Yankees Sweep Twins; Nat’s, Cards, & Rays Win

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The New York Yankees have completed a playoff sweep of the Minnesota Twins and will advance to AL Championship Series. Gleyber Torres got New York going with a second-inning home run and scored on each of his two doubles, giving Luis Severino sufficient support and fueling the Yankees to a 5-1 victory over Minnesota.  In Washington,  Max Scherzer’s season-saving, seven-inning pitching performance and Ryan Zimmerman’s three-run homer lifted the wild-card Washington Nationals to a 6-1 victory over the league-best Los Angeles Dodgers to force a deciding Game 5 in their NL Division Series. They will face off on Wednesday in Los Angeles. The St. Louis Cardinals survived with a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves in the other NLDS contest. Yadier Molina hit a tying single in the eighth and a sacrifice fly in the 10th.  The Tampa Bay Rays cut their AL Division Series deficit to 2-1 with 10-3 romp over the Houston Astros. Former Astros hurler Charlie Morton allowed one run and three hits while striking out nine over five innings. Astros manager AJ Hinch announced after the game that Houston will start Justin Verlander on three days of rest in Game 4 of the best-of-five matchup at Tropicana Field on Tuesday. Tampa Bay will use Diego Castillo as an opener.