ARLINGTON, Texas-Jonathan Villar had two home runs and a career-high five RBIs and Matt Garza beat his former team as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Texas Rangers 8-3 on Monday night.
The loss dropped American League West-champion Texas one-half game behind the Boston Red Sox in the race for the league's best record. The Cleveland Indians pulled within one-half game of the Rangers.
Villar, the major leagues' stolen base leader with 59, hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning and a three-run shot in the seventh. He also doubled.
Garza (6-8) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings. He spent the second half of the 2013 season with Texas as a rental acquisition from the Chicago Cubs, going 4-5 with a 4.38 ERA. It was Garza's first appearance against Texas since 2010.
Rangers starter Martin Perez (10-11) was looking to set a career high for wins in a season. He gave up a season-high eight earned runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings. His home record this season fell to 8-3.
Jonathan Lucroy, who played 6 seasons for Milwaukee before being traded to Texas on Aug. 1, faced his previous team for the first time. Lucroy went 1 for 4.
Indians 7, Tigers 4
DETROIT-Cleveland clinched the AL Central title, overcoming an injury to ace right-hander Corey Kluber in a victory over Detroit.
Kluber left after four innings with right groin tightness, joining Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar in a group of talented Cleveland pitchers dealing with injuries. But even those concerns were secondary when the Indians poured onto the field to celebrate their first division title since 2007.
Cleveland last made the postseason in 2013 as a wild card.
Coco Crisp and Roberto Perez homered for the Indians, and Jason Kipnis doubled in a run.
Buck Farmer (0-1) allowed four runs in five innings for the Tigers, who fell two games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card.
Reds 15, Cardinals 2
ST. LOUIS-Joey Votto and Adam Duvall hit two of the Cincinnati's four homers as the Reds routed St. Louis.
Reds starter Tim Adleman (3-4) retired the first 10 Cardinals he faced and went a career-long seven innings. It was his first win since Aug. 19.
Steve Selsky went 5-for-5 including a homer, four RBI and scored three runs. He's the first Reds rookie to have five hits in a game since Wade Rowdon against the Mets on July 9, 1986.
The Reds improved to 6-4 in their last 10 games against the Cardinals, who fell one game behind the idle San Francisco Giants for the second wild card spot with six games to go.
Jaime Garcia (10-13) lasted just one inning in his shortest outing of his career and possibly last as a Cardinal.
Cubs 12, Pirates 2
PITTSBURGH-Javier Baez hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs while major league ERA leader Kyle Hendricks pitched six scoreless innings as Chicago won its 100th game of the season.
Baez helped the National League Central-champion Cubs reach triple digits in victories for the first time since 1935. He hit his second career grand slam in the fourth inning to extend Chicago's lead to 5-0 and his two-run single capped a six-run sixth that made it 11-0.
Hendricks (16-8) dropped his ERA to 1.99 by scattering seven hits, striking out five and walking none. He has not allowed more than three runs in 22 consecutive starts.
Kris Bryant hit a two-run home run, his 39th, in the sixth to draw within one of NL leader Nolan Arenado of Colorado.
The Pirates saw their hopes of a fourth consecutive postseason appearance dim even further with their third straight loss. They entered the day 4 games out of the second NL wild card with seven games to play.
Rookie Chad Kuhl (5-4) was rocked for five runs and eight hits in three innings as his string of nine consecutive starts of giving up three runs or less ended.
White Sox 7, Rays 1
CHICAGO-James Shields pitched six effective innings for his first win in two months, Justin Morneau and Carlos Sanchez each hit a two-run homer and the Chicago White Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 on Monday night.
Shields (6-18) allowed one run and seven hits, using six strikeouts to help wriggle out of several jams and help Chicago win its third straight.
The right-hander hadn't won since July 26, when he pitched scoreless ball into the eighth against the crosstown Cubs. Shields was 0-6 in his previous 10 starts and is 4-11 since a trade to Chicago from San Diego.
Morneau and Omar Narvaez each had two hits. Jose Abreu had two hits and an RBI.
Tampa Bay's Drew Smyly (7-12) allowed three runs and seven hits over five innings in losing for the first time since July 18 at Colorado.
Diamondbacks 14, Nationals 4
WASHINGTON-All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos left Washington's loss to Arizona with an apparent right knee injury that could be a major blow to the NL East champions.
Ramos landed awkwardly on his right leg after jumping to catch a relay throw in the sixth inning. He immediately called for medical attention and clutched at the same knee he injured badly during the 2012 season, when he tore his ACL and medial collateral ligament.
Washington was already without reigning NL MVP Bryce Harper due to a thumb injury, slugging second baseman Daniel Murphy (strained glute) and 15-game winner Stephen Strasburg (elbow). Ramos is hitting .307 with 22 home runs and 80 RBIs for the Nationals, who will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in an NL Division Series.
This loss left the Nationals one game ahead of the Dodgers for home-field advantage in the series.
Marlins 7, Mets 3
MIAMI-Dee Gordon and the Miami Marlins wore their emotions on the sleeves of their No. 16 jerseys.
Jose Fernandez would have loved it.
Gordon homered leading off the first inning for the Marlins, who totaled 14 hits and mixed cheers with the tears of the past two days by beating New York in their first game since Fernandez died in a boating accident.
Adam Conley pitched three scoreless innings subbing for Fernandez, who had been scheduled to make his final start of the year. Justin Bour went 3 for 3 and Gordon had four hits, including one that will go down in Marlins lore.
Yankees 7, Blue Jays 5
TORONTO-Mark Teixeira hit a tying homer in the ninth inning and Aaron Hicks added a game-winning blast as New York avoided a four-game sweep against Toronto.
Leading 3-2 heading to the ninth, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons called on Jason Grilli (7-6) to close it out because Roberto Osuna was unavailable after pitching the previous two days.
Teixeira tied it 3-all with a one-out drive into the second deck drive in right. After flipping his bat, Teixeira yelled "Blown save!" at Grilli after returning to the dugout.
Didi Gregorius singled and Hicks followed with a two-run homer.
New York scored five runs in a bat-around ninth, matching their total from the 35 previous innings in the series.