SAN DIEGO — Yu Darvish struck out a season-high 14 and allowed only two hits in six innings and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 4-1, on Thursday to remain tied with Milwaukee for the NL’s second wild card.
The Padres scored in the ninth when Manny Machado was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs, but Rowan Wick struck out Luis Urias to end it. Chicago split the four-game series and won for just the second time in seven games.
Darvish (6-6) retired his first eight batters before allowing his first hit, an infield single by starter Dinelson Lamet (2-5). Darvish kicked the ball with his right foot and it caromed to third baseman Kris Bryant. Darvish struck out Greg Garcia to end the inning.
Darvish was one shy of his career high, set Aug. 12, 2013, at Houston while he was with the Texas Rangers. He led the big leagues that year with 277 strikeouts.
MIAMI — Ryan Braun broke a tie with a two-run homer in the third inning and Milwaukee beat Miami to complete a four-game sweep that extended its winning streak to seven.
Milwaukee matched its longest winning streak of the season to remain tied with the Chicago Cubs for the second NL wild card. Before the game, the Brewers said star Christian Yelich won’t need surgery on his broken right kneecap but likely will not return this season.
NEW YORK — Juan Lagares hit a grand slam and a two-run shot and New York set a team record with six home runs in a home game, routing Arizona for a four-game sweep.
Michael Conforto hit his 30th homer, Todd Frazier connected for the third time in the series and Robinson Canó and Tomas Nido also went deep. The Mets outscored Arizona, 26-4, this week.
DETROIT — Edwin Encarnación homered for the fourth time in eight games since returning from the injured list, then left in the fifth inning with a strained left oblique muscle in New York’s victory over Detroit in the first game of a doubleheader.
Encarnación, New York’s designated hitter, had a two-run homer in the third, walked in the fifth and was pinch hit for by Mike Ford in the seventh.
DENVER — Dexter Fowler and Kolten Wong opened the game with successive home runs and St. Louis connected five times in all to beat Colorado.
CHICAGO — Hunter Dozier hit a tiebreaking, three-run home run in the sixth, Jorge Soler had his third homer in two days and Kansas City beat Chicago.
SAN FRANCISCO — Joe Musgrove pitched five shutout innings and hit a triple, Jacob Stallings homered and Pittsburgh beat San Francisco.
The Pirates took three of four in the series and have won 14 of their last 20 games in San Francisco dating to 2014. Musgrove (10-12) struck out seven, gave up four hits and walked none. Felipe Vázquez worked around a first-and-third, no-outs situation in the ninth for his 28th save in 31 attempts.
Evan Longoria homered for the Giants. Jeff Samardzija (10-12) was the loser.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports