AL wild-card roundup: Blue Jays gain on Guardians

The Toronto Blue Jays won on Saturday, and the Cleveland Guardians lost, while the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox each gained on the Guardians, too, with their respective victories.

Toronto is now one game behind Cleveland for the final wild-card spot again. The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker between the two teams after winning the season series last week.

The Baltimore Orioles fell three games behind the Guardians with their loss to the Blue Jays.

Here is how the American League standings look after Saturday's games:

New York Yankees: vs. NY Mets, 1:35 p.m. Toronto: vs. Baltimore, 1:37 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ Houston: at Rays, 1:40 p.m. Cleveland: at Minnesota, 2:10 p.m., Sportsnet+ Chicago White Sox: at St. Louis, 2:15 p.m. Boston: vs. Kansas City, 3:05 p.m. Texas: vs. Arizona, 4:10 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+

TORONTO — Alejandro Kirk hit a two-run home run, Brett Bateman added a solo shot and Toronto beat Baltimore.

Pete Alonso hit his 35th home run for Baltimore, a two-run blast off Paul Sewald in the seventh inning, but the Orioles lost for the eighth time in 11 September games.

Kirk had two hits and drove in three as the Blue Jays won for the second time in six games and ensured they would not lose ground in the AL wild card race. Toronto entered two games behind Cleveland for the final playoff spot.

Kirk and Bateman both connected off Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish (7-14) in the third.

Bateman’s first career home run came in the ninth inning of Friday’s 7-4 loss. Saturday’s was his second.

MINNEAPOLIS — Emmanuel Rodriguez homered in his first career at-bat to spark a four-run inning and Minnesota held off Cleveland.

Andrew Morris, Kody Funderburk and Jeff Hoffman combined for 2 2-3 innings of scoreless relief before A.J. Minter earned his first save since May 13, 2024, with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Travis Bazzana, Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan had RBIs for the Guardians, now one game behind Chicago in the American League Central Division.

Cleveland is one game up on Toronto for the final AL wild-card spot, with Minnesota 4 1/2 games behind.