MLB roundup: Masahiro Tanaka pitches Yankees past Rays in AL East showdown
Masahiro Tanaka pitched a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts for his fourth major league shutout, and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Monday night in New York to increase their slim lead in the AL East.
DJ LeMahieu hit a two-run homer off Yonny Chirinos, and Cameron Maybin homered in his third consecutive game. That was all a dominant Tanaka (5-5) needed while throwing 76 of 111 pitches for strikes in his seventh complete game since coming over from Japan.
Edwin Encarnacion received an enthusiastic ovation in his Yankees debut. Batting fifth as the designated hitter, the veteran slugger went 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
New York moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Rays.
Tanaka retired his first nine batters before Austin Meadows singled sharply off the right field wall to start the fourth. A two-out single in the fifth by Willy Adames was Tampa Bay’s only other hit. The right-hander walked only one and set down the final 10 Rays batters, striking out six.
Chirinos (7-3) gave up five hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Braves 12, Mets 3: In Atlanta, Mike Soroka won his eighth straight decision, Ozzie Albies homered and drove in four runs, and surging Atlanta beat New York.
Nick Markakis hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the fifth inning as the NL East-leading Braves improved to 13-3 in June, best in the majors this month. Atlanta has won 10 of its last 11.
New York lost for the 12th time in 16 games away from Citi Field.
Soroka’s winning streak is the longest in the majors by a pitcher under 22 since Dontrelle Willis won the same number for the 2003 Florida Marlins.
Soroka (8-1) gave up three runs, six hits and allowed just his third homer in 12 starts this year, a solo shot by Robinson Cano in the sixth. He walked one and struck out two in six innings.
Wheeler (5-5) allowed five runs – four earned – and 10 hits in six innings.
Angels 10, Blue Jays 5: In Toronto, Justin Upton homered on the first pitch he saw in his return from the injured list, Mike Trout had a solo homer among his four hits and Los Angeles used a seven-run second inning to beat Toronto.
Shohei Ohtani and Kole Calhoun also connected in the second for the Angels, who have won all four meetings with Toronto this season.
Toronto rookie Cavan Biggio hit two home runs for the second multihomer game of his brief career. Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer, but the Blue Jays lost for the eighth time in 11 games.
Trout finished a triple shy of the cycle. He flied out in the first, doubled in the second, singled in the fourth, homered in the sixth, and singled again in the eighth.
Luis Garcia opened for the Angels and gave up Biggio’s homer in the first. Felix Pena (5-1) followed and allowed four runs and six hits in six-plus innings.
Reds 3, Astros 2: In Cincinnati, Nick Senzel returned from an eye injury and drove in a pair of runs and Luis Castillo pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning, leading Cincinnati over Houston.
Castillo (7-1) allowed a pair of singles and walked a career-high six batters, leaving with two on and no outs in the seventh. Shortstop Jose Peraza’s throwing error let in a run, and Michael Brantley doubled home another.
Closer Raisel Iglesias escaped an eighth-inning threat when Tony Kemp grounded out with runners on second and third. Manager David Bell made an unorthodox move to finish it, yanking Iglesias and bringing in Michael Lorenzen with a runner aboard to get the last two outs and his third save.
Wade Miley walked three in the fifth inning, setting up a three-run rally. Senzel singled home two, and Eugenio Suarez’s single completed the rally. The left-hander gave up four hits and a season-high four walks in 4 1/3 innings around a 52-minute delay due to storms.
Cardinals 5, Marlins 0: In St. Louis, Dexter Fowler and Matt Carpenter homered to back a strong outing by Miles Mikolas and lead St. Louis over Miami.
Mikolas (5-7) snapped a career-high losing streak of five straight decisions. He had not won a game since May 6 against Philadelphia. Mikolas went six innings, scattering six hits and striking out four.
Giovanny Gallegos pitched the seventh followed by a five-pitch eighth inning by John Gant. Jordan Hicks pitched the ninth to preserve the shutout.
It was the 13th time the Marlins have been shut out in their 45 losses this season.
Miami’s Elieser Hernandez (0-2) gave up five hits while striking out six in six innings in his second start,
St. Louis has won four of its last five games and six of its last eight. Miami has lost nine of its last 11 games.
Rangers 7, Indians 2: In Arlington, Texas, Lance Lynn had another quality start, Danny Santana homered and the Texas spoiled Mike Clevinger’s return from the injured list.
Lynn (8-4) struck out nine without a walk and gave up one run over seven innings.
Santana hit a two-run homer after Willie Calhoun’s two-out walk in the fourth. Clevinger was done after consecutive two-out walks in the fifth, with both of those scoring to make it 5-1 when Elvis Andrus doubled on reliever Tyler Clippard’s second pitch.
Clevinger (1-1) struck out seven and walked three in his first start since April 7.
Francisco Lindor and Oscar Mercado hit solo homers for Cleveland.
Santana singled in the sixth for his third consecutive multi-hit game.
Red Sox 2, Twins 0: In Minneapolis, Rick Porcello pitched seven shutout innings for Boston to outduel Minnesota ace Jose Berrios.
The Red Sox stretched their winning streak to a season-high six straight games.
Porcello (5-6) allowed only four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts.
Berrios (8-3) struck out 10 batters in a season-most eight innings, with five hits and no walks allowed. An RBI single by J.D. Martinez in the first was the only run he allowed. Xander Bogaerts gave the Red Sox insurance with an RBI double in the ninth.
Ryan Brasier pitched a 1-2-3 inning for his seventh save in 10 attempts.
The Red Sox (40-34) moved a season-high six games above .500 by handing the highest-scoring team in the major leagues its second shutout of the year. The Twins (47-24) have their fifth two-game losing streak of the season. They’ve yet to lose three in a row.
Padres 2, Brewers 0: In San Diego, Manny Machado homered and doubled a few hours after appealing a one-game suspension handed down by MLB, and left-hander Joey Lucchesi threw seven brilliant innings in a combined four-hitter to lead San Diego over visiting Milwaukee.
Machado was suspended one game and fined for “aggressively arguing and making contact” with plate umpire Bill Welke after being ejected for arguing a called third strike at Colorado on Saturday night. Machado said he didn’t make contact with Welke. He can continue to play until there’s a final decision.
The star third baseman, who signed a $300 million, 10-year contract during spring training, homered off Jhoulys Chacin leading off the third.
Machado doubled in the first when his hard shot bounced off Chacin and then off second base umpire Chris Segal. That advanced Eric Hosmer, who scored on a wild pitch.
Lucchesi (6-4) held Milwaukee to three hits while striking out five and walking three. His outing helped rest a bullpen that was taxed during a crazy four-game series at Colorado in which the teams combined for 92 runs.
Giants 3, Dodgers 2: In Los Angeles, Tyler Beede allowed one run over six innings to earn his first big-league victory and visiting San Francisco defeated first-place Los Angeles in the opener of a four-game set between the NL West rivals.
The 26-year-old right-hander scattered three hits, struck out seven and walked five on 97 pitches in the strongest outing of his young career. He tied career highs in innings and strikeouts. Beede came in 0-3 with an 8.10 ERA in eight career appearances, including six starts.
Beede (1-2) has been recalled from the minors three times this season, including for a stint in the bullpen. He’s been especially effective with his curveball and changeup, with opponents going 2 for 27 against those pitches in his previous four starts.
Closer Will Smith retired the side, including two strikeouts, in the ninth and improved to 19 for 19 in save chances, with his consecutive saves to start the season the second-most by a Giants pitcher since 1969.
Athletics 3, Orioles 2: In Oakland, California, Mike Fiers pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning and Oakland took advantage of Baltimore’s shoddy defense to beat the Orioles.
Fiers (7-3) allowed two unearned runs over 6 2/3 innings, getting into the seventh for the seventh time in eight starts – a stretch that started with his no-hitter May 7 against Cincinnati. He struck out four and walked two.
Oakland took a 3-2 lead in the second on catcher Chance Sisco’s two-run throwing error. The A’s loaded the bases with no outs when Josh Phegley was hit by a pitch, Marcus Semien walked and Matt Chapman reached on an infield hit. Shortstop Jonathan Villar then fielded Matt Olson’s grounder and got the force at home on Phegley, but Sisco threw wide of first trying for a double play, allowing Semien and Chapman to score.
Chapman was initially called out at home after first baseman Chris Davis retrieved the ball and whipped it home, but the call was reversed on replay, showing Chapman slid under Sisco’s tag.
Orioles starter Andrew Cashner (6-3) gave up three runs – one earned – in six innings of four-hit ball.
Semien extended his hitting streak to 14 games for Oakland.
Royals 6, Mariners 4: In Seattle, Jorge Soler hit a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning off Anthony Bass, and Kansas City rallied for a win over Seattle, snapping a nine-game losing streak to the Mariners.
After the Royals were shut down for most of the night by Tommy Milone, the combo of Alex Gordon and Soler put Kansas City in front. Bass (1-2) easily retired the first two batters of the inning before Gordon singled up the middle. Soler followed by driving a 1-1 pitch on the outside corner out to deep right-center field for his 19th home run of the season.
Martin Maldonado added a solo home run in the ninth.
Brian Flynn (1-0) got the victory by working two innings of relief after Danny Duffy and striking out four. Jake Diekman got the final two outs of the eighth with the tying run at second base, but Ian Kennedy faced trouble in the ninth. He allowed the first two batters to reach before striking out J.P. Crawford and Domingo Santana, then got a pop out by Tim Beckham to finish his eighth save.
Seattle took a 4-2 lead in the fifth on a three-run homer from Tom Murphy, but Kansas City was able to add a key run in the seventh inning. Jorge Bonifacio doubled leading off to end Milone’s streak of 11 straight retired and scored when Maldonado’s sinking liner was caught on a dive by Mac Williamson in left field. Williamson had no play at the plate.