Rockies Lose Trevor Story to Injury and N.L. West Lead to Dodgers
Los Angeles leapfrogging Colorado hurt, but losing Story hurt more. Elsewhere, the N.L. Central’s top teams all cruised to victory.
With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, 13 teams found themselves on Monday morning within five games of the 10 playoff spots. Some, like the Boston Red Sox, will most likely clinch a division title in the next few days, and others, like the Philadelphia Phillies, need something just short of a miracle to make it.
Here is where the various competitive playoff races stood after Monday night:
National League West
The Colorado Rockies came into the day leading the Los Angeles Dodgers by 0.5 games and the Arizona Diamondbacks by 4.5.
There was a shake-up at the top, with the Dodgers crushing the Rockies, 8-2, thanks to a dominant effort by Hyun-jin Ryu. But while the loss, which gave Los Angeles a half-game lead in the division, certainly stung, that was nothing compared to the fear instilled in the team when Trevor Story, the Rockies’ star shortstop was forced to leave the game with an injury.
Details of Story’s injury have been scant, but the Rockies announced after the game that he was dealing with soreness in his right elbow after an awkward swing in the fourth inning and that he will be re-evaluated Tuesday.
To lose a player as vital as Story for any period of time would be a huge blow to Colorado’s chances of keeping up with Los Angeles as he is a major factor for the team on offense, where he has produced 33 homers, 26 stolen bases and an .893 on-base-plus-slugging-percentage, as well as defense where he mans the most important position on the field.
The injury overshadowed a tremendous performance by Ryu who threw seven shutout innings striking out five and walking none. The Dodgers also got a big day from leadoff man Joc Pederson, who went 3 for 4 with two home runs and three R.B.I.
Colorado will have a chance to take the division lead back on Tuesday when Kyle Freeland matches up with Clayton Kershaw.
As a result of the flip-flop at the top of the division, the Diamondbacks, who lost to the Chicago Cubs, went from trailing Colorado by 4.5 games to trailing Los Angeles by five.
National League Central
The Chicago Cubs came into the day leading the Milwaukee Brewers by 2.5 games.
If you want to win a Most Valuable Player Award, it helps to thrive when the pressure is on. That’s just what Christian Yelich of the Brewers and Javier Baez of the Cubs did on Monday, as they both helped lead their teams to easy wins, keeping the N.L. Central standings unchanged for another day.
First up was Yelich, who beat up on the Reds once again. He hit for the cycle and drove in four runs in Milwaukee’s 8-0 win over Cincinnati. In doing so, he became the fifth player ever to hit for the cycle twice in the same season and the first one to have both games come against the same opponent. The offensive outburst, along with terrific pitching from Wade Miley and two relievers, helped the Brewers temporarily gain a half-game in their battle with the Cubs for the N.L. Central lead.
Not to be entirely outdone, Baez hit a two-run homer, his 32nd of the season, in the Cubs’ 5-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, which got their lead back to 2.5 games. Kris Bryant and Baez provided most of the offense, and Kyle Hendricks shut out the Diamondbacks for eight innings of one-hit ball before coming out with two outs in the ninth having allowed a solo homer and a single. Justin Wilson finished Arizona off with just a single pitch as Paul Goldschmidt was caught stealing to end the game in what may have been a missed signal.
National League Wild-Card
The Brewers came into the day with a three-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals and the Dodgers for the top wild-card position. The Diamondbacks were four games back for the second wild-card spot and the Philadelphia Phillies were five games back.
With the Brewers winning, the pressure was on the Cardinals to keep up, and they did by beating the N.L. East-leading Atlanta Braves, 11-6. It was a group effort for St. Louis, with three different players driving in three runs each, including Harrison Bader, who came in as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the seventh inning and then hit a three-run homer in the top half of the eighth. The Cardinals had a shaky night in the bullpen, with their four relievers allowing four runs (two earned), but the team’s offensive output more than made up for it, keeping them three games back.
The Diamondbacks and Phillies, on the other hand, both lost, dropping them to five and six games out. Neither team has officially been eliminated from contention for the second wild-card spot, but Philadelphia’s chances of a playoff spot are now below 2 percent.
Meanwhile the Rockies, who lost their division lead, have at least temporarily taken the Dodgers’ spot in terms of being tied for the second wild-card position.
American League West
The Houston Astros came into the day leading the Oakland Athletics by 4.5 games.
The Astros’ lead over the idle Athletics was down to four games after Houston lost to the Seattle Mariners, 4-1. The Astros were up by 1-0 in the eighth inning when Hector Rondon imploded. The veteran right-hander allowed two singles and a walk, loading the bases with two outs before Daniel Vogelbach launched a pinch-hit grand slam to right-center that accounted for all of Seattle’s scoring for the day. The most likely scenario is still Houston winning the division and Oakland winning a wild-card spot, but the defending World Series champions have yet to slam the door.
American League Wild-Card
The Yankees lead the Athletics by 1.5 games for the top spot, with no other teams within five games of either position.
Both contending teams were idle Monday. The Yankees begin a three-game series at home against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, with J.A. Happ (3.75 E.R.A., 2.8 WAR) starting against Nathan Eovaldi (4.22, 0.8). The first game of Oakland’s three-game set against the Los Angeles Angels will feature Liam Hendriks (5.60, -0.1) starting against Tyler Skaggs (3.78, 1.5).
Benjamin Hoffman is a senior staff editor and regular contributor to the Keeping Score column in sports. He joined The Times in 2005. @BenHoffmanNYT • Facebook
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