¦ Marlins: Giancarlo Stanton homered twice to become the first player to hit 59 in a season since 2001 as the Miami ripped the Braves 7-1. Stanton hit a solo home run in the fourth and a two-run drive in the eighth. He has 33 home runs since the All-Star break and 10 multihomer games this season. He became the sixth player to reach 59, joining Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth. Ichiro Suzuki got his 27th pinch hit of the year, one shy of John Vander Wal’s record set in 1995. ... Derek Jeter holds about a 4 percent stake in the group buying the team and Michael Jordan about half of 1 percent, the AP reported.

¦ Red Sox: Jose Altuve had three of the Astros’ 17 hits and Carlos Correa had four as the Astros kept the Red Sox from clinching the first back-to-back AL East titles in franchise history with a 12-2 victory. But the Red Sox were guaranteed no worse than a tie for the division title when the Yankees lost. Altuve had two singles and his 39th double to raise his batting average to an MLB-leading .350.

¦ Yankees: Aaron Judge hit his 51st home run, but the Yankees missed abig chance to tightenthe AL East race when Sonny Gray fell apart in a 9-6 loss to the Rays.

The Yanks stayed three games behind the Red Sox. Gray gave up six runs on six hits in 4 2 /3 innings.

¦ Brewers: Brett Phillips’ goahead double in the sixth keyed a 4-3 win over the Reds that lifted the Brewers within two games of the Rockies for the second NL wild card. The Brewers (84-75) are assured of their best record since going 96-66 in 2011, when they lost in the NLCS.

¦ Cardinals: The Blue Jays will host the Cardinals for a twogame exhibition series March 26-27 at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the Cards’ first trip to the city since 2004 vs. the Expos.

¦ MLB: For the 10th season in a row, MLB batters set a record for most strikeouts in a season. They did it Wednesday, raising the total to 39,168. That topped the 38,982 who struck out in 2016.