Nearly perfect Kershaw leads Dodgers past Angels 9-1
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Clayton Kershaw took a perfect game through the seventh and finished with eight scoreless innings of one-hit ball in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 9-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
After retiring the Angels’ first 21 batters in order, Kershaw (7-2) fell six outs short of his first perfect game and the second in Dodgers franchise history when Luis Rengifo lined a clean double to left leading off the eighth.
The Dodgers’ left-hander finished the eighth inning strong and got the last of several standing ovations from a sellout crowd of 44,648 at Angel Stadium.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner struck out six and threw just 89 pitches in his eight innings. Kershaw threw the only no-hitter of his career back in 2014 against Colorado.
Justin Turner had three hits, drove in four runs and also made the first of three spectacular defensive plays by the Dodgers’ infield to keep Kershaw’s perfect game intact. Will Smith went 4 for 4 with a walk, while Hanser Alberto had a two-run triple in the fifth inning as the Dodgers rolled toward the All-Star break with 13 wins in 15 games.
Brandon Marsh homered off Reyes Moronta in the ninth inning for the Angels, who opened the second half of the annual Freeway Series with their 11th loss in 13 games overall.
Patrick Sandoval (3-5) yielded seven hits and two earned runs while failing to get through the fifth inning for the Angels.
RAYS 5, ORIOLES 4
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Baltimore’s winning streak ended at 10 when Christian Bethancourt hit his first home run and Tampa Bay rallied for a victory.
The winning streak was the Orioles’ longest in a single season since they won 13 straight in 1999.
Ramon Urías homered twice for the Orioles, the first multi-home run game of his career, and Trey Mancini also connected. But Baltimore also left the bases loaded without scoring in the first and fifth innings.
The Rays trailed 2-1 in the sixth when they got four straight extra-base hits with two outs. Josh Lowe and Yu Chang doubled off Tyler Wells to tie it. Francisco Mejia greeted Cionel Pérez with a go-ahead double. Bethancourt then launched a pinch-hit home run off the left-field foul pole.
Matt Wisler (3-3) got the win in relief and Brooks Raley pitched the ninth for his sixth save in seven chances.
Wells (7-5) gave up three runs in eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, striking out six.
MARINERS 8, RANGERS 3
ARLINGTON, Texas — Robbie Ray struck out 12 without a walk over 6 2/3 innings, rookie All-Star center fielder Julio Rodríguez hit a grand slam and Seattle extended its longest winning streak in more than two decades to 12 games.
The only time the Mariners had a longer winning streak was their team-record 15 in row in 2001, their last playoff season. Atlanta has the only longer streak in the big leagues this season with 14 consecutive wins last month.
Rodríguez hit his first career slam on a full-count pitch with two outs for his 16th homer, and finished with a career-best five RBIs.
Eugenio Suárez doubled and scored Seattle’s first run in the fourth. His sacrifice fly an inning later made it 4-0 before Corey Seager and Leody Taveras homered for the Rangers.
Ray (8-6) allowed three runs while matching his season high for strikeouts.
Taylor Hearn (4-6) matched his career high with seven strikeouts over four innings after Matt Bush pitched a scoreless first as an opener. Hearn allowed four runs, two earned, while giving up five hits and walking two.
RED SOX 5, YANKEES 4, 11 INNINGS
NEW YORK — Xander Bogaerts slid home on Michael King’s wild pitch with two outs in the 11th inning, and Boston recovered from a meltdown in the ninth to beat New York for its third win in 11 games.
All three of those Boston wins have come against the Yankees, who have the best record in the majors.
Rafael Devers, Christian Vázquez and Bobby Dalbec homered for the Red Sox.
New York has lost five of six, the worst stretch this season for the Yankees (62-28). Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run homer off Nathan Eovaldi.
Tanner Houck (5-3) blew a save for the first time in seven chances.
Coming off a pair of losses, the Yankees went 2 for 15 with runners in scoring position as they played a third straight extra-inning game for the first time since May 2001.
WHITE SOX 6, TWINS 2
MINNEAPOLIS — Tim Anderson hit the go-ahead home run in the fourth inning and Adam Engel tacked on a three-run shot in the seventh, powering Chicago to its fourth straight win.
Michael Kopech (3-6) finished five innings for his first win in eight starts, taking another step forward after an ugly stretch in June and a July 5 loss when he gave up six runs to the Twins.
Andrew Vaughn got the bats going with a two-run single in the first for the White Sox, who cut their deficit in the AL Central to three games. Cleveland beat Detroit and crept within 2 1/2 games of the Twins, who have lost two games of ground on both the Guardians and White Sox by losing the first two games in this series.
The White Sox, who have their longest winning streak since they won six in a row from May 2-8, did have a setback of potential concern when center fielder Luis Robert was pulled after the first inning with lightheadedness. Engel stepped in and didn’t miss a beat.
GIANTS 8, BREWERS 5
SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Yastrzemski hit a walk-off grand slam off major league saves leader Josh Hader for San Francisco’s third homer of the ninth inning, and Giants rallied from a three-run deficit and beat Milwaukee.
Hader was tagged with his second straight loss, two nights after giving up a walkoff three-run home run to Minnesota’s Jose Miranda in the ninth inning and taking the loss without retiring a batter.
Hader (0-4) again had trouble keeping the ball in the park.
Joey Bart started the comeback in the ninth with a leadoff home run. After pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores flew out, Darin Ruf connected to make it 5-4. Austin Slater followed with his fourth hit of the night and Hader hit Yermín Mercedes with a pitch before Thairo Estrada’s bloop hit to right loaded the bases.
Yastrzemski then drilled the first pitch he saw from Hader over the center field fence.
LaMonte Wade Jr. also homered for the Giants, who have won five of seven. Sam Long (1-2) retired three batters to win.
Andrew McCutchen continued his surge at the plate with a three-run double for the Brewers.
PHILLIES 2, MARLINS 1
MIAMI — J.T. Realmuto had three hits against his former team, including a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning off All-Star Sandy Alcantara, and Philadelphia snapped a four-game skid.
Alcantara extended his shutout string to 25 innings before consecutive run-scoring doubles from Darick Hall and Realmuto gave the Phillies the lead. The right-hander went eight innings and struck out 12.
Philadelphia reliever Seranthony Domínguez walked three batters with one out in the ninth, but pinch-hitter Jesús Sánchez grounded into a fielder’s choice that forced pinch-runner Billy Hamilton at home. Domínguez then struck out Miguel Rojas for his fourth save.
Kyle Gibson (5-3) pitched six innings of one-run ball for the Phillies, scattering scattered four hits and a walk with five strikeouts.
Alcantara (9-4) limited Philly to one baserunner through the first six innings, and allowed four hits and walked two.
PADRES 5, DIAMONDBACKS 3
SAN DIEGO — A fired-up Yu Darvish struck out nine in seven innings and scuffling San Diego beat Arizona.
Austin Nola hit an early two-run double to help the Padres win for only the second time in seven games.
Ketel Marte had three hits and scored twice for the Diamondbacks, including a solo homer to center field off Darvish (8-4) in the first inning.
Christian Walker smashed a long two-run homer off Darvish after Marte singled in the fourth, making it 5-3.
Darvish allowed five hits and walked two. Taylor Rogers retired the side in order in the ninth for his 25th save, second-most in the majors.
Madison Bumgarner (5-9) lasted five innings, giving up five runs — four earned — and eight hits.
BLUE JAYS 8, ROYALS 1
TORONTO — Teoscar Hernández and Matt Chapman hit three-run home runs, Alek Manoah snapped a three-start winless streak with seven strong innings and Toronto beat depleted Kansas City.
Kansas City, in last place in the AL Central, was without 10 unvaccinated players and bolstered its roster with Triple-A and Double-A prospects. The Royals lost for the second time in seven games.
Manoah (10-4) gave up one run and four hits, walking none and striking out six. Trevor Richards and Anthony Banda each worked an inning of relief.
Chapman and Raimel Tapia each had three hits as the Blue Jays piled up 16 total.
Zack Greinke (3-6) allowed four runs, three earned, in four innings, losing to the Blue Jays for the first time since June 5, 2009.
GUARDIANS 6, TIGERS 5
CLEVELAND — Josh Naylor drove in two runs and Andrés Giménez delivered the go-ahead single in the seventh inning, lifting Cleveland past Detroit.
Giménez hit a two-out flare to left field off Michael Fulmer (2-4) that scored rookie Steven Kwan from second base. One batter earlier, Naylor knocked in Myles Straw with a sacrifice fly to tie it 5-all.
Bryan Shaw (4-1) pitched two scoreless innings and Trevor Stephan worked the ninth for his second save.
Prized rookie Riley Greene homered and tied his season high with three RBIs for the Tigers, who have lost seven of eight. Harold Castro had two doubles and a single.
BRAVES 8, NATIONALS 4
WASHINGTON — Austin Riley, Orlando Arcia and Adam Duvall homered as Atlanta sent Washington to its eighth straight loss.
Atlanta improved to 9-2 against the Nationals this season and extended its winning streak in Washington to a franchise-record 13 games. The Braves have won six of eight overall, while the Nationals lost for the 14th time in 15 games.
Left-hander Patrick Corbin (4-12) dropped his ninth consecutive start against Atlanta.
Washington outfielder Juan Soto went 0 for 2 with three walks, ending his career-best 16-game hitting streak.
Ian Anderson (8-5) allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings and struck out five. He is 2-0 with a 2.30 ERA in three starts this month.
ROCKIES 13, PIRATES 2
DENVER — Brendan Rodgers homered and drove in four runs, C.J. Cron hit his 21st home run and German Marquez became the second Colorado pitcher to reach 900 career strikeouts in the Rockies’ win over Pittsburgh.
Elias Diaz had two hits and three RBIs and Charlie Blackmon had three hits and two RBIs as the Rockies extended their winning streak to four games.
Marquez (6-7) gave up two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings before leaving in the seventh inning after being struck in the back of the right leg by a one-hopper from Kevin Newman. He finished with four strikeouts and no walks.
Jake Marisnick had two doubles and scored a run, and Jason Delay had a run-scoring single in the fifth for the Pirates, who have lost three in a row after a four-game winning streak.
CARDINALS 7, REDS 3
ST. LOUIS — Nolan Gorman hit a tiebreaking homer and Brendan Donovan drove in three runs as St. Louis halted a two-game skid with a win over Cincinnati.
St. Louis improved to 4-4 on a 10-game homestand, its longest of the season.
Cincinnati had won six of seven and was coming off back-to-back series wins for the first time this season.
Andre Pallante (3-4) allowed three runs and six hits over five innings for his first win since June 10. He struck out five and walked three.
Gorman broke a 3-all tie with a drive off fellow rookie Hunter Greene (3-2) leading off the fourth inning. Corey Dickerson added an RBI single in the sixth.
Greene allowed four runs on five hits over five innings. He struck out six and walked three.
ATHLETICS 5, ASTROS 1
HOUSTON — Skye Bolt homered with a career-high three RBIs, Cole Irvin pitched six sharp innings and Oakland beat Houston.
Elvis Andrus hit a two-run single as the A’s rallied from a one-run deficit in the seventh.
Irvin (4-7) yielded three hits, struck out four and walked one.
Jose Urquidy (8-4) allowed six hits and three runs with nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. He had won three straight decisions.
Manager Dusty Baker gave first baseman Yuli Gurriel and catcher Martín Maldonado the day off after the team arrived from a West Coast road trip early Friday morning.
