MLB: Granderson breaks out of slump, boosts Mets

NEW YORK — Slumping Curtis Granderson grounded an RBI single to cap an improbable two-run rally with two outs in the ninth inning, sending the New York Mets past the Miami Marlins 4-3 Friday night.

After Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Garrett Jones hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth that put the Marlins ahead 3-2, the Mets stung Marlins closer Steve Cishek.

Cishek (1-1) had converted a team-record 33 straight save chances — the longest active streak in the majors — before Lucas Duda led off the ninth with a single and moved up on a sacrifice.

Left fielder Christian Yelich then made a nice running catch on pinch-hitter Bobby Abreu’s liner for the second out. Omar Quintanilla followed with a single down the line and Yelich slipped on the dirt as he got ready to throw home, letting Duda score standing up.

NATIONALS 11, PADRES 1

WASHINGTON — Bryce Harper drove in a career-high four runs before leaving the game, and Stephen Strasburg pitched seven scoreless innings as the Nationals defeated the Padres.

Harper drove in a run with an infield single in the first and had a bases-loaded triple in the third. Following his headfirst dive into third base on the triple, Harper flexed his left wrist. He was later replaced in left field by Nate McLouth to start the fifth inning. No announcement was made regarding whether or not Harper was injured.

Anthony Rendon had a career-high four hits for Washington.

Strasburg (2-2) allowed seven hits and walked two, but struck out 11. He turned in his second straight effective start, lowering his ERA from 5.33 to 4.24.

San Diego’s Robbie Erlin (1-3) allowed eight runs and 13 hits over 5 1-3 innings.

BRAVES 5, REDS 4

ATLANTA — Justin Upton hit a three-run homer to continue another strong April, Ervin Santana earned his third win and the Braves held off the Reds.

Craig Kimbrel gave up a leadoff single to Roger Bernadina and walked Zack Cozart to open the ninth. Kimbrel struck out Brayan Pena and Chris Heisey before earning his seventh save on Joey Votto’s groundout.

First baseman Freddie Freeman made a long stretch for Chris Johnson’s throw from third base on Heisey’s groundball. Reds manager Bryan Price challenged first base umpire Vic Carapazza’s ruling that Freeman’s foot remained on the bag. The call was confirmed, ending the game.

Santana (3-0) led 5-0 through five innings before allowing two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. He gave up four runs on nine hits in 6 2-3 innings.

Homer Bailey (1-2) took the loss.

CARDINALS 1, PIRATES 0

ST. LOUIS — Shelby Miller finally solved Pittsburgh, pitching 5 2-3 scoreless innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a win over the Pirates.

Miller (2-2) entered the game with an 0-5 record and a 5.93 ERA against the Pirates. He allowed just three hits and four walks while striking out four.

Pat Neshek, Kevin Siegrist, Carlos Martinez and Kevin Rosenthal followed Miller and preserved the shutout. Rosenthal struck out the side in the ninth for his seventh save in seven chances.

Matt Holliday had three hits, a walk and drove in the only run with a first-inning double. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina singled in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, matching his career high set in 2007.

Pirates starter Gerrit Cole (2-2) pitched seven innings and allowed a run on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

BREWERS 5, CUBS 2

MILWAUKEE — Matt Garza pitched seven strong innings and Lyle Overbay hit his first homer with Milwaukee as the Brewers defeated the Cubs.

Carlos Gomez and Ryan Braun each had three hits and a stolen base for the Brewers, who have a Major League best 17-6 record.

Garza (1-2), who pitched part of last season with the Chicago, retired the Cubs in order in four of the first six innings. He gave up two runs and four hits while striking out seven and walking one.

Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless inning to pick up his 10th save in 10 chances.

Cubs starter Carlos Villanueva (1-5) gave up five runs and 11 hits in five innings.

DIAMONDBACKS 5, PHILLIES 4

PHOENIX — Josh Collmenter threw six scoreless innings, Aaron Hill drove in three runs with a homer and double and the Diamondbacks held on to win their season-best third in a row, over the Phillies.

Collmenter (1-2), in his third start since replacing Randall Delgado in the rotation, allowed four hits and struck out five.

A.J. Pollock’s solo homer in the eighth provided what proved to be the deciding run for the Diamondbacks, who won at Chase Field for only the second time in 11 games this season.

The Phillies scored a run on two-out singles by Ben Revere and Jimmy Rollins off Addison Reed in the ninth. Reed intentionally walked Chase Utley, then struck out John Mayberry Jr. for his sixth save.

ROCKIES 5, DODGERS 4, 11 innings

LOS ANGELES — Charlie Blackmon hit an RBI single in the 11th inning and the Rockies got home runs from Troy Tulowitzki and Corey Dickerson to beat the Dodgers.

Adam Ottavino took over in the eighth for Rockies starter Jordan Lyles as a steady drizzle sent many in the crowd of 44,866 for cover. Ottavino retired the side in order before Boone Logan struck out his first two batters in the ninth — including Matt Kemp, who was ejected by umpire Angel Hernandez for arguing a called third strike.

It was Kemp’s seventh career ejection and the Dodgers’ first this season.

The drizzle had turned into a downpour by the 10th. Brandon Barnes pinch-hit for reliever Rex Brothers (2-2) with one out in the 11th and doubled to right field against Jamey Wright (1-1).

GIANTS 5, INDIANS 1

SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Morse homered to back another stellar outing by Tim Hudson, and the Giants beat the Indians.

Hunter Pence had two hits and two RBIs while Brandon Crawford also knocked in a run to help the Giants win in their first interleague game of the season after going just 6-14 against the American League in 2013.

Hudson (3-1) scattered four hits over seven innings and struck out five. He walked two, ending an impressive streak of 30 consecutive innings without one.

Michael Bourn tripled and scored Cleveland’s only run. Jason Kipnis and Nick Swisher added two hits apiece for the Indians, who lost for just the second time in six games.

Carlos Carrasco (0-3) allowed four runs over six innings.

ANGELS 13, YANKEES 1

NEW YORK — Albert Pujols hit one of Los Angeles’ four home runs, C.J. Wilson kept New York in check again and the Angels roughed up the road-weary Yankees.

Pujols hit homer No. 501 and Ian Stewart had a two-run shot off Hiroki Kuroda (2-2) for the majors’ top slugging squad. Erick Aybar connected for a three-run drive and Colin Cowgill went deep against Bruce Billings.

Wilson (3-2) gave up one run in six innings, the seventh time in eight starts he’s held New York to two or fewer earned runs.

The Angels’ 35 homers is a club record for March and April and leads the majors. Pujols has a major league-leading nine home runs.

Hank Conger had a pair of RBI doubles and a run-scoring single. Aybar reached base all five times and scored four runs. Howie Kendrick had three of the Angels’ 16 hits.

WHITE SOX 9, RAYS 6

CHICAGO — Jose Abreu hit a game-winning grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning for his second home run of the night, rallying Chicago past Tampa Bay.

Evan Longoria’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth put the Rays ahead 6-4, but the White Sox weren’t done. Abreu’s drive off closer Grant Balfour (0-1) won it after Chicago pitchers combined for 11 walks.

Abreu, the rookie slugger from Cuba who signed a $68 million, six-year contract in the offseason, finished with three hits and six RBIs.

Matt Joyce drew a team-record five walks for Tampa Bay, which chased Erik Johnson in the second inning.

Matt Lindstrom (2-1) gave up Longoria’s home run.

RED SOX 8, BLUE JAYS 1

TORONTO — David Ortiz homered and Jake Peavy pitched seven strong innings as Boston beat Toronto.

Will Middlebrooks returned from the disabled list with two hits and two RBIs as Boston bounced back from an error-filled loss to the Yankees on Thursday. The Red Sox held a pregame meeting after making five errors in their 14-5 home defeat against New York.

Boston set season highs with 16 hits and eight extra-base hits as they roughed up left-hander Mark Buehrle (4-1), who was trying to become the first Blue Jays pitcher to start a season with five straight wins.

Buehrle came in with a major league-best 0.64 ERA, but allowed 12 hits and seven runs, six earned, in 5 1-3 innings. Juan Francisco homered for the Blue Jays, who have lost three straight for the first time this season.

Peavy (1-0) allowed one run and five hits to win for the first time in five starts.

TIGERS 10, TWINS 6

MINNEAPOLIS — Nick Castellanos homered and drove in three runs, and Torii Hunter had two doubles and two RBIs to lead Detroit over Minnesota.

Rick Porcello (3-1) gave up four runs in five-plus innings for the Tigers, who broke the game open with seven runs in the third. Rajai Davis had three hits to raise his average to .354.

Kevin Correia (0-3) allowed eight runs — seven earned — and eight hits in 2 1-3 innings for Minnesota. It was his shortest outing since going just two innings last Aug. 5 against the Royals.

Chris Colabello drove in his 27th run for the Twins, setting a franchise record for RBIs in April.

ROYALS 5, ORIOLES 0

BALTIMORE — Yordano Ventura scattered seven hits over eight innings and Kansas City cruised past the Baltimore Orioles, who played the latter part of the game without injured slugger Chris Davis.

Davis left in the fifth with a left oblique strain. The severity of the injury was not immediately known, but Davis looked to be in obvious discomfort as he walked toward the dugout following a third-inning flyout.

Davis led the majors with 53 home runs and 138 RBIs last season. Although he has only two homers this year, Davis reached base in a career-high 20 straight games before going 0 for 2 in this one.

Ventura (2-1) had a career-high eight strikeouts and walked two in his seventh major league start.

Ubaldo Jimenez (0-4) allowed four runs in six-plus innings after the start was delayed 55 minutes by rain.

ATHLETICS 12, ASTROS 5

HOUSTON — Daric Barton and Josh Donaldson had two RBIs apiece in a seven-run ninth inning to help Oakland beat Houston.

The game was tied at 5 when Josh Fields (0-2) plunked Brandon Moss before back-to-back singles by Alberto Callaspo and Craig Gentry loaded the bases.

Barton’s sharply hit grounder bounced off Jose Altuve’s glove and into right field to send two home. George Springer’s error allowed a third run to score. Donaldson, who homered twice Thursday night, connected again with a shot off Anthony Bass to make it 12-5.

Jed Lowrie had two RBIs to help the A’s improve to 5-0 against Houston this season and 25-5 against the Astros overall.

Houston has lost 10 of 12 and allowed 22 runs in the first two games of this four-game series. Astros manager Bo Porter was ejected in the ninth.

Luke Gregerson (1-1) got the win.

MARINERS 6, RANGERS 5

SEATTLE — Justin Smoak hit a go-ahead double in the eighth inning and saved the game with a diving catch in the ninth, leading Seattle to a victory over Texas.

Robinson Cano hit a two-run double in the fifth for the Mariners, who won consecutive games for the first time since the opening week of the season.

Cano’s double was the only time the Mariners got to Texas starter Robbie Ross Jr., but they battered reliever Neal Cotts (1-2) in the eighth inning, scoring four times to end the Rangers’ win streak at three games.

Smoak preserved the victory with a diving grab of Adrian Beltre’s liner to first with the bases loaded that he turned into a double play for the final outs.

Yoervis Medina (1-1) was the winner and Fernando Rodney allowed two runs in the ninth before earning his fourth save.