AL wild-card roundup: Gaps forming as race heats up

A busy Monday night saw some wild-card contenders gain ground, while some other teams fell further behind.

The Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins all picked up key wins to close in on the idle Cleveland Guardians for the final wild-card spot. Meanwhile, the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers remained stuck in a rut that might be too large to overcome.

Toronto: at Cleveland, 6:40 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ Cleveland: vs. Toronto, 6:40 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ Boston: vs. Seattle, 6:45 p.m., Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+ Seattle: at Boston, 6:45 p.m., Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+ Minnesota: vs. Tigers, 7:40 p.m., Sportsnet+ Detroit: at Twins, 7:40 p.m., Sportsnet+ New York Yankees: at Los Angeles Angels, 9:38 p.m., Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+ Texas: vs. Athletics, 8:05 p.m. Baltimore: at Rockies, 8:40 p.m.

BOSTON — Trevor Story drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single in the 10th inning after Seattle walked the two batters before him intentionally, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 9-8 comeback victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.

Jarren Duran hit a two-run homer and Mickey Gasper a solo shot for the Red Sox, who were coming off a rough weekend when they dropped three of four to the Yankees.

Randy Arozarena had four hits, including a homer over the Green Monster, drove in four runs and scored three times for the Mariners, who have lost five straight.

Nick Sogard sacrificed, then the Mariners walked the next two batters, before Story lined a 3-2 pitch from Cooper Criswell (2-2) into the left-center gap.

Boston tied it against Andrés Muñoz in the ninth. Roman Anthony had a leadoff triple when center fielder Julio Rodríguez tried to make a sliding catch before the ball hopped past him, and scored on Ceddanne Rafaela’s fly to left.

MINNEAPOLIS — Ryan Jeffers had two homers, Walker Jenkins went deep for the first time in his major league career, and Minnesota beat Detroit.

Taj Bradley (10-6) struck out nine in seven innings, his seventh outing with at least nine strikeouts. The 25-year-old right-hander allowed one run on four hits and allowed three walks.

Jenkins, the Twins’ fifth overall selection in the 2023 draft, had a two-run homer in the eighth off of position player Zach McKinstry for his first big-league knock. The 21-year-old is the third-youngest player in baseball and was the top prospect in the Twins system before his call-up on Friday.

The Twins led 2-0 through four innings after a sac fly and homer from Kody Clemens. They scored three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to take a commanding lead.

Jeffers’ first homer was a 420-foot, three-run shot to left-center in the fifth. Brooks Lee cleared the bases with a three-run single to right in the sixth.

Lee was thrown out after trying to stretch a double, but the throw to second allowed Luke Keaschall to score from first.