NEW YORK — With their season on the brink, the New York Mets' biggest stars were bright Saturday night.
Pete Alonso launched a tiebreaking homer, and Jacob deGrom pitched well enough to help New York escape being swept with a 7-3 victory over the San Diego Padres. The win evened their wild-card series in the National League playoffs, and they'll have the stage all to themselves Sunday night at Citi Field for a deciding Game 3 after MLB's three other wild-card series finished in two.
"Win or go home," deGrom said. "Love pitching here. Mets fans have been great to me. Didn't want to disappoint."
Francisco Lindor also went deep, Jeff McNeil laced a critical two-run double and All-Star closer Edwin Díaz entered much earlier than usual to protect a one-run lead in the seventh inning.
New York broke open the game by scoring four times in the bottom half, keyed by the bases-loaded double McNeil lined off Adrian Morejon through a drawn-in infield.
Seth Lugo retired cleanup batter Josh Bell on a grounder with the sacks full for the save, ending a game that took 4 hours, 13 minutes.
"It was a close game in the middle innings, and then it got away from us there in the seventh," San Diego manager Bob Melvin said.
Sunday's winner advances to a best-of-five NL Division Series against the top-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers beginning Tuesday. Joe Musgrove is scheduled to start for his hometown Padres against 15-game winner Chris Bassitt of the Mets.
"Go out there and compete and leave it all on the field," San Diego slugger Manny Machado said. "At this point it's all about 27 outs."
Leadoff batter Brandon Nimmo had three hits and a walk for the Mets, including a go-ahead single in the fourth that chased wild starter Blake Snell to the delight of a boisterous sellout crowd waving orange rally towels. The left-hander walked four of his first 12 batters and six in all during 3 1/3 shaky innings in his first postseason start for San Diego.
In a matchup of the 2018 Cy Young Award winners, deGrom struck out eight in six innings of two-run ball for his fourth career postseason win. It was deGrom's first playoff start at home; the right-hander helped pitch the Mets into the 2015 World Series, but all four of his starts that postseason came on the road.
"I actually felt like I had my best stuff in the sixth inning," he said.
One night after co-ace Max Scherzer gave up four homers and seven runs in an opening flop, deGrom came out firing 100 mph fastballs and delivered with New York facing elimination.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner, who plans to opt out of his contract after this season, whiffed Machado three times and rebounded nicely after going 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA in his final four regular-season outings.
Trent Grisham homered for the second time in two games, and San Diego tied it 2-all on Jurickson Profar's RBI single in the fifth.
But after a visit from pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, deGrom struck out Machado and Bell with runners at the corners to end the inning.
"He's one of the best in the game," Machado said. "He did what he does best. We weren't able to open the floodgates."
Alonso homered on the first pitch in the bottom half from reliever Nick Martinez, who went to college in New York City at Fordham. It was the first career postseason homer for Alonso, who had 40 during the regular season and tied for the major league lead with 131 RBIs.
"This is why we play — for those moments," Alonso said.
Díaz was summoned by manager Buck Showalter in the seventh — his earliest appearance since August 2020. Making the first postseason appearance of his career, the reliever turned in a tough defensive play covering first base and then retired slugger Juan Soto on a dribbler with a runner on second to end the inning.
Díaz went 46 minutes between pitches while the Mets rallied in the bottom half with the help of consecutive 10-pitch walks drawn by Alonso and Mark Canha against Morejon.
A pumped-up McNeil, the MLB batting champion, pointed toward the New York dugout as he legged out his clutch double that made it 5-2. Eduardo Escobar added an RBI single off Pierce Johnson, and pinch-hitter Daniel Vogelbach had a sacrifice fly.
After getting two outs in the eighth, Díaz was lifted to a warm ovation and waved to the crowd of 42,156 as he walked off the mound.
With two on in the ninth, Profar hit a long drive that was caught just in front of the right-center fence. Adam Ottavino walked in a run before Showalter went to Lugo for the final out.
"We knew going into this game it was going to be tough," Grisham said. "Any team that's fighting for its life is going to come out guns blazing. We're going to be in the same situation tomorrow."
Phillies 2, Cardinals 0
ST. LOUIS — The Philadelphia Phillies wasted no time taking their raucous celebration from the infield at Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals had trudged off to mourn the end of an era, into the visitors' clubhouse, where the champagne flowed freely and Calum Scott's "Dancing On My Own" pounded through the speakers.
After more than a decade in baseball's wilderness, they had finally won another postseason series.
It took Aaron Nola pitching four-hit ball into the seventh inning, an early home run from Bryce Harper and some gutsy performances out of the bullpen. But when Zach Eflin retired Tommy Edman to leave the tying run on base, the Phillies had squeezed out a victory over the Cardinalsfor a wild-card sweep in the NL playoffs.
"Everybody in that clubhouse, on this team, in this organization is super excited," Nola said. "Just a bunch of unselfish guys, doing whatever it takes to win a ballgame, no matter what it is. It's a lot of excitement."
Long known for his September struggles, Nola proved to be an October ace. The unflappable right-hander struck out six batters and walked one on 101 pitches before leaving with two outs in the seventh. Jose Alvarado then retired longtime St. Louis star catcher Yadier Molina on a popup, stranding a runner on first.
In the eighth, Philadelphia's Seranthony Dominguez struck out Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado to wiggle out of a two-on, one-out jam. The leading contenders for NL MVP, Arenado and Goldschmidt were a combined 1-for 15 in the series with no RBIs and six strikeouts.
With one final chance in the ninth, the Cardinals got consecutive two-out singles from Corey Dickerson and Molina. But Eflin, the Phillies' starter-turned-closer, responded by getting Edman to foul out, giving the franchise its first postseason series win since topping the Cincinnati Reds in the 2010 divisional round.
The Phillies will face an NL East rival beginning Tuesday night in Atlanta. The Braves, last year's World Series champions, won their fifth straight division title this year and were the NL's No. 2 seed to receive a bye into the best-of-five division series.
"Our players, they love being in this situation," said Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who took over a struggling club when Joe Girardi was fired early in the season. "And that's what I'm really proud about. There's so many guys that never played in the playoffs, and they played really well. The moment didn't get the best of them, and I'm really happy about that."
Miles Mikolas allowed two runs and two hits for St Louis before leaving with two outs in the fifth. Albert Pujols had a pair of singles, including one in the eighth in what was likely the final at-bat of his career, while Molina had gone 0-for-3 before his own single in the last time he will don a Cardinals uniform.
Pujols made his MLB debut in 2001 and spent his first 11 seasons in St. Louis, then signed a 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels. Released early last season, he finished the year with the Los Angeles Dodgers before signing a one-year deal with the Cardinals this past spring.
He made it a special season, returning to form by hitting 24 homers and driving in 68 runs, pushing his career totals to 703 and 2,218 — fourth and second in the MLB record books.
"This was never about me coming back here," Pujols said. "This was about an organization that opened the door for me to finish my career here. My mission was always to help this ballclub to win every day."
The sellout crowd of 48,515, the third-largest in Busch Stadium history, was at its flag-waving throatiest trying to keep the Cards' dream season alive. Instead, their fans watched the NL Central champions go down with a whimper, losing in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year.
"It's a tough one, when you know it's Yadi's last year and Albert's last year," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "There's just extra motivation to deliver for them, and do something special, and allow that story to end with a championship."
Harper, who was hitless in the opener, staked the Phillies to the lead when a 76 mph curveball left his bat at 111.6 mph on the first pitch of the second inning. The ball sliced through the cold October breeze and landed 435 feet away.
The way pitchers have dominated the wild-card round, it figured Harper's one mighty swing might be the difference.
"I didn't play well at all. That's what I look at," Goldschmidt said. "If I could have played better, maybe we could've won at least one of them, if not both of them. That's disappointing."
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Mariners 10, Blue Jays 9
TORONTO — Carlos Santana and J.P. Crawford delivered before Adam Frazier capped a historic comeback with one sweet swing.
A little October fun for a new generation of Seattle Mariners.
Frazier hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the ninth inning, and Seattle erased a seven-run deficit while topping the Toronto Blue Jays for a sweep of their wild-card series in the American League playoffs.
"Those are the kind of moments you picture yourself in in the backyard when you're a kid," Frazier said.
It was the biggest road comeback win in MLB playoff history and baseball's largest comeback victory to clinch a postseason series.
It was quite a day for a franchise making its first playoff appearance since Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez and company were eliminated by the New York Yankees in the 2001 AL Championship Series. Next up for this group of Mariners is an AL Division Series against the Houston Astros, the reigning AL champions who won the West Division and 106 regular-season games for the league's No. 1 seed.
"To go to the World Series, you have to go through Houston," Seattle manager Scott Servais said. "They're really good. We understand that. We're really good."
Seattle got off to a 29-39 start this season, then went 61-33 from June 21 on, trailing only the Astros (65-31) among AL teams over that span.
After winning 4-0 in the opener of the best-of-three series Friday, the Mariners trailed 8-1 through five innings in Game 2. Then they roared back, tying it with four runs in the eighth.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Crawford hit a blooper to center against All-Star closer Jordan Romano.
"I was praying to the baseball gods to just let that ball sit," Crawford said.
Center fielder George Springer and shortstop Bo Bichette went hard after the sinking liner, but it landed as the two collided. All three runners scored on the double, tying it at 9.
"It seems everything that could go wrong did go wrong in a very short period of time," interim Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
Bichette was able to stay in the game, but the 33-year-old Springer had to be helped to his feet before he was carted off the field. The four-time All-Star encouraged the cheering crowd as he departed.
Schneider said Springer was "doing OK" and would be evaluated further.
The Blue Jays have lost five straight postseason games and eight of nine. Toronto, which finished one win short of a playoff berth in 2021, heads into another offseason on a disappointing note.
"It's going to take some time," Schneider said. "Probably take a vacation or two."
Cal Raleigh, who hit an RBI single for Seattle in the eighth, reached on a one-out double against Romano in the ninth. After Mitch Haniger flied out, Frazier drove in Raleigh with a double to right.
"I'm just glad the ball fell," Frazier said.
Bichette walked, stole second and advanced to third on a grounder in the eighth, but Andrés Muñoz retired Alejandro Kirk to end the threat.
George Kirby, Seattle's eighth pitcher of the game, handled the ninth for his first career save. Matt Chapman walked with one out, but Danny Jansen struck out and Raimel Tapia lined out to end the game.
"I figured he would step up, the adrenaline would be going, and he did a great job," Servais said of Kirby.
Toronto got off to a fast start. Teoscar Hernández hit a two-run homer in the second and a solo drive in the fourth against Robbie Ray, who won the AL Cy Young Award while pitching for the Blue Jays last year.
Hernández joined Jansen and former Blue Jays slugger José Bautista as the only Toronto players with multihomer games in the postseason.
After Ty France scored on Tim Mayza's wild pitch in the sixth, Santana gave Seattle's comeback a big boost with a three-run homer.
"That gave us a chance," Servais said
Jansen made it 9-5 with an RBI single off Penn Murfee in the seventh, but Toronto's bullpen couldn't close it out. Anthony Bass gave up hits to all three batters he faced in the eighth, including Raleigh's RBI single, forcing Schneider to call on Romano for a six-out save.
Romano gave up a single to Frazier and struck out Santana and Dylan Moore, but Crawford tied it with a first-pitch double. Toronto intentionally walked Julio Rodríguez before Romano struck out France to end the inning.
Ray, who signed a $115 million, five-year contract with Seattle in November, allowed four runs and six hits in three-plus innings.
Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman was charged with four runs and five hits over 5 2/3 innings in his second career postseason start. Gausman struck out seven and walked one.
"A heartbreaking loss," Gausman said. "Tough to watch."
Guardians 1, Rays 0
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians have won with comebacks and walkoffs for months, making an unexpectedly special season even more so by the day.
They weren't supposed to be this good this fast.
Major League Baseball's youngest team certainly has grown up.
Rookie right fielder Oscar Gonzalez broke up the longest scoreless postseason game in MLB history with a leadoff home run in the 15th inning, giving the Guardians a hard-earned win over the Tampa Bay Rays that completed a wild-card sweep.
Gonzalez, who walks to the plate to the "SpongeBob SquarePants" theme song, drove a 1-0 cutter — the 432nd pitch in the nearly five-hour game — off Corey Kluber over the wall in left-center field to touch off a wild celebration.
As Gonzalez rounded the bases and his teammates gathered near home plate to greet him, the sellout crowd of 34,971 shook Progressive Field as Cleveland's surprise season added a storybook chapter.
"There's no way to describe it," said Gonzalez, who punctuated his shot with an emphatic bat flip before strutting toward first base. "It was such an exciting moment that it's hard for me to put into words."
Now, the Guardians, who have been fun-loving, free and fearless since opening day on their way to winning the AL Central, start a best-of-five division series Tuesday in New York against the Yankees, the East champions.
On their visit to Yankee Stadium in April, the Guardians were swept and trash was thrown at them. They're returning a different team.
Cleveland has defied odds in its first season after adopting the Guardians nickname. The team formerly known as the Indians ran away in the division race by going 24-6 down the stretch, swept the more experienced Rays and now take on the Yankees, with their big bats and bigger payroll ($254 million to Cleveland's $68 million).
Gonzalez was among 17 players to make their debut for the Guardians this season, so perhaps it was fitting his shot ensured they would advance.
"I don't think by that point we cared," said Terry Francona, Cleveland's veteran manager who led the Boston Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007. "It could have been one of the old guys. We didn't care. We're not biased. I was happy that he hit it."
Tampa Bay was bounced quickly from its fourth straight postseason appearance. The Rays finished with seven straight losses dating to the regular season, scored one run in the series and hit .115 (9-for-78) with one extra-base hit against Cleveland.
"I saw guys trying to do too much," manager Kevin Cash said. "We were looking for the three-run homer with nobody on base. When you take that mindset against good pitchers, they can kind of sit you down."
Gonzalez's shot off Kluber, who won two Cy Young Awards with Cleveland, finished a game that began at 12:08 p.m. and ended in twilight.
The tense, 4-hour, 57-minute game was the longest 0-0 affair in MLB postseason history, surpassing the opening game of a wild-card matchup between the Braves and Reds that went 13 innings in 2020.
Saturday in Cleveland, the Guardians and Rays combined for a postseason-record 39 strikeouts — 20 by Tampa Bay batters — in a game had a little bit of everything except offense.