MLB roundup: Yanks fall to Pirates but still take AL's number one seed

Reuters

Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal follows through on an RBI single against the New York YankeesBrad Penner - Imagn Images

Yasmani Grandal hit the first of the Pirates' five homers on Saturday, and Pittsburgh never trailed in a 9-4 win over the host New York Yankees, who saw Aaron Judge strike out five times.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered in the fifth and laced an RBI double in the eighth for the American League East-winning Yankees, who still managed to lock down the AL's top seed for the playoffs thanks to the Houston Astros' 4-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians later Saturday.

Grandal went deep in the second inning off Luis Gil (15-7), who gave up a solo homer by Nick Gonzales in the fourth and two-run shots by Billy Cook and Jared Triolo in the fifth and sixth, respectively.

Mike Burrows (1-0) earned the win in his major league debut by allowing two runs (one earned) in 3 1/3 innings of relief. Burrows followed Paul Skenes, who concluded his rookie season by striking out three in two perfect innings.

Skenes, a top contender for the National League Rookie of the Year award, finished the season 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA. He had 170 strikeouts in 133 innings.

Nationals 6 Phillies 3

James Wood homered, tripled and scored two runs and Joey Gallo hit a three-run homer to highlight a four-run eighth inning to lead host Washington over Philadelphia.

Keibert Ruiz also had two hits to go along with an RBI and Dylan Crews went two-for-three with a stolen base and a run for the Nationals. Starter MacKenzie Gore allowed just three singles over six shutout innings.

Trea Turner homered and Nick Castellanos tripled and scored a run for Philadelphia. Starter Zack Wheeler allowed two runs on three hits over 6 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out 11. The loss meant the NL East-champion Phillies, who already had earned a bye into the NL Division Series, would finish as the second seed in the NL behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Braves 2 Royals 1

Travis d'Arnaud hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to lift Atlanta over visiting Kansas City.

With one out, d'Arnaud sent a fastball from Royals reliever Sam Long (3-3) 421 feet to center. The Braves hold a one-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets for the second NL wild-card spot.

The Royals, who were held to three hits - including one for extra bases - have lost nine of their past 12.

White Sox 4 Tigers 0

Andrew Benintendi blasted a two-run homer and visiting Chicago cooled off playoff-bound Detroit.

Benintendi also doubled and scored two runs as the White Sox won for the fourth time in five games. Bryan Ramos had a solo homer for Chicago, which set the modern-era record for most losses in a single season on Friday.

Sean Burke (2-0), making his fourth career appearance, limited the Tigers to two hits in five innings while notching six strikeouts. Detroit saw its six-game winning streak snapped.

Marlins 8 Blue Jays 1

Dane Myers had a three-run homer and a two-run double as visiting Miami clubbed Toronto.

Former Blue Jays minor-leaguer Griffin Conine had three hits and an RBI as the Marlins clinched a season-ending three-game series. Right-hander Xzavion Curry (2-2) allowed one run, two hits and one walk to go along with one strikeout in five innings.

Nathan Lukes hit his first career major league home run, a solo shot, for the Blue Jays. Toronto right-hander Yariel Rodriguez (1-8) allowed three runs, four hits and two walks while striking out five in five-plus innings. Alejandro Kirk popped out to end the game and was 0-for-3 with a walk, snapping an 18-game hitting streak.

Check out the rest of the results from Saturday with Flashscore.

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