Lindor grand slam helps Mets eliminate Phillies, advance to 1st NLCS since 2015

Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, his latest clutch swing in an extraordinary season full of them, and the New York Mets reached the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.

Edwin Diaz struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners aboard to end it as New York finished off the rival Phillies in Game 4 of their best-of-five Division Series, winning 3-1 to wrap up a post-season series at home for the first time in 24 years.

Immediately afterward in a raucous locker room, the Mets had their first champagne-soaked clinching celebration in Citi Field's 16-season history.

"This is the kind of stuff that I was dreaming about," outfielder Brandon Nimmo said in a clubhouse interview shown on the giant videoboard in centre. "This has been a long time coming. We wanted it so bad for our fan base."

After three days of rest, New York will open the best-of-seven NLCS on Sunday at the San Diego Padres or Los Angeles Dodgers. The two teams will play a winner-take-all Game 5 in their NLDS on Friday at 8:08 p.m. ET.

"Let's keep this thing rolling!" Mets slugger Pete Alonso told revelling fans still in the stands when he popped out of the clubhouse party for an on-field interview with his large goggles protecting his eyes. "So proud of this group. We've overcome so much."

After falling short again in October, Bryce Harper and the Phillies are still looking for the franchise's third championship.

"We have a really great group. We got beat in a short series," manager Rob Thomson said.

Perhaps over-anxious at the plate with so much on the table, the Mets left the bases loaded in the first and second against starter Ranger Suarez and stranded eight runners overall through the first five innings.

They put three runners on again in the sixth, this time with nobody out, before No. 9 batter Francisco Alvarez grounded into a force at the plate against All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman.

Fans chanted "MVP! MVP!" as Lindor disappeared into the dugout and again when he took his position on defence in the seventh.

Game 3 on Tuesday was Lindor's first opportunity to play at Citi Field since Sept. 8, after he missed time down the stretch with a back injury.

But few players, if any, have been as valuable to their team this year as Lindor, who has provided a remarkable string of big hits and crucial contributions as the Mets rallied from a 24-35 start to their first NLCS since losing the 2015 World Series to Kansas City.

His tying homer in the ninth inning Sept. 11 at Toronto broke up Bowden Francis' no-hit bid and sparked a critical Mets victory, and his go-ahead homer in the ninth on Sept. 30 in Atlanta clinched a post-season berth.

Betts, Ohtani help Dodgers stay alive in NLDS with 8-0 win vs. Padres

Mookie Betts homered for the second straight night, Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI single and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Dylan Cease and the San Diego Padres 8-0 to force a deciding Game 5 in their tense NL Division Series.

Will Smith and Gavin Lux each hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers, who snapped a two-game losing streak and now return home for the next matchup between the NL West rivals on Friday night.

"We have a bunch of grinders, a bunch of fighters," Betts said after the Dodgers posted the largest shutout win in franchise postseason history. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy."

The Padres won 10-2 at Dodger Stadium in Game 2 on Sunday night, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands.

The winner will have home-field advantage in the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets.

"I'm proud. Your desire's got to be more than your opponent's," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "To see our guys go through what they've been through, and respond the way they have, it makes me excited about Game 5."

The Dodgers got a superb effort by opener Ryan Brasier and seven fellow relievers in a bullpen game, holding the Padres to seven hits and extending their scoreless streak to 15 innings. Evan Phillips, who got the win, retired Jurickson Profar, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill on five pitches in the sixth.

"Overall the guys were efficient, understanding that they're going to have to do up/downs, go a little bit longer potentially," Roberts said. "So the efficiency of the strike zone was huge and it gives us options for Game 5."

The Dodgers hushed the Petco Park-record crowd of 47,773 that had hoped to see San Diego eliminate LA in the NLDS for the second time in three seasons.

With All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman sidelined by a troublesome right ankle sprain, Betts and Ohtani — who starred in his first season with the Dodgers — needed to produce to keep LA's season alive. They did just that, with Betts driving in two runs on two hits and Ohtani bringing in one run and reaching base three times.

With the Dodgers up 5-0, the Japanese superstar was thrown out trying to score from second on Teoscar Hernandez's single in the fourth that caromed off third baseman Machado's glove and hit umpire Mark Ripperger. Machado circled around the ump, grabbed the ball and fired it to catcher Kyle Higashioka, who tagged Ohtani for the third out.

The Padres' gamble to start Cease on short rest backfired. He got Ohtani to ground out opening the game before Betts homered on a full-count pitch. Cease put on two runners with one out in the second and after getting the second out, was chased by Ohtani's RBI single to right on his 38th pitch.

"I like how the ball was coming out of my hand and I didn't feel like I shot myself in the foot too much, which I felt like I've been doing. I felt good out there," Cease said. As for the early hook, "It depended on results and unfortunately the results weren't here today."

Stanton HR propels Yankees to 2-1 ALDS lead over Royals

Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning amid a battle of the bullpens, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 3 of their AL Division Series at Kauffman Stadium.

Stanton finished with three hits, drove in two runs and stole a base for the first time in four years for the Yankees, who will turn to six-time All-Star pitcher Gerrit Cole on Thursday night with a chance to reach the American League Championship Series.

The Royals used four relievers before Kris Bubic took over for the eighth. The left-hander struck out Austin Wells before Stanton hit his 3-1 pitch nearly 420 feet to left to give New York the lead.

The Royals tried to answer off Luke Weaver in the bottom half, getting Bobby Witt Jr.'s first hit of the series and a two-out single by franchise stalwart Salvador Perez. Weaver recovered to get Yuli Gurriel to fly out to end the threat, and he also handled the ninth to earn the save and cap 4 1/3 scoreless innings by the New York bullpen.

The Yankees won despite another frustrating night in the postseason for MVP front-runner Aaron Judge. He went 0 for 4 with a walk, and is now 1 for 11 with only an infield single through three games against the Royals.

It helped that the powerful Yankees drew nine walks Wednesday night, giving them 22 for the series.

It was the first playoff game at the K in 3,268 days, since the Royals beat the Mets in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series. They won their first title in 30 years a few days later in New York.

The first baseman on that Royals team, Eric Hosmer, was on hand to deliver the first pitch for a crowd that included Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Juan Soto flew out to centre in the first on what would have been a homer in 17 ballparks. Judge followed with a liner snared by Witt at shortstop that had an exit velocity of 114 mph. And in the third, Gleyber Torres hit a ball to the warning track in right, moments after a review confirmed that his would-be RBI blooper down the line had landed foul.

The Yankees broke through in the fourth on Stanton's double — Soto came around from first to score, though he might well have been out had Witt delivered a better relay throw to the plate. And in the fifth, Soto added a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

The Royals answered with two in the fifth. Kyle Isbel got them on the board with a two-out double to left, and Michael Massey ripped a sinking liner that somehow missed Soto's glove in right for an RBI triple.

Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt was dinged for both runs on four hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. Lugo went five for Kansas City, allowing two hits and walking four against the team that led the league in free passes this season.

Tigers blank Guardians, take 2-1 ALDS lead

Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson each drove in a run, and six pitchers combined to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 win over Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday and a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series.

The Tigers, baseball's hottest team the past two months, will have their first chance to advance in the playoffs since 2013 on Thursday night in Game 4 at Comerica Park.

"We're human," Torkelson said. "We know how close we are."

Cleveland has gone 20 straight innings without scoring since opening the series with a five-run first and a two-run sixth in its 7-0 win. Steven Kwan had three of its six hits in Game 3.

"Short sample size, obviously in the playoffs it's a lot more magnified," David Fry said after going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, contributing to the team's eight runners left on base. "I think guys have hit balls hard. Balls aren't really falling."

After AL Cy Young Award favourite Tarik Skubal helped Detroit shut out Cleveland in Game 2, manager A.J. Hinch put a stream of pitchers on the mound and kept the Guardians quiet at the plate.

Fans were fired up all day, chanting "Let's go Tigers!" before the first playoff pitch in Detroit since 2014, and 44,885 were in the stands for the largest crowd in Comerica Park's 25-year history.

"This is a huge victory for us, just to see the stadium and the whole city come out for the first playoff game in a decade," Vierling said.

Right-hander Keider Montero retired the side in order in the first, and the previously slumping Greene hit a two-out RBI single in the home half.

Brant Hurter gave up five hits in 3 1/3 innings. Beau Brieske pitched two innings and Sean Guenther got one out. Vest threw 1 1/3 innings before Tyler Holton handled the ninth.

"Nothing that happened caught us off guard," Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. "We were prepared for all of it."

It's the first time Detroit has recorded two shutouts in a postseason series. It's also the first time since the 1905 World Series that the first three games of a postseason series all were shutouts.

The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the third after No. 9 hitter Jake Rogers led off with a double, advanced to third on Parker Meadows' grounder and scored on Vierling's sacrifice fly.

Cleveland's pitchers did enough to keep the AL Central champions in the game, but the lack of offence made it moot.

The Guardians went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

Eli Morgan gave up Torkelson's RBI double in the sixth. The slugger had been 0 for 14 with nine strikeouts in the postseason.