Doom and brooms: 6 sweeps shake races

With division and Wild Card races heating up across the big leagues, a number of teams made a statement Wednesday by wrapping August with a series sweep.

Six clubs — the Rangers, Astros, Tigers, Indians, Nationals and Cubs — each began the week with three straight victories and the aftereffects rippled throughout the postseason standings.

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The Astros did so in dramatic fashion, pulling off an improbable comeback. Houston rallied from a three-run deficit in the eighth to sweep the A’s with a 4-3 victory at Minute Maid Park. The Astros, just one game out of the second American League Wild Card spot, have now won 10 of their last 12 games as they enter a crucial stretch of 13 consecutive matchups against first-place teams.

Houston’s victory was sparked by two triples from George Springer and Jose Altuve with two outs in the eighth. Evan Gattis drove in the go-ahead run with an line-drive single.

“It was enough to get the win,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “Just proud of our guys being able to be resilient and keep coming back to win some games.”

Chicago won, 6-5, withstanding a similar late rally by the Pirates, who plated three runs in the final two innings. Aroldis Chapman secured the victory by earning his 32nd save of the year. He punctuated his outing by striking out Jordy Mercer with the tying run in scoring …

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