Sep 26, 2019 3 min read

Stephen Strasburg was dominant in his final regular-season start and the Washington Nationals held their lead in the NL wild-card chase, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 on Thursday to sweep the five-game series.

The Nationals remained one game ahead of Milwaukee, which topped Cincinnati 5-3, atop the wild-card race.

Strasburg (18-6) allowed one run on four hits in six innings while striking out 10. He fanned Bryce Harper three times on his way to a career-best 251 strikeouts this season.

Strasburg set a career high for wins this year and had a 3.32 ERA. Both Strasburg and fellow ace Max Scherzer would have at least regular rest for the NL wild-card game against either Milwaukee or St. Louis on Tuesday.

Milwaukee 5, Cincinnati 3: Orlando Arcia doubled with the bases loaded, and the Brewers shook off the fizz from their playoffs-clinching celebration to close on the division lead, beating the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 for their seventh straight victory .

The Brewers earned at least a wild card with a 9-2 win on Wednesday night, dousing each other in the clubhouse afterward. Little more than 12 hours after the empty bottles and cans were cleared away, Milwaukee focused on an even bigger prize.

L.A. Dodgers 1, San Diego 0: Clayton Kershaw shut down San Diego for six innings and Chris Taylor scored from first base on Max Muncy’s single in the sixth to lead the seven-time NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers to a 1-0 victory and a three-game sweep of the Padres.

The Dodgers have won four straight and nine of 12 heading into their final regular-season series at San Francisco. They begin pursuit of a third straight NL pennant next Thursday night at Dodger Stadium against the wild card winner.

Kenta Maeda came on with Wil Myers aboard on a leadoff single in the ninth and retired the side for his third save.

San Francisco 8, Colorado 3: Tyler Beede struck out seven in 3 1/3 hitless innings before leaving due to an injury, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 8-3.

Mike Yastrzemski and Mauricio Dubón homered for the Giants, at 77-82 assured of their third straight losing season.

American League

Minnesota 10, Detroit 4: Jonathan Schoop hit Minnesota’s record 300th home run, Willians Astudillo also went deep and the AL Central champion Twins rallied past the Detroit Tigers 10-4 Thursday to move within one victory of giving the major leagues four 100-win teams for the first time.

With the Twins ahead 6-4 in the seventh, Schoop lofted Jose Cisnero’s slider to deep left, and a strong breeze pushed the ball into the Tigers bullpen. Astudillo connected off Zac Reininger in the eighth.

Texas 7, Boston 5: Mike Minor worked into the ninth inning to reach 200 strikeouts in a season for the first time after the Rangers purposely let a foul pop drop, Danny Santana hit a grand slam and Texas beat the Boston Red Sox 7-5to avoid a three-game sweep.

Willie Calhoun led off the Rangers seventh with his 21st homer to break a 5-5 tie. Rougned Odor added his 29th homer later in the inning.