Yankees jump Royals in wildcard race, Rangers' day out

Home runs from Kendrys Morales and Eric Hosmer helped put reigning World Series champions the Royals up 4-0 early on Wednesday but a rare bullpen blemish allowed the Yankees to tie it up.

After starter Ian Kennedy exited with a runner on first in the seventh of a 4-3 game, Royals reliever Scott Alexander allowed Aaron Hicks to score following a Brett Gardner single and a sacrifice fly to Jacoby Ellsbury.

The 4-4 game lasted until the 13th inning when the Yankees loaded the bases against Royals pitcher Chris Young. Brian McCann hit a sacrifice fly to score Didi Gregorius for the go-ahead run.

With the win, the Yankees jumped the Royals to sit two and a half games out of the second wildcard currently held by the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles.

The Tigers edged the Chicago White Sox 3-2 and the Orioles lost 5-3 to the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays.

Carlos Gomez hit a third career grand slam as the Texas Rangers swept the Seattle Mariners with a crushing 14-1 win, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 8-6, the Chicago Cubs outlasted the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5, the San Francisco Giants accounted for the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2 and the New York Mets were 5-2 winners against the Miami Marlins.

The Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1, the Houston Astros trumped the Oakland Athletics 4-3, the San Diego Padres went down 8-1 to the Atlanta Braves, the Milwaukee Brewers upstaged the St Louis Cardinals 3-1, the Los Angeles Angels blanked the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 and the Minnesota Twins lost 8-4 to the Cleveland Indians.

Meanwhile in a double-header, the Colorado Rockies shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-0 before the latter hit back to triumph 10-8.

ODOR HAS A DAY OUT

Rougned Odor led a 14-run onslaught against Felix Hernandez and the Mariners as the Rangers infielder recorded his second successive three-hit game. Odor blasted a two- and three-run homer en route to five RBIs.

HIP HIP, HOORAY!

Rockies rookie Stephen Cardullo celebrated his birthday in style with his second career home run, a grand slam to left-centre against the Dodgers.

SORRY TWINS LOSE AGAIN

After being swept by the Indians, Minnesota's current 13-game losing streak ties the Reds in 2015 as the longest losing streak over the last three MLB seasons.

Behind Addison Russell's stellar defensive play, the Cubs swept the Pirates. It is the sixth time this August the Cubs have swept an opponent.

METS EYEING WILDCARD, REUNION FOR SAMARDZIJA

Making a start on extra rest, Jacob deGrom (7-7, 2.96 ERA) looks to help the Mets inch closer to the second wildcard spot with a win over Jose Urena (2-5, 5.83 ERA) and the Marlins on Thursday. DeGrom has allowed 13 runs on 25 hits in his last two starts but hopes extra time spent working on his mechanics pays dividends.

Entering with a recent hot streak, Jeff Samardzija (11-9, 4.00 ERA) hopes to tame his old club, the dangerous Cubs line-up. He is 2-1 with a 1.75 ERA over his last four starts including two shutouts for San Francisco. Mike Montgomery (4-5, 2.60 ERA) opposes Samardzija on the hill in his third start with the Cubs.