LONDON (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt hit a go-ahead RBI single that chased Chicago starter Marcus Stroman in the fourth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cubs 7-5 on Sunday to earn a split of their weekend series at London Stadium.
The Cubs missed a chance to get back to .500 after Stroman (9-5) left with a blister on his right index finger, and the Cardinals ended a two-game skid after an error-filled first inning handed the Cubs a 4-0 lead.
The Cubs (37-39) won 9-1 in the first game, but had their winning streak halted at four games. They haven’t been at .500 since May 12, though they’ve still won 11 of their past 14 games.
Jordan Hicks, who sat out Saturday because of illness, got the final three outs to record his fourth save — all in the past eight days. He struck out two and gave up a sacrifice fly to Nico Hoerner with one out.
Jake Woodford (2-2) came in for spot starter Matthew Liberatore in the third and pitched 2 1/3 innings.
BLUE JAYS 12, ATHLETICS 1
TORONTO (AP) — George Springer moved into second place on baseball’s career list with his 55th leadoff home run, Yusei Kikuchi (7-2) pitched a season-high seven innings and Toronto routed Oakland.
Tony Kemp hit a solo home run, his third, but Oakland lost for the 10th time in 11 games following a seven-game winning streak. The Athletics are 40 games below .500 at 20-60.
Springer went 2 for 3 with a walk and two RBIs, including a sacrifice fly. His game-opening drive broke a tie with Alfonso Soriano and gave the 2017 World Series MVP sole possession of second place on baseball’s all-time list. Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson leads with 81 leadoff homers.
Cavan Biggio hit a three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who won for the 10th time in their past 12 home meetings with the Athletics.
Luis Medina (1-7) allowed four runs, three earned, and four hits with a career-worst seven walks in five innings.
BRAVES 7, REDS 6
CINCINNATI (AP) — Matt Olson hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning and Atlanta held on for another wild victory over Cincinnati.
The Braves, who snapped the Reds’ longest winning streak in 66 years with a 7-6 win on Saturday, have won 17 of their last 20. Charlie Morton (7-6) needed 103 pitches to get through five innings, but left with the score tied.
The Reds had runners on first and third in the ninth when Raisel Iglesias got Kevin Newman to roll into a game-ending double play. It was Iglesias’ 11th save.
Cincinnati lost despite a big day from Matt McLain, who went 4 for 5 with three doubles, a homer and five RBIs. McLain is the first Reds rookie to have four extra-base hits in a game since Chris Sabo in 1988.
Randy Wynne (0-1) took the loss in his major league debut. Wynne, 30, spent three seasons pitching in independent leagues and was working in a lumberyard when he was signed as a minor league free agent in 2019.
ROCKIES 4, ANGELS 3
DENVER (AP) — Ezequiel Tovar had two hits and two RBIs, Austin Gomber earned his first win in more than a month, and Colorado edged Los Angeles, less than 24 hours after being routed 25-1.
The Rockies entered the series mired in a season-worst eight-game losing streak, but took two of three from the Angels, who had a 32-12 scoring advantage.
Los Angeles lost for the fourth time in five games after winning 10 of its previous 13 games.
Gomber (5-7) gave up five hits, a walk and two runs, with three strikeouts, through five innings. In the ninth, Justin Lawrence forced Luis Rengifo into a groundout with the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on first and picked up his fourth save.
Angels starter Tyler Anderson (4-2), a former Rockies first-round pick in 2011 who went on to play four seasons for the club, took the loss after giving up three runs in six innings while striking out a season-high nine.
RAYS 3, ROYALS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jose Siri homered, Wander Franco had a sacrifice fly in a two-run seventh, and MLB-leading Tampa Bay beat Kansas City for a split of a four-game series against the lowly Royals.
The Rays (54-27) are 6-7 over their last 13 games, including a four-game split with Oakland, which has the worst record in the majors. Kansas City dropped to 22-56.
The game was delayed approximately 15 minutes in the fifth when plate umpire and crew chief Mark Wegner took a hard foul tip by Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena off the mask. After being checked out behind the plate, Wegner walked off with a Rays trainer.
Siri opened the seventh inning by drawing a walk from Taylor Clarke (1-2). Yandy Díaz got his fourth hit of the game on an infield single that deflected off the Royals reliever to shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who was charged with an error for an errant throw to first that put runners on second and third. Siri scored on Clarke’s wild pitch before Franco’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1.
After Colin Poche (5-2) worked a scoreless eighth, Pete Fairbanks got three outs in the ninth to earn his eighth save.