreless innings. Tanner Banks handled 2 1/3 innings, Sammy Peralta pitched 1 2/3 innings, Luis Patino tossed 2 1/3 innings and Bryan Shaw tossed the final frame.

–Field Level Media

The New York Yankees rallied for five unanswered runs in a 5-2 victory over the host Kansas City Royals on Saturday evening, giving Frankie Montas a win in his season debut.

Estevan Florial delivered a go-ahead single with two outs in the sixth, breaking a 2-all tie, before Gleyber Torres’ bases-loaded, two-run single capped the decisive three-run inning.

Montas (1-0), who had right shoulder surgery at the beginning of spring training, pitched for the first time in the regular season since Sept. 16, 2022. He recorded four outs while allowing two hits and a walk with one strikeout.

After Montas’ debut, three additional Yankees relievers pitched out of trouble for 3 2/3 scoreless innings as the Royals went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the game. Clay Holmes earned his 24th save, striking out two in a hitless ninth.

The Royals collected leadoff hits in each of the first three innings against starter Clarke Schmidt, who threw four innings, allowing two runs on eight hits.
Kansas City jumped ahead 1-0 in the first on three singles as Nelson Velazquez drove in Maikel Garcia with a bloop hit to left.

After Bobby Witt Jr. was caught trying to steal his 50th base, Salvador Perez connected for his 23rd homer to increase the Royals’ lead to 2-0 in the third inning.

In the second inning, Royals opener Steven Cruz gave way to Alec Marsh (3-9), who opened the fourth by throwing nine consecutive balls before allowing two-out RBI hits to Oswaldo Cabrera and Everson Pereira, tying the score 2-2.

Marsh allowed three runs on six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Torres, DJ LeMahieu and Kyle Higashioka each collected two of the Yankees’ 12 hits.

The Yankees (82-79) sealed their 31st consecutive winning season, the second-longest stretch in major league history behind their own 39-season winning streak from 1926 to 1964.

Royals center fielder Drew Waters exited the game in the fourth inning due to left quad tightness, while Velazquez left in the seventh after fouling a ball off his left knee.

Kansas City (55-106) matched its franchise record for most losses in a season, set in 2005.

–Field Level Media