Justin Upton, Michael Fulmer help Tigers remain in final AL wild-card spot

Alec Brzezinski

Justin Upton, Michael Fulmer help Tigers remain in final AL wild-card spot image

Each night in the 2016 baseball season we'll run down the top news, facts and highlights from around Major League Baseball.

Michael Fulmer helped the Tigers remain in the American League wild-card driver's seat Friday when he spun a gem to help Detroit beat the Royals 8-3 at home.

MORE: Read Vin Scully's farewell letter to Dodgers fans

The rookie, who had been struggling in September, allowed just one run in seven innings while striking out nine batters to help the Tigers keep a half-game lead over the Orioles for the final wild-card spot.

Detroit has won five games in a row on the strength of an offense that has sprung to life. Justin Upton, Cameron Maybin and Victor Martinez all hit home runs Friday night. Martinez's blast was his 26th of the year, which is the second-most home runs he's hit in a season.

It looked like the Tigers were going to gain ground on the Orioles late in evening, until Mark Trumbo hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to help the Orioles escape the Diamondbacks with a 3-2 win. It was his fifth career walk-off, but first with the Orioles.

With just a little more than a week left to finish this tight race, it will surely come own to the wire between the Tigers and Orioles. The Astros, Mariners and even the Yankees are still conceivably in the mix, but it will be tough for one of those teams to make up enough ground.

Meanwhile, the Rangers clinched the AL West on Friday with a 3-0 win against the Athletics.

Player of the day:

Jake Arrieta led the Cubs to a 5-0 victory against the Cardinals by tossing seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts. The reigning NL Cy Young winner improved to 18-7 with a 2.85 ERA on the season. Despite turning in another good season, Arrieta hasn't generated much Cy Young buzz, with teammate Kyle Hendricks leading the way.

The Cubs clinched home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs when the Nationals fell to the Pirates.

Highlight:

Brewers first baseman Chris Carter caught a line drive, stepped on first, then threw to second to record the eighth triple play in Brewers history:

It was the seventh triple play of the season, which is the most in a season since there were also seven turned in 1991.

Three things to know:

— David Ortiz continued to prove he's still one of the best hitters in MLB when he clobbered his 53rd career home run against the Rays, tied for his third-most against any single opponent. The only player with more home runs against the Rays is Alex Rodriguez (56). Ortiz also reached 124 RBIs this season, which is the most in a player's final season since RBIs became an official stat in 1920.

— Mike Napoli, Jose Ramirez and Coco Crisp led the Indians to a 10-4 win against the White Sox. Napoli snapped out of a slump to record three hits with three runs scored and two RBIs. Ramirez went 3 for 4 with three runs scored, a home run and four RBIs, and Crisp had three hits and three RBIs.

— The Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 9-0. It is Toronto's largest shutout over the Yankees since Sept. 4, 2001. It's also the first time the Yankees have been shut out five times in a single month since May 1984 (five times).

What's next:

Royals (77-77) at Tigers (83-70) 1:05 p.m. ET — This ever-important game for Detroit will be put in the hands of 23-year-old Daniel Norris (3-2, 3.63 ERA), who will face off against Royals ace Yordano Ventura (11-11, 4.35 ERA). Earlier this week, Justin Verlander mentioned Norris as one of the reasons Detroit's rotation was in good hands for the future. Let's see whether he can help out in the present as well.

Alec Brzezinski