Toronto dropped one game back of the third wild-card spot with a 6-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals, and Cleveland retook the final post-season berth with its third walk-off win over the Detroit Tigers in as many days.
The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker over the Guardians after winning the season series earlier this week. Both teams have 18 games remaining.
The Texas Rangers are now two games back after splitting a four-game series with the AL-leading Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles were swept by the Boston Red Sox and have now dropped six straight, falling four games back in the race.
The Minnesota Twins, also four games back, will play the Chicago White Sox later on Sunday night. Here’s a look at the wild-card standings after Sunday’s action:
Monday’s games for wild-card contenders (All times ET)
Cleveland at Baltimore, 1:35 p.m.Toronto: at Athletics, 10:05 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+Minnesota: at Detroit, 7:10 p.m.Boston: at Los Angeles Angels, 1:35 p.m.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez homered as the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.
Toronto (72-72) dropped a game behind Cleveland for the final American League wild card. The Guardians edged Detroit 3-2 in 10 innings.
Randy Dobnak (3-3) allowed one run over six innings for the win. He struck out three and walked none. Three of the four hits he gave up came in his last inning.
Blue Jays starter Spencer Arrighetti (7-9) yielded six runs and five hits in 4.2 innings. He walked three and struck out three.
Kansas City went ahead 3-0 before Arrighetti got an out. John Rave beat out an infield single before Bobby Witt Jr. coaxed a walk. Pasquantino then launched a three-run homer.
Witt led off the third with a line-drive double off the wall in left field. One out later, Perez bounced a drive off the top of the fence in nearly the same spot for a two-run homer and a 5-0 cushion.
The Royals added another run in the fifth on an infield single by Nick Loftin after a walk and a hit batter.
Toronto finally got to Dobnak in the sixth when Josh Smith hit his fifth home run just over the right-field fence inside the foul pole.
GUARDIANS 3, TIGERS 2 (10 INNINGS)
CLEVELAND — Daniel Schneemann singled home rookie Angel Genao from third base in the 10th inning to send Cleveland to a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, the Guardians’ third walk-off victory in the four-game series.
With a runner at second, Patrick Bailey opened the 10th with a single off Kyle Finnegan (3-1). Schneemann then ripped a 1-0 pitch into right, triggering another celebration by the Guardians, who are chasing Chicago in the AL Central.
The Guardians didn’t lead at any point in the series until their final swing. Cleveland swept a doubleheader on Friday before being shut out Saturday. It’s the first time the Guardians have had three walk-off wins in a series since 2013.
Cade Smith (5-1) pitched two perfect innings, striking out the side in the 10th with an automatic runner at second.
Brayan Rocchio homered for the Guardians, who moved one game ahead of Toronto for the final wild-card spot.
Guardians starter Gavin Williams had another solid outing, allowing two runs and striking out 11 in six innings. It’s the right-hander’s 11th double-digit strikeout game this season — most in the majors.
Rocchio tied it 2-2 in the fifth with his 13th homer, a shot to right that cut through a stiff breeze blowing into Progressive Field.
The homer off Tigers starter Jackon Jobe came two days after Rocchio became the sixth player to hit a grand slam and walk-off homer in the same game.
Riley Greene, who homered twice and drove in four runs in Saturday’s 6-0 win, put the Tigers up 2-0 in the first with a two-run double.
The Guardians got a run back in the first on consecutive doubles by Steven Kwan and rookie Travis Bazzana.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jake Burger homered twice and Ezequiel Duran had his 12th game this season with at least three hits as the Texas Rangers rallied from two four-run deficits to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-6 on Sunday.
The Rangers (71-73) earned a split of the four-game series with the Rays (85-58), who own the American League’s best record. Texas trails by two games in the races for the AL West lead and the league’s final wild card.
With the score tied 5-all in the fifth, Elias Díaz singled off Steven Matz (5-5) to score Burger, and Duran singled off Casey Legumina to bring home Logan O’Hoppe.
The Rays pulled within a run in the seventh, but Corey Seager restored Texas’ two-run lead with a solo homer in the eighth.
Jakob Junis pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save in seven chances after All-Star closer Jacob Latz worked a scoreless eighth. On Saturday night, Latz was the 10th-inning loser for his first defeat since April 10 after allowing his first home run since June 25.
Trevor Williams (1-0), signed by Texas last Tuesday after being released by Washington on Sunday, pitched two scoreless innings for his first win since May 2025.
The Rays went ahead 4-0 in the second inning, sending 10 batters to the plate against Rangers starter MacKenzie Gore.
Burger homered leading off the second and, with the Rangers trailing 5-1 in the fourth, added a two-run shot — both off starter Ian Seymour — as Texas batted around to tie the score.
It was the ninth career multihomer game for Burger, who is tied for the club lead with 25 homers and leads the team with 82 RBIs.
BALTIMORE — Aroldis Chapman notched his 400th career save, Eli White hit a three-run homer following an error by Gunnar Henderson and the Boston Red Sox capped a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles with a 3-1 victory Sunday.
Chapman gave up a one-out single in the ninth before striking out Coby Mayo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to become the ninth player in major league history to record 400 saves. The 38-year-old Chapman earned his first save in 2011 with Cincinnati and went on to have 10 seasons with 30 or more, including 33 this season.
Over his lengthy career, Chapman has totalled 24 saves against Baltimore. The lefty got one Friday night that started Boston on its sweep of the sinking Orioles.
Coming off two straight shutout losses, the Orioles used successive two-out doubles by Mayo and Encarnacion-Strand to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
In the second, with two outs and a runner on, Henderson failed to make a backhand stab of a grounder to shortstop. White followed with a drive off Kyle Bradish (7-13) that cleared the left-field wall.
Payton Tolle (9-6) struck out 12 over six innings for Boston, allowing four hits and walking none.
Despite getting only four hits and failing to score an earned run, the Red Sox improved to a major league-best 33-17 since the All-Star break and tightened their hold on the second AL wild-card slot.
After closing August with a four-game winning streak to reach .500 for the first time since April, the Orioles have lost six straight to fall behind several teams in the race for the third and final AL wild-card spot.
It’s Baltimore’s longest skid since an eight-game slide last May, during which the team fired manager Brandon Hyde.
