Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Rick Porcello pitches during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

The Sports Exchange/Boston

Catcher Blake Swihart drove in five runs as the Boston Red Sox prevented the New York Yankees from inching closer to clinching a post-season berth with a 10-4 victory.
Swihart hit a three-run home run in the first off Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda (12-9) to cap a six-run inning. He drove in Boston’s final runs when he connected off reliever Bryan Mitchell in the eighth.
Boston starter Rick Porcello nearly blew his team’s fine start off New York Yankees starter Michael Pineda with four runs in the first but after a visit from pitching coach Carl Willis, he rebounded to finish strong.
“Sometimes you need a kick in the butt,” Porcello said after allowing four runs and six hits in a 118-pitch outing.
“I didn’t feel like I was sleepwalking out there but our offense goes out there and grind out six runs in the first inning, the last thing you want to do is give four back.
“So that mound visit kind of locked me back in.”
Swihart hit a three-run home run in the first after the Red Sox scored on a groundout by shortstop Xander Bogaerts, a fielder’s choice by first baseman Travis Shaw and a double by right fielder Brock Holt.
Porcello (9-14), however almost gave the lead back, by allowing a RBI double to right fielder Carlos Beltran following a run-scoring groundout by catcher Brian McCann.
Second baseman Dustin Ackley then hit a two-run homer, promoting the visit to the mound by Willis.
“I just went out there and made some mistakes really with my fastball,” Porcello said.
“In warmups and everything I felt fine, I was locating the ball fine. Kind of after Carl came out and woke me up a little bit, he told me to make some adjustments, get the ball down and stop making mistakes.”
Porcello won five of his final eight starts after missing a month with a strained right triceps and finished his outing by allowing five baserunners.
“He made some really good adjustments, started to work a changeup in the mix and a curveball when he needed it,” Boston interim manager Torey Lovullo said.
“A lot of credit goes out to Rick for rebounding and working as free and easy as he did and giving us eight solid innings.”
The Red Sox added to their big first inning with a solo home run by Mookie Betts in the fifth before Swihart hit his second home run in the eighth off Bryan Mitchell. “We were just putting good swings on some good balls and just trying to go out there and do everything we can,” Swihart said. “We’re still playing for each other and going out there and having fun.”

Kershaw stars as Dodgers down Giants
Clayton Kershaw stole the show as the Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up their sixth divisional title in 10 years here Tuesday with an emphatic 8-0 rout over reigning World Series champions the San Francisco Giants.  
Pitching star Kershaw claimed 13 strike outs and only one hit as the Dodgers romped past their fierce divisional rivals to silence the home crowd at AT&T Park crowd and clinch the National League West.  
It was the third consecutive divisional crown for the Dodgers, who will now be dreaming of their first World Series title since 1988.  Enrique Hernandez, Justin Ruggiano and A.J. Ellis all smacked home runs for the Dodgers while pitcher Clayton Kershaw won his personal duel with Giants star Madison Bumgarner.  Kershaw never gave the Giants batting line-up a hint of an opening as the Dodgers set up a best-of-five playoff series next Friday against the New York Mets of the National League East.  
The Giants loss ended their bid for consecutive World Series championships, and continued a pattern of failure after championship winning seasons.  
The Giants World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014 were all followed by seasons where they failed to reach the play-offs.
Kershaw’s 16-7 pitching masterclass was the first time he had outperformed Bumgarner in eight attempts this year.  
His 13 strike outs put him at 294 for the season, leaving him well on target to reach 300 strike outs in a season for the first time in his career.

Rookie O’Malley stars in Marniers’ win over Astros
Rookie Shawn O’Malley delivered a two-run, two-out, tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 6-4 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday.
Houston (83-75) fell a half-game behind the Los Angeles Angels in the race for the final American League wild-card spot. The Astros also dropped to 2 ½ games behind Texas in AL West standings with just four games left on Houston’s schedule.
O’Malley’s single to left-center broke a 4-4 tie and helped Seattle (75-83) snap a six-game losing streak.
The rookie center fielder came off the bench and finished 1-for-2.
Mariners closer Tom Wilhelmsen, who came on with one out in the eighth inning of a tie game, earned the win after pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Wilhelmsen (2-2) got his first win since May 15.
Houston’s Oliver Perez (0-3) took the loss after one of the two batters he faced, outfielder Seth Smith, singled and eventually came around to score the game-winning run on O’Malley’s hit.
The Mariners had four consecutive players reach base with two outs in the eighth, with reliever Pat Neshek giving up two singles and a walk after coming on for Perez with a runner on first.
Neshek allowed a single to first baseman Mark Trumbo and walked pinch hitter Franklin Gutierrez before O’Malley delivered the big hit.
Houston got a baserunner in the top of the ninth, but right fielder George Springer, who had three hits and an RBI, flied out to right to end the game.