Sep 21, 2022 4 min read

Pinch-hitter Mike Brosseau greeted Drew Smith with a grand slam in the pitcher’s return from two months on the injured list, and the New York Mets squandered a chance to boost their NL East lead with a 6-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.

Willy Adames hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth against Taijuan Walker, his fifth homer in 10 games and 31st this season, and the Brewers (79-70) closed within two games of Philadelphia (80-67) for the third and final wild-card berth. The Phillies played later Wednesday.

The Mets (95-56), already assured of at least a wild card, maintained a one-game NL East lead over Atlanta (93-56), whose five-game winning streak ended with a 3-2 loss at Washington. New York had won six in a row.

Mark Canha was hit by pitches twice and Luis Guillorme once. Guillorme was struck on the left foot by a Jake Cousins slider in the ninth, the big league record 106th hiit batter of the season for New York. That topped the 105 by last year’s Cincinnati Reds, and Mets manager Buck Showalter signaled for the ball.

Washington 3, Atlanta 2: Joey Meneses hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Jesse Chavez in the seventh inning, and the Washington Nationals stopped the Atlanta Braves’ five-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory.

Ronald Acuña Jr. drove in an early run and scored another for playoff-bound Atlanta, which clinched its fifth straight postseason appearance a night earlier.

The Braves are 52-26 at Truist Park, with only one remaining three-game series against the New York Mets from Sept. 30-Oct. 2. Atlanta is a big league-best 71-29 since May 31.

Chicago Cubs 4, Miami 3: Ian Happ hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and the Chicago Cubs rallied to beat the Miami Marlins 4-3.

Patrick Wisdom hit his 23rd homer for the Cubs, who had only four hits.

Down 3-1, the Cubs scored three in the eighth without a hit against Marlins relievers Steven Okert and Dylan Floro.

American League

Baltimore 8, Detroit 1: Jordan Lyles threw the second complete game of his career, Kyle Stowers homered and drove in three runs, and the Baltimore Orioles avoided their first-ever season sweep by the Detroit Tigers with an 8-1 victory.

Rookie Gunnar Henderson and two hits and an RBI for the Orioles, who snapped a nine-game losing streak to Detroit dating to last season. Baltimore moved within 4 ½ games of Tampa Bay in the AL wild-card race.

Lyles (11-11) allowed one run with three hits with six strikeouts and no walks with 94 pitches. His previous complete game occurred on Sept. 30, 2012, for Houston against Milwaukee.

Houston 5, Tampa Bay 2: Kyle Tucker hit a two-run homer, Lance McCullers Jr. pitched seven effective innngs and the AL West champion Houston Astros completed a three-game sweep by beating the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-2.

Houston second baseman Jose Altuve was hit on the left elbow by Corey Kluber’s pitch in the fifth and left one inning later with elbow discomfort. He was replaced by Mauricio Dubón.

Both Tucker and McCullers went to high school in nearby Tampa, Florida.

Royals fire longtime executive: The Kansas City Royals fired longtime executive Dayton Moore, ending the roller-coaster tenure of an influential general manager and president who took the club from perennial 100-game loser to two World Series and the 2015 championship before its quick return to mediocrity.

Royals owner John Sherman, who retained Moore after acquiring the club from David Glass in 2019, announced the move during a news conference at which Moore spoke briefly before quietly slipping out of the room.

“I think the objective is clear: It’s to compete again for championships, and we have to make sure we’re progressing toward that goal,” said Sherman, whose club was 30 games below .500 heading into its game against Minnesota.

Sherman tried a mild shakeup to the front office last offseason, elevating Moore from general manager to president of baseball operations while giving J.J. Picollo the GM title. But the awkward splitting of jobs never worked out.