Major leagues:
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – The Oakland Athletics ended 14 years of postseason futility, riding Chad Pinder’s go-ahead, two-run single in the fifth inning and repeated costly walks by Chicago’s relievers to rally past the White Sox 6-4 on Thursday and win the decisive third game of their AL wild-card round series.
The AL West champions lost the opener, then won on consecutive days and advanced to a Division Series against the rival Houston Astros starting Monday in Los Angeles. The winner of that matchup faces the New York Yankees or Tampa Bay for a spot in the World Series.
Sean Murphy hit a two-run homer in the fourth against Codi Heuer as wives and families cheered from suites high above the diamond.
Oakland stopped a nine-game losing streak in winner-take-all postseason games, a major league record that dated to the 1973 World Series. The A’s had lost six straight playoff series since sweeping Minnesota in the 2006 Division Series only to get swept by Detroit in the Championship Series.
And what a relief for manager Bob Melvin’s slugging, happy-go-lucky A’s bunch that won 97 games each of the past two seasons only to lose the division to Houston and then the AL wild card game both years.
This one was never comfortable – even after Chicago lost designated hitter Eloy Jiménez and reliever Garrett Crochet to early injuries.
National League
Atlanta 5, Cincinnati 0: Ian Anderson dazzled in another shutout performance for Atlanta, and the Braves won a playoff series for the first time in almost two decades by sweeping the light-hitting Cincinnati Reds with a 5-0 victory.
Ronald Acuña Jr. had three hits for the NL East champions, including a run-scoring double in the fifth. After winning Wednesday’s series opener 1-0 in 13 innings, Atlanta broke open Game 2 on two-run homers by Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall off Raisel Iglesias in the eighth.
Anderson struck out nine in six innings as the Braves snapped their record-tying string of losses in 10 consecutive postseason rounds since their last playoff series win in 2001.