Rays rally for wild 11-10 win over Red Sox
BOSTON — Austin Meadows hit a tying, inside-the-park homer in the ninth inning, Nelson Cruz had a go-ahead single in the 10th and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied from a six-run deficit to beat the Boston Red Sox 11-10 on Monday.
The AL East-leading Rays took advantage of four errors, the biggest when center fielder Alex Verdugo appeared to lose Cruz’s high fly in the sun with bases loaded and two outs in the fourth.
The ball glanced off Verdugo’s glove and Cruz wound up circling the bases on the play, scoring on second baseman Taylor Motter’s wild throw that let Tampa Bay close to 7-5 against ace Chris Sale.
Cruz also homered and had a pair of RBI singles as the Rays increased their AL East lead to 8 1/2 games over New York. The Red Sox missed a chance to move ahead of the Yankees for the top AL wild-card spot.
Wander Franco had four hits for the Rays. Collin McHugh (6-1) got the win.
Hunter Renfroe had three hits and two RBIs for Boston. Garrett Whitlock (7-3) got the loss.
BLUE JAYS 8, YANKEES 0
NEW YORK — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 40th homer, Marcus Semien went deep twice and the Blue Jays beat the Yankees for their fifth straight win.
Hyun Jin Ryu (13-8) pitched six effective innings as the Blue Jays won for the eighth time in nine games.
Guerrero hit his 40th homer on Jameson Taillon’s 13th pitch. The slugger and his Hall of Fame father joined Cecil and Prince Fielder as the second father-son duo to hit 40 homers.
Semien hit a solo drive in the first and his fifth career grand slam in the ninth.
The Yankees lost for the seventh time in nine games following their first 13-game win streak since 1961. Taillon (8-6) allowed three runs and three hits in seven innings.
DODGERS 5, CARDINALS 1
ST. LOUIS — Max Scherzer struck out 13 in his hometown and Chris Taylor hit a two-run homer, leading the Dodgers to the win.
Scherzer (13-4) permitted one unearned run and six hits in eight innings. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is six strikeouts away from becoming the 19th player in big league history to reach 3,000.
The Cardinals lost for the fourth time in five games. They dropped 3 1/2 games back of idle San Diego for the second NL wild card.
St. Louis right-hander Miles Mikolas (0-2) was charged with five runs, four earned, and five hits in five innings. Paul Goldschmidt had three hits for the Cardinals, and Tommy Edman scored the team’s only run on Austin Barnes’ passed ball in the sixth.
GIANTS 10, ROCKIES 5
DENVER — Thairo Estrada hit two of San Francisco’s four home runs, and Kevin Gausman pitched seven solid innings.
The major league-best Giants (88-50) remained one game ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West.
Darin Ruf and Buster Posey also went deep for San Francisco. Gausman (13-5) allowed three runs and five hits, and he also singled and scored a run.
Trevor Story hit a two-run homer for Colorado in the eighth. Ryan McMahon and Garrett Hampson also went deep.
Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland was tagged for seven runs in 4 1/3 innings.
RANGERS 4, ANGELS 0
ANAHEIM, Calif. — A.J. Alexy allowed one hit over six innings in his second straight phenomenal start to begin his major league career, and Jose Trevino drove in two runs as Texas blanked Los Angeles.
Alexy (2-0) retired his final 13 batters and didn’t allow a baserunner after the second inning. He became the first pitcher in modern major league history to go at least five scoreless innings while allowing fewer than two hits as a starter in each of his first two career appearances.
Alexy struck out seven while winning his duel with Jaime Barría (2-3), who yielded eight hits and three runs over seven innings.
DJ Peters and Yonny Hernández drove in early runs before Trevino added an RBI double in the seventh and a run-scoring single in the ninth for the last-place Rangers, who split the four-game series with two straight wins at Angel Stadium.
Jared Walsh had two of the Angels’ five hits.
PHILLIES 12, BREWERS 0
MILWAUKEE —Bryce Harper hit an early home run, Brad Miller connected twice and Jean Segura added a grand slam, leading Zack Wheeler and the Phillies to the win.
Andrew McCutchen and Freddy Galvis also homered as Philadelphia won for the eighth time in the last 10 games to stay in the playoff chase. The Phillies have beaten the NL Central-leading Brewers five straight times this year.
Wheeler (12-9) threw six crisp innings, outpitching Brandon Woodruff (9-8) in a rematch of All-Star righties.
Harper gave the Phillies a quick lead with his 28th homer, a two-run drive in the first. Galvis connected in the second and Miller homered to lead off the fourth.
CUBS 4, REDS 3
CHICAGO — Frank Schwindel hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning, and the Cubs earned their season-high seventh straight win.
Schwindel’s single through the right side scored Alfonso Rivas, who started the rally with a pinch-hit single off Michael Lorenzen (0-2) and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Schwindel is batting .441 (15 for 34) with six homers and 14 RBIs during his current eight-game hitting streak.
The Reds (73-66) lost for the seventh time in nine games. They dropped to one game back of idle San Diego for the second NL wild card.
Codi Heuer, Scott Effross (2-0) and Adam Morgan combined for four scoreless innings in relief of Justin Steele. Morgan earned his second save.
Ian Happ hit a three-run homer in the first for the Cubs.
NATIONALS 4, METS 3
WASHINGTON — Carter Kieboom and Andrew Stevenson hit RBI singles in the ninth inning off Edwin Díaz, and the Nationals rallied in the finale of a five-game series.
The Nationals, who had lost eight of their last nine, were 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position prior to the ninth.
Pete Alonso hit his 30th home run of the season for New York, which fell four games behind idle Atlanta in the NL East.
It was the second blown save in four days for Díaz (5-5), who is 1-3 with a 12.71 ERA in 10 games as a Met at Nationals Park.
Kyle Finnegan (5-6) pitched two scoreless innings for Washington, which won twice in the series.
TWINS 5, INDIANS 2
CLEVELAND — Jorge Polanco hit a solo homer and doubled three times, leading Minnesota to the victory.
Polanco connected for his 27th homer in the third. He doubled in the first, fifth and seventh, and then struck out in the ninth.
Franmil Reyes connected to give the Indians at least one homer in a franchise-record 20 straight games. The team’s previous single-season record was set in May 2000.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli returned to Minnesota on Sunday for the birth of his child. Coach Bill Evers is filling in for Baldelli.
Michael Pineda (5-8) pitched three scoreless innings for the win, and Alex Colomé worked the ninth for his 12th save.
Cleveland’s Logan Allen (1-6) allowed five runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.
ROYALS 3, ORIOLES 2
BALTIMORE — Andrew Benintendi hit a go-ahead single for Kansas City in the eighth inning, then reached above the left-field wall to take away a potential tying home run in the ninth.
Anthony Santander led off the Orioles ninth with a fly that Benintendi caught, plucking the ball just above the fence.
Hanser Alberto homered against his former team, helping the Royals win in their first visit to Camden Yards since August 2019. Benintendi provided the lead with an RBI hit off Cole Sulser (4-4).
Domingo Tapia (2-0) got the win after throwing 1 2/3 hitless innings. Scott Barlow earned his 11th save.
Cedric Mullins homered for Baltimore for the second consecutive day.
PIRATES 6, TIGERS 3
PITTSBURGH — Ke’Bryan Hayes and Yoshi Tsutsugo each hit a two-run single during Pittsburgh’s four-run seventh inning, and the Pirates stopped their six-game losing streak.
Hayes finished with three hits, and Tsutsugo, Jacob Stallings and Cole Tucker each had two. Kevin Newman hit a two-run homer in the first for Pittsburgh.
Chasen Shreve (3-1) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win. David Bednar struck out the side in the ninth for his third save. He has a sparkling 0.86 ERA in 29 games since June 18.
The Tigers got two hits from Robbie Grossman. Kyle Funkhouser (6-3) gave up all four runs in the seventh to take the loss.
ASTROS 11, MARINERS 2
HOUSTON — Rookie Jake Meyers homered and drove in four runs as Houston jumped on Yusei Kikuchi early and sailed to a win over Seattle.
Kikuchi (7-8) allowed three hits but was done in by an error behind him and four walks, which equaled a season high, over 1 2/3 innings in his shortest start this season. He gave up six runs, four earned.
The victory ended a two-game skid for the AL West leaders and snapped Seattle’s five-game winning streak.
Houston starter Lance McCullers Jr. (11-4) permitted four hits and two runs with seven strikeouts in six innings for his third consecutive win.
