BOSTON: Opening his final weekend with yet another game-winning homer, David Ortiz lined a two-run shot into the right-field stands to break a seventh-inning tie and help the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Friday.
The AL East champion Red Sox ended a three-game losing streak and stayed one game ahead of Cleveland, which beat the Kansas City Royals 7-2, in the race for home-field advantage for the playoffs.
The Blue Jays fell one game behind Baltimore in the wild-card race and are now within range of Detroit and Seattle in the fight for the AL's final postseason berth.
With his image mowed into the grass in center for the final regular-season series of his career, Ortiz hit his 38th homer of the year — and No. 541 of his career — to help Boston rally from a 3-1 deficit with four runs in the seventh. It was extra-base hit No. 1,192, tying Ken Griffey Jr. and Rafael Palmeiro for eighth on baseball's all-time list.
Dustin Pedroia had three hits for Boston, and Brad Ziegler (2-3) picked up the win with one inning of scoreless relief. Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 31st save.
Devon Travis had three hits, including a pair of doubles, and Jose Batista homered for Toronto.
Mark Trumbo hit his major league-leading 47th home run, Jonathan Schoop and Adam Jones also went deep in a six-run fifth inning and the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 8-1 to maintain their AL wild-card lead.
Trumbo and Jones homered off Michael Pineda (6-12).
Schoop tied his career high with five RBIs, hitting a go-ahead, two-run double in the fourth and adding a three-run homer in the fifth against James Pazos — Baltimore's big league-high 250th home run this season.
At Arlington, Texas, Yu Darvish looked playoff-ready with a season-high 12 strikeouts in six innings as the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 and clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Texas can be tied by only the Cleveland Indians and they own the tie-breaker by winning the teams' season series. The AL owns home-field advantage in the World Series thanks to its win in the All-Star Game.
In the National League, Madison Bumgarner lined a key two-run double in the sixth and emphatically pumped his arms while yelling in celebration at second base, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-3 to maintain its slim lead for the second NL wild card.
Brandon Belt added a three-run homer in the seven-run inning and Bumgarner (15-9) beat the Dodgers for the first time in seven starts since May 21, 2015. It was win No. 100 of his career.
Matt Holliday hit an emotional home run and the St. Louis Cardinals shut-out the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-0 to keep within one game of San Francisco for the second NL wild-card spot.
Holliday, out since Aug. 12 because of a thumb injury, was club informed by the club earlier this week that it is not planning to pick up the $17 million option on his contract for 2017, and instead will pay him the $1 million buyout.
Holliday was given a standing ovation before he pinch-hit in the seventh. He responded with his 20th home run, and came out for a curtain call.
Elsewhere Friday, Carlos Rodon tied an AL record by striking out the first seven batters and Tim Anderson finished a double shy of the cycle to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 7-3 win, handing the Twins their 103rd loss — the most losses since the Washington Senators went 50-104 in 1949.
Miguel Cabrera hit two home runs, Ian Kinsler and Justin Upton also connected and the Detroit Tigers beat the Atlanta Braves 6-2 and pulled within a half-game of Toronto for the second AL wild-card spot.
Jay Bruce homered for the third straight game and drove in three runs, Robert Gsellman threw six sharp innings and the New York Mets moved to within one game of securing a NL wild-card berth with a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Also, the in-form Chicago Cubs topped the Cincinnati Reds 7-3, the Miami Marlins beat the NL East champion Washington Nationals 6-4, the Los Angeles Angels thrashed the Houston Astros 7-1 and the Seattle Mariners stayed in wild-card contention, beating the Oakland Athletics 5-1.
Ortiz delivers another HR as Red Sox top Jays 5-3
Ortiz delivers another HR as Red Sox top Jays 5-3
History-chasing Djokovic and Alcaraz to meet in Australian Open final after epic semifinal wins
- Carlos Alcaraz striving to become the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam
- Novak Djokovic is aiming to be the oldest man in the Open era to win a Grand Slam title
MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic finally beat one of the two men who have been blocking his path to an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title when he edged Jannik Sinner in five sets Friday to reach the Australian Open final.
To get that coveted No. 25, he’ll next have to beat the other: top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz.
They’re both chasing history in Sunday’s championship decider, with the 22-year-old Alcaraz striving to become the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam.
The top-ranked Alcaraz also had to come through a grueling five-setter. He fended off No. 3 Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in a match that started in the warmth of the afternoon Friday and, 5 hours and 27 minutes later, became the longest semifinal ever at the Australian Open.
That pushed the start of Djokovic’s match against Sinner back a couple of hours, and the 38-year-old Djokovic finally finished off a 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win just after 1:30 a.m.
“It feels surreal,” Djokovic said of his 4-hour, 9-minute triumph. “Honestly, it feels like winning already tonight. I know I have to come back … and fight the No. 1 of the world. I just hope that I’ll have enough gas to stay toe-to-toe with him.
“That’s my desire. Let the God decide the winner.”
Djokovic was at the peak of his defensive powers, fending off 16 of the 18 breakpoints he faced against the two-time defending Australian Open champion. It ended a run of five losses to Sinner, and a run of four semifinal exits for Djokovic at the majors.
“Had many chances, couldn’t use them, and that’s the outcome,” Sinner said. “Yeah, it hurts, for sure.”
Alcaraz and Sinner have split the last eight major titles between them since Djokovic won his last title at the 2023 US Open.
Nobody knows how to win more at Melbourne Park than Djokovic. He has won all 10 times he’s contested the Australian Open final.
He said he saw Alcaraz after the first of the semifinals was over and he congratulated him on reaching his first final at Melbourne Park.
“He said sorry to delay,” Djokovic later explained. “I told him ‘I’m an old man, I need to go earlier to sleep!”
Djokovic, aiming to be the oldest man in the Open era to win a Grand Slam title, was kept up late.
“I’m looking forward to meeting him on Sunday,” he said.
Final 4
With the top four seeds reaching the Australian Open men’s semifinals for just the fifth time, Day 13 was destined to produce some drama. The season-opening major had been a relatively slow burn, until the back-to-back five-setters lasting a combined 9 hours and 36 minutes.
Alcaraz and Zverev, the 2025 runner-up, surpassed the 2009 classic between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco as the longest ever Australian Open semifinal.
Medical timeout
Alcaraz was as close as two points from victory in the third set but was hampered by pain in his upper right leg and his medical timeout became contentious.
He said initially it didn’t feel like cramping because the pain seemed to be just in one muscle, the right adductor, and he needed an assessment.
He navigated the third and fourth sets and was behind in the fifth after dropping serve in the first game. He kept up the pressure but didn’t break back until Zverev was serving for the match. He then won the last four games.
“I think physically we just pushed each other to the limit today. We pushed our bodies to the limit,” Alcaraz said. “Just really, really happy to get the win, that I came back. I just rank this one in the top position of one of the best matches that I have ever won.”
Believe
Asked how he was able to recover despite being so close to defeat, Alcaraz admitted he was struggling but said kept “believing, believing, all the time.”
“I’ve been in these situations, I’ve been in these kinds of matches before, so I knew what I had to do,” he said. “I had to put my heart into the match. I think I did it. I fought until the last ball.”
Zverev was demonstrably upset about the time out out in the third set, taking it up with a tournament supervisor, when his rival was given the three-minute break for treatment and a massage on the leg.
After the match, he maintained that he didn’t think it was right, but he didn’t think it should overshadow the match.
“I don’t want to talk about this right now, because I think this is one of the best battles there ever was in Australia,” he said “It doesn’t deserve to be the topic now.”
