Scherzer’s pinch hit in 14th helps lead Nats past Braves 5-3
ATLANTA (AP) Nationals ace Max Scherzer singled as a pinch hitter in the 14th inning and scored the tiebreaking run on Wilmer Difo's triple, sparking Washington to a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.
In his third big league pinch-hit appearance, Scherzer singled up the middle against Miguel Socolovich (0-1) and sped home from first base on Difo's hit to right-center field. Spencer Kieboom added an RBI single. Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, touched off a dugout celebration after he scored.
Justin Miller (2-0) struck out five in three innings, facing the minimum, and Sean Doolittle got three straight outs for his 14th save.
Juan Soto and Michael Taylor homered for Washington. Johan Camargo hit his third home run this week for Atlanta.
YANKEES 8, ORIOLES 5
BALTIMORE (AP) - Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar homered to help Masahiro Tanaka win his fifth straight decision, and the New York Yankees extended the Orioles' losing streak to seven games.
Tanaka (7-2) allowed four runs and eight hits with seven strikeouts and one walk over 5 1/3 innings. He is 5-0 in seven road games this season - the best stretch of his career. Brett Gardner had a pair of leadoff doubles and scored a run for the Yankees, who have won four consecutive games.
Adam Jones, Joey Rickard and Manny Machado hit solo homers for the Orioles, who scored more than three runs for just the second time in 14 games.
RED SOX 5, ASTROS 4
HOUSTON (AP) - Andrew Benintendi and Christian Vazquez homered during a three-run seventh inning that lifted the Boston Red Sox over the Astros.
Former Cy Young Award winners Justin Verlander and David Price each pitched six innings before handing off to the bullpens. Will Harris (1-3) allowed the homers to Vazquez and Benintendi in the seventh, setting up Price (6-4) for a victory.
Craig Kimbrel earned his 19th save by striking out two during a scoreless ninth.
Verlander allowed two runs, three hits and two walks while striking out six. He had earned AL Pitcher of the Month in May with an 0.86 ERA in six starts.
DODGERS 12, ROCKIES 4
DENVER (AP) - Joc Pederson hit a pair of solo homers, Matt Kemp went deep during an eight-run seventh inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers routed the Colorado Rockies.
Pederson turned in his fifth multihomer game and first since Sept. 10, 2016, at Miami. He also doubled and singled to tie a career high with four hits.
Kemp kept up his torrid hitting against Colorado by lining a cutter from reliever Bryan Shaw (2-4) for a two-run homer to break open a tight game. Kemp leads all active players with 44 homers against the Rockies. That wasn't all from the Dodgers outfielder: He threw out Charlie Blackmon at the plate in the first inning when Blackmon tried to tag up on a fly.
Dodgers infielder Breyvic Valera had three RBIs - the first three of his big-league career. Reliever Pedro Baez (2-3) earned the win.
CUBS 7, METS 1, 14 INNINGS
NEW YORK (AP) - Despite striking out 24 times, the Chicago Cubs beat the Mets when pinch-hitter Javier Baez homered to cap a six-run burst in the 14th inning.
Cubs reliever Luke Farrell (2-2) struck out seven in five scoreless innings, with Brandon Morrow getting the final three outs.
New York starter Jacob deGrom matched a career high by fanning 13, and combined with the bullpen to set a Mets franchise record for strikeouts. Cubs pitchers struck out 15. Despite all the whiffing, the 39 Ks were nowhere close to the big league record for strikeouts in a game. The Cubs and Yankees combined to fan 48 times in an 18-inning game on May 7, 2017.
Albert Almora Jr. hit a tiebreaking, two-run double off Buddy Baumann (0-2) in the 14th. Ben Zobrist added a two-run double and Baez homered. Jason Heyward had four hits and was the only player in Chicago's starting lineup who didn't strike out as the Cubs won for the sixth time in seven games and moved a season-high nine games over .500.
BREWERS 5, WHITE SOX 0
CHICAGO (AP) - Jhoulys Chacin combined with two relievers on a five-hitter, and the Milwaukee Brewers backed him with four home runs in a victory over the White Sox.
Chacin (4-1) pitched three-hit ball over 5 2/3 innings and the Brewers won for the sixth time in eight games. The NL Central leaders also picked up a rare victory over the White Sox after dropping 13 of their last 16 against them.
Josh Hader got four outs. Taylor Williams retired all three batters in the eighth and escaped a second-and-third jam in the ninth. He retired Tim Anderson on a pop fly and got Omar Narvaez to foul out before striking out Daniel Palka to preserve the shutout.
Erik Kratz led off the third with a drive to the left-field bullpen for his second homer in three games since a trade from the New York Yankees last week. Jonathan Villar made it 2-0 when he homered down the right-field line in the seventh. Lorenzo Cain chased James Shields (1-6) with a shot to left in the eighth, and Jesus Aguilar added a two-run homer against Jace Fry in the inning to make it 5-0.
CARDINALS 3, PIRATES 2
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Kolten Wong led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run off Richard Rodriguez, giving the Cardinals a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Austin Meadows had tied the score in the top half with a home run off Bud Norris (2-1), who blew a save for the first time in 12 chances.
Wong homered on a slider from Rodriguez (1-2), his second game-ending homer this season and the fourth of his big league career. Pittsburgh lost for the sixth time in eight games and has lost four of its last five games against the Cardinals.
Marcell Ozuna homered in the second, the 100th of his career and first in 105 plate appearances at Busch Stadium with the Cardinals. Colin Moran tied the score in the fifth with his first home run since May 22, connecting on a changeup from Luke Weaver.
Tommy Pham, in a 3-for-41 slide, put the Cardinals back ahead with an RBI single in the bottom half.
ROYALS 5, ATHLETICS 4
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Jorge Soler hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, and the Royals bounced back after wasting a four-run lead to defeat the Oakland Athletics for their third win in four games.
Tim Hill (1-1), a 28-year-old rookie left-hander, allowed Chad Pinder's tying single in the eighth and got his first major league win.
Soler hit his ninth home run on a curveball from Yusmeiro Petit (2-2) with an 0-2 count. Kelvin Herrera pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 14 chances.
Oakland's Bruce Maxwell led off the seventh with his first home run since Sept. 2.
TWINS 7, INDIANS 1
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Eddie Rosario hit a two-run homer and Brian Dozier drove in two runs to support Lance Lynn's third straight victory, leading the Minnesota Twins past the Cleveland Indians.
Dozier hit an RBI triple in the third inning against Trevor Bauer (4-4), right before Rosario's 10th homer of the season. Dozier added an RBI double during a four-run sixth that was fueled by a fielding error on second baseman Jason Kipnis.
Lynn (4-4) walked five batters in six innings, but he struck out five and allowed only two hits while throwing a season-high 113 pitches.
TIGERS 7, BLUE JAYS 4
DETROIT (AP) - John Hicks' two-run single in the eighth inning broke open a tie game and the Tigers went on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays.
Miguel Cabrera singled off Seunghwan Oh (1-1) with one out in the eighth, and was replaced by pinch-runner Victor Reyes. Victor Martinez followed with a ground-rule double to left-center and Ronny Rodriguez ran for him.
The Blue Jays intentionally walked Niko Goodrum to load the bases, bringing up Hicks. After striking out in his first three at-bats, he fouled off the first five pitches before looping a two-run single over the head of second baseman Devon Travis. JaCoby Jones added a sacrifice fly to make it a three-run game.
Louis Coleman (3-0) picked up the win with a scoreless eighth, while Joe Jimenez pitched the ninth for his first career save as Detroit won its fourth straight. The Blue Jays have lost five straight.
REDS 8, PADRES 2
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Rookie left-hander Eric Lauer pitched five strong innings, drove in his first run and picked off Joey Votto to tie for the most in the majors with five, leading the Padres past the Cincinnati Reds.
The 22-year-old Lauer (2-3) won for the first time in five starts. He has largely struggled since making his MLB debut on April 24, but put together a nice outing and was backed by a four-run second inning against Matt Harvey (1-4). Lauer allowed one run and five hits, struck out four and walked two. Lauer's only real mistake was allowing Curt Casali's solo homer in his first Reds at-bat with one out in the second.
Harvey allowed five runs, four earned, and six hits in five innings, struck out three and walked one.
GIANTS 2, PHILLIES 0
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Andrew Suarez combined with two relievers to pitch a three-hitter, lifting the Giants over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Suarez (2-4) shined in his eighth career start, his best by far. The 25-year-old left-hander struck out five and walked none in seven innings of three-hit ball.
Tony Watson pitched the eighth, and Hunter Strickland handled the ninth for his 12th save.
Phillies starter Vince Velasquez (4-6) struck out nine and walked one in 6 1/3 innings of five-hit ball.
Joe Panik was 2 for 4 with a triple and scored both runs in his second game back from the disabled list with a left thumb sprain.
RANGERS 3, ANGELS 2, 10 INNINGS
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Rougned Odor beat a throw home by left fielder Justin Upton on Ronald Guzman's single in the 10th, lifting the Texas Rangers over the Los Angeles Angels.
The game went to extra innings after an unusual play allowed Texas to tie it in the ninth. With runners at the corners and one out, Adrian Beltre hit a fly ball to deep left field. Jurickson Profar tagged up from third, and so did pinch runner Carlos Tocci at first. Upton caught the ball and threw to second base, and his throw beat Tocci for the final out of the inning. Stadium fireworks went off and team employees ran onto the field believing the game was over before the umpires determined that Profar touched home before Tocci was tagged out, tying the game at 2 heading to the bottom of the inning.
Jake Diekman (1-0) got the win for the Rangers. Jose Alvarez (2-2) gave up Guzman's hit and took the loss.
Mike Trout was a double shy of the cycle for the Angels. Ian Kinsler hit a solo home run for the Rangers.
MARINERS 3, RAYS 1
SEATTLE (AP) - Marco Gonzales continued his run of excellent starts by pitching into the seventh inning and allowing just one run, and Ryon Healy hit his ninth homer as the Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays.
Gonzales (6-3) ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 24 1/3 before finally giving up an earned run in the sixth inning. He gave up five hits and struck out six. In his past four starts, Gonzales has allowed one earned run over 26 innings pitched and struck out 18. Alex Colome pitched the eighth and Edwin Diaz worked the ninth for his 20th save.
Chris Archer (3-4) allowed two runs in five innings, his shortest outing since going only four innings on April 14 against Philadelphia.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, MARLINS 2
PHOENIX (AP) - Paul Goldschmidt and David Peralta homered, Zack Greinke pitched into the seventh inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Miami Marlins.
Goldschmidt's solo homer in the first inning was his third in eight games, and Peralta connected for his ninth of the season, a two-run shot in the third. The Diamondbacks have won four of five and have hit 14 home runs in their last five games, all at home.
Greinke (4-4) improved to 3-0 at home, striking out six and allowing a run on seven hits. Arizona (30-27) moved back into first place in the NL West, a half-game up on Colorado.
Miami starter Caleb Smith (4-6) allowed five runs on five hits in four innings.
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