MLB Roundup: Mariners beat Rays to avoid sweep
Tampa Bay Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — George Kirby allowed one run in six innings, Cal Raleigh hit a three-run homer and the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 on Wednesday.
Seattle went 3-6 on a trip to Cleveland, Miami and Tampa Bay and at 19-25 is the only division leader with a losing road record.
Seattle closer Andrés Muñoz, who blew his second save in 15 chances on Monday, loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth on two walks and a hit by pitch with the Mariners ahead 5-1. Richie Palacios hit into a run-scoring forceout off Trent Thornton, who got his first big league save when Amed Rosario grounded into a game-ending double play.
PIRATES 6, REDS 1
CINCINNATI — Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run homer, Luis L. Ortiz threw six innings of one-run ball as Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati, winning a series between the NL Central rivals for the second consecutive week.
Rowdy Tellez also homered and Jason Delay drove in a pair of runs with a two-out double in the sixth. The Pirates (39-41) took two of three from the Reds, as they did last week in Pittsburgh.
Ortiz (4-2) allowed four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. Kyle Nicolas pitched two hitless innings and Aroldis Chapman finished with a perfect ninth as the Reds (37-43) were held to four hits or fewer for the 18th time.
PHILLIES 6, TIGERS 2
DETROIT — Brandon Marsh had four hits, including a homer, and drove in four runs as Philadelphia beat Detroit to take two out of three games.
Marsh singled in the second inning, hit a two-run homer in the fourth, drove in two runs with a fifth-inning single and got another base hit in the eighth.
Phillies starter Spencer Turnbull, facing the Tigers for the first time after spending five seasons with them, allowed one run in three innings before leaving with right shoulder soreness. He was replaced by another former Tigers player, Gregory Soto.
ROYALS 5, MARLINS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Salvador Perez highlighted a five-run, two-out rally in the eighth inning with a go-ahead double down the left-field line, as Kansas City went on to beat Miami for the series win.
Angel Zerpa (1-0) got the final two outs of the eighth in relief of Brady Singer, who allowed an RBI single to Vidal Bruján in the second inning but little else. James McArthur handled the ninth to finish it off.
Kansas City had been shut down by Valente Bellozo and the bullpen until the eighth, when Bobby Witt Jr. started the rally with a triple off Huascar Brazoban (0-1). Vinnie Pasquantino followed with a tying single, and after pinch runner Dairon Blanco swiped second, Perez delivered the double that gave Kansas City the lead.
Nick Loftin added an RBI single and Freddy Fermin drove in two more runs to provide McArthur some breathing room.
ASTROS 7, ROCKIES 1
HOUSTON — Rookie Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high 10 in seven scoreless innings and Yainer Diaz had three hits to lead Houston to a win over Colorado that extends their winning streak to a season-high seven games.
The Astros, who opened 7-19, improved to 40-40 and reached .500 for the first time this season.
Arrighetti (4-6) tied a season-low with three hits and didn’t walk a batter for the first time this year in his longest start of the season.
Colorado fell to 0-4 against Houston this year and have lost 11 in a row at Minute Maid Park, dating to Aug. 15, 2018. Their only run Wednesday came on a sacrifice fly by Brenton Doyle in the eighth inning as they dropped a third straight game.
BREWERS 6, RANGERS 5 F/10
MILWAUKEE — Andruw Monasterio hit a game-ending single in the 10th inning after entering as a replacement for injured Joey Ortiz, as Milwaukee beat Texas helped by Jake Bauers’ grand slam and Jackson Chourio’s inside-the-park homer.
Milwaukee recovered after wasting a 4-1 lead in Dallas Keuchel’s Brewers debut and the NL Central leader swept a three-game sweep from the World Series champion.
With Willy Adames on second base as the automatic runner, Bauers popped out on a bunt attempt off Jacob Latz (2-3), Rhys Hoskins was intentionally walked and Sal Frelick popped out. After a wild pitch, Monasterio lined a single to left-center.
Monasterio entered as a pinch hitter in the sixth after Ortiz ran into the tarp while chasing a popup in the top half.
ANGELS 5, ATHLETICS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Zach Neto had a tiebreaking three-run double in the sixth inning, and the Los Angeles Angels beat Oakland to sweep their three-game series.
Max Schuemann had an early RBI double that should have driven in two runs for the A’s, but Kyle McCann was called out instead when he failed to touch home plate and then made contact with teammate Armando Alvarez, who had already scored.
Los Angeles still trailed 1-0 until its five-run sixth . Matt Thaiss added an RBI double for the Angels, who have won four of five after just their third series sweep of the season.
Joey Estes (2-3) gave up three hits and struck out eight while pitching into the sixth inning for the A’s, who have lost five straight and 18 of 23. The right-hander walked two and remained winless in his past four starts.
Schuemann drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning for Oakland, which has lost 11 consecutive road games.
PADRES 8, NATIONALS 5
SAN DIEGO — Kyle Higashioka homered twice, including his first career grand slam, and Dylan Cease pitched seven brilliant innings for the San Diego, who beat Washington to sweep a contentious three-game series.
Higashioka hit a two-run homer off rookie DJ Herz in the second inning and then a grand slam against Tanner Rainey in the eighth that hit high off the brick warehouse in the left-field corner and gave San Diego an 8-0 lead. It was the fourth grand slam of the season for the Padres and second in two nights. It was his fifth career-multihomer game. He has eight homers this year.
Higashioka was obtained in the deal that sent Juan Soto to the New York Yankees on Dec. 7. The catcher set his career-high with six RBIs and finished with three hits.
The Padres took a one-hit shutout into the ninth before the Nationals scored five runs against two relievers, on four hits, a walk and a hit batter.
ORIOLES 4, GUARDIANS 2
BALTIMORE — Cedric Mullins hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning, and Baltimore beat Cleveland to end a five-game skid and snap the Guardians’ seven-game winning streak.
Gunnar Henderson hit his 26th home run and Ryan O’Hearn also went deep for the Orioles, who were winless since pounding the Yankees 17-5 on June 20. It was their longest losing streak since May 2022.
Mullins connected off Xzavion Curry (0-2) to give Baltimore the lead for the first time. The towering drive soared inside foul pole and landed on Eutaw Street beyond the right field scoreboard.
O’Hearn made it 4-2 with a solo shot off Curry in the eighth.
Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for his 17th save in 21 attempts.
BRAVES 6, CARDINALS 2, 1ST GAME
CARDINALS 4, BRAVES 1, 2ND GAME
ST LOUIS — Matthew Liberatore pitched six shutout innings in a spot start and Alec Burleson hit a go-ahead, two-run double to lead the St. Louis over Atlanta Braves for a day-night doubleheader split.
Jarred Kelenic had three hits, including his eighth home run, and three RBIs as the Braves won the opener 6-2. Kelenic was 6 for 9 with four RBIs in the doubleheader and is hitting .362 (17 for 47) with four homers and 10 RBIs since being moved to the leadoff spot in the batting order following Ronald Acuña Jr.’s season-ending knee injury.
Liberatore (2-2) gave up two hits and struck out eight in his fifth start of the season. He got the spot start following Tuesday night’s rainout.
Burleson put the Braves ahead 2-0 in the third off Bryce Elder (1-3), who was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett earlier in the day. An NL All-Star last season, Elder allowed two runs and five hits in six innings.
Michael Siani and Masyn Winn had two-out singles before Burleson lined the ball into the right-field corner for his 27th hit in June. Paul Goldschmidt and Brendan Donovan added run-scoring singles off Grant Holmes in the eighth.
Closer Ryan Helsley struck out Adam Duvall with two on for his major league-leading 28th save in 29 chances, his 28th in a row.
Kelenic had a run-scoring hit with two-out in the eighth off JoJo Romero after hitting a two-run homer in the sixth inning of the opener.
DODGERS 4, WHITE SOX 0
CHICAGO — Shohei Ohtani hit another leadoff homer and Gavin Stone pitched a four-hitter, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday for their fourth consecutive win.
Ohtani drove a full-count cut fastball from Erick Fedde deep to right-center for his NL-leading 25th homer. The 437-foot drive had a 113.9 mph exit velocity.
Ohtani’s third leadoff homer this season extended his RBI streak to a franchise-record 10 games. The two-time AL MVP also hit a leadoff drive in Los Angeles’ 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.
Stone (9-2) struck out seven and walked none in his first career complete game, providing a big lift for the NL West leaders after their bullpen accounted for 11 scoreless innings over the first two games of the sweep. The right-hander improved to 8-1 with a 2.03 ERA in his last 11 starts.
METS 12, YANKEES 2
NEW YORK — Francisco Alvarez homered early and had three RBIs, Tyrone Taylor added a three-run drive and the surging New York Mets routed the New York Yankees for a two-game Subway Series sweep.
Harrison Bader also went deep and delivered an RBI double for the Mets (39-39), who chased rookie Luis Gil (9-3) in the fifth inning. They pounded Yankees pitching for seven homers, 21 runs and 24 hits over two nights at Citi Field.
With their 15th victory in 19 games, the Mets climbed back to .500 for the first time since they were 18-18 going into a May 10 loss to Atlanta.
The struggling Yankees, who lead the AL East, have lost four consecutive series and eight of 10 games.
Following an 87-minute rain delay in the bottom of the fifth, Aaron Judge launched a two-run homer with the Yankees trailing 7-0 in the sixth. It was his 287th home run, tying Bernie Williams for seventh in franchise history.
Judge also joined Mark McGwire (four times) and Ken Griffey Jr. as the only players to reach 30 homers before the All-Star break three times.
TWINS 8, DIAMONDBACKS 3
PHOENIX — Jose Miranda hit an early three-run double, Simeon Woods Richardson pitched effectively into the sixth inning and Minnesota beat Arizona.
Miranda hit the first of two doubles in the second inning off Ryne Nelson (5-6) and the Twins piled on from there.
Willi Castro hit a two-run homer, Trevor Lamach doubled twice and one of baseball’s best offenses banged out 14 hits, including eight for extra bases to bounce back from a 5-4 loss in the series opener.
That was more than enough for Woods Richardson (3-1), who allowed three runs on four hits and struck out four with two walks in 5 1/3 innings.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had two RBIs for Arizona, which had four hits.
GIANTS 4, CUBS 3
SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Conforto and David Villar hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning, Luis Matos hit a tiebreaking solo shot in the fifth and San Francisco beat Chicago..
Seiya Suzuki homered for Chicago, which lost its fourth in a row and fell to 3-13 in its last 16 road games.
Giants starter Hayden Birdsong was called up from Triple-A Sacramento for his major league debut, and allowed three runs and six hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.
Luke Jackson (4-1) followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his fourth straight win. Camilo Doval pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 16 chances.