CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians lost to the Texas Rangers 7-3 on Friday night. However, they still managed to take an important step towards the playoffs.

The Detroit Tigers blew a 3-0 lead and fell to the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in walk-off fashion, keeping them and the Guardians tied atop the American League Central with identical 86-74 records. What's more, Cleveland holds the head-to-head tiebreaker after winning the season series 8-5, so the Guards would win the division if both teams finish the year with the same overall number of wins and losses.

Even better, the Houston Astros coughed up their own 3-0 advantage in a 4-3 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels. That gives the Guardians a chance to clinch at least a postseason berth (if not the division too) heading into Saturday.

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