Miguel Sano belted a three-run homer and Michael Pineda tossed six strong innings as the Minnesota Twins completed a three-game sweep of the visiting Baltimore Orioles with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Pineda (3-2) gave up only one run on three hits with two walks and eight strikeouts as the Twins extended their winning streak to a season-high four games.
Hansel Robles recorded his third save after allowing a run in the ninth when Maikel Franco’s two-out double scored Trey Mancini, who doubled to begin the inning.
Baltimore has lost nine straight and 16 of its past 18.
Mancini gave the Orioles an early lead with a two-out solo blast in the first off Pineda. Mancini leads Baltimore with 11 homers and 42 RBIs.
Cardinals 4, White Sox 0
Tommy Edman smacked two solo home runs and Edmundo Sosa hit a two-run single to back a combined six-hit shutout as visiting St. Louis topped Chicago to avoid a three-game sweep.
Edman connected against Carlos Rodon in the third inning and Aaron Bummer in the eighth. Cardinals starter John Gant (4-3) scattered five hits, three walks and three strikeouts in five-plus scoreless innings before Genesis Cabrera, Giovanny Gallegos and Alex Reyes followed with four innings of one-hit, six-strikeout relief.
Nick Madrigal paced the Chicago attack with his second successive three-hit game. The White Sox stranded 13 and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Angels 9, Rangers 8
Taylor Ward drove in a career-high five runs to lead Los Angeles to a win against Texas in Anaheim, Calif.
Ward had three hits while Juan Lagares and Jose Rojas each had two hits and two runs scored for Los Angeles, which won its third straight game to match its season high.
Angels right-hander Griffin Canning went six innings, allowing three runs and four hits. Canning (4-3) struck out seven and walked two.
Athletics 6, Mariners 3
James Kaprielian continued to pitch brilliantly as a fill-in starter and Matt Olson clubbed his 13th home run of the season to allow Oakland to salvage one win in its three-game series against visiting Seattle.
Seth Brown continued his hot hitting with a single, a double and two RBIs for the A’s, who had lost three in a row. A former first-round draft choice who was acquired by the A’s from the New York Yankees in a package for Sonny Gray in 2017, Kaprielian (2-0) shut out the Mariners on two hits over a career-high seven innings.
Olson had two RBIs, Elvis Andrus two hits and Mark Canha two runs scored for the A’s. Mitch Haniger collected two hits for Seattle, which missed a chance to match its season-high third straight win.
Marlins 4, Phillies 2
Jon Berti stroked a dramatic two-out, two-run go-ahead single in the eighth inning, leading host Miami to a win over Philadelphia.
Berti, who is batting just .186, hit six foul balls before winning an eight-pitch at-bat against reliever Sam Coonrod (0-1). It was Philadelphia’s 15th blown-lead loss, third-most in the majors.
Phillies starter Aaron Nola took a hard-luck no-decision. Nola, who had lost three straight decisions, allowed just two hits, three walks and one run in six innings. He struck out six.
Cubs 4, Pirates 1
David Bote homered and right-hander Trevor Williams pitched six strong innings Wednesday as visiting Chicago topped Pittsburgh.
Kris Bryant added two RBI singles for the Cubs, who won their third straight.
Williams (3-2), who spent the previous five seasons with the Pirates, gave up one run and three hits, with no walks and seven strikeouts. Craig Kimbrel notched his 11th save.
Tigers 1, Indians 0
Niko Goodrum scored the lone run in the eighth and a quartet of Detroit pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout as the Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak by blanking visiting Cleveland.
Jonathan Schoop had two hits for Detroit and Robbie Grossman had the game’s RBI. Michael Fulmer (4-3) pitched an inning of scoreless relief to get the victory and Gregory Soto recorded his fifth save in Detroit’s second shutout this season.
Cleveland starter Triston McKenzie, recalled from Triple-A Columbus prior to the game, held the Tigers to one hit and struck out five in five innings. Counterpart Jose Urena departed with two outs and one on in the sixth due to right forearm cramping.
Rays 2, Royals 1 (10)
Manuel Margot’s one-out single in the 10th inning drove in the winning run as host Tampa Bay defeated Kansas City in the second game of a three-game series. The Rays evened the series at a game one night after seeing their 11-game winning streak snapped with a 2-1 loss.
The teams have combined for six runs and 48 strikeouts in the first two games of the series.
Both teams are used to close games. The Rays have played 51 games, with 28 of them decided by one or two runs. The Royals played their 12th game in their past 14 to be decided by two or fewer runs.
Padres 2, Brewers 1 (10)
Catcher Victor Caratini singled home Wil Myers leading off the top of the 10th inning to give visiting San Diego a win over Milwaukee.
Padres closer Mark Melancon picked up his major league-leading 17th save with help from second baseman Jake Cronenworth in the bottom of the 10th.
With Keston Hiura on second to open the Brewers’ 10th, Willy Adames led off with a line-drive single to left. But Hiura had to stop at third. Jackie Bradley Jr. then hit a sharp grounder to Cronenworth, who threw out Hiura at the plate. Melancon then struck out Daniel Robertson and retired Kolten Wong on a grounder for the final out.
Astros 5, Dodgers 2
Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Aledmys Diaz slugged home runs while rookie Luis Garcia recorded his third consecutive win as Houston earned a split of its two-game interleague series against visiting Los Angeles.
Garcia (3-3) logged a career-high six innings. He departed with a 2-1 lead before Houston posted a three-run seventh that featured an RBI single from Altuve and a two-run homer from Diaz. All the damage came against Dodgers reliever Nate Jones.
The Astros snapped a four-game skid while ending the Dodgers’ eight-game win streak. Dodgers right-hander Trevor Bauer (5-3) was previously unbeaten over nine career starts against the Astros.
Giants 5, Diamondbacks 4
Austin Slater slugged a tying two-run, pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning and Jason Vosler followed with his first major league blast as San Francisco rallied for a victory over struggling host Arizona.
Buster Posey and Mike Yastrzemski also drove in runs as San Francisco overcame a four-run deficit to sweep the two-game series.
Nick Ahmed, Josh Rojas and Pavin Smith had three hits apiece for Arizona, which left the bases loaded in the ninth while dropping its 10th straight game and 13th of its last 14.
Red Sox 9, Braves 5
Rafael Devers connected for his 14th home run and Nick Pivetta won his sixth game as Boston beat visiting Atlanta.
Devers was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer in the fourth inning and an RBI double to highlight the team’s four-run rally in the sixth. Pivetta (6-0) pitched six innings and allowed four runs on seven hits, two walks and a season-high nine strikeouts. He improved to 6-2 all-time against the Braves.
Atlanta’s Drew Smyly (2-3) pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed a season-high seven runs on five hits, one walk and four strikeouts.
–Field Level Media