Gary Sanchez hit his 33rd homer and Greg Bird added a solo shot as the Yankees moved closer to clinching at least home-field advantage for the AL wild-card game. Bruce Maxwell of the Oakland Athletics has become the first major league baseball player to kneel during the national anthem. Collin McHugh threw five innings and improved to 15-0 with a 2.94 ERA in 19 starts in September or October during his four seasons with Houston. The Angels lost despite Mike Trout, who became the fifth player in big league history with four 30-homer campaigns before their age-26 season. Trump's stance is prompting many responses from the NFL, the NBA, Major League Baseball and the NHL: — NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart fired back at Trump for attacking players who kneel during the national anthem, saying the protests against racial inequality and police brutality are "real locker room talk." Lockhart added: "We don't seek to get into political debates or relish being in the middle of it, but extraordinary statements from our clubs and owners demonstrate just how deeply we believe in our players and in our game." — Tom Brady called Trump's comments "just divisive." The New England Patriots quarterback tells Boston's WEEI-FM that he "certainly" disagrees with Trump's comment that NFL owners should fire any player who refuses to stand for the anthem.

BOSTON - Drew Pomeranz has been Boston's second-best starter since the All-Star break. Both Pomeranz and manager John Farrell said it was more about location on Monday night, but the velocity dip is alarming. Pomeranz said the slower pitches were part of his strategy, but that doesn't explain the overall dip in velocity over the last month. "I feel fine," he said after the loss. Farrell said they plan to monitor Pomeranz over the next few days and wouldn't rule out extra rest rather than another start.

Josh Donaldson homered on an 89-mph fastball in the first inning for a 1-0 Blue Jays lead, and after the Red Sox answered immediately with two runs on a pair of RBI groundouts, Pomeranz gave back four runs in the second — all with two outs. Pomeranz (16-6, 3.38 ERA) stayed in the game to open the third inning, but manager John Farrell had seen enough after Jose Bautista led off with a single on an 89-mph fastball. They had one big inning and the weird play there, where the ball kind of spun sideways on us, and I probably should’ve gotten over there and been waiting for it at the base. Then I was out of the game.” Given that he’s averaged 92 mph with his fastball all season and was at just 89.8 last night after an 89.3 in his previous start, fatigue likely is becoming an issue. Andrew Benintendi pinch-hit for Betts in the eighth inning and sent a one-out solo homer to center field to cut the deficit to one, but Addison Reed gave up a solo shot to Ryan Goins in the ninth to secure the Red Sox’ fate on a night they’ll want to soon forget.

What could have been an exciting night for the Red Sox turned into a sour one as Eduardo Nunez reaggravated his right knee injury in his first game back after missing two weeks. Nunez fell to the ground right away and stayed there for a moment, but got back up, stretched it out and finished the at-bat with a lineout to third base. His body has to recondition to take care of that. He’s not putting himself at further risk.” When Nunez hit a rocket double to right-center in his first at-bat, he gingerly jogged the bases without his usual force. Farrell said the drop-off in performance is likely related to his knee, and the Sox are planning on having him back in the lineup tonight.

The magic number for the Red Sox to clinch the AL East title is still three after their 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays Monday night. The Red Sox responded immediately against Toronto starter Brett Anderson and looked they were in line for a big rally, then came away with two runs to take a 2-1 lead. Xander Bogaerts began the inning with a base hit to right field. The Blue Jays’ explosion in the second inning proved to be Pomeranz’s downfall as Toronto scored four times with two out. The Jays had five hits in the inning, but the first one, Kendrys Morales’ single to center, proved to be irrelevant as he was quickly erased on Kevin Pillar’s double play grounder.

The Red Sox lead the second-place New York Yankees, who beat Kansas City earlier in the day, by four games with six remaining. The Blue Jays chased Pomeranz with four runs in the second to take a 5-2 lead when Hernandez and Donaldson each hit a two-run double. "I really didn't have a chance to get settled in with the short outing." Donaldson homered about a third of the way up a light stanchion in left-center in the first. He finished the at-bat with a lineout to third, but barely got out of the box and was unable to put much weight on his knee. Sale appears to be in a close race with Cleveland ace Corey Kluber for the AL Cy Young Award.

BOSTON - Eduardo Nunez returned to the Red Sox lineup on Monday night, but only last two innings. When he came to the plate a second time in the third inning, Nunez swung at a pitch but his spike got caught on home plate and his bad knee buckled. He stayed in the game the remainder of the at-bat, lining out to third, but then was removed from the game. Nunez said he's likely to take the next couple days off with the hope he can return by the start of the final regular season series against Houston on Thursday. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.

The Red Sox lead the second-place New York Yankees, who beat Kansas City earlier in the day, by four games with six remaining. The Blue Jays chased Pomeranz with four runs in the second to take a 5-2 lead when Hernandez and Donaldson each hit a two-run double. "I really didn't have a chance to get settled in with the short outing." Donaldson homered about a third of the way up a light stanchion in left-center in the first. He finished the at-bat with a lineout to third, but barely got out of the box and was unable to put much weight on his knee. Sale appears to be in a close race with Cleveland ace Corey Kluber for the AL Cy Young Award.

Mookie Betts scored both the tying and winning runs on either side of midnight, beginning to put what was a 12-for-62 slump in his rearview mirror. Betts has flashed all five tools while rediscovering the form that brought him within striking distance of last year’s league MVP honors. Betts entered Monday with a 1.030 OPS over his previous 17 games and was on the verge of becoming just the second Boston player to record multiple seasons of 100 runs scored and 100 RBI before the age of 25. Betts scored 15 runs and drove in 21 over that stretch, and he’s hitting 51 points higher than the .223 average he posted in August. Betts declined to support or condemn the nearly 20 New England Patriots who took a knee on their sideline before a 36-33 victory over Houston at Gillette Stadium.