The China Mail - Jays down Yankees to advance in MLB playoffs as Tigers, Cubs stay alive

Toronto won the-best-of-five American League division series 3-1 to advance to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2016.

They'll face either the Seattle Mariners or Detroit Tigers for a place in the World Series.

Detroit downed the Seattle Mariners 9-3 to level their American League series at two games apiece.

The Chicago Cubs edged the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 to pull within 2-1 in their National League division series.

The reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers were vying for a series sweep when they hosted the Phillies later Wednesday after taking the first two games of their National League series in Philadelphia.

The Yankees, winners of 27 World Series titles, had rallied from five runs down to fend off elimination on Tuesday, but they couldn't find another win against the Blue Jays -- who had pipped them to the American League East division title.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled in a run to put Toronto on the board in the first inning.

Ryan McMahon pulled New York level with a home run in the third, but the Blue Jays inched back in front with a run in the fifth on George Springer's sacrifice fly after Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez led off the inning with singles.

Nathan Lukes gave the Blue Jays a bit of breathing room with a two-run single up the middle off Yankees reliever Devin Williams with two outs in the seventh that pushed Toronto's lead to 4-1.

The Blue Jays added one run in the eighth and survived a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the inning, the Yankees plating one run in the ninth before Toronto closed it out.

The Yankees, who fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series last year, haven't lifted the crown since 2009.

- 'We believe' -

In Detroit, Riley Greene and Javier Baez both homered in a four-run sixth inning as the Tigers rallied to beat the Mariners.

Gleyber Torres added a home run in the seventh inning for the Tigers, who fended off elimination in a series that now heads to Seattle for a decisive game five on Friday.

"We believe," Greene said. "We're never out of the game no matter what and we always believe in ourselves."

National League top seeds Milwaukee made a promising start in Chicago with a run in the top of the first.

But Michael Busch's leadoff homer ignited a four-run Cubs first inning and Chicago held on.

"I thought we were just locked in from the beginning," Busch said. "They happened to give us four runs to win it, but I thought right off the bat, all nine of us kind of gave really good at-bats."

Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers drove in a run with a single in the fourth inning and homered in the seventh to make it a one-run game.

But the Brewers left the bases loaded in the eighth as Cubs pitcher Brad Keller struck out Bauers to end the inning.

Keller retired three straight in the ninth for the four-out save and the Cubs will host game four at Wrigley Field on Thursday aiming to level the series.

T.Wu--ThChM