The Toronto Blue Jays’ lead in the American League East division increased, and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ margin in the NL West decreased Sunday.
The Blue Jays beat the Dodgers 5-4 at Los Angeles Sunday. The second place Boston Red Sox fell four games back of the Blue Jays with a 6-2 loss to the San Diego Padres at San Diego that day.
The second-place Padres cut the Dodgers’ lead to two games in the NL West. At press time Monday, the Blue Jays’ and Dodgers’ divisional leads stood at four and two games respectively.
Solo home runs in the first inning by Shohei Ohtani (his 41st home run of the year) and Freddie Freeman staked the Dodgers to an early 2-1 lead. The Blue Jays eventually pulled ahead thanks to solo home runs by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Addison Barger in the eighth inning and an Ernie Clement solo blast in the ninth.
Toronto’s Mason Fluharty set down the only two batters he faced in the bottom ninth and earned his first save of the year.
Luis Arraez hit a two-run double for the Padres in the third inning, and four Padres pitchers combined to hold the Red Sox to five hits. San Diego starter Dylan Cease (5-10) worked six innings to get the win. Cease allowed two runs on four hits.
At press time, the Los Angeles Angels were to host the Dodgers Monday in the opener of the teams’ Freeway Series. The Angels swept three games from the Dodgers at Los Angeles earlier this year. The Padres were set to open their series in San Francisco against the Giants Monday.