Wild, Wild West: Astros win again, still have shot at AL West title

Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.

The wild, wild AL West added yet another layer of wildness on Saturday.

With the Angels miraculous come-from-behind win in Texas, and the Astros 6-2 win in Arizona, the AL West and second wild card spot remain up for grabs on Sunday and could potentially spill into Monday.

[Play a Daily Fantasy contest for cash today!]

Focusing on the Astros, they moved to within one game of Texas in the AL West while also holding a one-game edge over the Angels for the wild card. That basically means they’re guaranteed to play again after Sunday, whether it be in a division tiebreaker game, a wild card tiebreaker or the wild card play-in itself.

Houston secured that spot thanks to an excellent outing from Collin McHugh. The 28-year-old right-hander notched his 19th win of the season after tossing six innings of one-run ball. That comes one night after Dallas Keuchel won No. 20 for Houston. McHugh allowed six hits and struck out six while lowering his ERA to 3.89.

Offensively, Colby Rasmus led the way, cracking a pair of solo home runs. He finished with three hits overall. Jose Altuve, George Springers and Chris Carter added two hits as Houston picked up its 86th win of the season. They’ll go for a playoff clinching 87th on Sunday with Lance McCullers on the hill.

CHRISTIAN YELICH COLLECTS EIGHT HITS IN MARLINS DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP

Mother Nature decided she wanted to watch Christian Yelich hit on Saturday, so she allowed the Marlins-Phillies doubleheader to go on without interuption.

Yelich did his part as well, collecting eight hits on the day as the Marlins swept the doubleheader with 7-6 and 5-2 victories.

Yelich had a career-high five hits in the opener, picking up four singles and a double. He also drove in one run. Also of note, Dee Gordon notched his 200th hit of the season, while Marcell Ozuna picked up the game-winning RBI with a ninth-inning single.

In the nightcap, Yelich picked up right where he left off, going single, double, single in his first three at-bats before grounding out in the seventh. He would go on to walk in the ninth, meaning he reached in nine out of ten plate appearances. That’s a good day for the .OBP.

Dee Gordon added two more hits to his total while A.J. Ramos picked up his second save of the day. He’s the first Marlin reliever to ever save both ends of a doubleheader. The Marlins haven’t had many notable days this season, but this was certainly one of them.

JOEY VOTTO’S ON BASE STREAK ENDS AT 48

Coming into Saturday’s game against the PIrates, Cincinnati’s Joey Votto had reached base in 48 consecutive games, which tied Pete Rose for the franchise record.

Unfortunately, he could not make the record his own. Votto finished the game 0 for 4, but he did pick up an early RBI which helped Cincinnati to a 3-1 victory.

[On this week’s StewPod: Who’s the scariest team in the MLB playoffs?]

Votto’s streak was the longest in the majors since Kevin Millar went 53 games in a row for Boston in 2007. Ted Williams holds the all-time record with 84 straight games set back 1949, so Votto would have had to make it through next April and part of May as well. He’s the type of hitter who could seriously challenge that mark, as this streak indicates, but this wasn’t his time.

Also of note, the Pirates loss coupled with the Cubs 1-0 win in Milwaukee means home field in the wild-card game is still up for grabs. The Pirates need a win Sunday or a Cubs loss to clinch it. If they finished tied, the Cubs own the tiebreaker.

GREINKE DOMINATES AS DODGERS CLINCH HOME FIELD IN NLDS

With Zack Greinke on the hill, the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to beat the San Diego Padres 2-1 to clinch home-field advantage in their upcoming playoff series against the New York Mets.

Greinke was his usual dominate self, pitching eight innings of one-run ball. He also struck out eight, giving himself exactly 200 on the season. It’s the fifth time Greinke has notched 200 strikeouts in his career. He also became the fifth pitcher since 1956 to record 200 or more strikeouts with an ERA of 1.70 or lower.

Greinke will finish the season with a 1.66 ERA, finishing just ahead of Jake Arrieta, who comes in at 1.77. They will be the top two contenders for the NL Cy Young award.

The Dodgers also got Yasiel Puig back from his hamstring injury. He finished 1 for 3, giving the Dodgers hope that he’ll be able to contribute right away in the postseason.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: