HAROLD RAMIREZ

Drew Rasmussen pitched seven effective innings and the Tampa Bay Rays clinched a playoff spot for the fourth straight season, beating the Houston Astros 7-3.

Jeffrey Springs pitched neatly into the sixth inning, Christian Bethancourt hit a seventh-inning two-run homer, and the Tampa Bay Rays moved within five games of the AL East-leading New York Yankees with a 9-0 victory.

ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays got another impressive start Friday from Shane McClanahan, and their mostly usual strong bullpen work. They got a tying clutch hit from Randy Arozarena and created several other opportunities. But they lost — stop us if you’ve heard this before — because they can’t stop making outs on the bases. The final score was 3-2 Royals in 10 innings, the winning run coming on a ...

Cole Irvin pitched into the seventh inning,and the Oakland Athletics beat Tampa Bay 6-3 to take three of four from the Rays, Irvin allowed three runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings as the rebuilding A’s under new manager Mark Kotsay improved to 4-3.

The Chicago White Sox clinched their first AL Central title since 2008 with a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Indians behind two home runs by Tim Anderson in the opener of a doubleheader spit.

Salvador Perez hit his 46th home run, breaking Johnny Bench’s record for most by a catcher in a season to highlight the opener, then the Kansas City Royals completed a doubleheader sweep by beating the Cleveland Indians 4-2.

Cleveland rookie Ernie Clement hit the first two homers of his career while Miguel Cabrera stayed one drive short of No. 500 as the Indians beat the Detroit Tigers 7-4.

Mitch Moreland homered twice, Chris Bassitt posted his AL-leading 12th win and the Oakland Athletics routed the Cleveland Indians 17-0 for their seventh straight victory.

Shohei Ohtani hit his major league-leading 13th home run and the Los Angeles Angels defeated the slumping Cleveland Indians 7-4 after star outfielder Mike Trout was injured early.