MLB: Seattle Mariners step up Wild Card bid with easy win over Houston Astros
Danny Farquhar #40 of the Seattle Mariners shakes hands with catcher Mike Zunino #3 after the final out
The Seattle Mariners have closed the gap in the American League Wild Card race after a comfortable 10-5 win over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Dustin Ackley hit two homers for the Mariners, while Mike Zunino and Kyle Seager both managed three-run shots to set up a vital match-winning haul in the fourth inning.
Prior to that the match was finely poised at 1-1, thanks in part to Ackley's first homer, but Zunino and Seager's offerings - coupled with a single from Robinson Cano allowing Austin Jackson to cross home plate - were enough for Seattle, before Ackley rounded off the win by making it his second multi-homer game for the Mariners.
Victory moved Seattle to within 0.5 games of the Kansas City Royals in the wild card hunt after the Royals were thrashed 10-1 by the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium.
The Tigers, who moved to a 1.5 game lead in AL Central with the win, took a 3-0 lead after the first inning before Ian Kinsler hit a two-run homer in a five-run haul in the fifth that rounded off the visitors' scoring. Jayson Nix's sacrifice fly late on meant the Royals at least got on the board.
The Oakland Athletics also took advantage of the Royals' defeat as Jon Lester pitched six scoreless innings and conceded just five hits and one homer as they beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1.
That win takes them 0.5 games clear in the AL Wild Card battle, while the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees are both tied 4.5 games further back.
The Yankees took full advantage of the Indians' 10th-inning 5-4 defeat to the Minnesota Twins by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 at Yankee Stadium.
Red Sox stun Orioles
Elsewhere in the AL, the Boston Red Sox stunned AL East leaders the Baltimore Orioles 5-3, the Chicago White Sox won 4-3 at the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers hammered the Los Angeles Angels 12-3.
In the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates made it five wins in a row with a 4-2 triumph over the Milwaukee Brewers which strengthens their NL Wild Card prospects with the Brewers going 4.5 games behind as a result.
The San Francisco Giants, who occupy the first NL Wild Card place, collapsed to a 4-0 defeat at the San Diego Padres
NL West leaders the Los Angeles Dodgers cruised to a 14-5 win over the Chicago Cubs, the Washington Nationals trumped the Miami Marlins 3-2 and the New York Mets humbled the Atlanta Braves 5-0.
Rounding off the day's action, the Arizona Diamondbacks were smashed 15-3 by the Colorado Rockies as Michael Cuddyer hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high seven runs in total, while the St Louis Cardinals edged the Cincinnati Reds 2-1 at Busch Stadium.
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