MLB: Rodriguez ends drought with a pivotal slam
NEW YORK — When Alex Rodriguez arrived at home plate Tuesday night with the bases loaded in the seventh inning and the New York Yankees trailing the Minnesota Twins by three runs, chants of “Let’s Go A-Rod” seemed like wishful thinking.
Rodriguez had been in a dreadful funk this month, with one harmless single in the last week. He even admitted two days earlier that he felt terrible at the plate.
But with one swing, Rodriguez wiped away his struggles, belting a majestic home run to deep center field — one he admired by holding his follow-through and looking into the Yankees’ dugout — that lifted the Yankees to a 8-4 victory.
Rodriguez slapped hands with the third-base coach Joe Espada with vigor and bounced across home plate and into the dugout, where he let out a primal scream. He gathered himself and ducked out of the dugout to acknowledge the ovation.
“I’ve been stinking up the joint here for about three weeks now, and that one felt good,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez’s home run produced another thrilling victory for the Yankees, who have rallied to win in the seventh inning or later three times in the last five days to remain one game ahead of Toronto in the American League East.
It was Rodriguez’s 25th homer this season and his 25th career grand slam, but it is hard to imagine few that were as unlikely.
Mets 5, Orioles 3
BALTIMORE — Jacob deGrom took a four-hitter into the eighth inning, Curtis Granderson hit two solo homers and the New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 Tuesday night to snap a three-game losing streak.
Granderson connected off Kevin Gausman (2-5) on the game’s second pitch and homered again in the fifth, then deGrom made the lead stand for the first-place Mets.
Baltimore had won four straight.
New York has won nine in a row against the Orioles dating back to June 2010.
The 6-foot-4 deGrom (12-6) gave up one run, five hits and a walk in 7 2/3 innings. The right-hander struck out six and lowered his ERA to 1.98, second-best in the National League behind the Dodgers’ Zack Greinke.
BLUE JAYS 8, PHILLIES 5
PHILADELPHIA — Josh Donaldson hit two homers, and Edwin Encarnacion also went deep as the Blue Jays beat the Phillies.
The AL wild card-leading Blue Jays have won 13 of 15. They entered one game behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
The Phillies, who have the worst record in the majors, have lost four straight and five of six after winning 16 of 21 following the All-Star break.
Donaldson hit a drive off Aaron Nola into the second deck in left field in the first. His three-run shot in the sixth off Jeanmar Gomez (1-3) gave the Blue Jays a 7-5 lead.
Liam Hendricks (4-0) pitched out of a jam in the fifth.
RED SOX 9, INDIANS 1
BOSTON — Travis Shaw went 4 for 4, Mookie Betts drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double and the Red Sox beat the Indians, announcing a major front-office shake-up late in the game.
Dave Dombrowski was hired to take over baseball operations for general manager Ben Cherington. Boston is in danger of finishing last in the AL East for the third time in four seasons.
Brock Holt had three hits and two RBIs for the Red Sox, who have won five of six and continued a recent offensive surge with 16 hits.
Boston’s Eduardo Rodriguez (7-5) pitched eight solid innings. Trevor Bauer (9-10) was pulled early for the second straight start.
ROYALS 3, REDS 1, 13 INNINGS
CINCINNATI — Ben Zobrist tied the game with a homer in the ninth inning, Jarrod Dyson scored the tie-breaking run from first base on pitcher Ryan Mattheus’ throwing error and the Royals went on to a 13-inning victory over the Reds.
Dyson led off the 13th with a single and scored when Mattheus (1-4) threw a sacrifice bunt by Kris Medlen (1-0) down the right field line.
Greg Holland finished for his 27th save.
Zobrist stunned the crowd of 28,719 by leading off the ninth against Aroldis Chapman with his 10th homer of the season. Chapman had converted 56 consecutive save opportunities at home since blowing one against Houston on Sept. 7, 2012.
MARINERS 3, RANGERS 2
ARLINGTON, Texas — Hisashi Iwakuma followed his no-hitter by limiting Texas to two runs and five hits over seven innings as the Mariners beat the Rangers.
All of Seattle’s scoring came in the first inning on three extra-base hits, including Seth Smith’s 10th home run of the season.
Iwakuma (5-2) gave up a hit to Texas’ second batter, a single by Shin-Soo Choo. He retired 12 straight at one point and struck out six while walking one.
The right-hander no-hit Baltimore 3-0 in Seattle last Wednesday.
The Rangers’ winning streak ended at five games.
Rangers rookie right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez (2-5) set a career high with seven strikeouts.
MARLINS 9, BREWERS 6
MILWAUKEE — Ichiro Suzuki had his first four-hit game in over two years, and Cole Gillespie drove in a season-high three runs to lead the Marlins past the Brewers.
Suzuki was 4 for 5 with two runs scored for his first four-hit game since July 28, 2013.
Adeiny Hechavarria extended his career-high hitting streak to 12 games and relief pitcher Kendry Flores (1-1) faced one batter in the fourth in his first major league victory. With the bases loaded, A.J. Ramos got the final out in the ninth for his 20th save.
Milwaukee rookie starter Tyler Cravy (0-5) lasted only 2 2-3 innings after giving up seven runs — four earned — to go with seven hits and three walks.
ASTROS 3, RAYS 2
HOUSTON — Marwin Gonzalez had three hits and his 10th-inning leadoff homer lifted the Astros to a victory over the Rays.
The game was tied at 2-all when Gonzalez connected off All-Star closer Brad Boxberger (4-9), sending a full-count fastball into the seats in right field to give Houston the win.
Luke Gregerson (6-2) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.
The Rays led 2-1 in the eighth before an RBI double by Carlos Correa tied it up.
Curt Casali homered for the Rays, who lost for the fourth time in five games.
GIANTS 2, CARDINALS 0
ST. LOUIS — Ryan Vogelsong pitched six innings of two-hit ball and ace Madison Bumgarner keyed a seventh-inning rally with his first career pinch hit, helping the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 on Tuesday night.
Brandon Crawford doubled leading off the fifth for the Giants’ first hit when left fielder Brandon Moss couldn’t quite hold onto his drive down the line near both walls.
The Giants have won six of eight and handed the Cardinals, who got a strong bounce-back outing from Lance Lynn (9-8), just their 19th home loss compared with 45 wins.
Vogelsong (9-8) struck out five and walked one while throwing 101 pitches.
PIRATES 9, DIAMONDBACKS 8, 15 innings.
PITTSBURGH — Pedro Florimon tripled home Francisco Cervelli with two outs in the bottom of the 15th for the Pirates.
Cervelli singled off Keith Hessler (0-1) for his fourth hit of the game and Florimon hit a high flyball to right field that clanged off the wall.
Joe Blanton (5-2) pitched three innings of scoreless relief for the Pirates. Starling Marte and Jung Ho Kang homered for Pittsburgh, which won despite blowing a late five-run lead.
Paul Goldschmidt drove in two runs and tied the game off Pittsburgh closer Mark Melancon in the ninth. Aaron Hill had three hits for Arizona, which left 11 runners on base.
Melancon’s club-record consecutive save streak ended at 35.
TIGERS 10, CUBS 8
CHICAGO — Ian Kinsler had five hits, including a home run, and Detroit used a three-run eighth inning to rally for the victory.
Nick Castellanos had a two-run single and J.D. Martinez added a sacrifice fly in the tie-breaking eighth.
Martinez and Anthony Gose also homered for the Tigers in a game that was delayed for 2 hours and 17 minutes after a strong thunderstorm hit with one out in the bottom of the third.
Anthony Rizzo singled in Dexter Fowler to tie it 6-all in the seventh as the Cubs rallied from four runs down. But they lost their second straight following a nine-game winning streak. Chicago’s eight-game home winning streak also ended.
Rookie Kyle Schwarber launched a three-run blast — his ninth homer in 35 games — and Chris Coghlan hit a two-run shot for the Cubs.
Al Alburquerque (3-0), the fourth of six Detroit relievers, got one out and the win.
Pedro Strop (1-6), the fifth of six Chicago relievers, gave up the three runs in the eighth and took the loss.
NATIONALS 15, ROCKIES 6
DENVER — Yunel Escobar homered and drove in four runs to help Washington end a six-game losing streak.
Michael A. Taylor hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh and the Nationals capitalized on a lack of control by Rockies pitchers in a four-run eighth to turn a close game into a rout.
Bryce Harper walked a career-high four times, scoring each time to help Jordan Zimmermann (9-8) come away with the victory despite allowing six runs in six innings.
Jose Reyes had four hits, including his first home run as a member of the Rockies. Kyle Parker and Carlos Gonzalez also homered for the Rockies. Gonzalez was lifted in the sixth inning because of inflammation in his right knee and was listed as day to day.
Parker homered off Zimmermann to lead off the sixth but Washington went back in front in its next at-bat on Taylor’s RBI single off reliever Justin Miller (1-2) who had put a runner in scoring position by issuing two walks.
In all, Rockies pitchers walked 10 Nationals, including two more in the ninth, when they added four more runs.
ANGELS 5, WHITE SOX 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Los Angeles’ Kole Calhoun and Albert Pujols homered in the first inning against John Danks.
Garrett Richards (12-9) was charged with three runs — two earned — and eight hits in seven-plus innings with four strikeouts and no walks.
Richards threw 25 of his 95 pitches in the sixth inning, when the White Sox closed to 4-2 with a two-out RBI double by Jose Abreu. But the Angels got a run-scoring infield hit in the seventh from Shane Victorino.
Richards left in the eighth after giving up two singles. Adam Eaton drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder against Joe Smith, but Huston Street pitched a perfect ninth for his 29th save in 33 chances.
Danks (6-10) was charged with five runs — four earned — and five hits in seven innings.
ATHLETICS 5, DODGERS 4
OAKLAND, Calif. — Billy Butler hit an RBI double in the 10th inning and Oakland outlasted Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers.
Mark Canha opened the 10th with a double off Yimi Garcia, his fourth hit of the game. Butler then lined the next pitch to right, and the throw from Scott Van Slyke sailed well wide of home plate, allowing Canha to score easily and end the A’s season-high seven-game losing streak.
Kershaw gave up one run over seven innings. He walked two, struck out seven and left with a 4-1 lead.
Canha had a two-run double when Oakland scored three runs in the eighth off reliever Pedro Baez. Marcus Semien added a tying RBI single.
A.J. Ellis hit a three-run home run for Los Angeles, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.
PADRES 9, BRAVES 0
SAN DIEGO — Melvin Upton Jr. hit two two-run home runs against his former team and Yangervis Solarte hit a three-run shot to back James Shields and give the Padres the win.
Upton, acquired from the Braves in a seven-player trade the day before the season opened, homered in the sixth inning off David Aardsma and in the eighth off Andrew McKirahan to help Shields with a much-needed laugher.
Upton, who has five homers this season, was a late addition to the starting lineup after Will Venable was traded to Texas a few hours before the game.
Shields (9-5) won for just the second time in 14 starts. It took him eight starts to get his eighth win and then six starts to get his ninth. He held Atlanta to five hits and struck out seven in six innings.
The loss went to rookie Matt Wisler (5-3), who had been the Padres’ top pitching prospect before being sent to Atlanta in the big trade on April 5. He allowed two runs and six hits in five innings.
The Braves have lost 17 of 25.
