American League wild-card roundup: Rangers, Guardians overtake Astros

The Toronto Blue Jays' day off wasn't kind to them on the out-of-town scoreboard.

Most of the other teams in the American League wild-card race that were in action Monday picked up a victory.

The Rangers moved into first place in the AL West with a rout of the White Sox, while the Guardians took over the final wild-card spot by beating the Angels.

It was a rough night for the idle Astros, as they fell from first place in the AL West to out of a playoff spot.

The Twins and Mariners also picked up victories, while the lone AL wild-card contender to lose was the slumping Tigers.

Toronto: vs. Kansas City, 7:07 p.m. (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+) Houston: at New York Yankees, 7:05 p.m. (Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+) New York Yankees: vs. Houston, 7:05 p.m. (Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+) Boston: at Miami, 6:40 p.m. Texas: at Chicago White Sox, 7:40 p.m. Cleveland: at Los Angeles Angels, 9:38 p.m. Baltimore: at St. Louis, 7:45 p.m. Minnesota: at Athletics, 9:40 p.m. Seattle: vs. Philadelphia, 9:40 p.m. (Sportsnet+) Detroit: vs. Tampa Bay, 6:40 p.m.

CHICAGO — Corey Seager had three hits and three RBIs, and Jake Burger and Wyatt Langford homered to lead Texas to a victory over Chicago.

Ezequiel Duran drove in two runs and Texas (66-66) outhit the AL Central leaders 14-5 to move a half-game ahead of idle Houston and take sole possession of first place in the AL West for the first time since July 30.

Kumar Rocker (5-10) pitched 5 2/3 innings for the win, allowing two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. Robby Ahlstrom retired all four batters he faced and Jordan Montgomery finished with two perfect innings.

Joc Pederson drew a walk from José Urquidy (2-2) to start the game before scoring on Duran’s groundout. Evan Carter added a two-out RBI double for a 2-0 lead.

Brandon Nimmo robbed Andrew Benintendi of a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to keep it 2-0.

Duran’s two-out infield hit with the bases loaded made it 3-0 in the second. Pederson was ejected by plate umpire Chris Guccione for comments from the dugout before Carter’s groundout ended the inning. Pederson — mired in an 0-for-24 slump — struck out looking and was too late trying to challenge the call to start the inning.

Tristan Peters homered for a third straight game and the 10th time this season — a two-out shot in the second off Rocker that cut it to 3-2.

Seager drove in two with a two-out double in the third for a 5-2 advantage.