Tigers Take Phillies in Detroit

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Miguel Cabrera figured he'd try to play after missing four games because of a hip problem.

In his first plate appearance back, he homered -- a feat so impressive teammate Max Scherzer found it downright amusing.

"I laugh every day," Scherzer said. "It can be a pitcher throwing his `out' pitch in the right location, and he'll hit it for a home run. It just doesn't surprise you, anything he does. He's obviously the best."

Cabrera's first-inning homer was the start of an early offensive outburst, and the Detroit Tigers went on to a 10-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night. Scherzer allowed only one hit in six innings to become baseball's first 15-game winner.

The Phillies lost their seventh in a row.

"That wasn't much fun," Philadelphia's Chase Utley said. "They came out with hot bats and we came out facing one of the best pitchers in baseball."

Scherzer (15-1) threw only 75 pitches -- he was one of several stars pulled early after the game got out of hand. Detroit scored five runs in the first and three in the second off Raul Valdes (1-1), who started because Cliff Lee was out with a stiff neck.

Cabrera's solo homer in the first was his 32nd of the year, and he later added two more RBIs to increase his season total to 99. Matt Tuiasosopo hit a three-run homer in the first.

The Tigers remain three games ahead of second-place Cleveland in the AL Central. The Phillies, meanwhile, are now 10 back of NL East-leading Atlanta.

Detroit outhit Philadelphia 15-2.

Valdes had been used exclusively as a reliever this year, and his first start since June 27, 2012, did not go well. He actually retired his first two batters before Cabrera -- back after missing some time while his left hip recovered -- went deep to put Detroit ahead 1-0.

"I'm feeling OK, so I was thinking, try to go out there and try to go and play," Cabrera said. "I don't want to do too much today -- wanted to make something happen. I tried to make sure I made contact with the ball."

Prince Fielder, Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta followed with consecutive singles -- Peralta's hit brought home another run -- and Tuiasosopo hit his seventh homer of the year, to the bushes beyond the wall in center field.

Cabrera added an RBI single in the second, and Martinez's two-run single made it 8-0.

Cabrera came out of the game in the fifth, and he wasn't the only one who didn't stick around for the full nine innings. Fielder and Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley were among the players pulled early.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he took Cabrera out as a precaution as the slugger works his way back from his injury. Scherzer was also allowed a bit of extra rest because of the big lead.

"It gives me a chance to regroup," said Scherzer, who celebrated his 29th birthday Saturday. "It was a 10-0 game, and there really wasn't much more to accomplish in the game tonight."

The only baserunner Scherzer allowed was Darin Ruf, whose second-inning double was nearly caught by Austin Jackson in center. Scherzer struck out seven, and the Detroit All-Star again got plenty of run support. Detroit has backed Scherzer with an MLB-best average of 7.64 runs.

"That's why I love being in Detroit," Scherzer said. "If you go out and pitch well, you have a good chance to win the ballgame. Obviously, I was able to pitch effectively tonight, and obviously, these guys came out chomping at the bit."

Cabrera hit an RBI groundout in the fourth. Valdes was finally pulled after allowing nine runs and 12 hits in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out three.

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Nationals Win NL East But Lose

Pitcher Gio Gonzalez grabbed Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner and steered him toward the gaggle of players celebrating the club's first NL East championship.

"Ted, this is your party!" the effervescent left-hander yelled. Then, turning toward teammates, Gonzalez shouted: "Hey! Who's got the cooler? This is the man, right here!"

All in all, 21-game winner Gonzalez and the rest of the first team in 79 years to bring postseason baseball back to the nation's capital threw quite a victory party at Nationals Park on Monday night. Thanks to strong pitching from Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper's burst of energy, and Adam LaRoche's slugging, the Nationals won enough from April through September that even a loss on the first day of October could not stop them from achieving the sort of success that seemed so far away only a few years ago.

"The puzzle came together," the 86-year-old Lerner said, "a little earlier than we expected."

Despite being beaten 2-0 by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Nationals earned their first division title since moving from Montreal in 2005, because the second-place Atlanta Braves lost 2-1 at the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"This is incredible. The excitement. The joy. The fans. Smiles on everyone's faces, the excitement that's going on," Gonzalez said. "Everyone here just witnessed history. Hopefully we can try to continue that journey."

Washington, in first place since May 22, leads Atlanta by three games with two to play in the regular season. The Braves' loss finished as the top of the ninth inning ended in Washington, and the Nationals congratulated each other in their dugout with hugs, high-fives and spiked gloves.

"The way it happened tonight doesn't really matter," said third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, the Nationals' first draft pick in June 2005. "We put ourselves in that position to have the luxury of having the other team have to play perfect baseball. We played a great 159, 160 games to get to that point, and we should be commended for that."

When Michael Morse led off the bottom of the ninth, the PA announcer informed the crowd that the home team was the champion, and when the game ended, red fireworks lit the night sky with the Capitol building off in the distance beyond left field. The scoreboard declared "NL East Division Champions."

It was the second division crown in franchise history. The Montreal Expos won the NL East in 1981, a strike-shortened season, by beating the Phillies in a best-of-five playoff.

When the game ended, the Phillies -- winners of the previous five NL East titles and already eliminated from playoff contention this year -- gathered in the middle of the diamond for regular post-victory handshakes.

The Nationals, meanwhile, collected in their home clubhouse for alcohol-spraying. They gathered around general manager Mike Rizzo and dumped bubbly over his shaved head. Harper, who has more homers (22) than years on earth (19), shared some apple cider with LaRoche's 9-year-old son, Drake.

"I'll remember being in the scrum in the middle of the clubhouse with all the guys, just elated and all together," Rizzo said later, once the excitement had moved out to the field, where some fans stayed to clap and chant. "We live with each other for seven months a year. Culmination of all that emotion and such a successful season for us."

On Sept. 20, the Nationals assured themselves of no worse than an NL wild-card berth -- and guaranteed Washington a postseason game for the first time since the Senators lost the 1933 World Series to the New York Giants.

But even on that night of success, Washington manager Davey Johnson made clear he wasn't all that interested in merely getting a chance to play in a one-game, in-or-out, wild-card playoff. No, he wanted his team to focus on bigger prizes at hand, including a division championship.

With Washington back home from a six-game road trip and on the verge of a big accomplishment, the first roar of the night from the crowd of 35,287 came a few minutes before the first pitch, when a booming voice over the loudspeakers let everyone know that the home team's "magic number is down to one!"

Ready to roar, the spectators often rose at key moments, whether their team was at the plate or in the field. Fans also reacted with applause and cheers when the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center field showed that Pittsburgh had taken a lead against Atlanta in the fifth inning.

It was quite a contrast from the mostly silent, mostly empty ballparks that were home to Nationals teams that lost 100 games apiece in 2008 and 2009. Then again, those worst-in-baseball clubs earned No. 1 overall picks in the amateur draft that turned into Strasburg and Harper.

Rizzo also oversaw a rebuilding of a farm system and two very key additions from outside the organisation: Gonzalez, acquired from Oakland for four prospects last offseason; and Jayson Werth, signed away from Philadelphia with a $126 million free-agent deal in December 2010.

"These guys have been through a lot. That just goes to show you it's not easy. It's not easy getting to this point," Werth said. "Luck plays into it a lot. You've got to be on good teams -- and I'm on a good team."

Werth was brought to Washington, in part, to show the club how to win, having been a part of the Phillies' perennial division champions and 2008 World Series winners. And so it was somehow fitting that the Nationals' title came on a night when they were facing the Phillies.

"Made me mad. Yes it did. Very much so. I'm a bad loser," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said about watching Washington clinch against his club. "Nobody should be a good loser. I'm a bad loser and I always will be."

Zimmerman lived through plenty of losses in past seasons but twice decided to re-sign and stay with a team close to where he grew up in Virginia.

As he spoke Monday, Zimmerman wore a pair of white ski goggles around his neck, the better to protect his eyes from the spray of beverages.

Not his purchase. Whose?

"This is from Werth," Zimmerman said. "He's been through a few."

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Red Sox Win 7-5 in Philly

Jarrod Saltalamacchia wanted to make sure Bobby Valentine put him in the Boston Red Sox's lineup Saturday night.

So the catcher texted Valentine on Friday night from the hospital, where he received 12 stitches after taking a ball off his ear, and told the manager that he was feeling good and predicted a homer Saturday.

Saltalamacchia kept his word, going 3 for 4 and falling a triple shy of the cycle, as Boston hit four home runs in a 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

David Ortiz homered, singled and drove in two runs to help Boston snap the Phillies' six-game winning streak. Mike Aviles and Will Middlebrooks also homered for Boston, which won for the seventh time in nine games.

"Everything came back good, I'm cleared to play, plus I'm due to hit a bomb," Valentine said, reading the text sent by Saltalamacchia.

"I wanted to make sure he knew I could play," Saltalamacchia said. "Sometimes if you tell the manager you are going to hit one out, he'll put you in there. I felt good. The ear didn't bother or affect me."

Jon Lester (3-3) improved to 3-0 in four career starts against the Phillies despite matching a season high for hits allowed with eight and giving up four runs in six innings.

"I didn't have my best stuff, but I tried to battle through it and keep the ball down," Lester said.

Freddy Galvis homered, and John Mayberry Jr., Hector Luna and Shane Victorino each had three hits for the Phillies as the teams combined for 26 hits.

Alfredo Aceves got four outs for his ninth save in 11 chances.

Joe Blanton (4-4) pitched a season-low 4 1/3 innings while surrendering seven runs -- six earned -- on nine hits.

"I threw a lot of pitches down the middle, not good results when you do that," Blanton said. "They have a lot of good hitters and when you make mistakes, a lot of times a lineup like that will make you pay."

Aviles gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead with the club's first leadoff homer of the season.

Boston extended the margin to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the second, with Saltalamacchia scoring on Daniel Nava's grounder and Ryan Sweeney reaching on Lester's double-play groundout.

Philadelphia got a run back in the third on Victorino's RBI double off the metal fence above the 10-foot, 6-inch wall in left. But Middlebrooks and Saltalamacchia opened the fourth with consecutive homers to put Boston up 5-1.

Philadelphia scored three runs in the fourth, highlighted by Galvis' two-run homer to left, to make it a one-run game. Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel had Pete Orr in the on-deck circle ready to pinch-hit for Blanton, but pulled Orr back with the bases clear.

"I thought he still had something left, thought he might settle in and give us two (more) innings," Manuel said of Blanton.

But after Dustin Pedroia singled to lead off the fifth, Ortiz launched the first pitch he saw off Blanton in the fifth over the wall in straightaway center to give the Red Sox a 7-4 advantage.

"That was a big blow," Manuel said. "We couldn't catch up."

Said Blanton: "It was supposed to be away and I threw it down the middle."

Sweeney saved two runs in the seventh when the Red Sox centre fielder robbed Carlos Ruiz of extra bases with a highlight-reel diving catch just in front of the warning track in right-center with two outs and runners on first and second.

"I thought it saved the game," Valentine said. "I didn't think he had anything left. It was full extension, a top-tenner (highlight)."

The Phillies trimmed the lead to 7-5 in the eight on Jimmy Rollins' RBI infield single, but stranded the bases loaded when Victorino popped out to shortstop off of Aceves.

Victorino defended his swinging at the first pitch despite Aceves walking the previous batter, Mayberry, on four pitches.

"I was looking for a cutter and he threw a cutter, I'll swing at that every single time," he said. "He just beat me. I want to be the hero, but I was the goat tonight."