September 19- Jake Grove drove in a two-run lead in the eighth inning and scored another run, and the visiting Oakland Athletics eliminated the Chicago Cubs from the playoffs with a 5–3 win on Wednesday afternoon.
Tyler Soderstrom had two hits, including a home run, drove in two runs and drove in two runs for Oakland (67-86), which finished with a winning record (24-22), completing the league portion of its schedule.
Despite Justin Steele’s 2 2/3 scoreless innings in his return, Chicago (77–75) lost the National League finals in seven games with only 10 games remaining.
With the loss to the Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers (88–64) clinched the NL Central title for the second consecutive season.
The Cubs scored three consecutive home runs in the fifth inning to take a 3–1 lead. Dansby Swanson and Seiya Suzuki had RBI singles, and Cody Bellinger added a sacrifice fly in the inning.
But the Athletics responded in the seventh quarter. Soderstrom and Tyler Nevin added back-to-back singles in the bottom of the inning and added a run on Nick Allen’s bunt. Lawrence Butler led off with a grounder and Brent Rooker tied the game 3-3 with a double.
Seth Brown started the eighth inning with a double to the left corner off Geloff, who had opened the game with a single against Nate Pearson (2-2). Glover moved to third on Chicago’s final pitch.
With one out, Grove threw a jumper to Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner that barely hit home plate and followed with a power throw with a slider. Chicago challenged the decision but the safety ruling was upheld.
Tyler Ferguson (4-2) pitched a scoreless seventh, Michael Ottens pitched a perfect eighth and Mason Miller recorded his 27th save, hitting for a scoreless ninth.
Four Oakland relievers combined to pitch 4 1/3 hitless innings in relief of Brady Basso, who was charged with allowing three runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked twice and struck out five.
Steele, recovering from a left hand injury, threw 57 pitches before departing in the third inning with two outs in a scoreless game. He gave up two hits and three walks and struck out one.
Soderstrom started the scoring with a two-out single against Ethan Roberts in the fourth inning.
Lock had two hits while striking out nine for Oakland, which has won two games in a row.
Swanson and Horner had two hits each for Chicago, which has lost five of its last seven games.
-Onsite level media
