Braves reserve spot in playoffs with 14th straight NL East title

ATLANTA-- Marcus Giles hit two homers and the Atlanta Braves wrapped up their 14th straight division championship Tuesday night, beating Colorado 12-3. The Braves officially clinched the NL East midway through their game when second-place Philadelphia lost to New York.

Atlanta became the second team to clinch a title, following the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals.

Tim Hudson (14-9) allowed three runs and four hits in six innings.

The Braves took control with a four-run fifth.

Mets 3, Phillies 2

PHILADELPHIA -- Jose Reyes was 4-for-5 with three extra-base hits to lead New York, which was eliminated from playoff contention with Houston's victory over St. Louis.

Jimmy Rollins extended his hitting streak to a team-record 32 games with a single in the seventh for Philadelphia, which fell 2 1/2 games behind Houston in the wild-card race.

Nationals 11, Marlins 1

MIAMI -- Dontrelle Willis gave up a career-high nine runs -- four unearned -- and Miami was mathematically eliminated from the wild-card race and fell into a tie with Washington for last place in the NL East.

Orioles 17, Yankees 9

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore ended a nine-game losing streak with a 17-9 victory over New York on Tuesday night, keeping the Yankees and Boston Red Sox tied for first place in the AL East.

Jay Gibbons and Javy Lopez homered for the Orioles, offsetting Gary Sheffield's two-homer, six-RBI effort for New York in the game that lasted 4 hours, 16 minutes.

New York's third loss in 16 games, combined with Boston's split of a day-night doubleheader with Toronto, left them tied with five games left, including a three-game series at Fenway Park to close the regular season.

The Red Sox and Yankees are tied at 92-65 with Cleveland in the wild-card standings.

Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 1, 1st game

Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 5, 2nd game

BOSTON -- Russ Adams hit a sacrifice fly to break an eighth-inning tie as Toronto rallied to win the second game of the doubleheader.

Tim Wakefield (16-11) pitched seven strong innings to give Boston a 3-1 victory in the day game.

Devil Rays 5, Indians 4

CLEVELAND -- Scott Kazmir held Cleveland to one run in six innings and Julio Lugo hit a three-run homer to lead Tampa Bay and prevent the Indians from gaining ground on Chicago in the AL Central.

Former Indians pitcher Danys Baez got his 40th save by getting Ronnie Belliard to hit into a game-ending double play with the tying run on third, handing Cleveland consecutive losses for the first time since Sept. 3-4.

Tigers 3, White Sox 2

DETROIT -- Omar Infante and Craig Monroe homered and Detroit beat first-place Chicago.

The White Sox began the day with a two-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central, but have lost 12 of 19.

-- From wire reports