ALEDMYS DIAZ

Jake Cronenworth hit a solo home run with one out in the ninth inning and the San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros 4-3 to take two of three from the AL West leaders.

Aledmys Díaz had three hits and drove in three runs to lead the Houston Astros to 5-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday.

Dylan Moore hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to lift the Seattle Mariners to an 11-8 comeback win against the Houston Astros.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)SAN DIEGO – The Houston Astros spent this odyssey of a season as baseball's biggest villains. When Aledmys Diaz flied out with a runner on first to end Game 7 of the AL Championship Series, the bad guys finally lost. Ridiculed, roasted and ripped all year long, the Astros still summoned enough October heart and poise to reach the brink of another World Series. Manager Dusty Baker's club even came agonizingly close to matching the biggest playoff comeback in baseball history in a wild ALCS. But several Astros veterans from those tainted seasons remain on the team, and the players weren’t sanctioned.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Houston Astros are going into the playoffs with a losing record after Rougned Odor homered twice Sunday for Texas in an 8-4 win, the third in a row for the Rangers over the defending American League champions. Odor had a three-run homer before rookie center fielder Leody Taveras' two-run single in the fourth, the second game in a row Texas had a five-run inning. Houston and the Milwaukee Brewers — also 29-31 — are the first teams to ever qualify for the postseason with losing records. They instead finished at .367, better than only their 1972 and 1973 teams — their first two seasons in Texas. Oakland ended Houston's three-year reign as AL West champs, during which the Astros won the 2017 World Series.

Los Angeles Dodgers' Mookie Betts, right, gets congratulations from Enrique Hernandez, after Betts hits a two-run home run against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)LOS ANGELES – Mookie Betts’ two-run homer highlighted a four-run fifth inning, Chris Taylor added a three-run shot, and the Dodgers defeated Houston 8-1 on Sunday night with angry Los Angeles fans letting the Astros have it again. For the second straight day, the Astros were bombarded with messages towed by planes over Dodger Stadium. Go Dodgers” and “Hey Astros Try Stealing This Sign!” read others. Dodgers: Begin a three-game series at San Diego on Monday in a showdown between the NL West's top teams.

Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa (1) and center fielder George Springer (4) celebrate the team's 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in a baseball game at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020, in Los Angeles. But there were multiple reminders that Dodger fans haven’t forgotten the Astros’ cheating scandal from their 2017 championship. Kelly's curled lip has been immortalized in a spray-painted wall mural by an artist in Los Angeles. Taylor blasted a two-run shot into the right-field pavilion with two outs in the second, giving Los Angeles a 2-1 lead. Dodgers: RHP Dustin May, who took a line drive off his left foot in Arizona, had a CT scan that revealed a contusion but no fracture.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)Governors around the country are warming to the idea of the return of professional sports to their states, with two caveats: continued progress against the coronavirus and no spectators in the stands. The heads of California, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania spoke Monday of the return of professional sports to their states, possibly as soon as next month. Gavin Newsom tied the return of pro sports with the state's continued progress against the virus. He also urged the state's pro sports teams to begin planning to resume playing without fans. New York state will help those major sport franchises to do just that, Cuomo said.