Arizona Diamondbacks’ James McCann (8) gets doused in Gatorade by Jordan Lawlar (10) in celebration of McCann’s eighth inning home run after a 1-0 win against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.
Ross D. Franklin | AP Photo
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Lars Nootbaar connects for a single as Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto reaches for the ball during the first inning Wednesday.
Ross D. Franklin | AP Photo
PHOENIX — James McCann hit a solo homer in the eighth inning, seven Arizona pitchers combined for a shutout and the Diamondbacks avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 on Wednesday.
Arizona — which ended a three-game losing streak — is now a half-game ahead of the San Diego Padres for the third and final NL wild card with 21 games remaining on its schedule.
The Phillies saw their six-game winning streak end.
McCann hammered the first pitch he saw from reliever Jonathan Bowlan (2-2) deep into the left-field seats for the game’s only run. It was the veteran catcher’s fifth homer of the season.
The D-backs used a parade of relievers to get through the game, starting with Taylor Clarke, who threw 1 2/3 innings. Derek Law, Kevin Ginkel, Jose Cabrera, Brandyn Garcia, Jonathan Loaisiga (6-3) and Juan Morillo followed.
Morillo struck out Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to start the ninth before walking Bryce Harper. The hard-throwing righty then coaxed a soft grounder from Luis Arraez to secure his third save of the season.
Arizona managed to salvage the finale despite not recording a hit with runners in scoring position during the entire three-game series.
Giants 5, Pirates 4
PITTSBURGH — Rafael Devers continued his hot hitting with his 32nd home run of the season and the San Francisco Giants scored twice in the 10th inning to defeat Pittsburgh, ending the Pirates’ four-game winning streak.
Devers had a solo shot with one out in the first inning to open the scoring a night after the Giants dropped a wild 13-12 decision in the series opener. The first baseman extended his hitting streak to 10 games by going 2 for 3 with two walks.
Bryce Eldridge’s RBI double down the left-field line in the 10th inning put the Giants ahead 4-3 and Turner Hill added a sacrifice fly.
Braves 9, Nationals 0
WASHINGTON — Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a three-run homer to become the fastest player in major league history to reach 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals.
Sean Murphy homered for the third time in five games, a three-run shot in the sixth inning that broke a scoreless tie in a game that was interrupted by a 1-hour, 25-minute rain delay in the fourth.
Acuña followed with a drive to left-center in the seventh, his 14th of the season, to make it 6-0. He needed 904 games to reach the 200/200 club. Alfonso Soriano set the previous record at 929 games in August of 2006 while playing for the Nationals against the Braves.
Blue Jays 11, Guardians 0
CLEVELAND — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a three-run homer and had a season-high five RBIs, Dylan Cease scattered four hits over six innings and the Toronto Blue Jays routed the Cleveland Guardians.
The Guardians remain in the third American League wild-card position, but their lead over Toronto, Baltimore and Texas was sliced to 1 1/2 games.
Cease (10-5), one of the top Cy Young Award candidates, struck out four without a walk and did not allow a runner past second base.
Athletics 9, Rangers 2
ARLINGTON, Texas — Henry Bolte had his first career multihomer game, Zack Gelof, Jonah Heim and Alika Williams also went deep, and the Athletics scored nine unanswered runs to beat the Texas Rangers.
Bolte hit the first of his homers in the third inning, a two-run, game-tying shot, before Gelof gave the A’s a 3-2 lead with a solo home run.
Bolte struck again in the fourth, crushing his eighth homer of the season over the right-field wall for another two-run blast. Heim, in his return to Globe Life Field after playing for the Rangers from 2020-25, followed with a solo homer against his former team, extending the Athletics’ lead to 6-2.
Alika Williams capped the scoring with a two-run home run in the fifth and an RBI double in the seventh to help the A’s avoid a three-game sweep.
Reds 7, Padres 2
CINCINNATI — Rookie Juan Brito hit his first home run, JJ Bleday and Héctor Rodríguez also went deep and the Cincinnati Reds scored seven unanswered runs to beat the San Diego Padres.
Despite winning the three-game series, Cincinnati (67-73) fell 6 1/2 games back of Arizona for the third and final NL wild card after the Diamondbacks beat the Phillies. San Diego was half a game behind Arizona.
Brito had a game-tying, three-run shot into the right-field seats in the third inning. Two batters later, Rodríguez tacked on a solo shot to give Cincinnati the lead. Rodríguez has five homers in his last 10 games.
Mariners 8, Red Sox 3
BOSTON — Jhonny Pereda had a two-run single as part of the second of Seattle’s two four-run innings on the day, and the Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox.
Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor, Dominic Canzone and Randy Arozarena added RBIs for Seattle. The Mariners racked up 25 runs and 37 hits over the three-game series, winning the final two as they try to keep their long-shot AL wild-card hopes alive.
Rockies 6, Orioles 5
DENVER — Brett Sullivan’s two-out, two-run single capped Colorado’s 11th-inning comeback, and the Rockies beat the Baltimore Orioles.
The loss was a blow to Baltimore in its battle for the final AL wild-card spot. The Orioles (69-71) went 6-3 on their trip out West, but they dropped the final two against the Rockies and fell two games behind Cleveland, which played later Wednesday, for the last playoff berth.
Baltimore took a 5-3 lead in the 11th on RBI singles by Samuel Basallo and Blaze Alexander, who finished with three hits, but Colorado rallied against Grant Wolfram (6-3).
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