MLB: Harper injures knee, Nationals beat Giants 3-1

WASHINGTON — Bryce Harper sustained what appeared to be a serious left knee injury when he slipped on a wet first base and his left leg buckled while running out a grounder early in the Washington Nationals’ 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night.

Harper clutched at his knee while on the wet field and put no weight on his left leg as he was helped off. The 2015 NL MVP left the game immediately, and manager Dusty Baker said Harper hyperextended his knee and would have an MRI.

The result of the game meant little for Washington, which leads the NL East by 14 ½ games, or San Francisco, which is out of contention. It didn’t begin until 10:06 p.m. after another extended weather delay, and it was raining when Harper lost his footing on a base that had water on it.

The Nationals lost catcher Wilson Ramos to a torn ACL in his right knee in late September last season, another noncontact injury that came after a rain delay in Washington.

RED SOX 10, YANKEES 5

Rookie Andrew Benintendi rocketed a pair of three-run homers off All-Star Luis Severino and Boston bounced back from a tough loss to rough up New York.

A day after blowing a late lead, the AL East leaders battered Severino for a career-worst 10 runs. Drew Pomeranz pitched the Red Sox to their ninth win in 10 games, and restored their 4½-game lead over New York.

Boston began bruising the Yankees’ staff even before the first pitch — starter Jordan Montgomery was hit in the head by a flyball while he signed autographs as the Red Sox took batting practice. Montgomery is still expected to pitch Sunday night against ace Chris Sale in the series finale.

The 23-year-old Benintendi, who also homered Friday night, is on quite a tear in August. He is 15 for 31 with four home runs and five steals this month, reaching base 20 times in eight games.

INDIANS 3, RAYS 0

ST. PETRSBURG, Fla. — Jay Bruce drove in his first two runs for Cleveland and Mike Clevinger struck out nine.

Bruce, acquired in a trade from the New York Mets on Wednesday night, drove in the first run with a two-out fly ball that dropped for a double between left fielder Corey Dickerson and third baseman Trevor Plouffe in the first inning.

After leading off the third with a double, Francisco Lindor scored on Chris Archer’s two-out wild pitch to make it 2-0.

Bruce drove in another run with a single in the fifth after Jose Ramirez’s leadoff double.

Clevinger (6-4) won for the first time in four starts since the All-Star break, giving up four hits and one walk in seven innings.

Cody Allen pitched the ninth for his 20th save.

It was 10th time the Rays were shut out this season, most in the majors.

DODGERS 6, PADRES 3

LOS ANGELES — Corey Seager’s bases-loaded single led to three runs, Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor added solo homers and Los Angeles rallied from a sixth-inning deficit to beat San Diego.

With their 27th win in 32 games, the Dodgers improved the best record in the major leagues to 82-34, on pace for 115 wins. Los Angeles is 17-3 on Saturdays.

Trailing 3-1 in the sixth, the Dodgers loaded the bases when Chase Utley doubled between walks to Yamani Grandal and Yasiel Puig from Craig Stammen (0-2). Seager followed with a tying single to right as Yasil Puig took third, and when Seager overran first and got caught in a rundown, Puig broke for home and with a headfirst slide beat the throw from first baseman Wil Myers.

CARDINALS 6, BRAVES 5

ST. LOUIS — Randal Grichuk and Paul DeJong homered and St. Louis stretched its winning streak to eight games.

Carlos Martinez (9-9) tossed six solid innings and also drove in a run for the Cardinals, who moved within 1/2 game of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.

Brandon Phillips homered for Atlanta, which lost its fifth in a row.

The eight-game run is the longest for St. Louis since the Cardinals won eight in a row April 28-May 5, 2015.

Grichuk hit his 15th homer of the season in the second to tie the game 2-all. He also added a double in a three-run outburst in the fifth.

DeJong led off the seventh with his team-high 17th home run.

BLUE JAYS 7, PIRATES 2

TORONTO — Chris Rowley pitched 5 1/3 innings to win his major league debut, Jose Bautista scored two runs and Toronto beat Pittsburgh.

A former first lieutenant in the United States Army, and the first graduate of the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY, to reach the majors, Rowley (1-0) missed all of the 2014 and 2015 minor league seasons while on active service, including a stint in Bulgaria.

The right-hander, who began the season at Double-A, allowed one run five hits. He walked one and struck out three. The only run off Rowley came in the second when Josh Bell hit a leadoff triple and scored on a two-out hit by Jordy Mercer.

Mercer added a solo homer off Leonel Campos in the ninth.

RANGERS 8, ASTROS 3

ARLINGTON, Texas — Adrian Beltre had three hits with three RBIs after new Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez acknowledged his 3,000-hit milestone, and Texas handed AL-leading Houston a season-high fifth straight loss.

An RBI double and two-run single from Beltre came after Rodriguez paid tribute to the 38-year-old third baseman during a pre-game ceremony to retire Rodriguez’s No. 7. Beltre’s 3,000th hit came on the same day Rodriguez was inducted into the Hall of Fame two weeks ago.

Brett Nicholas hit a three-run homer, his first of the season, for a 3-0 lead in the second inning after a 21-minute rain delay in the first. Mike Napoli had a solo shot off Mike Fiers (7-7), who has allowed six home runs in his past two starts against the Rangers.

West Division-leading Houston dropped to 2-9 since Aug. 1 and saw its lead for the best record in the AL drop to five games over Boston.

ANGELS 6, MARINERS 3

SEATTLE — Luis Valbuena’s two-run homer in the seventh inning pulled Los Angeles even, Albert Pujols added a two-run double in the eighth and the Angels rallied to beat Seattle.

For the third straight game, the Mariners saw their bullpen problems fester while trying to hold a lead. Valbuena’s homer came off reliever Casey Lawrence and after the Mariners got six surprisingly strong innings out of starter Erasmo Ramirez.

Tony Zych (5-3) ran into even more trouble in the eighth. Zych walked the first two batters before giving up Pujols’ double to the gap. Kole Calhoun singled and Andrelton Simmons’ sacrifice fly scored Pujols for a three-run lead. Seattle’s bullpen has allowed 13 runs in the first three games of the series.

Los Angeles has won five straight and has moved into the second wild card spot in the American League.

TIGERS 12, TWINS 11

DETROIT — Justin Upton hit a two-run homer off Matt Belisle in the ninth inning, giving Detroit a win after the Tigers wasted a five-run lead and then overcame a five-run deficit.

Detroit had been 0-54 this year when trailing after eight innings and had lost six of seven but rallied to stop the Twins’ six-game winning streak.

After James McCann hit a grand slam in a five-run first inning against Jose Berrios, the Twins tied the score 5-5 in the third, then scored twice in the fourth, once in the fifth and three times in the sixth for an 11-6 lead.

Upton hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and McCann hit into a run-scoring forceout in the eighth and scored on Jose Iglesias’ home run against Trevor Hildenberger that cut Detroit’s gap to 11-10.

Shane Greene (3-2) escaped a bases-loaded jam when he struck out Miguel Sano on a slider. Mikie Mahtook singled against Belisle (0-2) starting the bottom half and Upton drove a high fastball into the left-field seats.

MARLINS 4, ROCKIES 3

MIAMI — Giancarlo Stanton continued his power surge with his 41st homer and drove in three runs in Miami’s victory over Colorado.

Stanton went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and is hitting .382 (13 for 34) with eight home runs and 15 RBIs in his last nine games. He needs one home run to tie Gary Sheffield for the Marlins’ single-season mark set in 1996.

Stanton has hit 20 home runs in his last 32 games. The last player to accomplish the feat in the same season was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shawn Green in 2002, according to STATS LLC.

Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon went 4 for 5 with two runs scored and two stolen bases. It was the 15th time this season Blackmon has had at least three hits and his third four-hit game.

ROYALS 5, WHITE SOX 4

CHICAGO — Melky Cabrera hit a go-ahead, two-run homer against his former team in the eighth inning, and Kansas City beat Chicago to stop a five-game losing streak.

Cabrera, acquired from Kansas City on July 30, homered with one out off Aaron Bummer (1-3) and drove in Lorenzo Cain, who led off the inning with a walk and Chris Beck. Cabrera has an eight-game hitting streak.

Scott Alexander (3-3) won after allowing a two-run, two-out single in the seventh to Leury Garcia that put Chicago ahead 4-3.

ORIOLES 12, ATHLETICS 5

OAKLAND, Calif. — Tim Beckham hit a two-run double in his second plate appearance of the first inning as Baltimore matched its biggest frame of the season with a seven-run first and went on to beat the Oakland Athletics 12-5 on Saturday night.

Dylan Bundy (12-8) matched his career high with 10 strikeouts, equaling the number from his previous outing, to win his third straight start and fourth consecutive decision. The right-hander allowed three runs and seven hits with three walks as the Orioles won for only the second time in five games.

Adam Jones drove in three runs for Baltimore.

DIAMONDBACKS 6, CUBS 2

PHOENIX — Patrick Corbin pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, David Peralta hit an inside-the-park home run and Arizona cut Chicago’s NL Central lead over St. Louis to a percentage point.

Jon Lester (8-7) allowed four runs — three earned — and seven hits in six innings as the Cubs lost for the seventh time in 10 games.

Chicago led the division by 5½ games before play on Aug. 2, but the Cardinals have closed with eight straight victories, their longest winning streak in two years.

Corbin (9-11) allowed five hits and struck out eight. He escaped trouble in the opening inning when Ian Happ hit an inning-ending groundout with runners at the corners.

Shortstop Ketel Marte threw out Javier Baez at the plate in the fifth on Ben Zobrist’s grounder — a call upheld in a video review. Anthony Rizzo hit an inning-ending flyout with the bases loaded.

PHILLIES 3, METS 1

PHILADELPHIA — Aaron Nola held an opponent to two runs or fewer for his 10th straight start, Freddy Galvis had a go-ahead single during a fifth-inning rally and Philadelphia beat veteran-shedding New York.

Nola (9-7) gave up one run and two hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and two walks. He is 6-2 with a 1.71 ERA in his last 10 starts and is the only Phillies pitcher since 1900 to have 10 straight starts of at least six innings while allowing two runs or fewer, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Cesar Hernandez and Tommy Joseph also had RBIs for the Phillies, who won despite just five hits. Odubel Herrera extended his career-best hitting streak to 15 games with an eighth-inning single.

BREWERS 6, REDS 5, 10 INNINGS

MILWAUKEE — Eric Sogard scampered home with the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th inning and Milwaukee snapped a six-game losing streak.

Sogard started the rally with a one-out double off Reds reliever Tim Adleman (5-10). After Manny Pina flew out to center field, Jesus Aguilar and Eric Thames drew walks to load the bases.

An 0-2 curveball then bounced away from Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart, allowing Sogard to slide in just ahead of Adleman’s tag attempt.

The Brewers have won three times in their last at-bat this season, two of which have come on wild pitches.

Josh Hader pitched three scoreless innings of relief for the Brewers before giving way to Corey Knebel (1-2) for the ninth and 10th.