Tyler Soderstrom scores twice to lift the Athletics over the Cubs 5-3

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Soderstrom homered and was 2 for 4 and Zack Gelof hit a double to take the lead in the eighth as the Athletics beat the Cubs 5-3, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to become the first major league team to earn a spot in the playoffs, on Wednesday.

Chicago’s loss clinches a playoff berth for the Brewers, who won the National League Central division for the third time in four years.

The 22-year-old Soderstrom scored two runs and batted in two more to help Oakland to a series victory over the Cubs, the Athletics' first since 2013. Brent Rooker was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a pair of walks.

Tyler Ferguson (4-2) picked up the win after throwing a hitless seventh inning, and Michel Otañez struck out two in the eighth. Mason Miller earned his 27th save of the year, setting a new franchise rookie record.

“Coming into the season and through spring training, we saw the confidence, we saw the demeanor and the ability to handle that high-leverage situation," A's manager Mark Kotsay said about Miller. "We started him out right at the beginning of the year in that closing role, and he's just had such a great season doing it. The confidence that this club has turning the ball over to him feels really good.”

Oakland sits at just 67-86 in the standings, third-worst in the American League. Despite the A's 2024 struggles, a 5-4 road trip against the Astros, White Sox and Cubs, along with a 30-25 record since the All-Star Break, have given Oakland players confidence and hope as they look to finish the season strong and build momentum into 2025.

“At this point of the year, obviously out of playoff contention, it'd be pretty easy to just mail that one in in the fifth or sixth inning and try to get back on the road and get back home, but that's not the character of this group,” Rooker said. “The group of guys in here is going to go out there and fight until the last out and try to win every game possible, and that's what we did.”

Batting in just his fourth game since returning from a left wrist injury, Soderstrom hit a home run in the fourth inning to mark his first long ball since June 28 and give Oakland the lead, 1-0.

The Cubs were held to just two hits through four innings, but finally connected in the fifth. With the bases loaded, Dansby Swanson and Seiya Suzuki hit RBI singles and Cody Bellinger’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1.

The streak of hits ended rookie pitcher Brady Basso’s day after 4 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs on six hits and two walks, but struck out five.

Soderstrom and Tyler Nevin each singled in the seventh, and Lawrence Butler and Rooker brought them home to tie it up.

Gelof’s RBI double in the eighth regained the lead for Oakland. Gelof advanced to third on the throw, putting him in position to score and take a 5-3 lead on a hard-hit grounder to second by Soderstrom.

Justin Steele had a short return to action in his first game back from elbow tendinitis, going just 2 2/3 innings. He allowed two hits and three walks to go along with a strikeout, then was taken out after loading the bases in the third. Ethan Roberts took over for the final out, and zero earned runs were attached to Steele. Cubs manager Craig Counsell said before the game that he expected Steele’s Wednesday start to be short and that he planned to slowly reintroduce him to playing again.

Nate Pearson (2-2) took the loss after giving up two runs in 1 1/3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cubs: Activated Steele and RHP Jorge López from the 15-day injured list and optioned RHP Daniel Palencia and RHP Jack Neely to Triple-A Iowa. Steele last played in August before starting Wednesday. … Counsell said of RHP Hunter Wesneski, out since July 19 (forearm), “he’ll be active when we feel like there’s a need and it’s appropriate, but he’s ready to go.”

UP NEXT

RHP Javier Assad (7-5, 3.27 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for Chicago in Thursday’s series opener against the Nationals, while the A’s expect J.T. Ginn (0-1, 4.94) to start Friday at home against the Yankees.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Oakland Athletics' Tyler Soderstrom, right, celebrates with Tyler Nevin after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Brady Basso throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Ethan Roberts looks down after Oakland Athletics' Tyler Soderstrom hit a solo home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Justin Steele throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Justin Steele reacts after Oakland Athletics' Brent Rooker hit a single during the third inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Justin Steele, right, throws out Oakland Athletics' Shea Langeliers at first during the first inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Brady Basso celebrates with teammates in the dugout after the third inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Cubs' Dansby Swanson hits a one-run single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Oakland Athletics' Seth Brown, left, scores past Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya after Oakland Athletics' Zack Gelof hit a one-run double during the eighth inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Oakland Athletics' Zack Gelof hits a one-run double during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Oakland Athletics' Tyler Soderstrom celebrates with teammates after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Harry Kane and Bayern Munich are scoring a torrent of goals under new coach Vincent Kompany, but the England striker still thinks they're vulnerable.

Despite netting four times in Bayern's record-breaking 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday, Kane seemed more concerned with the two soft goals the team conceded just after half-time.

“We need to learn. We spoke about, already this season, continuing the performance from the first half. Each first half we've played has been really good this season. The second half has kind of dropped off," Kane told broadcaster DAZN after the game.

"We got away with it today because we were able to step up another gear but against the top opposition we could get punished for that, so we need to try and iron that out.”

Bayern has scored a scarcely believable 24 goals in five games in all competitions under Kompany — nine of them by Kane — but hasn’t faced top-class opposition yet.

That means it's still an open question whether Kompany's Bayern is a better team than the one that finished an underwhelming third in the Bundesliga last season.

Against Zagreb, there were echoes of how Bayern played under Kompany’s predecessors Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel — lots of goals, but fragile under pressure.

Zagreb scored back-to-back goals in the 49th and 50th minutes to expose glaring gaps at the back and briefly cut the deficit to 3-2. The positioning of central defenders Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae, who have been Bayern's first-choice partnership for a year, was a particular issue.

Bayern's next game is on Saturday at Werder Bremen, which beat Tuchel's team 1-0 in January. Bremen, ninth last season, will be Kompany's first opponent that finished in the top half of the table.

Despite Kompany's experience as a player, taking over at Bayern has been a big step up for a coach who was in charge of Burnley when that club was relegated from the English Premier League last season.

The former Belgium defender was far from Bayern's top choice, either. The club was stung by a very public failure to sign preferred targets like Bayer Leverkusen's Xabi Alonso or Germany's Nagelsmann — or even to persuade Tuchel to stay — before eventually landing on Kompany, who signed in May.

With a high-profile Bundesliga test coming on Sept. 28 against champion Leverkusen, Bayern doesn’t have long to iron out defensive problems.

Elsewhere in the league, two Champions League teams meet on Sunday as Stuttgart plays Borussia Dortmund. Leverkusen takes on Wolfsburg the same day and Leipzig visits promoted St. Pauli, which is without a league win since its coach Fabian Hürzeler left for Brighton in the close season.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bayern's head coach Vincent Kompany gestures to his players from the sidelines during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayern Munich and GNK Dinamo at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Bayern's Harry Kane prepares to take a penalty kick during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayern Munich and GNK Dinamo at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)