Robinson Cano delivered a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning as the host Seattle Mariners avoided a sweep with a 2-1 victory over Toronto Wednesday, preventing the Blue Jays from extending their lead in the AL wild-card race.

Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (10-15), who pitched five scoreless innings in his last start on Friday, came in on the 12th for his first relief appearance after 29 starts.

Guillermo Heredia reached on a two-base throwing error by third baseman Josh Donaldson to open the 12th. Ben Gamel followed with an attempted sacrifice bunt, and first baseman Ryan Goins appeared to have Heredia at third, but the ball popped out of Donaldson’s glove on the tag.

Cano followed with a run-scoring fly to left, quieting the decidedly pro-Blue Jays crowd.

Toronto was bolstered for the third straight game by thousands of Blue Jays fans who flocked to Seattle from western Canada.

Nick Vincent (4-4) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.

After being held scoreless for eight innings, the Blue Jays tied it in the ninth on Jose Bautista’s 19th home run, a one-out solo shot off closer Edwin Diaz.

The Mariners threatened in the bottom half when Leonys Martin singled with one out and stole second and third, but Mike Zunino and pinch-hitter Dae-Ho Lee struck out to end the inning.

Seattle shortstop Mike Freeman prevented the go-ahead run from scoring in the 10th with a diving grab of Kevin Pillar’s one-out liner with a runner on third.

The Blue Jays escaped a bases-loaded jam in the 11th. Aaron Loup relieved with one out and walked Kyle Seager and pinch-hitter Franklin Gutierrez. After Leony Martin fouled out to first, Ryan Tepera relieved and advanced both runners with a wild pitch on his first pitch. Mike Zunino then walked to load the bases, but Freeman grounded out to first to end the inning.

Seattle’s Felix Hernandez, who was tagged for six runs in 4⅓ innings in his last start, allowed two hits in seven innings, striking out four and walking three in a 112-pitch outing.

The Blue Jays threatened in the fourth when Josh Donaldson doubled to open and advanced on Encarnacion’s hard ground out to second that bounced off Hernandez’s leg. Hernandez then retired Bautista and Russell Martin on consecutive ground outs to third.

Indians 4, Royals 3 — Corey Kluber allowed two runs and struck out nine in 6⅓ innings, and Cleveland defeated Kansas City, eliminating the reigning World Series champions from the AL Central race.

The Indians reduced their magic number for clinching the Central to five.

Carlos Santana was 4 for 5 with an RBI single in the eighth.

Angels 5, Rangers 4 — Mike Trout hit his 28th homer and Jered Weaver went six innings for his 150th career victory as Los Angeles beat Texas, thwarting the AL West leaders from clinching.

The Rangers’ magic number remained at two after their loss and second-place Houston’s win at Oakland.

Yankees 11, Rays 5 — Rookie Gary Sanchez hit two more homers — giving him 19 in 43 games — and drove in five runs, Masahiro Tanaka won despite allowing four home runs in the same inning and New York rallied from a 7-0 deficit to beat host Tampa Bay.

The Yankees moved within 2 1/2 games of Baltimore for the second AL wild-card spot, but would have to jump over Seattle, Houston and Detroit to earn a postseason berth.

Sanchez hit a three-run shot in a four-run second off Alex Cobb (1-1) and added his 19th homer on a solo drive in the sixth against Justin Marks.

Including two games last season, Sanchez became the first player in major league history to hit 19 homers in his first 45 games.

Wally Berger, with the Boston Braves in 1930, went deep 19 times in his first 51 games.

Tanaka (14-4) won his seventh straight decision.

Bobby Wilson, Evan Longoria, Brad Miller and Corey Dickerson all homered in the Rays third. Miller later hit another solo shot to give him 30 homers this season.

Astros 6, Athletics 5 — Evan Gattis homered twice, catcher Jason Castro threw out a runner to end the game and Houston beat host Oakland to complete a sweep and remain in contention for the second AL wild-card spot.

The Astros began the day two games behind Baltimore in the wild-card race.

Oakland scored on second baseman Jose Altuve’s fielding error with two outs in the ninth to pull within 6-5.

Castro then threw out pinch runner Arismendy Alcantara trying to steal second, and the call was upheld on a replay review.

Collin McHugh (12-10) won his fifth straight decision, allowing two runs and six hits over 5⅔ innings. Five relievers combined to record the final 10 outs, with former A’s setup man Luke Gregerson retiring three batters for his 15th save.

Gattis reached 30 homers. He hit a two-run drive in the sixth off Daniel Mengden (2-8) for a 4-1 lead and connected again in the eighth.

Rockies 11, Cardinals 1 — Nolan Arenado hit a grand slam, German Marquez pitched five solid innings for his first major league win and Colorado stymied St. Louis’s playoff push in Denver.

The Cardinals entered the day tied with New York and San Francisco atop the NL wild card race.

Arenado broke open the game in the second with his NL-leading 39th homer of the season. His fourth career slam made it 6-1.

Luke Weaver (1-4) was roughed up by the Rockies, surrendering seven hits and six runs in two innings.

Before this game, the righthander had allowed 12 earned runs in his last seven starts combined.

It was a memorable day for Marquez (1-0), who made his first big league start after three appearances out of the bullpen. He allowed one run and struck out three.

Phillies 8, White Sox 3 — Tommy Joseph homered, doubled and drove in three runs and Jerad Eickhoff (11-13) outpitched Chris Sale, who got tagged for six runs on seven hits in four innings, as host Philadelphia defeated Chicago.

Joseph now has 21 home runs, third most among rookies in the majors.

Braves 4, Mets 3 — Center fielder Ender Inciarte robbed Yoenis Cespedes of a game-winning homer for the final out as New York absorbed another costly defeat against last-place Atlanta.

With two runners on in the bottom of the ninth inning, Inciarte tracked Cespedes’ drive to the wall and timed his jump perfectly for the out.

Cubs 9, Reds 2 — John Lackey pitched seven solid innings for his first win in six weeks and Miguel Montero drove in three runs, helping host Chicago sweep Cincinnati.

Pirates 4, Brewers 1 — Sean Rodriguez hit a home run and a two-run single, Andrew McCutchen went deep, rookie Chad Kuhl pitched six strong innings for Pittsburgh in Milwaukee.

Diamondbacks 3, Padres 2 — Paul Goldschmidt homered twice, including a go-ahead, two-run shot in the sixth, and Zack Greinke pitched six strong innings to help Arizona avoid a three-game sweep in San Diego.

Nationals 8, Marlins 3 —Max Scherzer pitched 6⅔ innings to tie Chicago’s Jon Lester for the National League lead in victories with 18, and helped Washington beat host Miami.

Scherzer (18-7) allowed three runs and struck out eight to push his major league-leading total to 267.