Giants sweep Arizona, need one win for NL West title

Bruce Bochy has said all along that the NL West race probably would come down to the final weekend - and he was right.

His San Francisco Giants have put themselves in prime position: They need only one victory against visiting San Diego in their season-ending three-game series to win the division and end a six-year playoff drought.

Pablo Sandoval homered into McCovey Cove and Andres Torres and Buster Posey also homered Thursday as the Giants beat Arizona, 4-1. San Francisco (91-68), seeking its first NL West crown since 2003, moved three games ahead of the Padres (88-71). The Giants won their fourth straight game and eighth in 10.

Cubs 1, Padres 0

Brad Snyder's RBI single with one out in the ninth lifted visiting Chicago. The Padres are two games behind the wild card-leading Braves, who will host the Phillies this weekend.

Blue Jays 13, Twins 2

Jose Bautista hit his 53rd and 54th home runs, including a grand slam, as visiting Toronto smashed six in all. Bautista's previous career high for homers was 16. Edwin Encarnacion also hit two for the Blue Jays, who have 253 this season, the fourth-highest total in baseball history. Only the 1996 Orioles (257), the 2005 Rangers (260) and the 1997 Mariners (264) have hit more.

The Twins' Francisco Liriano (14-10) gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings. He is set to start Game 1 of the ALDS on Wednesday at Target Field for Minnesota, which missed a chance to tie the Rays and Yankees for the best record in the American League.

Joe Mauer went 0-for-4 as the DH after an 11-day absence because of a knee injury that required a cortisone shot. Justin Morneau, out since July 7 with a concussion, has ruled himself out of the first round of the playoffs, though he hopes to be available later in October.

Players, owners settle

Baseball players and owners settled allegations of possible collusion against free agents after the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Players no longer have to file for free agency but automatically will be set free. - AP