The Pittsburgh Pirates clinched a playoff berth for the second straight season after their win over the Atlanta Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers' loss to the Cincinnati Reds last night. The Los Angeles Dodgers have already clinched a playoff spot and are one win away from the NL West crown.
On Tuesday night, the Pirates needed a win and a Brewers loss to clinch a playoff spot. Pittsburgh fell behind early to the Atlanta Braves after Gerrit Cole surrendered four hits, two walks and two earned runs in his first two innings of work. But the Braves could only gather two baserunners for the remainder of the game while the Pirates scored a run in three consecutive innings and sealed the 3-2 victory. The Brewers fell to the Reds 3-1 and the Pirates made the playoffs for the second consecutive season, and second time since 1993.
Pittsburgh (86-71) still has two games left against the Braves and three against the Reds before the regular season comes to a close. They currently trail the St. Louis Cardinals (88-70) by 1.5 games for the NL Central division lead and still have a shot to improve their postseason positioning. St. Louis has one game remaining against the Chicago Cubs and then a three-game series in Arizona against the Diamondbacks. The Pirates managed to gain some ground last night after the Cardinals lost to the Cubs 4-3, which will make the end of the regular season seem like the beginning of the postseason.
The Dodgers have made the race for the NL West title much less competitive with a win last night over the San Francisco Giants. Zack Greinke gave Los Angeles eight strong innings and only let up six hits and two runs on his way to a 4-2 victory. Justin Turner hit two solo home runs and Matt Kemp hit a two-run shot to tag four earned runs on Madison Bumgarner. Kenley Jansen shut the door on San Francisco in the ninth to earn his 44th save of the season.
Now Los Angeles (90-68) only needs one more win to secure their second consecutive NL West title and continue fighting for the No. 1 seed in the National League, which is currently held by the Washington Nationals (92-64). They have one more matchup against the Giants on Wednesday night and then open a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies to close out the season. Clayton Kershaw will face San Francisco on Wednesday, which, if history tells us, should complete the job for the Dodgers. Kershaw is 13-4 with a 1.44 ERA in 25 career games against San Francisco and if he has a decent start tonight, he'll become the first pitcher ever to lead the MLB in ERA for four consecutive seasons.
Check out these previews for the Pirates game and Dodgers game tonight.
