KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brady Singer pitched seven strong innings to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 5-1 victory over Seattle, cutting the Mariners’ lead for the final AL wild-card spot to three games. Playing without All-Star rookie center fielder Julio Rodriguez, the Mariners lost for the sixth time in eight games. Rodriguez was placed on the 10-day IL with a lower back strain shortly before the game. With the Orioles’ 6-0 win over Houston, Seattle’s lead over Baltimore for the third wild-card spot shrank to three games. Both clubs have 12 games remaining in the regular season.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols hit his 700th career home run, becoming the fourth player to reach the milestone in major league history. The 42-year-old Pujols connected for his second home run of the game, a three-run drive against Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Phil Bickford in the fourth inning. The ball landed in the first few rows of the left-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium. It was same location where homer No. 699 landed in the third inning off left-hander Andrew Heaney. With the drive in the final days of his last big league season, Pujols joined Barry Bonds, who had 762 homers, Hank Aaron with 755 and Babe Ruth at 714 in one of baseball’s most exclusive clubs. The Cardinals beat the Dodgers 11-0.
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge was held without a homer for the third straight game, keeping him at 60 for the season and one shy of Roger Maris’ American League record, and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4. Jose Trevino singled home the tiebreaking run with two outs in the eighth inning, and the first-place Yankees reduced their magic number to four for clinching the AL East title. With four of Maris’ children in the ballpark again, Judge went 1 for 4 with a sharp single. He struck out twice and lofted a high fly to left field that excited the sellout crowd of 47,346 for a second or two. The slugger has two games left to match Maris on New York’s current homestand.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez, a leading candidate for the AL Rookie of the Year award, has been put on the 10-day injured list because of a lower back strain. The move came with Seattle holding the third and final wild-card spot, a half-game behind Tampa Bay and four games ahead of Baltimore. Outfielder Taylor Trammell was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma. Rodriguez left Thursday’s win at Oakland in the first inning after experiencing back tightness. The 21-year-old leads rookies with 27 home runs. He's second with 73 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. Rodriguez was replaced in center field by Jarred Kelenic for Seattle’s game at Kansas City. Third baseman J.P. Crawford took Rodriguez’s accustomed leadoff spot in the batting order.
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — J.T. Daniels threw for 203 yards and a touchdown to lead West Virginia to a 33-10 win over Virginia Tech. CJ Donaldson rushed for 106 yards and West Virginia (2-2) got a strong performance from its defense to win its second straight game after losing the first two. The Mountaineers, who beat Virginia Tech for the second consecutive season, scored on five straight possessions spanning the first and second half. Daniels’ 24-yard touchdown pass to Sam James with 11 seconds left in the first half gave the Mountaineers a 13-7 lead, and they never trailed again.
UNDATED (AP) — There are six Big 12 teams playing their conference openers this weekend. Kansas State is at sixth-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday. The Sooners are playing their first Big 12 game for coach Brent Venables. They have won their last 10 home games and 28 of 29. The lone loss was to K-State two years ago. No. 17 Baylor is at Iowa State, and No. 22 Texas plays at Texas Tech in the other Big 12 openers. Kansas is 3-0 going into a home game against 3-0 Duke. The Jayhawks last won more than three games in the same season in 2009.
FRIDAY SCORES
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Boston at N-Y Yankees 1:05 p.m.
Toronto at Tampa Bay 6:10 p.m.
Cleveland at Texas 7:05 p.m.
Houston at Baltimore 7:05 p.m.
Detroit at Chi White Sox 7:10 p.m.
L-A Angels at Minnesota 7:10 p.m.
Seattle at Kansas City 7:10 p.m.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta at Philadelphia 4:05 p.m.
Washington at Miami 6:10 p.m.
Chi Cubs at Pittsburgh 6:35 p.m.
Milwaukee at Cincinnati 6:40 p.m.
San Diego at Colorado 8:10 p.m.
San Francisco at Arizona 8:10 p.m.
St. Louis at L-A Dodgers 9:10 p.m.