MLB roundup: Mariners blank Rangers to complete sweep

17/06/2024

SEATTLE — Logan Gilbert struck out nine and gave up two hits over eight innings and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 5-0 on Sunday to sweep the series.

Rookie Tyler Locklear hit a solo home run to help back Gilbert (4-4) and help Seattle improve to 12 games over .500. The Mariners have won seven of eight games and nine straight home series.

Mitch Haniger and Luke Raley hit back-to-back doubles off starter Dane Dunning (4-6) in the fourth to put the Mariners up 1-0. And Josh Rojas made it 2-0 after doubling with two outs in the fifth and scoring from second on Dunning’s wild pitch that skipped short of the plate and under catcher Andrew Knizner’s glove.

Rojas took third as the ball bounced off the backstop and skipped toward the Mariners’ dugout, then raced home and slipped under Dunning’s tag at home plate to make it 2-0.

Locklear’s seventh-inning shot to left was his second since joining the team as a replacement for regular first baseman Ty France.

Dunning pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs and four hits. He struck out eight and walked three.

ORIOLES 8, PHILLIES 3

BALTIMORE — Gunnar Henderson hit his eighth leadoff homer of the season, and three more teammates also went deep off Zack Wheeler to help Baltimore beat Philadelphia.

The pitching matchup between Wheeler (8-4) and Corbin Burnes (8-2) didn’t live up to expectations, but it was still an eventful series finale before a third straight sellout crowd at Camden Yards. Phillies manager Rob Thomson was ejected in the top of the sixth, and soon after that, play paused for a few seconds on multiple occasions because of loud plane flyovers related to Baltimore’s Fleet Week celebration.

The Orioles pulled within two games of the AL East-leading New York Yankees, who played at Boston later Sunday. The Yankees host a three-game series with Baltimore starting Tuesday night.

Wheeler had never allowed more than three homers in a game, but the Orioles hit one in four of his five innings on the mound. In the bottom of the first, Henderson broke a tie with Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber — who went deep to start Friday night’s game — for the major league lead in leadoff homers. Then Colton Cowser hit a 443-foot shot with a man on in the second to make it 3-0.

Adley Rutschman added a solo homer in the third, and after the Phillies scored twice in the fifth to make it 4-2, Jordan Westburg’s three-run shot capped a four-run rally for Baltimore in the bottom of the inning.

CARDINALS 2, CUBS 1

CHICAGO — Miles Mikolas pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning, and St. Louis beat Jameson Taillon and Chicago.

Mikolas allowed one run, struck out five and walked none. The right-hander, who tossed seven scoreless innings on Tuesday night against Pittsburgh, is 3-1 with a 2.76 ERA in his last seven starts.

Pedro Pagés hit a two-run homer for St. Louis, which improved to 4-1 against Chicago this season by taking two of three this weekend.

Taillon pitched six effective innings, but the Cubs’ lineup struggled again. They managed just six runs and 17 hits in the series.

Mikolas (5-6) departed after Ian Happ’s one-out double in the seventh. Happ scored on Michael Busch’s two-out RBI single off Ryan Fernandez, but that was it for the Cubs.

Andrew Kittredge struck out Seiya Suzuki with a runner on third for the final out of the eighth. Ryan Helsley handled the ninth for his major league-best 24th save in 25 opportunities.

NATIONALS 3, MARLINS 1

WASHINGTON — Jacob Young hit his first major league homer, Lane Thomas went deep for the third day in a row, and Washington beat Miami to complete a three-game sweep Sunday.

Washington has won eight of nine and improved to 7-0 against Miami. It was the Nationals’ second sweep of the season. The other was April 26-29 at Miami.

The Marlins have lost five in a row and 11 of 13. An NL-worst 23-48, Miami was swept for the sixth time and is 25 games under .500 for the first time this season. The Marlins are 3-23 against left-handed starters, including losses in all three games of this series.

The Nationals’ Mitchell Parker (5-3) allowed six hits and no walks in six innings while striking out four. Miami’s lone run came when he was unable to glove Jazz Chisholm’s infield single with two outs in the fifth, allowing Emmanuel Rivera to score.

Over the last 10 games, Washington starters are 6-0 with a 1.41 ERA.

Kyle Finnegan worked the ninth for his 20th save in 22 opportunities.

RAYS 8, BRAVES 6

ATLANTA — Jose Siri hit tiebreaking, two-run homer in the ninth inning off Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias, and Tampa Bay won to avoid a three-game sweep.

Ben Rortvedt hit the first grand slam of his career in the fourth and Brandon Lowe was 2-for-3 with a homer for the Rays, who entered having lost seven of nine.

Austin Riley hit a two-run homer in the eighth for Atlanta against Jason Adam (1-0) to tie the game at 6-all, his third straight game with a home run.

In the ninth, Iglesias (0-1) walked leadoff batter Randy Arozarena and struck out Richie Palacios before Siri hit a low changeup 416 feet to the stands in left-center.

Pete Fairbanks recorded his 10th save in 11 chances for the Rays, walking the leadoff man in the ninth before retiring the next three batters.

ASTROS 4, TIGERS 1

HOUSTON — Ronel Blanco had the second hitless outing of his brief major league career but was pulled after seven innings as Houston beat Detroit.

Blanco (7-2), who threw the only no-hitter in the majors this season on April 1 against Toronto, was just as good this time in the 20th start and 37th appearance of his career. The 30-year-old right-hander threw 94 pitches with 65 strikes and tied a season best with eight strikeouts. He walked three.

Ryan Pressly replaced Blanco to start the eighth and gave up the Tigers’ first hit, a two-out single by Wenceel Pérez.

Jose Altuve hit a three-run homer for Houston.

The Tigers couldn’t do much of anything against Blanco a day after they had a season-high 19 hits in a 13-5 trouncing of the Astros.

Blanco didn’t allow a baserunner until he walked Gio Urshela with two outs in the fifth.

BLUE JAYS 7, GUARDIANS 6

TORONTO — Daulton Varsho hit his third career grand slam, Ernie Clement added a two-run home run and Toronto held on to beat Cleveland.

José Berríos pitched six innings to end a four-start winless streak as the Blue Jays took two of three from the AL Central leaders.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached base four times and scored a run to help Toronto win for the seventh time in 11.

Berríos (6-5) allowed four runs and matched a season worst by giving up eight hits but won for the first time since May 20. He walked none and struck out one.

After Chad Green pitched the seventh and Brendon Little worked the eighth, Yimi García gave up a two-run home run to Brayan Rocchio in the ninth. Rocchio’s homer was his second of the season.

METS 11, PADRES 6

NEW YORK — Pete Alonso had a season-high five RBIs, combining with Francisco Lindor on first-inning home runs that built a three-run lead against Dylan Cease after 16 pitches, and surging New York beat San Diego for their fifth straight win.

Tylor Megill (2-3) allowed two runs and five hits over five innings as the Mets opened a 7-1 lead and held on to sweep San Diego for the first time since 2006. New York dropped the Padres below .500 at 37-38.

Lindor tied the score with his 19th leadoff home run — his previous was against Cease on Sept. 3, 2019. Alonso put the Mets ahead 4-1 with a three-run drive, his 15th home run this season.

New York allowed San Diego to close to 7-6 with a four-run eighth, when Drew Smith struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. to strand runners at the corners after a jumping catch by Harrison Bader held Luis Campusano to a sacrifice fly rather than a tying, two-run extra-base hit.

Alonso hit a two-run single in the bottom half against Jeremiah Estrada, who allowed a leadoff homer to Luis Torrens.

J.D. Martinez went 2 for 3 with a pair of walks and reached base in 10 consecutive plate appearances before striking out in the eighth.

BREWERS 5, REDS 4

MILWAUKEE — Willy Adames hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning Milwaukee threw out the tying run at the plate to end the game and beat Cincinnati.

Brewers centre fielder Blake Perkins threw out Stuart Fairchild at the home when he was trying to score from second on Santiago Espinal’s bloop hit. Catcher William Contreras remained down for several seconds after applying the tag, but he got up and appeared fine while participating in the Brewers’ postgame celebration.

The Brewers won two of three from Cincinnati this weekend and have taken each of the last eight series with the Reds. The Brewers lead the NL Central by 6 1/2 games over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Cincinnati wasted a thrilling performance from Elly De La Cruz, who homered, tripled and scored three runs. One of those runs came when he raced all the way home from second on Colin Rea’s errant pickoff attempt in the third inning.

De La Cruz tripled and scored in the first inning and hit a leadoff homer off Jared Koenig in the eighth. Spencer Steer also homered for the Reds.

TWINS 6, ATHLETICS 2, 1st game

TWINS 8, ATHLETICS 7, 2nd game

MINNEAPOLIS — Carlos Correa continued his offensive tear with two home runs as part of a three-hit day, and Minnesota cruised past Oakland in the first game of a doubleheader.

Jose Miranda hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning and Minnesota beat Oakland to take both games of a split doubleheader and finish a sweep of the four-game series.

Willi Castro had three hits and Carlos Correa and Austin Martin each had two for the Twins. Minnesota has won five straight and seven of eight.

JJ Bleday and Tyler Soderstrom each had three hits including a home run, but Oakland lost for the ninth straight time. Pitching coach Scott Emerson was ejected in the sixth inning.

With one out in the eighth, Miranda crushed a first-pitch slider from Dany Jiménez (1-2) 427 feet to the second deck in left field, Minnesota’s third home run of the night. Royce Lewis and Trevor Larnach also went deep.

After recording the final out of the seventh inning, Josh Staumont (1-0) struck out the side in the eighth. Griffin Jax pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.

PIRATES 8, ROCKIES 2

DENVER — Jared Triolo had two hits and two RBIs, Jason Delay had a three-run double, and Pittsburgh beat Colorado.

Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds singled in the seventh to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in the majors.

Four Pittsburgh pitchers combined to hold Colorado a pair of runs a day after the Rockies scored 16 for just the second time since 2018. They had three home runs and 10 extra-base hits on Saturday night. They finished with nine hits on Sunday.

Carmen Mlodzinski (1-2) got the victory with two innings of shutout relief of Josh Fleming.

Andrew McCutchen had a single for the Pirates but his streak of consecutive games with a home run at Coors Field was snapped at five. Oneil Cruz singled and doubled in his return to the lineup after missing two games with ankle soreness.

Pittsburgh got a run in the second on Jack Suwinski’s RBI single and squandered a chance to add to it in the fourth when Nick Gonzales was thrown out at third trying to execute a double steal.

The Pirates padded their lead with two outs in the sixth off starter Dakota Hudson (2-9) and reliever Victor Vodnik. Triolo had a two-run single and Delay cleared the bases with a three-run double, his first hit of the season.

GIANTS 13, ANGELS 6

SAN FRANCISCO — Jorge Soler hit a three-run homer in San Francisco’s nine-run fourth inning and they beat Los Angeles to avoid a three-game sweep.

The Giants’ struggling bats woke up in big fashion in the fourth inning to turn a 2-0 deficit into a big lead in a bullpen game for both teams. That gave 29-year-old Spencer Bivens the victory in his long-awaited debut in the majors.

Jose Suarez (1-2) faced five batters in the fourth and didn’t retire any of them, getting replaced after allowing back-to-back two-run doubles to Thairo Estrada and Brett Wisely.

Matt Chapman added a run-scoring infield single before Soler broke the game open off Hunter Strickland with his eighth homer of the season to make it 8-2. Austin Slater added an RBI single to cap San Francisco’s most productive inning at home since scoring 10 runs in the fourth inning against Pittsburgh on Sept. 7, 2008.

Bivens was the beneficiary of the big inning after getting called up from Triple-A Sacramento earlier in the day to replace the injured Kyle Harrison. Bivens began his professional career in France and was toiling in the independent leagues before getting signed by the Giants two years ago.

DODGERS 3, ROYALS 0

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani had his second two-homer game this season, Tyler Glasnow pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and Los Angeles defeated Kansas City as Mookie Betts left in the seventh inning after being hit by a pitch in the left hand.

Freddie Freeman also went deep for the Dodgers, who took two of three from the Royals.

Bobby Witt Jr., who leads the majors with a .327 batting average, had one of Kansas City’s three hits. The shortstop has hit safely in 26 of 28 games since May 17.

Betts was in the left hand by a 97.9 mph fastball from Dan Altavilla. The pitch hit Betts at the top of the hand, near the wrist. Betts fell to the ground and was writhing in pain in the batter’s box as trainers and manager Dave Roberts came out to tend to him.

Ohtani is fourth in the majors with 19 homers. The Japanese superstar drove a sinker from Brady Singer (4-4) 451 feet over the center field wall with one out in the third inning.

Ohtani then got his 18th career multihomer game when he connected on a first-pitch slider from Singer and put it over the right field wall.

DIAMONDBACKS 12, WHITE SOX 5

PHOENIX — Christian Walker drove in three runs with a home run and a double and Arizona routed Chicago.

Walker hit a solo homer in the first inning, singled in the third and drove in two more with a bases-loaded double in a six-run fourth inning as Arizona won two of three in the series. With a chance at a cycle, Walker struck out and hit into a double play in his final two at-bats.

Arizona starter Jordan Montgomery (5-4) benefitted from the offensive outburst. He pitched five innings, giving up four hits, one unearned run — caused by his own error — walked two and struck out seven.

The Diamondbacks bounced back from a 9-2 loss Saturday night, jumping on Chicago’s Drew Thorpe who was making his second major league start. Corbin Carroll walked on four pitches and Ketel Marte lined a single to right and Joc Pederson followed with a double to right, scoring both runners. Pederson was out trying to stretch it into a triple, but Walker hit Thorpe’s next pitch into the seats in left center for his 16th homer to make it 3-0.

In the fourth, the Diamondbacks loaded the bases on two hits and a walk. Marte hit a sacrifice fly and Pederson reached on catcher’s interference to re-load the bases. Chad Kuhl relieved Thorpe and Walker greeted him with the two-run double. Jake McCarthy hit a sacrifice fly and the final two runs of the inning scored on wild pitches — Kuhl threw three in the inning.

RED SOX 9, YANKEES 3

BOSTON — Boston’s Zack Kelly escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the seventh before Connor Wong had a two-run triple in the bottom of the inning, lifting them to a victory over MLB-best New York.

The Red Sox had nine stolen bases, with David Hamilton getting four, to take two of three games from the Yankees. It was the most stolen bases in a major league game this season and the most allowed by the Yankees since May 19, 1915.

Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 26th homer, a solo shot, and Jose Trevino added a solo drive for the Yankees (50-24).

Boston starter Kutter Crawford (3-6) tied his career-high with nine strikeouts, giving up three runs, three hits and a walk in six innings.

After losing the series opener, the Red Sox gave their first consecutive sellout crowds of the season at Fenway Park lots to cheer for.

Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo left the game in the seventh after colliding with Red Sox pitcher Brennan Bernardino on a play at first and falling hard on his right hand arm.

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