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More than 5,500 minor league baseball players formed a union on Wednesday, completing a lightning-fast organization campaign that launched just 17 days earlier in an effort to boost annual salaries as low as $10,400.

Martin Scheinman, the sport’s independent arbitrator, notified Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association that a majority of the 5,567 players in the minor league bargaining unit had signed union authorization cards since the drive started Aug. 28. He did not provide the sides a specific number.

“This historic achievement required the right group of players at the right moment to succeed,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement. “Minor leaguers have courageously seized that moment, and we look forward to improving their terms and conditions of employment through the process of good faith collective bargaining.”

MLB had agreed Saturday that it would voluntarily accept a union if there was majority support and would not force players to petition the National Labor Relations Board to hold a representation election.

“Major League Baseball has a long history of bargaining in good faith with unions, including those representing minor and major league umpires, and major league players,” the league said in a statement. “We are hopeful that a timely and fair collective bargaining agreement will be reached.”

Minor leaguers form a separate bargaining unit within the MLBPA, which negotiated its first collective bargaining agreement for big leaguers in 1968 but had until now been uninterested in representing players with minor league deals. Approximately 1,200 major leaguers are covered by the big league agreement, and their average salary has risen from $19,000 in 1967 to more than $4 million this year.

Minor leaguers are expected to choose player representatives who will lead them in bargaining during the offseason.

National League

San Francisco 4, Atlanta 1: Austin Wynns drove in three runs, Carlos Rodón struck out eight in five dominant innings and the San Francisco Giants slowed the Atlanta Braves 4-1 Wednesday to win the series.

Atlanta lost two of three to the sub-.500 Giants. The Braves began the day a half-game behind the NL East-leading New York Mets.

J.D. Davis added two hits and an RBI for San Francisco, which has won four of its last five games.

American League

Cleveland 5, L.A. Angels 3: José Ramírez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 for their sixth consecutive victory.

Oscar Gonzalez and Andrés Giménez each had three hits as AL Central-leading Cleveland (76-65) moved 11 games over .500 for the first time since September 2020.

With Amed Rosario aboard after a leadoff single, Ramírez drove a 3-1 slider from Ryan Tepera (4-3) deep to right for his 27th homer. The All-Star third baseman also leads the Guardians with 111 RBIs.

Houston 2, Detroit 1: Cristian Javier allowed two hits in six shutout innings, and the Houston Astros beat Detroit 2-1 for a seven-game season sweep of the Tigers.

Javier (9-9) struck out eight and walked none, winning for the third time in four decisions. He retired 13 in a row before Riley Greene’s two-out single in the sixth.

Ryan Pressly, Houston’s fourth pitcher, threw a one-hit ninth for his 28th save in 32 chances, finishing a four-hitter.

Houston swept the Tigers over a season for the first time since moving to the AL in 2013 after winning three games against Detroit both in 1998 and 1999 while in the NL.

Interleague

Colorado 3, Chicago White Sox 2: Kyle Freeland outdueled Dylan Cease and put a dent in a push by the Chicago White Sox for a playoff spot, pitching 6 2/3 shutout innings as the Colorado Rockies earned a 3-0 victory.

The White Sox fell four games behind AL Central-leading Cleveland with 19 games remaining. Chicago travels to Cleveland for a makeup game Thursday, and the teams return to Chicago for a three-game series starting Sept. 20.

Freeland (9-9) frustrated a Chicago lineup that was 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. He worked around seven hits and three walks, striking out five.

Freeland has posted a 2.17 ERA over his last four starts. Chicago fell to 20-9 in games started by Cease.

Seattle 6, San Diego 1: Julio Rodríguez continued to strengthen his rookie of the year campaign with his fourth leadoff home run of the season, Eugenio Suárez and Carlos Santana both added homers, and the Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Padres, 6-1.

Seattle rebounded quickly from being shut out for the first time in nearly three months and split the brief two-game set. Rodríguez hit the first pitch thrown by San Diego starter Mike Clevinger 385 feet into the left-field bullpen for his 26th home run of the season.

Rodríguez later nabbed his 25th stolen base of the season, making him the third rookie in league history to have at least 25 steals and 25 homers in their first season. But unlike Chris Young in 2007 and Mike Trout in 2012, Rodriguez reached the 25/25 plateau in his debut season. Both Young and Trout reached in the majors late in the previous season, but were still considered rookies.

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