Sep 19, 2022 4 min read

Josh Naylor and Amed Rosario hit three-run homers, Cal Quantrill kept his home unbeaten streak intact and the Cleveland Guardians thumped the Minnesota Twins 11-4 on Monday, taking four of five in the series from an AL Central pursuer.

Naylor homered in the first inning off Sonny Gray (8-5) and Rosario connected in the sixth off rookie Ronny Henriquez to make it 7-3 as the first-place Guardians opened a four-game division lead.

Cleveland begins a three-game series in Chicago on Tuesday against the second-place White Sox, who were idle.

Nick Gordon homered off Quantrill (13-5) for the Twins, who came to town hoping to cut into the Guardians’ lead but left further behind. Cleveland went 13-6 against Minnesota, winning nine of the last 10.

Rosario was brutal on Twins pitchers in the series, batting .440 (11 of 25) with two homers and 11 RBI.

Houston 4, Tampa Bay 0: The Houston Astros clinched their fifth AL West title in six years, getting a leadoff home run from Jose Altuve in a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bays.

Headed to the postseason for the sixth straight season, Houston won for the eighth time in nine games and improved the AL’s best record to 97-51.

Luis Garcia (13-8) won his fifth straight decision, giving up two hits and four walks in five innings while striking out four. Hunter Brown pitched three innings and Héctor Neris finished the five-hitter, the Astros 16th shutout this season.

Tampa Bay (82-65) is in position for the second of three AL wild card berths, one game behind Toronto (83-64) and a half-game ahead of Seattle (81-65).

Seattle 9, L.A. Angels 1: Carlos Santana homered twice, including his first grand slam in three years, Ty France drove in four runs and the Seattle Mariners stopped a three-game losing streak with a 9-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

Santana had the 15th multi-homer game of his 13-year career and fourth this season. He has seven homers in his last nine games and has hit 15 of his 19 home runs this season since Seattle acquired him from Kansas City in late June.

Logan Gilbert struck out a career-high, allowing one run and four hits in six innings and helping prevent the Mariners from being swept in a four-game series at Angel Stadium for the first time in 10 years.

Tigers hire Giants’ GM: Scott Harris was hired as the Detroit Tigers’ president of baseball operations, leaving the San Francisco Giants after three years as general manager.

The 36-year-old takes over for Tigers general manager Al Avila, who was fired Aug. 10. Detroit went 404-573 under Avila, who failed to take the team to the postseason during seven seasons overseeing baseball operations.

Detroit hoped to reach the postseason but entered Monday night’s game against Baltimore last in the AL Central at 55-91.

National League

Miami 10, Chicago Cubs 3: Bryan De La Cruz hit a grand slam in the third inning and the Miami Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs, 10-3.

Rookie Charles Leblanc and Jon Berti also went deep while Miguel Rojas had three hits for the Marlins. Berti also singled twice and stole two bases, giving him an NL-leading 36.

Miami starter Edward Cabrera (6-3) threw five innings of three-run ball. The rookie right-hander gave up three hits, walked three, struck out four and hit two batters.

De La Cruz’s blast off Cubs starter Wade Miley (1-1) capped a five-run third and erased a 2-0 deficit. He is hitting .333 with three homers and 12 RBIs since being recalled a second time this season from Triple-A on Sept. 7.