The Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays maintained their grips on American League (AL) wildcards in MLB.

Justin Upton, Victor Martinez and Cameron Maybin homered as the Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3.

The Blue Jays shut out the New York Yankees 9-0 to keep their one-game lead over the Tigers, who are half a game clear of the Baltimore Orioles.

The Orioles had a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks thanks to a walk-off homer from Mark Trumbo in the 12th inning.

The Seattle Mariners, who beat the Minnesota Twins 10-1, and Houston Astros, who went down to the Los Angeles Angels 10-6, are further back.

The Texas Rangers clinched the AL West with a 3-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics and the Boston Red Sox extended their winning streak to nine by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1.

The Milwaukee Brewers edged the Cincinnati Reds 5-4, the New York Mets overcame the Philadelphia Phillies 10-5 and the Cleveland Indians enjoyed a 10-4 win over the Chicago White Sox.

The Atlanta Braves were 3-2 winners against the Miami Marlins, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a 6-5 walk-off victory over the Washington Nationals and the Chicago Cubs shut out the St Louis Cardinals 5-0.

The San Diego Padres were too good for the San Francisco Giants 7-2 and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2.

ARRIETA CONTROL CARDINALS

Jake Arrieta led the Cubs to a 5-0 victory against the Cardinals by tossing seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts. The reigning NL Cy Young winner improved to 18-7 with a 2.85 ERA this season. Despite turning in another fine season, Arrieta has not generated much Cy Young buzz with team-mate Kyle Hendricks leading the way.

The Cubs clinched home-field advantage throughout the National League (NL) playoffs when the Nationals fell to the Pirates.

TRIPLE PLAY FOR BREWERS

Brewers first baseman Chris Carter caught a line drive, stepped on first, then threw to second to record the eighth triple play in Brewers history.

It was the seventh triple play of the season, which is the most in a campaign since there were also seven turned in 1991.

ORTIZ HOMERS AGAIN

David Ortiz continued to prove he is still one of the best hitters in MLB when he clobbered his 53rd home run against the Rays, tied for his third-most against any single opponent. The only player with more home runs against the Rays is Alex Rodriguez (56). Ortiz also reached 124 RBIs this season, which is the most in a player's final season since RBIs became official in 1920.

TIGERS FACE ROYALS AGAIN

This ever-important game for Detroit will be put in the hands of 23-year-old Daniel Norris (3-2, 3.63 ERA), who will face off against Royals ace Yordano Ventura (11-11, 4.35 ERA). Earlier this week, Justin Verlander mentioned Norris as one of the reasons Detroit's rotation was in good hands for the future.