down the stretch they come

Technically, there are eight teams still alive in the American League wild card race. Realistically, New York and Minnesota are in command with just over a week left in the season. Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier’s 32nd home run of the year helped the Twins beat Detroit 7-3 on Friday. (One of the first people to high-five Dozier in the dugout after his homer was Stewart Cliburn, the Jackson native and ex-Delta State star who is the Twins’ Triple-A pitching coach.) The Twins lead Texas and Los Angeles, both of whom lost on Friday, by 3.5 games for the second wild card. The Yankees lost 8-1 on Friday to Toronto – ex-Mississippi State standout Jonathan Holder pitched a clean inning in mop-up duty for the Yanks – but still lead the Twins by 5.5 games. The Yanks are 4 games back of Boston, which won Friday, in the AL East standings. Playing the spoiler role, MSU alum Kendall Graveman threw seven strong innings for Oakland in a 4-1 win over Texas. … In the National League, Chicago beat Milwaukee 5-4 on Friday in Game 2 of their big Central Division showdown. Former State star Brandon Woodruff yielded four runs in five innings for the Brewers but did not get the loss. Milwaukee fell 5.5 games behind the Cubs and was passed in both the division and wild card races by St. Louis. The Cardinals beat Pittsburgh 4-3 and now trail the Cubs by 5 in the division and remain 1.5 games back of Colorado in the battle for the second wild card. Milwaukee is 2 back. St. Louis throws ex-Ole Miss standout Lance Lynn (11-7, 3.09 ERA) at the Pirates today.