Trevor Bauer and Ryan Merritt shut down the Yankees’ offense, leading the Cleveland Indians to a doubleheader sweep that damaged New York’s chances to win the AL East.

Bauer won his career-best seventh straight decision, Jose Ramirez tied his big league high with four hits and the Indians took advantage of Gary Sanchez’s passed ball in a two-run first inning that stood up for a 2-1 win in Wednesday’s opener.

Yandy Diaz hit a two-run single in a four-run first inning against rookie Jordan Montgomery in the second game, and Edwin Encarnacion, Yan Gomes and Francisco Lindor added home runs in a 9-4 blowout that completed a three-game series sweep and extended the Indians’ winning streak to seven games.

Defending AL champion Cleveland has won 16 of 20, opening a 7½-game lead over second-place Minnesota in the AL Central and moving a season-high 20 games over .500 at 76-56.

New York dropped 5½ games behind first-place Boston in the AL East heading into a four-game series against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium starting Thursday night.

While the Baby Bombers lead the wild-card race, eight teams still have realistic chances to make the one-game playoff, and 24 of New York’s remaining 30 games are against those contenders.

Orioles 8, Mariners 7— Welington Castillo went 4 for 4 with a homer and three RBIs, Jonathan Schoop singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the Baltimore rallied to beat visiting Seattle for its season-high seventh straight victory.

Schoop, Mancini and Craig Gentry also homered for the Orioles, who completed their first three-game sweep of Seattle since 2012. In this one, Baltimore fell behind 6-2 in the third inning before coming back.

Mitch Haniger homered and hit two doubles for Seattle, which completed an arduous 12-game East Coast trip with five straight defeats.

After winning two of three in Tampa Bay and Atlanta, the Mariners went 1-2 at Yankee Stadium and came up empty against the sizzling Orioles.

Tigers 6, Rockies 2 — Justin Verlander struck out nine over six commanding innings and aided his own cause by driving in his first career run as Detroit defeated host Colorado in Denver.

Verlander (10-8) allowed one run and three hits. His only mistake was a curveball that Charlie Blackmon hit for a solo homer in the sixth. Verlander had an RBI single in the second.

Nicholas Castellanos added a solo homer and James McCann sealed the game with a three-run shot in the fifth to help Tigers take two of three from Colorado.

The Rockies finished August with a 12-15 record — their first losing month of the season. They saw their lead for the second NL wild card shrink to three games over Milwaukee.

Braves sweep Phillies, 9-1, 5-2 — David Freitas lined a go-ahead RBI double for his first career hit, Ender Inciarte had three hits and Atlanta beat host Philadelphia to complete a doubleheader sweep on Wednesday.

Julio Teheran (9-11) allowed one run and five hits, striking out eight in 6⅓ innings. Inciarte was 3 for 5 with one RBI after going 5 for 5 with four RBIs to lead the Braves to a 9-1 victory in the opener.

The Braves entered the day 0-8 at Citizens Bank Park this season and improved to 4-12 overall against the last-place Phillies.

Freitas put the Braves ahead 2-1 with his fourth-inning double in his second big-league at-bat. He was robbed of a hit his first time up when right fielder Nick Williams made a diving catch on his drive.

Brewers 6, Cardinals 5 — Domingo Santana and Jonathan Villar homered in the sixth inning, and center fielder Keon Broxton made a leaping catch over the wall for the final out in Milwaukee’s home win over St. Louis.

Corey Knebel pitched the ninth for his 30th save. He allowed a leadoff single to Yadier Molina, struck out the next two batters, and then watched Broxton snag Randal Grichuk’s deep blast to end the game.

Chase Anderson (8-3) gave up two hits — both homers — in six innings, three earned runs, struck out six and walked two to improve to 4-0 in nine starts at Miller Park. this season.

Santana hit his 22nd homer of the season and Villar’s was his 10th, giving Milwaukee a franchise-record nine players with at least 10 homers in a season.

St. Louis fell 2½ games behind the second-place Brewers in the NL Central despite two home runs from Tommy Pham.

Nationals 4, Marlins 0 — Stephen Strasburg tossed a complete game six-hitter and also homered, Wilmer Difo added a home run and host Washington defeated Miami to complete a three-game sweep.

Washington, which has won four in a row, extended its lead in the NL East to 15 games over the Marlins. Miami, which had won 13 of 16 prior to arriving in Washington, had not dropped three in a row since July 14-16.

The Marlins had no answer for Strasburg (11-4), who threw 110 pitches and struck out eight.

It was Strasburg’s second complete game in 179 starts and his first since Aug. 11, 2013, against Philadelphia.

Strasburg is 1-1 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts since returning from a disabled list stint for right elbow nerve impingement.