BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles clinched their first playoff berth since 1997, extending their winning streak to four by beating the Boston Red Sox 6-3 Sunday as Nate McLouth, J.J. Hardy and Chris Davis hit solo homers.
With three games left, the Orioles (92-67) are tied with the New York Yankees for the AL East lead and already have 23 more wins than a year ago.
Baltimore and New York both clinched no worse than a wild card when the Los Angeles Angels lost to Texas 8-7 Sunday night.
New York begins a season-ending series against visiting Boston today, and the Orioles are at Tampa Bay.
Joe Saunders (3-3) allowed three runs, eight hits and no walks in 7 1/3 innings, and Jim Johnson worked the ninth for his 50th save.
YANKEES 9, BLUE JAYS 6
TORONTO — Eduardo Nunez drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly, and the Yankees overcame a 5-1 deficit and clinched their 17th playoff berth in 18 years.
Toronto took a 5-1 lead in the fifth against Phil Hughes, but the Yankees closed in the sixth on a run-scoring pitch by Henderson Alvarez and tied it an inning later on Ichiro Suzuki’s sacrifice fly, Robinson Cano’s RBI double against Steve Delabar and Aaron Loup’s run-scoring wild pitch.
Boone Logan (7-2) got the final two outs of the seventh. Darren Oliver (3-4) was the loser.
ANGELS 5, RANGERS 4
RANGERS 8, ANGELS 7
ARLINGTON, Texas — Mike Napoli homered twice and drove in six runs as Texas clinched its third straight playoff berth. Napoli’s second homer in the nightcap was a go-ahead three-run shot in the third.
Two-time defending AL champion Texas (93-66) can be no worse than a wild card. Los Angeles (88-71) trails Oakland (91-68) by three games for the AL’s second wild card with three games left.
After blowing a save in the opener by allowing Torii Hunter’s two-run double with two outs in the ninth, Joe Nathan worked the ninth in the nightcap for his 37th save. Derek Holland (12-6) got the win.
Los Angeles took a quick 4-0 lead in the nightcap that Ervin Santana (9-13) quickly squandered.
In the opener, Garrett Richards (4-3) retired Nelson Cruz with two runners on in the eighth, and Ernesto Frieri pitched a perfect ninth for his 24th save. Mike Trout became the first major league rookie to reach 30 homers and 40 stolen bases in the same season.
ATHLETICS 5, MARINERS 2
OAKLAND, Calif. — Yoenis Cespedes broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth with a home run off Shawn Kelley (2-4) as Oakland closed on its first playoff berth in six years. Josh Reddick connected with a two-run shot for his team-leading 32nd homer two batters later as the A’s completed a three-game sweep.
Sean Doolittle (2-1) pitched a perfect eighth for the win, and Grant Balfour finished for his 22nd save.
TIGERS 2, TWINS 1
MINNEAPOLIS — Prince Fielder hit a two-run, opposite-field homer to left off Jared Burton (3-2), his 30th of the season, and Detroit opened a season-high three-game lead over the second-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central with three games to play.
Detroit, which lost to Texas in last year’s AL championship series, closes at Kansas City while Chicago is at Cleveland.
Miguel Cabrera, who is trying to become the first player since 1967 to win the triple crown, went 0-for-3 with an intentional walk, dropping his AL-leading batting average to .325. Minnesota’s Joe Mauer went 3-for-4 with an intentional walk to raise his average to .323.
RAYS 6, WHITE SOX 2
CHICAGO — David Price (20-5) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings to become Tampa Bay’s first 20-game winner, B.J. Upton hit his 27th and 28th homers, and Tampa Bay (88-71) remained three games behind Oakland for the AL’s second wild-card berth with three games left.
Tampa Bay won for the 10th time in 11 games. Chicago, which held at least a share of the AL Central lead from July 24 until Wednesday, has lost 10 of 12.
INDIANS 15, ROYALS 3
CLEVELAND — Asdrubal Cabrera capped a 10-run fifth inning with a grand slam as Cleveland tied season highs for runs and hits (19), improving to 2-1 under interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr.
