Giants blank Orioles

BALTIMORE (AP) — Blake Snell struck out 12 over six innings and allowed just one hit to carry the San Francisco Giants past the faltering Baltimore Orioles 10-0 on Tuesday night.

The Orioles have lost seven of nine to fall 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East, pending New York’s game later Tuesday night at Seattle. Baltimore held a half-game lead on Sept. 5 before its current tailspin, during which it has been outscored 46-18.

Colton Cowser had two of the Orioles’ five hits in their most lopsided shutout loss of the season.

RAYS 8, RED SOX 3

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Shane Baz allowed two runs and two hits over seven innings, Jose Siri homered and drove in four runs, and Tampa Bay beat Boston.

Baz (3-3) struck out six and walked one, and set a team mark with his fifth consecutive start of giving up three hits or fewer over five-plus innings.

Siri hit one Tampa Bay’s three homers during a four-run fifth inning and extended the Rays lead to 8-3 with his three-run bloop double to left in the eighth.

Junior Caminero, Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe also homered for the Rays. Tampa Bay trails Minnesota by six games for the final AL wild card, and would also have pass Boston, Seattle and Detroit.

Triston Casas and Romy Gonzalez homered for Boston, which is five back of the Twins with 11 games remaining.

MARLINS 11, DODGERS 9

MIAMI (AP) — Jesús Sánchez doubled twice and drove in three runs, and Miami beat Shohei Ohtani and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ohtani struck out three times but hit his 48th home run as he tries to become the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season. He did not steal a base for the fifth straight game and remains at 48.

Sánchez went 5 for 5, while Otto Lopez and Jake Burger homered for the Marlins.

Connor Norby became the first Marlin with four runs scored in a single game this season. He went 2 for 3 with a single, double and two walks. Kyle Stowers had an RBI triple in the fourth and added a run-scoring double in the sixth for the Marlins, who had 15 hits.

TWINS 4, GUARDIANS 1

CLEVELAND (AP) — Willi Castro hit a two-run homer, Matt Wallner had two RBIs and Minnesota bounced back from a crushing loss in the series opener to beat Cleveland and stay locked into the final AL wild card.

Castro connected in the eighth inning, and both of Wallner’s RBI singles came off Gavin Williams (3-10), who has just one win in his last seven starts.

The Twins entered with a 1 1/2-game lead over Detroit for the last playoff berth.

Lane Thomas homered for the AL Central-leading Guardians, who are closing in on the postseason. They can still clinch a spot on Wednesday.

REDS 6, BRAVES 5

CINCINNATI (AP) — Michael Harris II and Matt Olson homered for Atlanta, but the Braves blew a four-run lead in a costly loss to Cincinnati.

Pierce Johnson and Jesse Chavez struggled as Atlanta dropped its third consecutive game. The Braves (81-70) are battling the New York Mets for the third NL wild card.

Harris hit a leadoff drive in the first against Brandon Williamson. Marcell Ozuna reached on a one-out single before Olson made it 3-0 with his 26th homer.

Jorge Soler’s 19th homer made it 5-1 in the fourth. But that was it for Atlanta, which went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.

Spencer Steer homered for Cincinnati, and Tyler Stephenson had two hits and drove in a run. The Reds improved to 4-0 against the Braves this year.

METS 10, NATIONALS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Alonso homered and drove in five runs, Luisangel Acuña added his first major league longball to cap a huge night at the plate, and the New York Mets routed Washington to boost their chances in a close National League playoff race.

Tylor Megill (4-5) provided another terrific outing in place of injured starter Paul Blackburn, and Francisco Alvarez also went deep as the Mets improved to 10-2 against Washington this year.

New York moved two games ahead of rival Atlanta for the last NL wild card with 11 to play. A loud cheer went up in the crowd of 24,932 at Citi Field when the out-of-town scoreboard showed that Cincinnati had polished off a 6-5 comeback victory over the Braves.

Jose Iglesias had three hits and scored twice, batting leadoff with Francisco Lindor sidelined by a sore back. The 22-year-old Acuña, subbing for Lindor at shortstop, finished a triple shy of the cycle and scored three times from the No. 9 spot in his fourth big league game.

CARDINALS 3, PIRATES 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lance Lynn threw six strong innings in his 100th appearance at Busch Stadium, Jordan Walker homered and St. Louis beat Pittsburgh.

Lynn (7-4) allowed one run on four hits and struck out five. Lynn is 9-0 over his last 21 starts at Busch, where he pitched for the Cardinals from 2011-17 before rejoining St. Louis this season. His last loss in the Cardinals’ ballpark came on July 4, 2017, against Miami.

The Cardinals (76-75) are seven games out of the final NL wild card spot with 11 games remaining.

Bryan De La Cruz hit his 20th homer of the season, taking Lynn deep in the second inning. De La Cruz’s drive to the left-center bleachers traveled 431 feet and was his second for Pittsburgh after being acquired from Miami.

PHILLIES 5, BREWERS 1

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bryce Harper hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning to back up the strong pitching of Zack Wheeler and Philadelphia beat Milwaukee in a matchup of division leaders.

Nick Castellanos added a solo shot and Trea Turner went 3 for 5 to help the Phillies move closer to wrapping up the NL East title while delaying the Brewers’ NL Central championship celebration.

The Phillies lowered their magic number for clinching the NL East to four. The Brewers’ magic number dropped to one with the Chicago Cubs 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics.

OAKLAND 4, CUBS 3

CHICAGO (AP) — Shea Langeliers homered twice, including a towering solo drive that cleared the Wrigley Field bleachers in left, and Oakland beat Chicago.

Langeliers’ third multihomer game of the season and No. 5 for his career upped his season total to 28, extending his career best.

Lawrence Butler also went deep for Oakland, which stopped a three-game losing streak. The skid included back-to-back losses to the MLB-worst White Sox.

Ian Happ hit two solo homers for the Cubs (77-74), who fell six games behind the New York Mets for the final NL wild card with 11 games left.

TIGERS 3, ROYALS 1, 10 INNINGS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Parker Meadows hit a broken-bat single in the 10th inning to give Detroit the lead, moments after Trey Sweeney had been given third base because of a balk, and the Tigers went on to beat Kansas City.

Tyler Holton (7-1) retired all six Royals he faced, striking out a pair in the ninth to force extra innings. Jason Foley took care of the Royals in the 10th, earning the save for the second straight night and 25th time this season.

Riley Greene added an RBI single off Lucas Erceg (2-6) later in the 10th for the Tigers, helping them to remain 1 1/2 games back of the Twins for the final AL wild-card spot.

The Royals stayed 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first wild-card spot. They are 1 1/2 ahead of Minnesota.

ROCKIES 8, DIAMONDBACKS 2

DENVER (AP) — Hunter Goodman and Ezequiel Tovar hit home runs, Ryan Feltner pitched into the seventh inning for his first victory at Coors Field in two years, and Colorado beat Arizona.

Tovar, who also homered in Monday’s 3-2 win over Arizona, finished with three hits and drove in two runs. Goodman also homered Monday and connected for his 13th of the season off Blake Walston in the seventh.

Jacob Stallings and Jordan Beck hit run-scoring doubles and Brenton Doyle added a sacrifice fly for the Rockies, who had two more runs in the eighth.

Christian Walker homered and Pavin Smith had two doubles and scored a run for Arizona, which dropped into a tie with the New York Mets for the last two NL wild-card spots. San Diego holds the top spot.

RANGERS 13, BLUE JAYS 8

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Wyatt Langford homered and doubled twice, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and Texas beat Toronto.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Heim was 1 for 34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

ANGELS 5, WHITE SOX 0

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Rookie Eric Wagaman homered for the second straight game, Griffin Canning threw six innings of three-hit ball, and the Los Angeles Angels dealt the Chicago White Sox their 116th loss with a 5-0 victory on Tuesday night.

The White Sox were shut out for the 19th time, tied for fourth-most since 2000, and finished with six hits. They had only two runners reach second base.

The Angels stopped a six-game slide. They scored in the third through seventh innings and had 10 hits for the first time in five games.

YANKEES 11, MARINERS 2

SEATTLE (AP) — Aaron Judge drove in four runs in his first two at-bats, Juan Soto hit his 40th homer of the season and 200th of his career, and the New York Yankees moved to the cusp of clinching a playoff berth with a win over Seattle.

The Yankees can clinch at worst a wild-card spot in the American League with a victory over Seattle on Wednesday. The win in the opener of New York’s six-game road trip pushed the Yankees lead in the AL East to four games over Baltimore.

Judge laced a two-run double three batters into the game and added a two-out, two-run single the next time he was up an inning later. Judge now has a league-leading 136 RBIs on the season.

Soto joined the offensive outburst in the third inning with a two-out, two-run opposite field blast off Seattle starter Bryan Woo. It’s the first time in his career Soto has reached the 40-homer mark and he’s now homered in all 30 parks in baseball.

Soto and Judge are the third set of Yankee teammates to each hit 40 home runs in a season joining Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930, 1931), and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (1961).

ASTROS 4, PADRES 3, 10 INNINGS

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Grae Kessinger replaced the ejected Jose Altuve and scored on Kyle Tucker’s single in the 10th inning to give the AL West-leading Houston a wild win against San Diego.

Astros reliever Héctor Neris loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 10th before getting Manny Machado to ground into a force play. Machado had hit a tying two-run homer in the sixth.

Neris earned his 18th save.

Kessinger started the 10th as the automatic runner in place of Altuve, who was ejected along with manager Joe Espada after a crazy scene following the top of the ninth.

Altuve grounded out to third for the final out but apparently thought he had fouled the ball off his foot. He took off his left cleat and sock, which got him ejected by plate umpire Brennan Miller. Espada was tossed after continuing to argue.

Giants blank Orioles

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Blake Snell delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Giants blank Orioles

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said. On Dec. 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn't specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.

From the military's description, the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

It wasn't immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.

However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Incoming hostile fire from the Houthis has given sailors just seconds to make decisions in the past.

Since the Truman's arrival, the U.S. has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of an American warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II.

On Saturday night and early Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Sanaa, the capital of Yemen that the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a “missile storage facility” and a “command-and-control facility,” without elaborating.

Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering any casualty or damage information. In Sanaa, strikes appeared particularly targeted at a mountainside known to be home to military installations. The Houthis later acknowledged the aircraft being shot down in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.

Israel’s grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel itself with drones and missiles, resulting in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)

FILE - Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)

FILE - A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)