Manuel Margot‘s tiebreaking single in the eighth plated Randy Arozarena on Saturday night as the Tampa Bay Rays pushed their major-league-best winning streak to nine games, beating the host Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 in Dunedin, Fla.
Against Anthony Castro (0-1) in the eighth, Arozarena singled to center, advanced on a groundout, hustled to third on a wild pitch and scored on Margot’s sharp single to left.
Margot (stolen base), Mike Zunino (homer, double) and new shortstop Taylor Walls (two doubles, run) each went 2-for-4 for the Rays, who are 15-3 in their past 18 road games.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. went 2-for-4 in his return to the lineup and Teo Hernandez doubled in a run for Toronto, which lost its fourth straight.
Nationals 12, Orioles 9
Josh Harrison belted his first career grand slam and Ryan Zimmerman added a three-run blast as Washington rallied from an early five-run deficit for a win over visiting Baltimore.
Baltimore jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first inning on Freddy Galvis‘ RBI double and Ryan Mountcastle’s grand slam to left field off Jon Lester. But Zimmerman had three hits and scored three runs for the Nationals, who opened the three-game series with a 4-2 win on Friday.
Washington reliever Daniel Hudson (3-0) earned the win, pitching a scoreless eighth inning, and Brad Hand threw a scoreless ninth for his sixth save in eight opportunities.
Padres 6, Mariners 4
Two-out, run-scoring singles by Eric Hosmer and Austin Nola capped a five-run fifth inning as host San Diego defeated Seattle for its eighth straight win and 10th in 12 games.
Hosmer finished with two RBIs, while Fernando Tatis Jr. had two hits, both doubles, and Jurickson Profar also had two hits for San Diego. Craig Stammen (3-1) struck out two in a perfect fifth inning to pick up the win in relief of starter Ryan Weathers. Mark Melancon recorded his majors’ best 16th save.
Seattle lost a fifth straight game and is 3-10 over the last 13 games. Losing pitcher Justus Sheffield (3-4) went five innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits with five walks and three strikeouts. Mitch Haniger hit his 13th homer, and Jack Mayfield and Jacob Nottingham also drove in runs for the Mariners.
Yankees 7, White Sox 0
Gleyber Torres drove in four runs while Gerrit Cole pitched seven effective innings as surging New York extended its winning streak to five games with a victory over Chicago at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees matched their longest winning streak of the season and also moved to 11-3 in their past 14 games.
After Chicago starter Dylan Cease allowed a one-out single to Aaron Judge and walked Gio Urshela in the fourth, Torres made it 2-0 by lifting a 2-1 curveball from Cease (2-1) that rolled to the warning track in left-center field.
Brewers 4, Reds 3
Light-hitting Daniel Robertson broke a tie with a solo homer while relievers Brent Suter, Devin Williams and Josh Hader showed their typical dominant form to lead visiting Milwaukee past Cincinnati.
Suter (3-2) pitched two innings in relief of starter Brett Anderson to earn the win while Hader pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save.
For a third straight appearance, Reds reliever Heath Hembree (0-1) surrendered a home run, this time to Robertson, who came in hitting just .103.
Dodgers 6, Giants 3
Los Angeles used superior pitching to hand rival San Francisco a second straight home defeat, riding right-hander Walker Buehler’s gem to a victory.
Max Muncy and Austin Barnes hit solo home runs for the Dodgers, giving Buehler (3-0) an early cushion en route to the club’s sixth straight win.
Scott Kazmir (0-1), who was promoted earlier in the day from Triple-A Sacramento, was charged with one run on two hits in four innings for the Giants. He struck out two and didn’t issue a walk.
Red Sox 4, Phillies 3
Xander Bogaerts homered and drove in two runs, Danny Santana also homered and Boston defeated host Philadelphia.
The Red Sox have won four in a row and can sweep the weekend series on Sunday. Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi (5-2) tossed 5 1/3 innings and allowed five hits and two runs with four strikeouts and two walks.
Rhys Hoskins homered and knocked in two runs and Brad Miller added two hits for the struggling Phillies, who have lost four straight. Spencer Howard lasted only three-plus innings in his first start of the season for the Phillies. Howard (0-1) gave up one hit and two runs while striking out five and walking four.
Braves 6, Pirates 1
Ronald Acuna Jr. led off with a home run and Ozzie Albies went deep from both sides of the plate to send Atlanta to an easy win over visiting Pittsburgh.
Acuna set the tone when he connected on the first pitch from Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller for his major league-leading 15th home run. Albies posted the sixth multi-home run game of his career and the second time he’s homered from both sides of the plate, the other coming July 11, 2018, against Toronto.
Keller (2-6) suffered his third straight loss. He pitched five innings and allowed five runs on eight hits, one walk and six strikeouts. Michael Perez hit a solo homer for the Pirates, ending an 0-for-26 skid. The Braves have outscored the Pirates 26-2 over the first two games of the series, which concludes Sunday.
Rockies 7, Diamondbacks 6
Charlie Blackmon’s two-run home run in the sixth inning was part of a four-run spurt that proved to be the difference in Colorado’s tight win over struggling Arizona in Denver.
Raimel Tapia, Josh Fuentes and Brendan Rodgers each had a pair of hits for the Rockies, who have won two straight games immediately following a five-game losing streak.
The Diamondbacks have lost 12 consecutive games on the road, their longest streak since losing a franchise-record 14 straight from May 18-June 18, 2010. They have lost their last seven games and 10 of their last 11. Eduardo Escobar hit a three-run home run, his fifth home run in his last eight games, for his 12th of the season for Arizona.
Indians 5, Twins 3 (10)
Cesar Hernandez hit a walk-off, two-run homer in the 10th inning as Cleveland beat visiting Minnesota.
After ace Shane Bieber failed to hold a 3-0 lead, Cleveland managed to prevail when Hernandez opened the 10th with a line drive that just made it over the top of the right-field wall off Minnesota’s Alex Colome to even the three-game set.
The Twins got two hits apiece from Luis Arraez and Max Kepler, but dropped to 0-8 in extra-inning games this season — all in 10 innings.
Rangers 8, Astros 4
Adolis Garcia slugged two home runs and Texas used a five-run seventh inning to erase what was once a three-run deficit in a win over visiting Houston.
Garcia bashed leadoff home runs in the fifth and seventh innings, upping his season total to 14. Garcia, who went 2-for-5 with two RBIs after posting a multi-hit, five-RBI game in the series opener, pulled the Rangers even at 4-4 with his blast off Astros reliever Andre Scrubb (1-1) in the seventh.
Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. allowed three runs on six hits and four walks with seven strikeouts in five innings.
Royals 7, Tigers 5
Andrew Benintendi was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored as Kansas City hung on to defeat visiting Detroit.
Brady Singer (2-3) earned the win, allowing three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. Matthew Boyd (2-5) had his worst outing of the season, allowing five earned runs in five innings. He allowed eight hits plus three walks.
The Royals jumped on Boyd in the first, the first team to do so this season. Kansas City loaded the bases with no outs. After a popout, Benintendi stroked a single through the hole at short, driving in Whit Merrifield and Carlos Santana. The two runs were the first Boyd has allowed in the first inning all season.
Marlins 3, Mets 1
Garrett Cooper slugged a two-run, two-out, walk-off homer in the ninth inning, leading host Miami to a win over New York.
Cooper hit a 3-2 cutter from reliever Drew Smith (1-1). On the previous pitch, Smith came close to an inning-ending strikeout but didn’t get the call.
Marlins closer Yimi Garcia (3-2) pitched one scoreless inning, earning the win. Miami starter Pablo Lopez pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out eight.
Cardinals 2, Cubs 1
Yadier Molina hit the decisive homer to lift St. Louis over visiting Chicago.
The National League Central-leading Cardinals won for the third time in four games and expanded their lead over the second-place Cubs to three games.
But the victory may have been costly. Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas lasted just four innings in his first outing since 2019. He went to the mound to warm up for the fifth inning, but he was unable to continue due to right forearm tightness.
Athletics 6, Angels 2
Chris Bassitt took a shutout bid into the eighth inning and Oakland defeated Los Angeles in Anaheim, Calif., to clinch the series against their American League West rivals.
Matt Olson, Aramis Garcia and Seth Brown hit home runs as the A’s won for the fourth time in their last six games. Oakland has 66 home runs to lead the American League and is second in the majors to the Atlanta Braves’ 75. Bassitt (4-2) gave up two runs on five hits over 7 2/3 innings with one walk and eight strikeouts.
Left-hander Patrick Sandoval (0-1) gave up two runs on four hits over five innings for the Angels, while Shohei Ohtani had an RBI triple. Los Angeles has dropped five of its last six games, all since three-time MVP Mike Trout hit the injured list with a calf strain.
–Field Level Media