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Baseball-Highlights of Sunday's MLB games

Oct 4 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights from Major League Baseball games on Sunday: - - - - Rangers 9, Angels 2 Left-hander Cole Hamels pitched the Texas Rangers to the American League West title with a 9-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Hamels pitched a complete-game three-hitter a day after the Rangers used nine pitchers in a stunning 11-10 loss to the Angels. - - Diamondbacks 5, Astros 3 The Houston Astros returned to the playoffs after a 10-year absence despite a 5-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt's two-run homer broke a tie in the seventh inning, but the Astros were playoff bound an inning later after Texas beat the Los Angeles Angels to clinch the AL West. Houston (86-76) will play the New York Yankees in the AL wild card playoff game on Tuesday in New York. It will be Astros' first playoff appearance since losing the 2005 World Series. - - Royals 6, Twins 1 Royals right-hander Johnny Cueto pitched five innings, allowing just one run despite giving up six hits and a four walks and also struck out four as Kansas City beat Minnesota. Kansas City entered the day one game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays for the best record in the American League and the win made sure it stayed that way. They will play the winner of the American League wild card game between the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros on Thursday. The win was the 95th of the season for the Royals, the third-most in franchise history and the most since they won 97 games in 1980. - - Cubs 3, Brewers 1 Six strong innings from Dan Haren and a two-run single in the first inning by first baseman Anthony Rizzo were more than enough for the Chicago Cubs to close out the regular season with a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs will now head to Pittsburgh for the National League wild card game on Wednesday. The Pirates earned home-field advantage for the game with a 4-0 victory over the Reds. - - Pirates 4, Reds 0 J.A. Happ pitched six strong innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds. Happ (11-8) allowed three hits, struck out seven and walked two for the Pirates (98-64) who will host the Cubs (97-65) on Wednesday in the winner-take-all game after finishing one game ahead of Chicago in the wild card standings. - - Mets 1, Nationals 0 Right fielder Curtis Granderson's solo homer in the eighth inning snapped a scoreless tie, when seven New York Mets pitchers combined on a two-hitter in a 1-0 win over the Washington Nationals. The National League East champion Mets (90-72) snapped a five-game losing streak. They will enter the NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday having scored just two runs in their last 43 innings. The Nationals, the overwhelming favorite to win the NL East, finished 83-79. - - Dodgers 6, Padres 3 Left-hander Clayton Kershaw became the first major league pitcher in 15 years to strike out 300 batters in a season during the Los Angeles Dodgers' 6-3 win over the San Diego Padres. Kershaw finished the season with a career-best 301 strikeouts and became the first pitcher to do so since the Arizona Diamondbacks' Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling amassed 334 and 316, respectively, in 2002. - - Orioles 9, Yankees 4 Chris Davis hit a pair of two-run homers as the Baltimore Orioles swept their three-game series with New York with a 9-4 victory over the Yankees. The Yankees still backed into hosting the wild-card playoff game after Houston suffered a 5-3 loss to Arizona, which gave the Yankees the wild-card game at home. New York (87-75) dropped six of their last seven games. - - Braves 6, Cardinals 0 (1st game) Atlanta Braves right-hander Shelby Miller ended his four-month winless drought by throwing eight shutout innings in a 6-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the first game of a double header. Miller ended a franchise-record 24 consecutive winless starts and broke a 13-game losing streak. He won for the first time since May 17, when he threw a two-hit shutout at Miami. Miller (6-17) allowed only three hits, struck out seven and walked three. He threw 110 pitches. - - Braves 2, Cardinals 0 (2nd game) Rookie right-hander Matt Wisler pitched 8-2/3 shutout innings as the Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 in the second game of a double header. Wisler (8-8) scattered four hits, struck out three and walked one. - - Mariners 3, Athletics 2 Seattle left fielder Seth Smith hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead the Mariners to a 3-2 win over the Oakland A's. The Mariners (76-86) rallied from a 2-0 deficit, finally taking the lead when Oakland reliever Ryan Dull (1-2) served up the Smith home run. - - Indians 3, Red Sox 1 Danny Salazar pitched into the sixth inning while five Cleveland relievers combined to pitch 3-2/3 scoreless innings as the Indians beat the Boston Red Sox. Salazar (14-10) got the win while Cody Allen pitched the ninth to pick up his 34th save. - - Tigers 6, White Sox 0 Anthony Gose, Tyler Collins and Daniel Norris led the Detroit Tigers to a 6-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Gose went 2-for-5, tripled and scored two runs. Left fielder Collins hit a three-run triple while Norris (3-2) threw five scoreless innings to earn his first win since Aug. 2. - - Phillies 7, Marlins 2 The Philadelphia Phillies avoided franchise infamy with a 7-2 win over the Miami Marlins. The Phillies (63-99) erased an early 2-0 deficit and then scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to ensure they did not suffer what would have been their first 100-loss season since 1961, when they went 47-107. - - Rays 12, Blue Jays 3 Joey Butler blasted two home runs, including a grand slam, while the Tampa Bay Rays used a huge first inning to finish the regular season with a 12-3 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays. Tampa Bay scored nine times in the bottom of the first thanks mostly to Butler's grand slam, the first of the season for the Rays. The designated hitter added a two-run shot in the fifth. - - Rockies 7, Giants 3 Left fielder Corey Dickerson tied the game with a three-run homer before Justin Morneau and Charlie Blackmon added two-run singles as the Colorado Rockies scored seven runs in the ninth inning to stun the San Francisco Giants. - - - - (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury)