TORONTO — Double-A callup Angel Zerpa pitched five innings to win for the first time as a big league starter, Bobby Witt Jr. hit a tiebreaking home run and the Kansas City Royals overcame the absence of 10 unvaccinated players to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 on Thursday night.
Zerpa (2-0) allowed one run and four hits, walked two and struck out two. Fellow callup Nate Eaton hit his first career homer as the Royals won for the fifth time in six games.
Foreign nationals who aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19 are not allowed to enter Canada, save for limited exceptions that require a 14-day quarantine. Unvaccinated baseball players are placed on the restricted list, which means they are not paid and do not accrue major league service time.
Jackson Kowar pitched two relief innings, Taylor Clarke handled the eighth and Scott Barlow finished for his 16th save.
Matt Chapman homered for Toronto. Kevin Gausman (6-7) started for the first time since taking a line drive off his ankle in a July 2 start against Tampa Bay. He allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings.
MARINERS 6, RANGERS 5
ARLINGTON, Texas — Ty France hit a two-run single in the eighth inning as Seattle rallied from a four-run deficit and beat Texas to extend its winning streak to 11 games.
Seattle’s win streak is the second-longest in club history behind the 2001 Mariners, who won 15 straight. That team was the franchise’s most recent playoff team. The run is also the second-longest streak in the majors this season, behind Atlanta’s 14-game win streak. The Mariners are 19-3 since being 10 games under .500 on June 19.
Seattle trailed 5-1 before tagging Texas’ bullpen for two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth. Up to that point, the Mariners’ only run came on Sam Haggerty’s inside-the-park homer in the fourth. Haggerty had his fourth career four-hit game and second in 10 days.
Matt Festa (2-0) pitched a perfect seventh inning and earned the win. Diego Castillo stranded runners at first and second in the ninth and picked up his sixth save in as many chances.
REDS 7, YANKEES 6, 10 INNINGS
NEW YORK — Joey Votto lined a tiebreaking double in a three-run 10th inning for his second go-ahead hit of the night, and Cincinnati beat New York to earn an unexpected series win.
Last in the NL Central, the Reds took two of three at Yankee Stadium from the top team in the majors. They blew a sizable lead for the second consecutive night, but this time recovered and held on.
Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 31st home run to start a Yankees comeback in the eighth — one inning after he made a diving catch in center field. Gleyber Torres tied it 4-all with a two-run homer to right field off Jeff Hoffman, costing Luis Castillo a win.
Tyler Stephenson followed Votto’s double off Lucas Luetge (2-3) with an RBI double of his own, and Donovan Solano added a run-scoring single with two outs to make it 7-4.
Matt Carpenter led off the bottom of the 10th with a two-run homer against winner Reiver Sanmartin (3-4), who got two outs in the ninth. Dauri Moreta got two outs for his first major league save.
BRAVES 5, NATIONALS 4
WASHINGTON — Kyle Wright earned his 11th victory to tie for the major league lead and Atlanta beat Washington in the opener of a four-game series.
Michael Harris II, Matt Olson and Dansby Swanson homered for Atlanta, which has won five of its last seven. The Braves improved to 8-2 against the Nationals this season.
Juan Soto extended his hitting streak to 16 games for Washington, which has dropped seven in a row and 13 of 14. The Nationals have the worst record in the majors and fell to 7-34 against the NL East.
Wright (11-4), who gave up a solo homer to Josh Bell in the first, set down 17 of his last 21 batters in his seven-inning outing, allowing two runs while striking out four. He’s tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tony Gonsolin and Houston’s Justin Verlander for the most victories in baseball.
Kenley Jansen gave up Maikel Franco’s solo homer in the ninth, but earned his 21st save.
Washington starter Aníbal Sánchez (0-1) made his first appearance since 2020 after missing Washington’s first 90 games with a cervical nerve impingement.
GUARDIANS 4, TIGERS 0
CLEVELAND — Triston McKenzie struck out a career-high 12 and extended his scoreless streak to 21 innings, leading Cleveland past Detroit.
McKenzie (7-6) pitched eight dominant innings, giving up five singles and walking none. He matched his longest outing, set a career best with 109 pitches and won his third start in a row while helping the Guardians end a streak of five consecutive losses to the Tigers. Detroit swept four from Cleveland last week at Comerica Park.
Josh Naylor homered in the first off rookie Elvin Rodríguez (0-3), who made his first start for the Tigers since June 10. All-Star Andrés Giménez added a solo shot in the eighth inning for Cleveland.
METS 8, CUBS 0
CHICAGO — Carlos Carrasco pitched six sharp innings, Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso homered and New York handed Chicago its seventh straight loss.
The Mets won for the third time in four games, maintained their 2 1/2-game lead over Atlanta in the NL East and improved their road record to 28-19. The Cubs have totaled three runs over their last three games.
Carrasco (10-4) allowed only one runner to advance past first base. Yan Gomes hit a single and Christopher Morel walked with one out in the fourth, but Carrasco got a double-play grounder from Rafael Ortega. Trevor Williams pitched the last three innings for his first big league save.
Nimmo’s three hits paced a 12-hit attack. His homer off reliever Mark Leiter Jr. in the sixth extended the Mets’ streak of hitting at least one homer at Wrigley Field to nine consecutive games.
Patrick Mazeika’s two-run double highlighted a three-run second against Keegan Thompson (7-4) and provided ample support for Carrasco. Thompson, who had allowed one earned run over 9 2/3 innings in his previous two starts, was tagged for four runs on six hits in the first two innings.
RAYS 5, RED SOX 4
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Taylor Walls and Yandy Díaz had two-run singles during a five-run outburst in the seventh inning, helping Tampa Bay beat Boston to complete a four-game sweep.
After rookie Kutter Crawford took a three-hitter into the seventh and Boston leading 3-0, John Schreiber (2-1) came in and gave up Walls’ tying hit and Díaz’s go-ahead single. Crawford ended up allowing three runs and six hits along with six strikeouts.
Tommy Romero (1-0) worked a scoreless seventh to get his first major league win. Jalen Beeks got his first save since Aug, 19, 2020, despite allowing Alex Verdugo’s RBI double with no outs.
Boston All-Star Rafael Devers opened the scoring with a solo homer in the fourth off Drew Rasmussen.
ASTROS 3, ANGELS 2, 10 INNINGS
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jeremy Peña drove in the tiebreaking run in the 10th and Houston earned its 13th victory in 16 games with a win over Los Angeles.
Automatic runner Korey Lee advanced on Mauricio Dubon’s flyout and scored on Peña’s single to right off Aaron Loup (0-3) for the Astros, who hadn’t scored since the first inning.
Ryan Pressley (3-2) struck out Brandon Marsh to end it with the potential tying run on third. The Houston closer pitched two scoreless innings for the AL West leaders, who took two of three from their struggling division rivals at the Big A.
The Astros played the final 8 1/2 innings without José Altuve after the eight-time All-Star selection got hit in the left knee with Reid Detmers’ first pitch of the game. Altuve has a bruised left leg, the Astros said.
Mike Trout missed his second straight game with upper back spasms for the Angels.
MARLINS 3, PIRATES 2, 11 INNINGS
MIAMI — Brian Anderson atoned for a costly error with a two-run triple in the 11th and Miami edged Pittsburgh.
Anderson originally was ruled to have been hit by a pitch from Wil Crowe (3-6), but the Pirates successfully challenged, saying it hit his bat first. Anderson then sent a drive to deep right center that scored Jesús Aguilar and Avisaíl García.
Joey Wendle doubled, singled and walked for the Marlins, who had their second straight walk-off against Pittsburgh and split the four-game series.
Ben Gamel’s RBI double against Richard Bleier (2-1) in the top of the 11th put the Pirates ahead 2-1. Pittsburgh tied it at 1 in the eighth on third baseman Anderson’s fielding error that scored Yoshi Tsutsugo from first.
Miami lost second baseman Jon Berti, the majors’ stolen base leader, after the first because of a mild left groin strain. Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas left in the ninth after he was hit in the mouth by the helmet of Oneil Cruz on an unsuccessful steal attempt of second.
DODGERS 4, CARDINALS 0
ST. LOUIS — Tyler Anderson pitched six shutout innings, Gavin Lux hit a two-run homer and Los Angeles blanked St. Louis.
Anderson (10-1) scattered three hits, struck out four and walked two while needing just 88 pitches to get through six innings. Yency Almonte, Evan Phillips and Craig Kimbrel each pitched an inning of scoreless relief to finish the combined five-hitter.
The Dodgers won for the 13th time in their last 15 games. They improved to 9½ games ahead of San Diego for first place in the National League West after being tied with the Padres on June 22.
Dakota Hudson (6-6) gave up four runs in 6 2/3 innings for St. Louis, which has dropped eight of 12.
ROCKIES 8, PADRES 5
DENVER — Randal Grichuk doubled twice and drove in three runs, C.J. Cron had two hits in his return to the starting lineup, and Colorado Rockies beat San Diego.
Cron, the Rockies’ lone All-Star selection, missed three of the last five games with a wrist injury suffered Friday night at Arizona. He had a pinch-hit single Wednesday night.
The Rockies took three of four from San Diego and have won 13 of 16 against the Padres at Coors Field since the start of last season.
Jhoulys Chacin (4-2) worked two scoreless innings in relief of Kyle Freeland. Carlos Estévez pitched a flawless ninth for his first save. Kris Bryant was activated from the paternity list and went 0 for 4 with a walk.
Reliever Nabil Crismatt (5-2) took the loss for San Diego.
WHITE SOX 12, TWINS 2
MINNEAPOLIS — Luis Robert hit his first grand slam, Johnny Cueto pitched six strong innings and the Chicago beat Minnesota to extend its winning streak to three games.
Robert’s 452-foot blast to the second deck in left field gave the White Sox a 6-1 lead in the fourth inning. He added a run-scoring single in the sixth inning and a double in the eighth for his third consecutive three-hit game.
Andrew Vaughn also homered and drove in two runs for Chicago, and Tim Anderson had two hits and scored three runs. Sebby Zavala added a three-run homer in the ninth off Twins infielder Nick Gordon.
Cueto (4-4) gave up one run and seven hits over six innings while throwing a season-high 118 pitches for the White Sox.
Byron Buxton and Max Kepler had two hits apiece for the Twins, and Kyle Garlick hit a solo homer in the ninth inning. Twins starter Sonny Gray (4-3) gave up six runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.