Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman throws against the New York Yankees in the first inning at Rogers Centre. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

The Sports Xchange
Toronto

Marcus Stroman pitched seven strong innings and catcher Russell Martin hit a three-run homer in a crucial 4-0 win over the Yankees, which gave the Blue Jays a 3-1/2-game lead over the second-place New Yorkers in the American League East.
“That was really the perfect game for him to pitch in,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said of Stroman’s performance. “It was a big game, a real big game and he came through.
“He thrives on that, that’s what he wants to do. I’ve never seen the kid rattled, he’s got a great arm, which is the key. The perfect guy.”
Stroman (3-0) allowed five hits, one walk and struck out five in his third start after returning from knee surgery in March. “My slider was good today,” Stroman said. “I predominately threw sliders, I didn’t throw many curve balls. It’s a good pitch and I had pretty good success with it.”
Martin homered against right-hander Andrew Bailey to break open a tight game in the seventh. The Blue Jays had taken a 1-0 lead in the sixth on a single by center fielder Kevin Pillar. “I was just trying to make contact,” Martin said.
“Really just trying to get a base hit, we had two guys in scoring position.
“I think they were trying to throw the fast ball in and got it out over the middle of the plate and I got a good swing on it.”
Yankees right-hander Ivan Nova (6-9) allowed four hits, two walks and one run in 5-2/3 innings. He struck out six.
Nova was making his first start since Sept. 12, when he allowed seven hits and six runs in 1-2/3 innings in a 10-7 loss to the Blue Jays in the second game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium.
“I thought he did a tremendous job for us,” Girardi said. “It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to score him any runs. “That’s the difference in the standings, what they’ve done to us.
“We’ve lost some tough ones. Tonight’s a tough loss because you get to the sixth inning, it’s 0-0. We weren’t able to put any runs across the board.”

Angels pull closer to
Astros after 6-5 win
Third baseman David Freese delivered a two-run double during a three-run eighth inning to help the Angels to a 6-5 win over the Astros on Wednesday that allowed them to close the gap on Houston in the chase of a wild card.
Freese pushed the Angels (78-74) in front with his blast to left-center field off Astros right-hander Pat Neshek that brought home Mike Trout and pinch-runner Collin Cowgill to erase the Astros’ 4-3 lead.
Angels catcher Carlos Perez then added an RBI single to give them some breathing room.
“I think it’s nice when you hear the crowd because it kind of reminds you to take a breath and relax,” Freese said.
“I’m not saying that’s why I got a hit. But when you hear the crowd, it kind of hits you to understand the moment and pinpoint on your objective, which is to put a good (at bat) together.”
The Angels closed to within 1-1/2 games of the Astros (80-73) with the victory. The Astros had rallied themselves from a  3-0 deficit in the fifth when George Springer drove in catcher Max Stassi with an RBI single.
Springer then slapped a two-run, two-out triple the opposite way in the seventh off Angels right-hander Trevor Gott (3-2) to score Jake Marisnick and Jose Altuve to give the Astros the lead they carried into the eighth.
“Any time you don’t come out on top, it’s tough. But you see what you have to do to win,” said Springer, who finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs. “One pitch, one at-bat here or there and it’s a different ball game.”
Angels closer Huston Street posted his 40th save despite allowing an RBI single to Astros shortstop Carlos Correa in the ninth that scored Altuve.
Street responded by getting third baseman Jed Lowrie to ground out and keep the Angels’ playoff hopes afloat.
“Overall, we’re playing a lot better baseball as we made the turn into September than we did in August,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
“We’re doing a lot more things on the field that hopefully are going to put the game on our terms and then give us a chance to hold leads.
“When we’ve got a lead this series for the most part we’ve held it. Springer got a big hit for them and we answered right back and that was a good sign.”
Pittsburgh Pirates second team to clinch playoff berth
The Pittsburgh Pirates became the second team to earn a berth in the Major League Baseball post-season when they beat the Colorado Rockies 13-7 in Denver on Wednesday.
Corey Dickerson went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and the Pirates, up by just one run entering the ninth inning, broke the game open with six runs to turn a close game into a 13-7 blowout.
The result leaves the Pirates (92-60) mathematically certain to qualify for the playoffs, with just 10 regular season games left. St. Louis (96-56) were the first team to advance to the post-season.
Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, both teams are in the National League Central, which means the Pirates are almost certainly headed to a one-off wild card game against the Chicago Cubs, who are also in the NL Central.
Each of the divisional winners, three in the NL and three in the American League, advance to the playoffs while the two teams in each league with the next best records earn wild card spots and play each other for the final post-season position.
It is the third successive year the Pirates have made the post-season. Last year they lost a wild card game against the San Francisco Giants, who went on to win the World Series.