WASHINGTON — Justin Turner homered twice and drove in five runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers ended Stephen Strasburg’s undefeated streak by beating the Washington Nationals 6-3 on Thursday. ADVERTISING WASHINGTON — Justin Turner homered twice and drove in five
WASHINGTON — Justin Turner homered twice and drove in five runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers ended Stephen Strasburg’s undefeated streak by beating the Washington Nationals 6-3 on Thursday.
Turner hit his 16th and 17th home runs, a two-run shot off Strasburg in the first and a three-run shot off the right-hander in the third, to set a career high.
Howie Kendrick extended his hitting streak to 13 games, and Adrian Gonzalez also drove in a run for the Dodgers. They beat the Nationals for the fifth time in six games this season.
Strasburg (13-1) lost for the first time since Sept. 9, ending a run of 16 consecutive winning decisions. Making it through the sixth, he allowed a season-high six earned runs and seven hits — all in the first three innings — and struck out 10.
Before Strasburg could settle down, the Dodgers crushed the ball against him, including a double off the left-field wall from Gonzalez and Turner’s two home runs. At one point Strasburg struck out seven of nine Los Angeles batters and allowed just one base runner after the third.
Left-hander Adam Liberatore (2-0) got the win by pitching a scoreless eighth. Kenley Jansen finished for his 28th save.
RED SOX 13, TWINS 2
BOSTON — Mookie Betts homered on the first pitch Boston faced, David Ortiz added a late two-run homer and the Red Sox continued to surge through July with a victory over Minnesota.
Dustin Pedroia went 5 for 5 with two doubles for Boston. The Red Sox had 17 hits while winning their third straight and improving to 12-3 in July.
Betts, Ortiz and Xander Bogaerts had three hits apiece and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a solo homer and finished with three RBIs. Steven Wright (12-5) tied his career high with nine strikeouts and held Minnesota to four hits in eight innings.
Boston, which had 16 hits in an 11-7 win over San Francisco on Wednesday, was up 3-0 after getting four hits against Minnesota starter Tyler Duffey (5-7) in the first.
ORIOLES 4, YANKEES 1
NEW YORK — Chris Tillman tied for the major league lead with his 14th victory, pitching four-hit ball for seven innings and helping depleted Baltimore avert a four-game sweep at Yankee Stadium.
The Orioles had lost four straight overall, costing them their lead in the AL East.
Baltimore slugger Chris Davis, shortstop Manny Machado and manager Buck Showalter returned from a stomach bug that’s hit the clubhouse. But Orioles center fielder Adam Jones didn’t play because of back spasms, catcher Matt Wieters missed his third consecutive game after being hit by a pitch in the foot and rookie outfielder Joey Rickard sat out with an injured thumb.
Tillman (14-2) matched White Sox ace Chris Sale for the most victories in the majors. Tillman gave up three hits and two walks to the first eight batters, capped by Starlin Castro’s RBI single. The tall right-hander then set down 16 of his final 17 hitters.
Brad Brach pitched the eighth and Zach Britton closed for his 30th save in as many chances.
CC Sabathia (5-8) lost on his 36th birthday.
CARDINALS 6, PADRES 5
ST. LOUIS — Aledmys Diaz’s walk-off single in the ninth inning gave St. Louis a comeback victory over San Diego.
St. Louis scored four runs — the last three on Stephen Piscotty’s homer — to tie it in the eighth and went on to its first four-game series sweep at home since beating Colorado on Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2010.
Tommy Pham led off the ninth with a double off reliever Carlos Villanueva (1-1). With the bases loaded and one out, Diaz ripped a 3-2 pitch to left for the winner.
Yangervis Solarte homered in the eighth inning to extend the Padres’ franchise-record home run streak to 19 consecutive games. The streak is the longest in the National League since Milwaukee hit home runs in 20 consecutive games in July 2008.
PIRATES 5, BREWERS 3
PITTSBURGH — Francisco Liriano took another step toward putting his season-long control issues behind him, striking out 13 in Pittsburgh’s victory over Milwaukee.
Liriano (6-9) gave up three runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings and didn’t issue a walk for just the second time in 19 starts. The left-hander entered the game having issued a major league-high 62 walks.
Mark Melancon worked the ninth for his 28th save.
Matt Joyce hit a three-run homer off Matt Garza (1-4) in the first inning and finished with four RBIs after being a last-second substitution in the outfield when Starling Marte was diagnosed with flu-like symptoms shortly before the first pitch.
Jonathan Villar homored for the Brewers.
MARLINS 9, PHILLIES 3
PHILADELPHIA — Tom Koehler pitched eight strong innings, Ichiro Suzuki moved within four hits of 3,000 for his career and Miami pounded out 16 hits against Philadelphia.
Christian Yelich homered, and the Marlins won three of four over the Phillies to cap a seven-game road trip at 5-2. Miami moved 1 1/2 games ahead of idle New York for the second NL wild-card spot.
Koehler (7-8) rebounded from a month-long slump with arguably his best outing of the season. He gave up two hits and only one of his three runs allowed was earned while striking out five and walking one.
Ryan Howard and Freddy Galvis homered for Philadelphia.
Jerad Eickhoff (6-11) was the loser.
ROCKIES 7, BRAVES 3
DENVER – Carlos Gonzalez hit a three-run homer to break a scoreless tie in the sixth inning, Chad Bettis threw efficiently into the seventh and the Colorado Rockies beat the Atlanta Braves 7-3 on Thursday night.
Gonzalez lined a 97 mph fastball from Mike Foltynewicz (3-4) over the fence in right-center. It was Gonzalez’s 20th homer of the season and first since participating in the All-Star Home Run Derby.
Bettis (8-6) allowed one run over 6 2-3 innings. He was cruising through Atlanta’s lineup until hitting a bump in the seventh when he gave up an RBI double to A.J. Pierzynski.
Trailing 7-1 in the ninth, the Braves scored twice before the Rockies brought in closer Carlos Estevez with two outs. He got Jace Peterson to roll out to end the game and earn his seventh save.
The Rockies have won seven straight over Atlanta at Coors Field.
TIGERS 2, WHITE SOX 1, 7 inn.
CHICAGO – Ian Kinsler hit his 20th home run, Miguel Cabrera added his 19th and the Detroit Tigers beat the struggling Chicago White Sox 2-1 in a game that was called after more than a two-hour rain delay in the seventh inning on Thursday.
A heavy downpour before the bottom of the seventh sent players and umpires running for cover. And after two hours, five minutes the game was finally called.
The Tigers opened a seven-game trip on a winning note while the White Sox have now dropped seven of eight.
RAYS 7, ATHLETICS 3
OAKLAND, Calif. – Tim Beckham homered and then sparked a four-run inning with his eighth straight hit over three games to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday night.
He followed up a five-hit game in Colorado on Wednesday by hitting a solo homer in the second against Sonny Gray (4-9) and then adding a leadoff single in the big fifth inning that gave Tampa Bay the lead for good.
Beckham, who started the streak with a single in his final at-bat Monday, was finally retired when he popped out to end the sixth but by then he had done his damage. His eight hits in eight at-bats — he walked in his other plate appearance — were one more hit than he had in 41 at-bats in all of June.
Corey Dickerson homered and drove in three runs, and Logan Forsythe, Brad Miller and Evan Longoria added RBI hits in the fifth inning to back a solid start by Matt Moore (6-7).
