Playoff Picture: Comeback victory helps Giants pad lead in NL wild card race

Pennant races across baseball are heating up as teams enter the final month of the season. The games aren't any more important than ones in April, but they certainly feel like they are.

Here's a look at how Tuesday's slate affected the playoff picture in the majors:

• Yankees right-hander Shane Greene endured the shortest start of his major-league career Tuesday, allowing six earned runs on six hits and three walks over just 2 2/3 innings in a 9-4 loss to the Red Sox.
• Jose Reyes snapped a 28-game homerless drought with a three-run blast that helped the Blue Jays secure their third consecutive victory.

• J.D. Martinez smacked a go-ahead, three-run homer off Indians closer Cody Allen in the ninth inning of Tuesday's clash to lift the Tigers to a 4-2 victory and keep his club just 1/2-game behind the division-leading Royals.
• Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre proved unable to corral a line drive off the bat of Salvador Perez in the ninth inning, allowing Jarrod Dyson to score the deciding run in Kansas City's 2-1 victory.

• Mariners left-hander James Paxton enjoyed yet another masterful outing, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks over 7 2/3 innings while helping his team secure just their second victory in their last six contests.
• Jose Altuve went 4-for-5 with his seventh home run and 50th stolen base of the season as the Astros tallied 15 hits in an 8-3 drubbing of the Los Angeles Angels.

• A dramatic, ninth-inning comeback by the Tigers prevented both the Mariners and Blue Jays from gaining any ground in their respective pursuits of the second wild card berth.
• Despite dropping the first two games of a four-game set with the Tigers, the Indians can still put themselves within three games of the second wild card spot with victories in the final two contests of the series.

• Doug Fister's struggles continued as he yielded four runs - three earned - over five innings to lose his third consecutive start. The 30-year-old owns a 5.94 ERA across his last three outings, yielding five home runs in 16 2/3 innings.
• Atlanta's offensive woes persisted as the Braves were shut out for the second time in their last three games in a 4-0 loss to the Phillies.

• Adam Wainwright stumbled through another mediocre start, allowing four earned runs on three homers across six innings but did enough to secure a win as the Cardinals eked out a 6-4 victory over the Pirates to establish a two-game lead atop the division.
• The Brewers dropped their seventh consecutive game in a 7-1 loss to the Cubs and will have to try to end their skid without Carlos Gomez, who will be shut down for the next week due to a sprained wrist.

• Clayton Kershaw was expectedly brilliant against the division-leading Nationals, surrendering just one run on three hits while fanning eight over eight innings to secure his league-leading 17th win of the season. Kershaw's lone blemish was a solo shot off the bat of Bryce Harper, who's cranked five round-trippers in his last nine games.
• The Giants erased an early six-run deficit to complete an improbable comeback against the Rockies for their seventh win in their last eight contests, augmenting their lead atop the National League wild-card standings.

• The Giants cushioned their lead atop the wild card standings with a 12-7 victory over the Rockies as every other team in the National League race lost Tuesday night.
• Milwaukee's odds of qualifying for the postseason tumbled to 58.6 percent after Tuesday's loss, the club's seventh in a row, as the Brewers have averaged just two runs per game throughout their ski.