MLB roundup: Albert Pujols joins 3,000-hit club as Angels blank Mariners

Albert Pujols became the 32nd member of the 3,000-hit club with a broken-bat single in the fifth inning of the Los Angeles Angels’ 5-0 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night in Seattle, then added another hit to pass Roberto Clemente on the career list.

In his sixth attempt to join the exclusive list after getting to 2,999 career hits, Pujols got just enough of Mike Leake’s pitch to find the outfield grass and add another accolade to a likely Hall of Fame career. He received a standing ovation from the crowd in Seattle after reaching first base and being congratulated by his teammates.

The slugger made his career out of hitting the ball out of the yard, but reached the milestone by throwing his bat at a sinker that was probably out of the strike zone. Pujols didn’t make great contact but was strong enough to loft the ball over the infield and into right in front of Mitch Haniger.

Pujols’ two-run single in the ninth inning scored Mike Trout and Justin Upton with hit No. 3,001.

The 38-year-old Pujols joined Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez as the fourth major leaguer with 3,000 hits and 600 homers. He’s the first player to reach the 3,000 hits since Adrian Beltre last year against Baltimore.

Pujols became the second Dominican to reach the mark after Beltre. With Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki stepping away this week for the remainder of the 2018 season, Beltre is the only active player with more hits than Pujols.

And it may be a while before another player joins the club. The next closest player to 3,000 is Miguel Cabrera, who is more than 300 hits away. After Cabrera is Robinson Cano, nearly 600 hits shy of the mark.

Pujols’ accomplishment came in a victory thanks to the pitching of Garrett Richards, who took a shutout into the seventh inning. Richards (4-1) scattered four hits and had eight strikeouts in his first start against Seattle since late 2015.

Shohei Ohtani was lustfully booed by Seattle fans in his first game in the Pacific Northwest. The Mariners believed they had a shot at landing the Japanese star last offseason, only to see him choose a division rival. He showed what they missed out on with two hits, including a two-out RBI double after Pujols’ 3,000th hit, giving the Angels a 3-0 lead.

Leake (3-3) lost for the third time in four starts. He threw 5 1/3 innings and matched a season-high with four walks.

Nationals 7, Phillies 3: In Washington, Bryce Harper hit two more homers from the leadoff spot and Washington beat Philadelphia for its sixth straight win.

Harper opened the Washington first by lining a fastball from Nick Pivetta (1-2) to the opposite field in left. With a runner on first in the third inning, Harper crushed a changeup 473 feet to dead center for his 12th homer this season – including four long balls from the leadoff slot.

Gio Gonzalez (4-2) allowed two hits in five scoreless innings.

Dodgers 4, Padres 0: In Monterrey, Mexico, Walker Buehler and a trio of Los Angeles relievers combined for the franchise’s 23rd no-hitter in a victory over the San Diego Padres in the opener of a neutral-site series.

Mexico had waited since 1999 to host a regular-season major league game, and it got a historic one: the first no-hitter ever outside the U.S. or Canada and the 12th combined no-hitter in major league history.

Buehler pitched six innings in his third major league start. The touted rookie right-hander struck out eight and walked three over 93 pitches before handing off to left-hander Tony Cingrani, who walked two in the seventh but kept the no-no intact.

Yimi Garcia struck out two in a perfect eighth and Adam Liberatore threw a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Franchy Cordero to end it.

Yankees 7, Indians 6: In New York, rookie Miguel Andujar flared an RBI single off Cody Allen with two outs in the ninth and New York, after blowing 5-0 and 6-5 leads, won for the 13th time in 14 games.

Gleyber Torres, at 21, became the youngest Yankees player to hit a home run since John Ellis in 1969. Aaron Judge homered, doubled and drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth that put the Yankees ahead 6-5. Cleveland tied it in the ninth, scoring on the second wild pitch of the inning by Aroldis Chapman (1-0).

Giancarlo Stanton doubled off Alexi Ogando (0-1) to begin the Yankees ninth.

Giants 9, Braves 4: In Atlanta, Jose Bautista doubled in his first at-bat of the season and Atlanta set a SunTrust Park attendance record with 41,807 on hand as 20-year-old Ronald Acuna Jr. went 0 for 4 in his home debut. San Francisco snapped the Braves’ five-game winning streak.

Gregor Blanco hit a two-run triple during a six-run second inning against Mike Foltynewicz (2-2),

Chris Stratton (3-2) gave up three runs, six hits and two walks in six innings.

Bautista, who signed a minor league contract on April 18, was called up went 1 for 4 with two strikeouts in his Atlanta debut.

Rockies 8, Mets 7: In New York, Charlie Blackmon homered as Colorado raced to a big early lead, and Antonio Marquez (2-3) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings with eight strikeouts and no walks.

Hours after the Mets said they are cutting ties with former ace Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler (2-2) allowed eight runs and 10 hits in six innings, raising his ERA to 5.79. New York has lost four in a row and 12 of 18 after an 11-1 start.

Down 8-2, the Mets closed with two runs in the eighth and three in the ninth. With runners on second and third, Wade Davis struck out Michael Conforto for his 12th save.

Red Sox 5, Rangers 1: In Arlington, Texas, Mookie Betts hit his MLB-best 13th homer – his fifth in three games, and Rick Porcello (5-0) struck out eight in six innings, allowing one run and three hits.

Rafael Devers hit two of the four solo homers off 44-year-old right-hander Bartolo Colon (1-1). J.D. Martinez also went deep for the Red Sox, whose 23-9 record is the best in the majors.

Rays 6, Blue Jays 2: In St. Petersburg, Florida, relief pitcher Ryan Yarbrough (2-1) made his case for a spot in Tampa Bay’s injury-depleted rotation by giving up just one hit in five scoreless.,

Johnny Field homered off J.A. Happ (4-2) and Brad Miller added a two-run shot. Wilson Ramos, Denard Span and Adeiny Hechavarria also drove in runs for the Rays, who have won 10 of 13 after a slow start.

Royals 4, Tigers 2: In Kansas City, Missouri, Jorge Soler hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the eighth inning to lift Kansas City over Detroit.

Detroit took a 2-0 lead in the eighth when the ball boy down the first-base line mistakenly picked up a fair ball, resulting in a ground-rule double. Blaine Boyer (1-0) walked Victor Martinez and allowed JaCoby Jones’ two-run double.

Francisco Liriano walked Cheslor Cuthbert starting the bottom half, Daniel Stumpf (1-1) gave up a pair of singles and Joe Jimenez threw a run-scoring wild pitch, then gave up Whit Merrifield’s sacrifice fly.

Kelvin Herrera worked a perfect ninth, getting some help from Soler’s spectacular catch in foul territory down the right-field line, for his sixth save.

Cardinals 3, Cubs 2: In St. Louis, Miles Mikolas (4-0) allowed seven hits in seven shutout innings and Tommy Pham hit a three-run homer in the second off Jose Quintana (3-2) as St. Louis won its third straight.

Bud Norris got his seventh save despite allowing three hits and a pair of runs.

Twins 6, White Sox 4: In Chicago, Eduardo Escobar hit two home runs and Brian Dozier broke out of a 3-for-42 slump with a triple in the first, homer leading off the third and single in the seventh. Logan Morrison homered in his second straight game.

Jose Berrios (3-3) gave up four runs and six hits over six innings for his first win since he dominated the White Sox at home on April 12. Fernando Rodney worked a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

Carson Fulmer (2-2) gave up season highs with five runs, seven hits and four homers over 3 2/3 innings.

Pirates 6, Brewers 4: In Milwaukee, Starling Marte hit a two-run, inside-the-park homer, and rookie Nick Kingham (2-0) won his second straight big league start despite allowing four runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Pittsburgh stopped a four-game losing streak.

Junior Guerra (2-2) gave up five runs and six hits in five innings. Milwaukee stranded the potential tying run at stranded in both the seventh and eighth innings. Felipe Vazquez struck out Orlando Arcia to end the eighth, allowed Jett Bandy’s leadoff single in the ninth, then got a double play and strikeout for his sixth save.

Reds 4, Marlins 1: In Cincinnati, Eugenio Suarez hit a three-run homer, extending his surge since he returned from a broken thumb, leading the Cincinnati over Miami.

The Reds ended a three-game losing streak and improved to 8-24, their worst start since the Great Depression.

Suarez homered into the upper deck in left field in the first inning off Wei-Yin Chen (1-1), who lasted only four innings in his second start of the season. Adam Duvall followed with another homer.

Astros 8, Diamondbacks 0: In Phoenix, Gerrit Cole struck out a career-high 16 in a one-hitter and Houston routed Arizona in Phoenix.

Cole (3-1) topped the strikeout mark of 14 he set three weeks ago against Texas and allowed only a one-out double to Chris Owings in the fifth inning of his second career complete game. The only other baserunner against the dominant right-hander was David Peralta, who walked to lead off the fourth. Cole leads the majors with 77 strikeouts in seven starts, reaching double-digits in punchouts five times.

Yuli Gurriel had four hits and drove in three runs for Houston.

Athletics 6, Orioles 4: In Oakland, California, Jed Lowrie hit a tiebreaking two-out single in the sixth, Khris Davis launched an earlier three-run homer and Oakland beat Baltimore.

After Davis connected in the first for his eighth homer, Matt Chapman followed with a solo drive, but the A’s bullpen couldn’t hold a three-run lead for Daniel Mengden.

Lowrie singled against Brad Brach (0-2) into the shift in right, scoring Jonathan Lucroy from third. It was Lowrie’s 10th go-ahead RBI this season.