NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees clinched an AL wild-card spot Thursday night, ending a two-year absence from the postseason by beating the Boston Red Sox 4-1.
Carlos Beltran and rookies Greg Bird and Rob Refsnyder all homered for the Yankees in the franchise's 10,000th regular-season win.
CC Sabathia (6-10) won for the second time since the All-Star break.
Putting behind the venerated generation of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, the Yankees open the playoffs with a winner-take-all game on Tuesday, most likely against Houston or the Los Angeles Angels.
New York had failed to reach the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since its 1982-93 drought, just before the start of a golden age that included five World Series titles and seven AL pennants from 1996-2009 (see full recap).
Cubs keep home-field advantage hopes alive
CINCINNATI -- Austin Jackson hit a three-run homer, Anthony Rizzo added an RBI double and the Chicago Cubs kept alive their slim hopes for home-field advantage in the wild-card game with a 5-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday.
Chris Denorfia also drove in a run and the Cubs overcame two errors to move within two games of idle Pittsburgh in the race for home field in Wednesday's NL wild-card playoff game. Both teams have three to play -- Chicago in Milwaukee and the Pirates against the Reds in Pittsburgh.
MLB
Joey Votto's seventh-inning RBI single extended to 47 his streak of consecutive games in which he's reached base at least once, the longest since Kevin Millar's 52-game stretch in 2007.
The Reds finished 0-7 on their last home stand of the season. They have lost 12 straight overall, matching the 1993 team for the franchise's longest losing streak in 70 years (see full recap).
Twins rally, gain on wild card
CLEVELAND -- Pinch-runner Eduard Nunez scored from third base on a wild pitch and Torii Hunter hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to give Minnesota a 4-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night, moving the Twins a little closer to an AL wild-card spot.
Facing a crushing loss, the Twins scored a run in the eighth to tie it and then two unearned runs in the ninth off Cody Allen (2-5) to pull within one game of idle Houston for the second wild-card berth with three games left.
Trevor Plouffe reached on second baseman Jose Ramirez's throwing error with one out in the ninth. Nunez, running for Plouffe, then raced to third on Eddie Rosario's single to right before Allen bounced a 2-2 pitch to Hunter in the dirt. Hunter followed with a fly to deep right, bringing in Rosario (see full recap).