Peña hits 18th-inning homer as Astros sweep Mariners, advance to ALCS

Jeremy Peña homered in the 18th inning, and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 1-0 on Saturday to advance to the AL Championship Series for the sixth straight year.

Peña drove a slider from Penn Murfee deep to left-centre for the rookie shortstop's first playoff homer, providing the only run in an afternoon full of dominant pitching and empty trips to the plate. The 18 innings matched the longest game in playoff history.

Spoiling Seattle's first home playoff appearance since 2001, Houston completed a three-game sweep of the ALDS. Next up is the New York Yankees or Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the ALCS on Wednesday.

While Yordan Alvarez got the big hits in the first two games in Houston, it was Peña that set the table for Alvarez's opportunities. As Game 3 made its way into its sixth hour, Peña delivered another painful blow to the Mariners that ended their short return to the post-season.

After 21 years, Seattle fans welcomed playoff baseball back inside T-Mobile Park. They got their money's worth, and then some.

Three previous playoff games reached the 18th inning before conclusion, one involving Houston. The Astros beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6 in 18 innings in Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS on Chris Burke's game-ending homer.

Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS between San Francisco and Washington and Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between Los Angeles and Boston also went 18 innings.

But those games had runs. This one failed to produce anything until Peña's swing on a 3-2 pitch.

Unlike baseball's regular season, there is no automatic runner when playoff games go to extra innings.

Luis Garcia worked five innings for the win. The Astros bullpen allowed five hits and struck out 15 following six innings from starter Lance McCullers Jr.

Seattle's bullpen was nearly just as good. After rookie George Kirby threw seven innings, nine Mariners relievers combined for 11 innings of five-hit ball.

Houston advanced despite a rough performance for Jose Altuve, who went 0 for 8 in Game 3 for the first time in his career and was hitless in 16 at-bats in the series.

Phillies prevail against Atlanta

Brandon Marsh hit a three-run homer and J.T. Realmuto lined an inside-the-park home run that sent the Philadelphia Phillies bolting headfirst into the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2010 with an 8-3 win over Atlanta in Game 4 Saturday.

Realmuto became the first catcher to hit an inside-the-parker in post-season history and Bryce Harper punctuated the romp with a clinching home run that helped the Phillies take the NL Division Series 3-1 against the World Series champion.

Atlanta's loss meant Major League Baseball hasn't had a repeat champ since the New York Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000.

Philadelphia finished third in the NL East, 14 games behind the 101-win Atlanta club this season, but now is hitting on all cylinders under manager Rob Thomson. He took over for the fired Joe Girardi and transformed a team that was 22-29 in early June.

And the Phillies used a dose of Marsh Madness to keep the party rolling in October.

Heck, call it Mash Madness, as the Phillies turned Citizens Bank Park into a cozy home bandbox for the second straight game — and with another fired-up, towel-waving crowd along for every long ball.

Atlanta starter Charlie Morton was hit on his pitching elbow by Alec Bohm's single traveling 71.9 mph to lead off the inning. After being checked, Morton allowed a single to Jean Segura and hung a 2-2 curveball that the No. 9 hitter Marsh launched deep into the right field seats for a 3-0 lead.

Reliever Brad Hand was one of six Philadelphia pitchers and got the win.

Syndergaard, bumped from the rotation at the end of the season, wasn't asked by Thomson to do much other than keep the Phillies in the game. Maybe go unscathed once around the order . Syndergaard delivered with three strikeouts in three innings in a brief throwback to his commanding "Thor" days with the New York Mets.

Orlando Arcia hit a solo shot off him in the third to make it 3-1.

Realmuto then hustled his way into post-season history.

He connected to lead off the third inning against reliever Collin McHugh. The ball hit the angled portion of the wall beyond the reach of centre fielder Michael Harris II, and the carom rolled along the warning track toward right-centre. Ronald Acuna Jr. stood in right field watching the play, and didn't start running toward the ball until Realmuto was well past first base. Realmuto, who runs extremely well for a catcher, made a headfirst slide into the plate, well ahead of the relay.

With that, it was bedlam inside the park, as a sellout crowd of 45,660 was deliriously cheering, every sense tingling that there wasn't going to be a Game 5.

Nope. Just Game 3 of the NLCS back in Philly on Friday.

Padres rally to stun Dodgers, reach NLCS

Jake Cronenworth hit a tie-breaking, two-run single with two outs in the seventh inning and the San Diego Padres rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 Saturday night to advance to the NL Championship Series for the first time since 1998.

The Padres stunned the 111-win Dodgers with the five-run rally to win the best-of-five NL Division Series 3-1 in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 45,139 at Petco Park.

The game was delayed 31 minutes at the start by rain, which returned in the eighth inning and prompted a short delay while the grounds crew worked on the mound.

After left-hander Tyler Anderson stymied the Padres through five scoreless innings, the Padres broke through against the Dodgers' bullpen in the seventh.

Jurickson Profar drew a leadoff walk against Tommy Kahnle, took third on Trent Grisham's single to right and scored when Austin Nola's infield single glanced off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman. Yency Almonte, who took the loss, came on and and was greeted by Kim Ha-seong's RBI double down the left field line, followed by Juan Soto's tying single to right.

With two outs and the crowd on it feet, Cronenworth singled to centre off local product Alex Vesia to give the Padres the lead, punching the air with his right fist and hollering as he pulled into second base on the throw home. Soto, acquired from Washington in a blockbuster trade on Aug. 2, slid home headfirst and jumped up and cheered.

Guardians push Yankees to brink of elimination

Rookie Oscar Gonzalez hit a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning, rallying the Cleveland Guardians to a 6-5 win over the New York Yankees on Saturday night for a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series.

Gonzalez, a hero earlier in the post-season as well, lined a 1-2 pitch from Clarke Schmidt through the middle to score rookie Steven Kwan and Amed Rosario as the young Guardians, who have shown no fear during this storybook season, rallied once again and pushed the Yankees to the brink of elimination.

Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer for New York, which carried a 5-3 lead into the ninth before its bullpen flopped and the Guardians staged yet another comeback win.

Game 4 is Sunday night, when the Yankees turn to ace Gerrit Cole to prevent an early postseason exit.

Before Cleveland's comeback, the Yankees were 167-0 in the post-season when entering the ninth inning with a multiple-run lead.