MLB roundup: Matt Olson, Mark Canha hit back-to-back homers as A’s beat Yankees

Matt Olson and Mark Canha hit back-to-back homers in the first inning to lead the Oakland Athletics over the visiting New York Yankees 6-2 Tuesday night for their fifth win in six games.

Olson connected on a two-run shot down the right-field line with two outs in the first off Domingo Germán (16-3) for his 26th homer, and Canha followed with his 19th on a drive to right-center.

That outburst proved to be more than enough for Homer Bailey (11-8), who shut the Yankees down after allowing a solo homer to Gary Sánchez in the first inning. Bailey allowed one run and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings to improve to 3-0 at home since joining Oakland last month in a trade from Kansas City. He walked none and struck out eight.

Marcus Semien added an RBI double in the second inning and Stephen Piscotty hit an RBI single in the sixth in the first meeting between the teams since the Yankees eliminated the A’s in the wild-card playoff last season.

Germán had his career-best seven-game winning streak snapped after allowing six runs – five earned – and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Aaron Judge added a solo homer in the eighth for the Yankees, a 467-foot drive to left field that was the first long ball he has pulled all season. It wasn’t enough to prevent New York from losing its second straight after starting August with 15 wins in 18 games.

Astros 6, Tigers 3: George Springer, Jose Altuve and Martín Maldonado homered to lead Houston over visiting Detroit.

The Astros jumped on Spencer Turnbull (3-12) for six hits and five runs in three innings as he lost his eighth straight decision to remain winless since May 31.

Houston starter Aaron Sanchez didn’t get out of the third inning. He allowed four hits and three runs with two walks in a season-low 2 1/3 innings in his fourth start since a trade from Toronto.

Brad Peacock (7-6) took over for Sanchez and struck out three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Roberto Osuna collected his 29th save in 34 opportunities with a perfect ninth.

Victor Reyes hit his first career leadoff homer for the Tigers.

Angels 5-2, Rangers 1-3: Delino DeShields raced home from second with the winning run in the 11th inning, giving the Texas a doubleheader split with visiting Los Angeles in Arlington, Texas, after an error by first baseman Albert Pujols.

Nick Solak, who hit his first career homer earlier in the game after making his big league debut in the opener, hit a hard two-out shot that got past Pujols.

DeShields reached on a one-out single off Ty Buttrey (6-6). He stole second base after Rougned Odor struck out before Logan Forsythe walked to bring up the rookie.

Emmanuel Clase (1-2) worked two perfect innings for his first major league victory. He was the fifth Texas pitcher.

In the opener, Andrew Heaney (3-3) had a career-high 14 strikeouts without a walk over eight innings and Mike Trout matched the MLB lead with his career-best 42nd homer in the Angels’ win. Luis Rengifo also went deep for Los Angeles.

Twins 14, White Sox 4: Nelson Cruz homered and drove in three runs on four hits in his second game back from a wrist injury as Minnesota beat visiting Chicago in Minneapolis.

Max Kepler hit a two-run homer to stay one ahead of Cruz for the team lead, starting pitcher Michael Pineda (9-5) stayed strong for seven innings, and the Twins raised their lead on Cleveland in the AL Central race to three games.

Cruz hit a career-high three doubles and became the first Twins player since Michael Cuddyer in 2005 with four extra-base hits in a game.

Jose Abreu had a two-run homer after Tim Anderson’s RBI double for a 3-0 lead in the third. Anderson homered in the sixth inning, too, but the damage against Reynaldo Lopez (7-11) was already done by then.

Orioles 4, Royals 1: Hanser Alberto hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth, and Baltimore ended an eight-game losing streak by topping visiting Kansas City.

Royals reliever Jacob Barnes (1-2) sandwiched a pair of walks around two outs before Alberto hit a 1-1 pitch into the Baltimore bullpen for his eighth home run.

Hunter Harvey (1-0) worked a perfect eighth to earn his first major league win and Mychal Givens got three outs for his 10th save.

Baltimore had lost 13 of its previous 14 games.

Kansas City’s lone run came in the second inning, when Meibrys Viloria hit a sacrifice fly following singles by Alex Gordon and Ryan O’Hearn.

Interleague

Mets 9, Indians 2: Michael Conforto hit a tiebreaking homer moments after an embarrassing error by Cleveland left fielder Oscar Mercado, and host New York Mets rolled from there.

J.D. Davis also went deep and Steven Matz (8-7) permitted only one earned run in 6 1/3 innings as the Mets opened a critical homestand against a trio of playoff contenders with a resounding performance. New York (65-60), which began the day two games out of a wild-card spot, improved to 25-10 since the All-Star break and matched a season best at five games over .500.

Pete Alonso hit a two-run double to cap a four-run seventh that broke it open.

All-Star Game MVP Shane Bieber (12-6) gave up four runs – two earned – and four hits in six innings for the Indians.

Jason Kipnis homered early and hit an RBI single for the Indians, but their first trip to Queens since 2004 was a flop. Cleveland split a four-game series at Yankee Stadium last weekend to begin an eight-day stay in New York City.

Phillies 3, Red Sox 2: Aaron Nola pitched seven innings of four-hit ball to win for the sixth time in his last seven decisions, getting three runs of support in the first inning as visiting Philadelphia cruised past Boston.

Three of the first four Philadelphia batters reached base, including back-to-back doubles by Bryce Harper and Jean Segura. Boston made it 3-2 on Jackie Bradley Jr.’s homer in the third but managed just four more hits the rest of the game.

Nola (12-3) allowed two runs and one walk while striking out seven. Hector Neris earned his 22nd save.

Red Sox starter Brian Johnson (1-2) allowed three runs, six hits and two walks, striking out four in 3 2/3 innings as Boston ended a five-game winning streak.

Dodgers 16, Blue Jays 3: Clayton Kershaw passed Sandy Koufax for most wins by a Dodgers left-hander, Will Smith hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the third inning, and Los Angeles routed visiting Toronto.

Kershaw (13-2) earned his 166th career victory, breaking a tie with Koufax for fifth on the club’s wins list. He allowed three runs and six hits — including two homers by rookie sensation Bo Bichette — in six innings, struck out six and walked three.

Cody Bellinger notched his 100th RBI of the season, driving in three with a double that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 8-2 in the fourth. He was thrown out at third to end the inning and walked off as fans chanted, “MVP! MVP!”

Pitching on Lakers Night at Dodger Stadium, Kershaw allowed a homer to – of all people – Derek Fisher while falling into a 2-0 hole. But the Dodgers backed their eight-time All-Star with four double plays and slugged five homers while pounding out 15 hits.

Los Angeles broke out for five runs with two outs in the third to get the blowout going.

A.J. Pollock hit a solo shot, Smith followed with his 11th homer and Corey Seager added a two-run double in the third that chased Sean Reid-Foley, who entered in the second after Buddy Boshers served as the opener.

Reid-Foley (2-4) gave up five runs and five hits in 1 2/3 innings. He struck out two and walked two.

Max Muncy added a solo shot, his 32nd, in the sixth off Justin Shafer, who then issued consecutive walks to Smith and Bellinger. That set up Chris Taylor’s three-run blast to left, giving the Dodgers a 12-3 lead.

National League

Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 7: Pinch-hitter Jake Lamb had a tiebreaking two-run single in the sixth inning and Arizona held on to beat visiting Colorado.

The Diamondbacks scored five runs in the sixth off Colorado starter Kyle Freeland (3-11) and reliever Bryan Shaw. Three batters after Lamb’s hit, Eduardo Escobar had a two-run triple off Shaw.

Escobar became the third player in Diamondbacks history with 20-plus doubles, 20 or more home runs and at least 10 triples in a season, joining Steve Finley (1999 and 2003) and Stephen Drew (2008). He also became the first National League switch-hitter with 100 RBIs since Chase Headley accomplished the feat with the San Diego Padres in 2012.

Nick Ahmed homered and drove in two runs. He set a career high for home runs with his 17th and matched his career-best RBI total with 70. Ahmed has six home runs in his last 10 games.

Arizona’s 34 home runs against the Rockies is a franchise record against an opposing team in a season.

Lamb, batting for starting pitcher Alex Young (5-3) with one out and the bases loaded, bounced a hit through the middle to drive in two runs, and Ketel Marte followed with an RBI on a fielder’s choice ahead of Escobar’s triple.

David Peralta had three hits, Young lasted six innings with three runs allowed and Archie Bradley got his sixth save.

Bradley gave up a run in the ninth inning after Charlie Blackmon led off with a double.

Reds 3, Padres 2: Freddy Galvis hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the sixth inning, and Aristides Aquino added an RBI single as Cincinnati beat visiting San Diego.

Galvis, claimed off waivers from Toronto on August 12, followed Josh VanMeter’s second hit of the game with an opposite-field drive to left. It was his second home run in two nights and career-high 21st of the season.

Sonny Gray struck out 10 batters in six innings, reaching double figures for the third time this season and seventh in his career. He won his third consecutive start and improved to 4-0 in his last five outings. Gray (9-6) gave up four hits and three walks.

Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his 24th save.

Cal Quantrill (6-4) almost matched Gray strikeout-for-strikeout. He tied a career-high with nine strikeouts with no walks in six innings, allowing five hits and three runs.

Braves 5, Marlins 1: Freddie Freeman homered twice and drove in four runs, Dallas Keuchel kept working out of trouble and Atlanta defeated visiting Miami.

Freeman sent one went the opposite way in the fourth. The next inning, the Braves slugger went deep again with two outs to break a 1-1 tie, launching a pitch from Tyler Kinley (1-1) into the right-field seats for his 33rd homer of the season and second multi-homer game of the homestand.

The third Miami pitcher, Austin Brice, didn’t fare any better against Freeman, giving up a two-run single in the seventh.

Keuchel (4-5) went six innings, limiting the Marlins to Jon Berti’s third-inning homer.

Elieser Hernandez plunked Atlanta star Ronald Acuña Jr. in the back with his very first pitch of the game, rekindling tensions between the NL East rivals and leading to the ejection of Braves manager Brian Snitker.

Hernandez was lifted after four innings because of a blister on his right middle finger. He allowed three hits, walked two and struck out five during a 68-pitch outing.

Pirates 4, Nationals 1: Starling Marte hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in eighth inning, and Pittsburgh beat visiting Washington.

After struggling to manage anything off Stephen Strasburg through seven innings, Pittsburgh loaded the bases against Wander Suero (3-7) with nobody out in the eighth when Adam Frazier bunted a single past the mound. Bryan Reynolds tied it 1-1 with a sacrifice fly before Marte drove a fastball from Daniel Hudson 397 feet to right-center for his 22nd homer of the season.

Pirates closer Felipe Vázquez (3-1) went 1 1/3 inning, allowing one hit with one strikeout.

Suero, who gave up two hits and one walk, was responsible for three of Pittsburgh’s four eighth-inning runs.

Strasburg allowed four hits and had six strikeouts in seven innings, and left the game on track for what would have been his career-high 16th win. He has 15 wins in four of his first 10 major league seasons.

Cubs 5, Giants 3: Anthony Rizzo homered twice and Cole Hamels pitched six innings for his first win in two months, helping Chicago top visiting San Francisco.

Nicholas Castellanos also went deep as Chicago earned its third straight victory. Jonathan Lucroy contributed a key run-scoring single after the Cubs won a replay challenge.

Hamels (7-4) permitted three runs and five hits in his first win since June 12 at Colorado.

Austin Slater hit a two-run homer and Kevin Pillar added a solo drive for the Giants, who fell to 3-2 on their nine-game trip.

Fernando Abad (0-1) took the loss.

Kyle Ryan and Rowan Wick each got three outs before Craig Kimbrel finished for his 10th save in 12 chances.

Cardinals 9, Brewers 4: Dexter Fowler hit a bases-loaded double and drove in four runs, leading St. Louis past visiting Milwaukee.

Tyler Webb (1-1) earned his first major-league victory with one-third inning of work in his 79th career game. He struck out pinch-hitter Ben Gamel.

The Cardinals have won nine of their last 11 games, while the Brewers have lost six of their last eight. St. Louis remained in first place by a half-game over the Chicago Cubs, who beat San Francisco 5-3. Third-place Milwaukee is four games back.

St. Louis broke the game open with a four-run sixth against three Milwaukee relievers. Jeremy Jeffress (3-4) loaded the bases. Alex Claudio came in and struck out Kolten Wong. Junior Guerra entered and walked Harrison Bader, who was recalled earlier in the day. After striking out pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter, Fowler hit a 3-2 pitch into short left field that fell between three Brewers for a double and a 5-2 lead.

Wong hit a two-run single in the seventh, making it 7-2. The Cardinals added two more runs when Fowler and Tommy Edman drew bases-loaded walks.