Ramirez lifts Indians to 3-2 victory against Blue Jays

CLEVELAND: Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to lift the Indians to a 3-2 win against Toronto on Sunday, taking the series between the American League divisional leaders.
The Indians took two of three, with each game decided by one run, and stayed seven games clear in the AL Central while Toronto clung onto top spot in the East despite the defeat, as Boston lost at Detroit and were still half a game behind the Blue Jays.
Baltimore lost at home against Houston for the third straight day, failing to capitalize on the mediocre form of the teams above them, and staying two games off the Red Sox.
In the key National League encounter, Nolan Arenado powered Colorado to a comfortable victory over the majors-leading Chicago Cubs.
Toronto looked well positioned for victory when it led 2-1 in the seventh and loaded the bases, but Mike Clevinger struck out ace slugger Edwin Encarnarcion to leave those three runners stranded.
In the eighth, Francisco Lindor got on base with two outs and Ramirez connected on a Brett Cecil pitch, sending into the home run porch beyond left field.
Toronto got two runners on base in the ninth but catcher Russell Martin lined out to end the game.
Detroit’s Justin Upton hit two three-run homers to power the Tigers past Boston 10-5.
The Red Sox had to make a pitching change on the eve of the game because of a hamstring injury to intended starter Eduardo Rodriguez.
Henry Owens was called up from the minor leagues in the early hours of Sunday morning. He gave up eight runs and five walks in five innings.
Houston’s Dallas Keuchel pitched a solid eight innings to guide the Astros to a 5-3 win at Baltimore.
Keuchel, last year’s Cy Young Award winner as the AL’s best pitcher, allowed two runs with seven strikeouts.
Yulieski Gurriel got a hit in his major league debut for the Astros, who won the last three games in the four-game series, outscoring Baltimore 32-13.
Colorado’s Nolan Arenado emphatically ended his slump, hitting two homers and driving in six runs to lead the Rockies past the Cubs 11-4.
Arenado hit a three-run homer during a seven-run burst in the first inning that included three Cubs errors, then added another three-run drive in the fourth.
Arenado leads the majors with 104 RBIs — he had a big league-high 130 last year — and tops the NL with 32 home runs. The All-Star third baseman was 1 of 16 at the plate coming into the game. He passed Cubs slugger Kris Bryant for the NL homer lead.
New York’s Noah Syndergaard pitched eight scoreless innings to steer the Mets to a 2-0 win against San Francisco, dropping the Giants out of the NL West lead.
Syndergaard allowed just two hits and his good work was finished off by closer Jeurys Familia, who recorded his majors-leading 41st save of the season.
Yoenis Cespedes homered for the third time in two days as the Mets split the four-game series. It also was the 900th victory of manager Terry Collins’ career, making him the 10th active manager to reach the milestone.
Miami won 3-2 at Pittsburgh to complete a three-game road sweep.
Christian Yelich homered in the first inning and Miami added a pair of unearned runs.
The Marlins went 6-1 this year against the Pirates and moved ahead of Pittsburgh in the NL wild-card race.
Tampa Bay’s Logan Forsythe homered after missing four games because of back spasms, and the Rays beat Texas 8-4.
Forsythe hit a three-run shot in a five-run fourth that made it 6-2. He has six homers in his past 10 games.
Tampa Bay took two of three in the series, and the AL East cellar dwellers have won six of seven overall.
St. Louis’ Mike Leake pitched seven scoreless innings and hit a two-run single to lead the Cardinals past Philadelphia 9-0.
Leake struck out eight to get the better of a Phillies batting lineup that had homers in 14 games running.
Jedd Gyorko, Stephen Piscotty, Brandon Moss and Jeremy Hazelbaker all hit homers for the Cardinals, who stayed 1-1/2 games ahead of Miami in the race for the last NL wildcard berth.
The Los Angeles Dodgers replaced San Francisco atop the NL West by winning 4-0 at Cincinnati, led by 20-year-old pitcher Julio Urias, who didn’t allow a Reds runner past first base until the sixth inning.
Milwaukee’s Keon Broxton and Chris Carter homered and Scooter Gennett drove in a run during a four-run ninth inning that lifted the Brewers over Seattle 7-6, ending a six-game losing skid.
Atlanta’s Jace Peterson hit a tiebreaking homer in the 10th inning to give the Braves a 7-6 victory over Washington.
Los Angeles’ Jhoulys Chacin pitched 5-2/3 strong innings and kept an opponent scoreless for the first time in over four months as the Angels beat the New York Yankees 2-0.
Reigning World Series champion Kansas City continued its surge toward playoff contention by beating Minnesota 2-1, pushing its winning streak to eight straight. Royals starter Danny Duffy won his 10th straight decision and improved to a 5-0 record with a 1.18 earned run average in August.
Chicago’s Jose Quintana pitched into the eighth inning for his career-best 10th win of the season as the White Sox beat Oakland 4-2.
San Diego’s Luis Perdomo gave up only one unearned run in seven innings to guide the Padres past Arizona 9-1.