Yankees extend winning streak to 8 with 14-2 rout of Orioles
BALTIMORE (AP) — Gio Urshela and Kyle Higashioka each hit two home runs, and the Yankees' long-ball outburst against the Baltimore Orioles reached historical proportions Wednesday night in a 14-2 blowout that extended New York's winning streak to eight games.
Urshela had a pair of two-run drives, and Higashioka totaled five RBIs with his two shots. It was the first career multihomer game for both players.
The Yankees have 11 players with multihomer games against Baltimore this season, breaking the record of 10 set by San Francisco against the Dodgers in 1958.
Cameron Maybin also went deep for the Yankees, who tied a major league record with 16 home runs in a three-game series. New York has hit 52 homers against the Orioles this season, breaking its own major league mark of 48 against the Kansas City Athletics in 1956.
The frustration of being dominated in this lopsided three-game series reached a boiling point for the last-place Orioles in the middle of the fifth inning. After manager Brandon Hyde leaned over and said something to Chris Davis, the first baseman lurched in Hyde's direction and had to be restrained by teammate Mark Trumbo and hitting coach Don Long.
James Paxton (7-6) allowed one run (a homer by Trey Mancini) over 6 2/3 innings to help the Yankees roll to their 15th straight victory at Camden Yards and 12th in a row overall against the Orioles.
John Means (8-7) took the loss.
NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Conforto homered twice, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil hit two-run shots and New York completed a four-game sweep of Miami.
The Mets posted their sixth straight victory, winning for the 13th time in 14 games.
Steven Matz (7-7) won again at Citi Field, helping New York stay in the thick of the NL wild-card race.
Matz (7-7) allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks over 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven.
Lewis Brinson put Miami on the board with an RBI single in the second. Brian Anderson added a solo homer in the sixth, his 18th.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Russell Martin drove a two-run, two-out single up the middle for the Dodgers' 10th walk-off win of the season, and Los Angeles swept St. Louis.
Casey Sadler (2-0) pitched the ninth for Los Angeles, which avoided its first shutout loss since May 18 in dramatic fashion for its fifth straight win.
Dustin May threw 5 2/3 innings of five-hit ball in a strong second career start for the Dodgers, who called up the redheaded power pitcher last week. May had seven strikeouts and held his own with Jack Flaherty, but remained winless in the big leagues.
St. Louis' bullpen couldn't come through for Flaherty, who struck out 10 with just one walk.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ozzie Albies homered twice in his second straight four-hit game, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Freddie Freeman both went deep, and Atlanta beat Minnesota.
Max Fried (13-4) used a season-high 10 strikeouts to win his fourth consecutive start, pitching into the sixth inning.
The terrific trio at the top of the lineup provided more than sufficient support, with Acuña, Albies and Freeman combining for eight hits and five RBIs in 15 at-bats.
Charlie Culberson went 4 for 5 with two RBIs, Johan Camargo drove in three runs, and the Braves reached double-digit runs for the second straight day. This was the fifth time in three weeks the Twins allowed 10-plus runs.
Miguel Sanó hit a three-run homer in a four-run ninth for the first-place Twins.
DETROIT (AP) — Ivan Nova pitched eight scoreless innings, and Chicago beat Detroit.
Nova (7-9) allowed five hits, walked three and struck out one as he picked up his third win in four starts.
Former Tiger James McCann had three RBIs, while Tim Anderson reached base five times and scored three runs.
The White Sox took three of four games from the Tigers and went 5-2 on their trip to Philadelphia and Detroit.
Detroit has lost six of seven and is 5-21 since the All-Star break.
Tyler Alexander (0-3) allowed five runs on nine hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Reliever Brock Stewart allowed two hits over four scoreless innings in his Toronto debut and win over Tampa Bay.
Blue Jays rookie Bo Bichette set a team record with a double in eight straight games, breaking the mark of seven set by Carlos Delgado in 2000. The 21-year-old Bichette also extended his career-opening hitting streak to 10 games.
Ken Giles picked up his 15th save.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Randal Grichuk and Derek Fisher homered for the Blue Jays.
Rays two-way player Brendan McKay (2-2) gave up three runs and six hits in five-plus innings. Tampa Bay has won nine of its last 12.
HOUSTON (AP) — Yuli Gurriel drove in a team record-tying eight runs, Gerrit Cole won his 10th straight decision and Houston routed Colorado.
Gurriel hit a three-run homer in the first inning, a sacrifice fly in the third, a three-run double in the fourth and an RBI grounder in the sixth. He tied Houston's RBI record set by J.R. Towles in 2007 against St. Louis.
Cole (14-5) struck out 10 in six innings. He allowed three hits and two runs to make Houston's starters 16-1 in their last 19 starts.
The Astros swept the four-game interleague season series from Colorado. Trevor Story hit his 26th homer and Nolan Arenado added his 25th for the Rockies, who lost for the fifth time in seven games.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Keston Hiura hit two home runs and drove in three runs, powering Milwaukee to a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh.
Hiura hit a two-run homer with two out in the first inning and his second homer, the 13th of his rookie season, was a solo shot in the fifth. He also had a double in the third inning for the Brewers, who moved past the St. Louis Cardinals and into second place in the NL Central.
The Pirates fell to 4-21 since the All-Star break.
Junior Guerra (5-3) picked up a second win in as many nights. He allowed one hit and one walk in two innings in relief of Drew Pomeranz.
Williams (4-5) allowed six runs on eight hits in five innings.
Jacob Stallings hit solo homer and Bryan Reynolds and Starling Marte had RBI singles for Pittsburgh.
CHICAGO (AP) — Ian Happ hit his second career grand slam, José Quintana tossed two-hit ball through seven innings to win his sixth straight and Chicago routed Oakland.
Kyle Schwarber hit a three-run homer, Victor Caratini connected and Javier Báez kept up his latest hot streak with two hits and two RBIs for the Cubs. NL Central-leading Chicago took two of three from the A's and won its fifth in six games.
Quintana (10-7) allowed one run, struck out seven and walked one. David Phelps and Pedro Strop each followed with a scoreless inning to wrap up a three-hitter.
A's starter Homer Bailey (9-8) set down nine of the first 10 hitters before Chicago scored five runs in the fourth. The right-hander yielded seven runs in 4 2/3 innings in his fifth start since arriving in a arriving in a trade from Kansas City on July 14.
SEATTLE (AP) — Mallex Smith doubled leading off the eighth inning and scored when Daniel Vogelbach beat out a potential inning-ending double play, and Seattle snapped a five-game losing streak.
Smith led off the eighth with a sinking liner that Wil Myers couldn't control on a diving attempt. Smith advanced to second when the ball slipped from Myers' hand on the throw and was credited with a double. J.P. Crawford bunted and catcher Austin Hedges appeared to throw out Smith at third base, only to have the call overturned on replay to put runners at the corners with no outs.
Andres Munoz (0-1) struck out Domingo Santana before Vogelbach hit a slow chopper to shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis had no play at home plate to get Smith and instead tried to turn a double play. Vogelbach shuffled down the line and beat the relay throw, allowing the go-ahead run to score.
Anthony Bass pitched the ninth for his second save and capped four solid innings from Seattle's bullpen. Matt Magill (3-0) pitched the eighth to get the win.
Kyle Seager hit a solo home run for Seattle. Tatis hit his 21st homer of the season leading off the game off Seattle starter Yusei Kikuchi.
INDIANS 2, RANGERS 0, 1ST GAME
INDIANS 5, RANGERS 1, 2ND GAME
CLEVELAND (AP) — José Ramírez homered, Cleveland's bullpen combined on a four-hitter and the Indians swept a doubleheader against Texas.
Ramírez's two-run homer helped the Indians win the opener 2-0.
He connected in the second inning of the second game off Lance Lynn (14-7), Franmil Reyes hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Carlos Santana, Yasiel Puig and Jason Kipnis drove in runs in the eighth as the Indians improved to 39-16 since June 4 — baseball's best mark over two months.
A.J. Cole (3-1) — Cleveland's third pitcher — got the win by working 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Nick Wittgren got the final five outs for his third save.
Willie Calhoun homered in the eighth for the Rangers.
In the opener, Ramírez connected off Ariel Jurado (6-7), who had blanked the Indians on two singles before allowing the third baseman's 15th homer.
After struggling for three months, Ramírez, a two-time All-Star, has found his rhythm at the perfect time for the hard-charging Indians. Ramírez batted .320 in July and has raised his average by nearly 50 points since June 20.
In the opener, Nick Goody (3-0) replaced rookie starter Zach Plesac in the seventh and pitched two scoreless innings. All-Star closer Brad Hand struck out the side in the ninth for his 28th save.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gerardo Parra hit a three-run homer against his former team, Joe Ross pitched six shutout innings of three-hit ball and Washington completed a three-game sweep of San Francisco.
Parra broke camp with the Giants but was designated for assignment on May 3. His seventh homer came in the third inning off Shaun Anderson (3-4) and made it 4-0.
Ross (2-3) struck out five and walked two in his third start of the season.
The Giants have lost four straight games and seven of their last eight. They scored in the ninth on Brandon Crawford's RBI double off Daniel Hudson after Tanner Rainey and Wander Suero combined for two scoreless innings.
Anderson gave up four runs on four hits and three walks in three innings.
Adam Eaton got three hits and was hit by a pitch for Washington.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, PHILLIES 1
PHOENIX (AP) — Zac Gallen threw five scoreless innings and helped himself with a run-scoring sacrifice bunt in his Arizona debut and win over Philadelphia.
Gallen (2-3) allowed just one hit with three walks and six strikeouts.
Ahmed was halfway down the third base line when Gallen bunted to third, and the Phillies' Scott Kingery threw to first base for the out instead of running Ahmed back to third. Ahmed took off as soon as the ball was thrown and scored easily.
The Phillies were held to five hits, including Bryce Harper's solo home run in the ninth inning, and have lost three of four.
Losing pitcher Jason Vargas (6-6) was charged with four runs on four hits in five innings. He hit two batters and walked three.
Eduardo Escobar raised his major league-leading RBI total to 93 with a third-inning sacrifice fly.
ROYALS 4, RED SOX 4, 10TH INNING, SUSPENDED
BOSTON (AP) — The series finale between the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals was suspended by rain early Thursday morning with the score tied 4-4 in the top of the 10th inning after a nearly two-hour delay.
The game will be picked up where it left off — with a 2-1 count on Meibrys Viloria — on a mutual off-day, Aug. 22, at 1:05 p.m.
