CHICAGO: The St. Louis Cardinals became the first team to clinch a playoff berth this year despite losing 5-4 to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.

San Francisco’s loss to Arizona ensured the Cardinals at least an NL wild card. St. Louis has the best record in the majors at 92-56 and will play in the postseason for the fifth straight year. The Cardinals have made it at least to the NL Championship Series the last four seasons.

Jorge Soler and Kris Bryant hit back-to-back homers for Chicago, and tempers flared for the second consecutive game as the Cubs won their fifth straight to tighten the NL Central race.

Chicago is five games behind first-place St. Louis, which got a two-run homer from Matt Carpenter in the ninth. The Cubs are comfortably in position for a wild card.

Yankees slugger Carlos Beltran hit a three-run homer off a 100 mph (161 kph) fastball from Noah Syndergaard in the first inning and Michael Pineda pitched his best game in two months to blank the New York Mets 5-0 and rebound from an opening loss in the Subway Series.

Brian McCann added a two-run drive in the sixth, the Yankees’ 200th home run this season, to quiet the sellout crowd of 43,630 at Citi Field.

Hoping to reach the postseason for the first time since 2006, the Mets have a seven-game lead in the NL East over Washington.

In Toronto, David Ortiz singled home the go-ahead run in a five-run ninth inning as the Boston Red Sox rallied to beat the Blue Jays 7-6.

Jackie Bradley Jr. ended a 0-for-21 slump with a tying double in the seventh, then tied it again with a two-run homer off Roberto Osuna (1-5) in the ninth.

The Los Angeles Angels swept a doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins after Albert Pujols had two hits and two RBIs, and Garrett Richards was one out away from his second complete game this season.

Mike Trout and Chris Iannetta added solo homers for Los Angeles (76-72), which won its third straight in the series and pulled a game ahead of Minnesota (75-73) in the AL wild-card race.

Washington’s Bryce Harper leveled the game with a sacrifice fly, then added insurance with his 41st homer as the Nationals came back to beat the Miami Marlins 5-2, Patrick Corbin pitched seven sharp innings and hit an RBI single as the Arizona Diamondbacks blanked the San Francisco Giants 6-0.

In other games, Chen Wei-yin pitched seven effective innings and Adam Jones drove in two runs as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1, the Atlanta Braves edged the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1, the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3 and the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 9-7.

The Houston Astros had a 10-6 win over the Oakland Athletics, the Texas Rangers trounced the Seattle Mariners 10-1, the Colorado Rockies dominated the San Diego Padres 10-2, the Detroit Tigers overcame the Kansas City Royals 6-5 over 11 innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates were 3-2 winners over the Los Angeles Dodgers.