HOUSTON -- Robinson Cano continued his dominance against the Houston Astros on Wednesday to keep Seattle's playoff hopes alive.
Cano hit a three-run homer in the first inning, and the Mariners kept pressure on the other AL wild-card contenders with a 12-4 win over the Astros.
Kyle Seager added another three-run drive in the eighth, his 30th home run this season, as Seattle pulled within 1½ games of Baltimore for the second AL wild card. Houston dropped three games back as its magic number for elimination was cut to two. The Orioles were at Toronto on Wednesday night.
"If you want to help your starter, you've got to start early and also put pressure on the other team," Cano said. "That's what we did today."
Cano's career-best 36th home run, a drive off Doug Fister (12-13), landed in the first row of the Crawford Boxes in left field. Cano has nine homers and 25 RBI in 19 games against Houston this season.
"Huge home run early by Robbie really got everybody relaxed a little bit," manager Scott Servais said. "Everybody contributed today ... everybody had to contribute and we're still alive."
Seattle doubled its lead in the second on Nori Aoki's RBI single and Seth Smith's two-run single. Ketel Marte made it 7-0 with a run-scoring infield single in the third.
James Paxton (6-7) allowed three runs and six hits in five innings, striking out eight.
Fister gave up five runs and five hits over 1 1/3 innings in the shortest start of his big league career. Fister has lost five straight decisions, and Houston has lost his last seven starts -- all five innings or fewer.
"Getting into the game was very difficult for him," Hinch said. "His command wasn't great. He didn't execute the way he does when he's good."
George Springer hit a solo home run in the third for the Astros, who closed to 7-4 in the sixth on Evan Gattis' solo homer.
Since the Astros are off today, if the Orioles win their next two games, Houston could be eliminated by the time it takes the field on Friday.
"I'm not ready for that," Hinch said. "This is not a position that we're happy to be in, but it's a position that we are in."
Blue Jays 5, Orioles 1
TORONTO -- Josh Donaldson hit a two-run homer, Aaron Sanchez struck out 10 and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night in the opener of their AL wild-card showdown.
Ezequiel Carrera also homered as the Blue Jays won for the sixth time in eight games. They lead the wild-card standings by two games over the Orioles with five to play.
Baltimore leads Detroit by one game for the league's final playoff spot.
Yankees 6, Red Sox 4
NEW YORK -- Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius and Tyler Austin homered off David Price, and New York ended Boston's 11-game winning streak and delayed its AL East title celebration.
David Ortiz, starting his final series in the Bronx, went 0 for 5 with two strikeouts and stranded seven runners. He ended the game by fanning with two on against Tyler Clippard.
Having clinched at least a wild-card berth last weekend, Boston is five games ahead of second-place Toronto with five games left, needing just one victory or a Blue Jays loss to ensure the division championship.
Price (17-9) allowed six runs and 12 hits over 6 1/3 innings.
Mets 12, Marlins 1
MIAMI -- Noah Syndergaard struck out eight and allowed one run in six innings, and New York totaled 19 hits to beat grieving Miami.
Jay Bruce and Yoenis Cespedes each hit his 31st homer for the Mets, who maintained a half-game lead on the Giants for the first NL wild card, with St. Louis 1 1/2 games behind New York.
The game was the Marlins' second since the death of ace Jose Fernandez in a boating accident.
Syndergaard (14-9) threw 93 pitches after missing a scheduled start Saturday with strep throat and lowered his ERA to 2.60, third-best in the majors. He'll return to pitch the regular-season finale Sunday at Philadelphia if needed.
Giants 12, Rockies 3
SAN FRANCISCO -- Buster Posey homered for his 1,000th hit, Hunter Pence also went deep one batter later and San Francisco beat Colorado.
Brandon Crawford tripled twice for San Francisco, which remained a half-game behind the Mets for the top NL wild card and one game up on the Cardinals for the second spot.
Matt Moore (12-12) matched his career high with 11 strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings, rebounding from his worst start this season.
German Marquez (1-1) allowed six runs and 12 hits over 4 1/3 innings.
Astros 8, Mariners 4
HOUSTON -- George Springer had three hits, including a two-run double during a six-run sixth inning, and Houston beat Seattle.
The Astros got five hits off Felix Hernandez (11-7) in the sixth, but only two of the six runs scored in the inning were earned because of two errors.
Tigers 12, Indians 0
DETROIT -- Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in five runs in the first two innings, and Justin Verlander struck out 12 to lift Detroit over a Cleveland lineup full of backups.
The Indians clinched the AL Central title Monday night in Detroit, and their starting lineup Tuesday was without Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor, Mike Napoli and Jose Ramirez. Detroit took full advantage, beating Cleveland for only the third time all year and pulling within a game of Baltimore for the AL's second wild card.
Cubs 6, Pirates 4
PITTSBURGH -- Chris Coghlan hit a three-run triple and John Lackey worked in and out of trouble over five innings, helping Chicago beat reeling Pittsburgh.
Coghlan's second-inning drive off the wall in right-center against Ryan Vogelsong (3-7) gave the NL Central champions all the offense they would need to win for the seventh time in their last eight games.
Sports on 09/29/2016