ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Michael Perez hit a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning and the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 on Wednesday night.
Perez homered to center off Mychal Givens (0-1). It was his first long ball since Aug. 10, 2018.
Ryan Sherriff (1-0) worked a perfect eighth in his first big league game since May 7, 2018, due to Tommy John surgery.
Diego Castillo pitched the ninth to get his first save. Ten Tampa Bay relievers have a save this season.
Brandon Lowe hit his 10th homer for the Rays, who have won nine of 11.
The Orioles are 8-3 on the road after losing the first two games of the series. Their only other defeat away from home came opening day at Boston.
BLUE JAYS 9, RED SOX 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Rowdy Tellez drove in four runs with two homers and a double, and Toronto beat Boston.
Vladimir Guererro Jr. hit a pair of doubles, including a three-run bouncer down the left field line that keyed a four-run seventh inning for Toronto (15-14). Randal Grichuk also homered and drove in two runs.
Five Toronto pitchers combined to allow three hits, struck out seven and walked three.
Rookie right-hander Shun Yamaguchi (1-2) got the win in allowing one run on two hits over four innings of relief .
Mitch Moreland homered for the Red Sox (10-21), who are 4-3 in their past seven since snapping a nine-game skid. Colton Brewer (0-2) got the loss in allowing four runs on five hits, including three homers, in 3 2/3 innings.
METS 5, MARLINS 4
NEW YORK (AP) — Wilson Ramos singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning after hobbled Mets closer Edwin Díaz and the bullpen blew another lead provided by Jacob deGrom, and New York beat Miami.
DeGrom set New York up nicely by matching a career high with 14 strikeouts and handing off a 4-1 lead to begin the eighth inning, but Miami promptly loaded the bases with one out against Justin Wilson. DeGrom set a career high with his 10th consecutive start allowing two or fewer runs.
The Marlins came back to tie the game at 4-all before Robinson Canó led off the bottom of the inning with his third hit, and pinch-runner Billy Hamilton scored from second when Ramos hit a two-out single off Nick Vincent (1-2).
Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo homered for the Mets. Conforto had two hits, two walks and a stolen base, and Canó hit a first-inning, RBI double. Brach (1-0) picked up the win.
Marlins starter Elieser Hernandez allowed four runs — three earned — in four innings. He struck out seven and gave up seven hits and a walk.
INDIANS 6, TWINS 3
CLEVELAND (AP) — Mike Clevinger pitched effectively in his first start since breaking COVID-19 protocols and Tyler Naquin doubled home the go-ahead run in a three-run eighth inning as Cleveland beat Minnesota to tighten the AL Central.
Clevinger gave up a homer to Max Kepler on his third pitch, but settled in and held the Twins to two runs over six innings in his first start since Aug. 5.
José Ramírez hit a three-run homer in the third and Naquin doubled off Sergio Romo (0-1) in the eighth to break a 3-3 tie.
Phil Maton (2-0) picked up the win in relief and Brad Hand worked the ninth for his ninth save.
TIGERS 7, CUBS 6
DETROIT (AP) — Niko Goodrum hit a two-run double to cap Detroit’s five-run sixth inning, and the Tigers held on to beat the Cubs.
The Cubs trailed 7-3 entering the ninth, but Nico Hoerner hit an RBI single and Albert Almora added a run-scoring double. An infield single by Ian Happ put the tying run on first with nobody out, then Anthony Rizzo hit a sacrifice fly that center fielder Victor Reyes caught against the wall, some 420 feet from the plate.
Detroit pitcher Buck Farmer snagged Kyle Schwarber’s line drive to end it.
Joe Jimenez (1-1) allowed Schwarber’s solo homer in the sixth but got the win in relief. Ryan Tepera (0-1) took the loss.
Detroit finished with a season-high 18 hits. Jonathan Schoop, Miguel Cabrera, Cameron Maybin and Austin Romine had three each.
PHILLIES 3, NATIONALS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) — Aaron Nola threw seven strong innings, and Philadelphia took advantage of Washington's sloppy outfield defense to rally for a victory.
Bryce Harper delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh to help the Phillies win their third in a row. The defending World Series champion Nationals have dropped three consecutive games to drop to a season-high six games under .500.
Nola (3-2) gave up two runs on five hits while striking out eight. Tommy Hunter tossed a perfect eighth, and recently acquired closer Brandon Workman escaped a two-on, one-out jam by striking out Eric Thames and Victor Robles for his second save with the Phillies and sixth overall.
Rhys Hoskins had a solo homer in the third for Philadelphia.
Juan Soto hit his eighth homer of the season for the Nationals. Reliever Will Harris (0-1) took the loss.
Phillies manager Joe Girardi became the 65th manager in major league history to win 1,000 games, improving to 1,000-808 in 12 seasons.
BRAVES 5, YANKEES 1, Game 1
BRAVES 2, YANKEES 1, Game 2
ATLANTA (AP) — Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning off Chad Green and Atlanta, led by another strong start from Max Fried, rallied to beat the Yankees to sweep a doubleheader.
The Yankees have lost five straight and saw outfielder Aaron Judge aggravate his strained right calf. The second game of the twinbill was Judge’s first since being activated from the injured list, and he left in the middle of the sixth inning.
In the opener, Ian Anderson dazzled in his big league debut, holding the Yankees hitless into the sixth inning and ending Gerrit Cole’s 20-game winning streak.
Masahiro Tanaka was dominant, allowing only three hits in five scoreless innings as he left the second game with a 1-0 lead. Green (2-1) allowed an infield single to Dansby Swanson with two outs in the sixth before giving up Freeman’s homer, an opposite-field shot over the 385-foot mark in left field.
Fried (5-0) allowed four hits and one run in six strong innings. Mark Melancon pitched the seventh for his fifth save.
Ronald Acuña Jr. celebrated his return to the lineup by leading off the opener with a 473-foot drive against Cole.
Anderson (1-0) gave a depleted Atlanta rotation a huge boost. The 22-year-old right-hander, the third overall pick in the 2016 draft, didn’t allow a hit until Luke Voit connected for his team-leading 11th homer with one out in the sixth.
Dansby Swanson and Marcell Ozuna also homered off Cole (4-1), who suffered his first loss in the regular season since May 22, 2019, with Houston.
Cole had been unbeaten in 28 consecutive regular-season starts — Clemens holds the mark with 30.
CARDINALS 6, ROYALS 5
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kolten Wong drew a bases-loaded walk to cap off a four-run rally in the ninth inning that lifted St. Louis over Kansas City.
Tyler O’Neill tied the game at 5 with a two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded off the glove of third baseman Maikel Franco.
Wong coaxed a five-pitch walk off Randy Rosario (0-1)
Alex Reyes (1-0) got the win.
Ryan McBroom and Cam Gallagher homered for Kansas City, which has lost 13 of its last 17 to its cross-state rival.
St. Louis outfielder Dexter Fowler and pitcher Jack Flaherty opted to sit out the game in solidarity with other players around the league in protest of the shooting in Kenosha, Wiscoinsin. Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot multiple times by police Sunday.
WHITE SOX 10, PIRATES 3
CHICAGO (AP) — José Abreu homered, Dallas Keuchel pitched six dominant innings, and surging Chicago pounded Pittsburgh as the White Sox won for the ninth time in 10 games.
Abreu’s 12th home run was Chicago’s fourth of the game and broke it open. Eloy Jiménez slugged a three-run homer, Danny Mendick lined a two-run drive and Edwin Encarnacion added a solo shot for Chicago, which leads the AL with 60 home runs.
Keuchel (5-2) allowed two runs on four hits and struck out seven in his third straight win.
Erik González hit a solo shot off reliever Zack Burdi and Jacob Stallings drove in the Pirates’ two runs off Keuchel with a single in the sixth. Pittsburgh has lost two straight following a three-game winning streak to drop to 7-19, the worst record in the majors.
Cole Tucker had two of the Pirates six hits.
Trevor Williams (1-5) allowed a season-high eight runs and nine hits through six innings.
ATHLETICS 3, RANGERS 1
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Mike Fiers extended his mastery over the Rangers, allowing onlly an unearned run over six innings as the Athletics beat Texas.
Fiers (4-1) struck out seven and scattered three hits in his six innings. He is 6-0 with a 3.18 ERA in his last nine starts against Texas.
Oakland has the American League’s best record at 22-10, including a 19-6 mark record in August for its most wins in any month since also winning 19 in September 2013. Texas has lost 10 of its last 11 games.
The A’s didn’t have a hit until Stephen Piscotty’s one-out RBI single in the sixth inning that tied the game at 1-1, right after young Texas lefty Kolby Allard (0-3) walked the previous two batters. Allard then issued another walk to load the bases before reliever Luis Garcia’s wild pitch allowed the go-ahead run.
Liam Hendricks worked a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances.
The only Texas run came on catcher Sean Murphy’s throwing error on a double steal.
ROCKIES 8, DIAMONDBACKS 7
PHOENIX (AP) — Charlie Blackmon hit a grand slam to help Colorado build a big lead and the Rockies held on during a tense ninth inning to beat Arizona.
Blackmon’s second career slam made it 8-1 in the top of the eighth. After the Diamondbacks scored twice in the bottom half of the inning, they rallied for four runs in the ninth.
Christian Walker’s two-run single pulled the D-backs within an 8-7 margin. Jeff Hoffman earned his first big league save.
Colorado has won three straight and will go for the four-game sweep on Thursday. Arizona has lost a season-high eight in a row.
Jon Gray (2-3) pitched six innings in his best outing of the season, allowing one run and three hits.
It was another frustrating outing for Robbie Ray (1-4), who lasted just four innings and threw 99 pitches. He struck out eight but also walked six and gave up two runs.
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