AP Wednesday Sports Roundup

Yanks hold off Jays...Red Sox tied for AL East lead...Marlins and Pirates in free falls...4 straight win for Dodgers

UNDATED (AP) —There was a thrilling end to the New York Yankees' win over AL East-leading Toronto. Brett Gardner made a leaping catch against the left field wall to rob Justin Smoak with the bases loaded in the ninth to preserve a 7-6 win over the Blue Jays and keep the Yanks' wild card hopes alive.

Brian McCann, Chase Headley and Tyler Austin homered for the Yanks.

The Yankees moved within four and a-half games of the Jays. They are three and a-half out of the final AL wild card.

In other baseball:

— Boston climbed into a tie with Toronto atop the AL East by beating San Diego 5-1. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Chris Young homered. Clay Buchholz pitched six-plus solid innings for his sixth win.

— Baltimore closed to within one game back of Toronto by trouncing Tampa Bay 11-2. Manny Machado capped a six-run fourth inning with a grand slam. Chris Davis and Adam Jones also homered for the Orioles.

— The Chicago White Sox blanked Detroit 2-0. Jose Abreu hit his fifth homer in seven games, Miguel Gonzalez came off the disabled list to throw 6 1/3 innings of six-hit ball. Detroit fell one game behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card and stayed 4 1/2 games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central.

— Jonathan Villar homered to start a five-run first inning against Jason Hammel, and the Milwaukee Brewers cooled off the Chicago Cubs, 12-5. The NL Central-leading Cubs had won seven of eight.

— Corey Kluber lost for the first time since July 3 after Marwin Gonzalez connected for a three-run homer off Cleveland's ace in the second inning in the Houston Astros' 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians. Kluber is 15-9.

— Yoenis Cespedes (yoh-EHN'-ehs SEHS'-peh-dehs) hit one of New York's four homers, a two-run shot in the seventh inning, as the New York Mets rallied for their 13th straight victory over the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3. The Mets have won 13 of 17 to stay in the midst of the NL wild card.

— Anthony Rendon (rehn-DOHN') hit a third-inning grand slam and Ryan Zimmerman followed with a solo shot and the NL East-leading Washington Nationals scored three times in the eighth to beat Atlanta 9-7. Braves rookie Dansby Swanson, the first overall pick in the 2015 draft, hit his first major league home run, an inside-the-park job in the second inning. The Nationals used eight pitchers to secure the victory.

— The Philadelphia Phillies handed the Miami Marlins their 10th loss in 11 games, 4-3. Adam Morgan snapped his major league-worst streak of nine consecutive losses to improve to 2-9. He hadn't won since May 10. — Catcher Jonathan Lucroy (LOO'-kroy) continues to be a great late-season addition to the Texas Rangers. Lucroy homered to help the AL West-leading Rangers beat Seattle 10-7. Lucroy has nine home runs in 28 games for the Rangers. Elvis Andrus also went deep. — The NL West-leading L.A. Dodgers maintained their four-game lead by beating Arizona 5-2 for their fourth straight win. Justin Turner had two hits, including a run-scoring double for the Dodgers. Ross Stripling and four relievers combined on a four-hitter and the rookie helped himself with a go-ahead single in the second inning.

— Kelby Tomlinson hit a one-out, tiebreaking single in the ninth and the San Francisco Giants rallied to beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2.

— Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk and Jhonny (JAH'-nee) Peralta all homered off closer Tony Watson with two outs in the ninth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals rallied past the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-7. The Pirates have lost eight straight, getting outscored 47-22 during that span.

— Kansas City routed last-place Minnesota 10-3. Kendrys Morales had two home runs, including a three-run blast in Kansas City's seven-run ninth inning.

— And Joey Wendle hit a go-ahead single during a three-run eighth inning and the Oakland Athletics rallied to beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2.

MLB-NEWS

Tigers activate Zimmermann

CHICAGO (AP) — Detroit Tigers right-hander Jordan Zimmermann has been activated from the disabled list and is scheduled to start Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles.

He was 5-0 with a 0.55 ERA in five April starts but has struggled since and gone on the DL twice because of neck pain. Zimmermann is 9-5 with a 4.44 ERA in 16 starts for Detroit.

Detroit entered Tuesday tied with the Orioles for the second AL wild card.

In other baseball news:

— Giancarlo Stanton has been activated off the disabled list, and the Miami Marlins hope getting their slugger back provides a much-needed spark to fledgling postseason chances. Marlins manager Don Mattingly said all that Stanton will be able to do for now is pinch-hit after suffering a strained groin. He delivered a pinch-hit single in his return.

U.S. OPEN

Kerber, Woz into the semifinals...Djokovic, Monfils advance

NEW YORK (AP) — Women's second seed Angelique Kerber has moved into the semifinals at the U.S. Open, beating seventh seed Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-love. A year ago Vinci advanced to the Open final before losing.

Kerber moved into her third Grand Slam semifinal of the year and has a chance to overtake Serena Williams as No. 1 in the world. Kerber won the Australian Open in January, then lost to Williams in the Wimbledon final in July.

Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki (wohz-nee-AK'-ee) reached her fifth U.S. Open semifinal by beating Anastasija Sevastova (ann-uh-STAY'-zhuh seh-VAS'-toh-vuh) of Latvia 6-love, 6-2. It's the first time Wozniacki has reached any Grand Slam semifinal in two years.

Top seed Novak Djokovic (NOH'-vak JOH'-kuh-vich) moved into the U.S. Open semifinals for the 10th consecutive year when No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (SAHNG'-guh) stopped because of a left knee injury. It's the third opponent to pull out with an injury against the defending U.S. Open champion in this year's tourney.

In men's quarterfinal action, 10th seed Gael Monfils (GAH'-ehl mohn-FEES') rolled past Lucas Pouille (LOO'-kah poo-EE') 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in an all-French match.

Lopez and Lopez have once again beaten Bryan and Bryan at a major tournament. The eighth-seeded Spanish doubles team of Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez defeated third-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals to deny the Bryans their quest for a 17th Grand Slam title.

T25-POLL

Crimson Tide roll on

UNDATED (AP) — Alabama strengthened its hold on the No. 1 spot in the first regular season Associated Press college football poll.

The top-ranked Crimson Tide picked up 21 more first place votes this week after routing Southern Cal 52-6 in the season opener Saturday.

That gives Alabama 54 total first place votes.

Clemson stays at No. 2, while Florida State moved up a spot to third. Ohio State and Michigan round out the top five.

Houston's upset of then-No. 3 Oklahoma vaulted the Cougars nine spots to sixth. They are followed by Stanford, Washington and Georgia.

Wisconsin was unranked last week but after beating then-No. 5 LSU, the Badgers round out the top ten.

NFL-BILLS

Williams returns

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills safety Aaron Williams has returned to practice after missing nearly a month recovering from a concussion. Coach Rex Ryan says Williams is set to start in the team's season opener at Baltimore on Sunday.

The Bills took extra precaution with Williams, who sustained a severe neck injury that limited him to playing just three games last season.

In other news from the Bills, they have signed receiver Brandon Tate in an attempt to upgrade their special teams return position. He had been cut by the Bengals last week after spending five seasons with the team.

NFL-BEARS

Barth replaces Gould in Chicago

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bears have signed Connor Barth to replace longtime kicker Robbie Gould (GOHLD) who was released Sunday.

Barth played in 12 games for Tampa Bay last season, going 23 of 28 on field goals and making 25 of 26 extra points. He signed with the Saints in May and was released on Saturday.

Barth played for Bears coach John Fox in Denver in 2014.

AUTO RACING-F1

US takeover of Formula One in the works?

UNDATED (AP)— Speculation is mounting that Formula One is about to be revamped by a U.S. takeover that could bring new life and a higher profile for a sport that is struggling to attract new fans.

Media reports suggest that F1's largest and controlling shareholder, the hedge fund CVC Capital Partners, is preparing to sell the business to U.S. media conglomerate Liberty Media for around $8.5 billion. That would be more than four times CVC's original outlay in 2006.

SOCCER

Team USA advances to final round of World Cup qualifying

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jozy Altidore (JOH'-zee AL'-tih-door) scored twice in a three-minute span of the second half, Sacha Kljestan and Paul Arriola added goals and the United States beat Trinidad and Tobago 4-0 to reach the final round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

The Americans finished atop Group C of the semifinal round in the North and Central American and Caribbean region and will open the hexagonal on Nov. 11 against Mexico.