Cubs clinch division as Red Sox rally past NYY in MLB

The Cubs went down to the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4, yet ended up National League (NL) Central champions for the first time since 2008 on Thursday anyway.

The St Louis Cardinals' 6-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants meant the division was clinched by the Cubs.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox stunningly scored five times in the ninth inning to beat the Yankees 7-5.

Hanley Ramirez was the hero as he belted a three-run walk-off homer to complete the comeback.

The Los Angeles Dodgers went down to the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-3, the Oakland Athletics thrashed the Kansas City Royals 14-5 and the Tampa Bay Rays edged the Baltimore Orioles 7-6.

The Toronto Blue Jays claimed a 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels, the Pittsburgh Pirates crushed the Philadelphia Phillies 15-2, the Chicago White Sox got past the Cleveland Indians 2-1 and the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 5-1.

MCCUTCHEN LEADS PIRATES

Connecting on three hits, including two home runs in a rout of the Phillies, Andrew McCutchen drove in three and scored thrice. The Pirates' 15 runs were the most in a game by the team against the Phillies since 1967.

WHITE SOX WALK OFF

White Sox infielder Carlos Sanchez hit a blooper to right field for a walk-off single to give Chicago victory over the Indians.

ROYALS SWEPT BY A'S

The Royals have allowed eight or more runs in three of their last four games in a sweep by the A's. The defending champions allowed that to happen just twice in their previous 38.

RAYS TAKE ON ORIOLES

Hoping to hand Chris Archer (8-18, 4.05 ERA) a franchise-worst 19th loss, the Orioles send the rejuvenated Ubaldo Jimenez (7-11, 5.98 ERA) to the mound against the Rays.