Sports Desk
The Oakland Athletics rallied from an early deficit and used eight pitchers Thursday to post a 6-4 victory over the visiting Chicago White Sox in the decisive Game 3 of their American League wild-card series.
Oakland’s first postseason series win since 2006 advances the second-seeded AL West champion into the AL Division Series against the sixth-seeded Houston Astros. The White Sox were trying to advance in the postseason for the first time since winning the 2005 World Series.
Chicago’s Luis Robert opened the scoring with a 487-foot home run, the longest at Oakland Coliseum in the Statcast era (since 2015). The White Sox pushed the lead to 3-0 after Robert’s RBI single and Nomar Mazara’s run-scoring double in the third inning.
The A’s rallied from the three-run deficit, using a four-run fourth and seizing the upper hand for good with a two-run fifth. Oakland starter Mike Fiers allowed five hits in 1 2/3 innings, and seven A’s relievers worked in and out of trouble until Liam Hendriks struck out the side in the ninth inning.
Dodgers 3, Brewers 0
Clayton Kershaw dominated over eight innings and Mookie Betts had a key two-run double as Los Angeles earned a spot in the National League Division Series with a victory over visiting Milwaukee.
Austin Barnes had an RBI single among his two hits as the Dodgers swept the best-of-three wild-card series at Dodger Stadium. Chris Taylor also had a pair of hits for the Dodgers.
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With Kershaw’s rocky playoff history looming over the proceedings, the veteran left-hander was in complete control, giving up just three hits with 13 strikeouts. Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff (0-1) gave up three runs on five hits over 4 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts.
Braves 5, Reds 0
Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall each hit eighth-inning, two-run homers as host Atlanta swept Cincinnati in their best-of-three National League wild-card series.
Ronald Acuna Jr. had three hits and rookie Ian Anderson struck out nine over six strong frames for the Braves. Atlanta snapped a 10-series playoff losing streak by winning its first since 2001 after Ozuna and Duvall both went deep late off Raisel Iglesias to put the game out of reach.
This was a brief but historic set that opened Wednesday with a 1-0, 13-inning win by Atlanta. The Reds set a major league record by going scoreless in their first 22 innings of a playoff series.
Padres 11, Cardinals 9
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Fernando Tatis and Wil Myers hit two homers apiece and Manny Machado added a game-tying homer as host San Diego overcame a pair of four-run St. Louis leads to force a winner-take-all third game Friday in their National League wild-card series.
Tatis (five RBIs) and Myers (four RBIs) became the first pair of teammates to hit two home runs apiece in a postseason game since Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the 1932 World Series. The Padres also became the first team in postseason history to hit five homers from the sixth inning on. Padres starter Zach Davis yielded four runs in two innings while Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright allowed two runs in 3 1/3 innings. St. Louis used eight pitchers and San Diego used nine.
