MLB roundup: Nationals outlast Braves in 14 innings
Nationals ace Max Scherzer singled as a pinch hitter in the 14th inning and scored the tiebreaking run on Wilmer Difo’s triple, sparking Washington to a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday in Atlanta.
In his third big league pinch-hit appearance, Scherzer singled up the middle against Miguel Socolovich (0-1) and sped home from first base on Difo’s hit to right-center field. Spencer Kieboom added an RBI single. Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, touched off a dugout celebration after he scored.
Justin Miller (2-0) struck out five in three innings, facing the minimum, and Sean Doolittle got three straight outs for his 14th save.
Juan Soto and Michael Taylor homered for Washington. Johan Camargo hit his third home run this week for Atlanta.
Yankees 8, Orioles 5: In Baltimore, Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar homered to help Masahiro Tanaka win his fifth straight decision, and the New York Yankees extended the Orioles’ losing streak to seven games.
Tanaka (7-2) allowed four runs and eight hits with seven strikeouts and one walk over 5 1/3 innings. He is 5-0 in seven road games this season – the best stretch of his career. Brett Gardner had a pair of leadoff doubles and scored a run for the Yankees, who have won four consecutive games.
Adam Jones, Joey Rickard and Manny Machado hit solo homers for the Orioles, who scored more than three runs for just the second time in 14 games.
Brewers 5, White Sox 0: In Chicago, Jhoulys Chacin combined with two relievers on a five-hitter, and Milwaukee backed him with four home runs in a victory over the White Sox.
Chacin (4-1) pitched three-hit ball over 5 2/3 innings and the Brewers won for the sixth time in eight games. The N.L. Central leaders also picked up a rare victory over the White Sox after dropping 13 of their last 16 against them.
Josh Hader got four outs. Taylor Williams retired all three batters in the eighth and escaped a second-and-third jam in the ninth. He retired Tim Anderson on a pop fly and got Omar Narvaez to foul out before striking out Daniel Palka to preserve the shutout.
Erik Kratz led off the third with a drive to the left-field bullpen for his second homer in three games since a trade from the New York Yankees last week. Jonathan Villar made it 2-0 when he homered down the right-field line in the seventh. Lorenzo Cain chased James Shields (1-6) with a shot to left in the eighth, and Jesus Aguilar added a two-run homer against Jace Fry in the inning to make it 5-0.
Cardinals 3, Pirates 2: In St. Louis, Kolten Wong led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run off Richard Rodriguez, giving the Cardinals a win over Pittsburgh.
Austin Meadows had tied the score in the top half with a home run off Bud Norris (2-1), who blew a save for the first time in 12 chances.
Wong homered on a slider from Rodriguez (1-2), his second game-ending homer this season and the fourth of his big league career. Pittsburgh lost for the sixth time in eight games and has lost four of its last five games against the Cardinals.
Marcell Ozuna homered in the second, the 100th of his career and first in 105 plate appearances at Busch Stadium with the Cardinals. Colin Moran tied the score in the fifth with his first home run since May 22, connecting on a changeup from Luke Weaver.
Tommy Pham, in a 3-for-41 slide, put the Cardinals back ahead with an RBI single in the bottom half.
Royals 5, Athletics 4: In Kansas City, Missouri, Jorge Soler hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, and the Royals bounced back after wasting a four-run lead to defeat Oakland for their third win in four games.
Tim Hill (1-1), a 28-year-old rookie left-hander, allowed Chad Pinder’s tying single in the eighth and got his first major league win.
Soler hit his ninth home run on a curveball from Yusmeiro Petit (2-2) with an 0-2 count. Kelvin Herrera pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 14 chances.
Oakland’s Bruce Maxwell led off the seventh with his first home run since Sept. 2.
Twins 7, Indians 1: In Minneapolis, Eddie Rosario hit a two-run homer and Brian Dozier drove in two runs to support Lance Lynn’s third straight victory, leading Minnesota past Cleveland.
Dozier hit an RBI triple in the third inning against Trevor Bauer (4-4), right before Rosario’s 10th homer of the season. Dozier added an RBI double during a four-run sixth that was fueled by a fielding error on second baseman Jason Kipnis.
Lynn (4-4) walked five batters in six innings, but he struck out five and allowed only two hits while throwing a season-high 113 pitches.
Tigers 7, Blue Jays 4: In Detroit, John Hicks’ two-run single in the eighth inning broke open a tie game and the Tigers went on to beat Toronto.
Miguel Cabrera singled off Seunghwan Oh (1-1) with one out in the eighth, and was replaced by pinch-runner Victor Reyes. Victor Martinez followed with a ground-rule double to left-center and Ronny Rodriguez ran for him.
The Blue Jays intentionally walked Niko Goodrum to load the bases, bringing up Hicks. After striking out in his first three at-bats, he fouled off the first five pitches before looping a two-run single over the head of second baseman Devon Travis. JaCoby Jones added a sacrifice fly to make it a three-run game.
Louis Coleman (3-0) picked up the win with a scoreless eighth inning, while Joe Jimenez pitched the ninth for his first career save as Detroit won its fourth straight. The Blue Jays have lost five straight.
Red Sox 5, Astros 4: In Houston, Andrew Benintendi and Christian Vazquez homered during a three-run seventh inning that lifted Boston over the Astros.
Former Cy Young Award winners Justin Verlander and David Price each pitched six innings before handing off to the bullpens. Will Harris (1-3) allowed the homers to Vazquez and Benintendi in the seventh, setting up Price (6-4) for a victory.
Craig Kimbrel earned his 19th save by striking out two during a scoreless ninth.
Verlander allowed two runs, three hits and two walks while striking out six. He had earned A.L. Pitcher of the Month in May with an 0.86 ERA in six starts.
Dodgers 12, Rockies 4: In Denver, Joc Pederson hit a pair of solo homers, Matt Kemp went deep during an eight-run seventh inning and Los Angeles routed Colorado.
Pederson turned in his fifth multihomer game and first since Sept. 10, 2016, at Miami. He also doubled and singled to tie a career high with four hits.
Kemp kept up his torrid hitting against Colorado by lining a cutter from reliever Bryan Shaw (2-4) for a two-run homer to break open a tight game. Kemp leads all active players with 44 homers against the Rockies. That wasn’t all from the Dodgers outfielder: He threw out Charlie Blackmon at the plate in the first inning when Blackmon tried to tag up on a fly.
Dodgers infielder Breyvic Valera had three RBIs – the first three of his big-league career. Reliever Pedro Baez (2-3) earned the win.
Cubs 7, Mets 1 (14): In New York, despite striking out 24 times, Chicago beat the Mets when pinch-hitter Javier Baez homered to cap a six-run burst in the 14th inning.
Cubs reliever Luke Farrell (2-2) struck out seven in five scoreless innings, with Brandon Morrow getting the final three outs.
New York starter Jacob deGrom matched a career high by fanning 13 in seven innings.
Giants 2, Phillies 0: In San Francisco, Andrew Suarez combined with two relievers to pitch a three-hitter, lifting San Francisco over Philadelphia.
Suarez (2-4) shined in his eighth career start, his best by far. The 25-year-old left-hander struck out five and walked none in seven innings of three-hit ball.
Tony Watson pitched the eighth, and Hunter Strickland handled the ninth for his 12th save.
Phillies starter Vince Velasquez (4-6) struck out nine and walked one in 6 1/3 innings of five-hit ball.
Padres 8, Reds 2: In San Diego, rookie left-hander Eric Lauer pitched five strong innings, drove in his first run and picked off Joey Votto to tie for the most in the majors, leading San Diego over Cincinnati.
The 22-year-old Lauer (2-3) won for the first time in five starts. He has largely struggled since making his MLB debut on April 24, but put together a nice outing and was backed by a four-run second inning against Matt Harvey (1-4). Lauer allowed one run and five hits, struck out four and walked two. He came in with a 7.67 ERA and lasted only 2 1/3 innings in his previous start.
Lauer’s only real mistake was allowing Curt Casali’s solo homer in his first Reds at-bat with one out in the second. Casali was acquired from Tampa Bay on Thursday and was added to the 25-man roster on Friday.
Mariners 3, Rays 1: In Seattle, Marco Gonzales continued his run of excellent starts by pitching into the seventh inning and allowing just one run, and Ryon Healy hit his ninth homer as Seattle beat Tampa Bay.
Gonzales (6-3) ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 24 1/3 before finally giving up an earned run in the sixth inning. It was his only hiccup in another impressive performance by the left-hander who is quickly developing into one of the more reliable arms in Seattle’s rotation. Gonzales gave up five hits and struck out six, and was on the verge of getting through the seventh inning before a two-out walk to Christian Arroyo.
In his past four starts, Gonzales has allowed one earned run over 26 innings pitched and struck out 18. Gonzales had not allowed an earned run since his May 12 start against Detroit.
Healy’s home run leading off the sixth inning was a towering shot and the sixth allowed this season by Tampa Bay reliever Wilmer Font. Seattle also got an RBI single from Nelson Cruz and an RBI double from Kyle Seager in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead against Chris Archer.
Diamondbacks 6, Marlins 2: In Phoenix, Paul Goldschmidt and David Peralta hit home runs to back Zack Greinke and Arizona beat Miami to move back into first place in the N.L. West.
Greinke allowed just one run in 6 2/3 innings, striking out six, to even his record at 4-4.
Rangers 3, Angels 2 (10): In Anaheim, California, Ronald Guzman’s run-scoring single in the 10th inning carried Texas past Los Angeles.
Mike Trout hit his 19th home run – a solo shot in the first inning – to tie Boston’s J.D. Martinez for the major league lead. Trout finished a double shy of hitting for the cycle.