Salvador Perez set a major league record for homers in a season by a primary catcher as the visiting Kansas City Royals cruised over the Cleveland Indians 7-2 on Monday in the first game of a doubleheader.
Perez’s towering, two-run blast in the fifth inning was his 46th homer of the season, moving him past Hall of Famer Johnny Bench for the record. Bench had 45 homers for the Cincinnati Reds in 1970.
Hunter Dozier joined Andrew Benintendi by belting a two-run homer before adding an RBI single in the fourth inning as the Royals emphatically snapped an 11-game losing skid in the season series against the Indians.
Royals 4, Indians 2 (Game 2)
Hunter Dozier capped a productive day by driving in a run as visiting Kansas City completed a doubleheader sweep against Cleveland.
Dozier’s sacrifice fly in the first inning gave the Royals an early 2-0 lead.
Former Indians player Carlos Santana worked a bases-loaded walk in the first inning of the nightcap. Hanser Alberto had an RBI single and joined Nicky Lopez by each recording two of the six hits for the Royals.
Yankees 4, Rangers 3
Gary Sanchez homered, Aaron Judge hit an RBI single in a three-run third inning and New York beat visiting Texas.
The Yankees rebounded from getting outscored 22-4 in a pair of blowout losses to the Indians on Saturday and Sunday and won for just the eighth time in 23 games since their 13-game winning streak ended. New York moved a half-game back of the Toronto Blue Jays for the second American League wild card.
Charlie Culberson went deep for the Rangers, who lost for the sixth time in their past eight games. Rookie A.J. Alexy allowed four runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings, issuing six walks in his third career start.
Cardinals 5, Brewers 2
Jon Lester allowed two runs in six innings for his 200th career victory as surging St. Louis extended its winning streak to nine games by beating host Milwaukee.
The Cardinals retained a three-game lead for the second National League wild-card spot. Milwaukee still St. Louis by 10 1/2 in the NL Central. Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer, and Yadier Molina had a pair of RBIs singles for the Cardinals.
Lester (7-6) yielded a pair of solo homers in the second inning and just another single. He struck out two and walked none. Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta (9-5) gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings.
Tigers 4, White Sox 3
Harold Castro singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and host Detroit slowed Chicago’s drive to a division title.
White Sox reliever Craig Kimbrel (4-5) set down the first two batters in the eighth before hitting Robbie Grossman with a pitch. Grossman stole second and scored on Castro’s single to right.
Victor Reyes added an RBI single and scored a run for the Tigers, who prevailed despite being limited to four hits.
Rays 6, Blue Jays 4
Shane Baz pitched five innings and won his major league debut and Yandy Diaz swatted a go-ahead, three-run homer as Tampa Bay beat Toronto in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Baz (1-0) allowed two hits — both solo homers — and struck out five without issuing a walk. Diaz and Kevin Kiermaier each went 3-for-4 for the Rays. Joey Wendle homered and scored twice.
Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Marcus Semien slugged home runs for the Blue Jays. Pinch hitter Breyvic Valera struck out with the bases loaded to end the game as Dietrich Enns retired the only batter he faced for his second save.
Orioles 2, Phillies 0
John Means pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and Pedro Severino led the Baltimore offense with two hits in a win over host Philadelphia.
Means (6-7) gave up four hits and one walk while striking out six. Cole Sulser took over and retired all four batters he faced, and Tyler Wells earned his third save with a perfect ninth inning.
The Orioles snapped a three-game losing streak. The Phillies were limited to four hits, all singles, and they dropped their second in a row.
Reds 9, Pirates 5
Joey Votto homered twice and Eugenio Suarez went deep for the go-ahead blow as Cincinnati erased an early five-run deficit with nine unanswered runs to beat visiting Pittsburgh.
Votto’s career-high fourth multi-homer game of the season gives him a team-leading 33 homers. Votto also singled and walked twice to reach base in all five plate appearances as the Reds won for just the ninth time in 25 games.
Luis Cessa (5-2) struck out three in 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings to earn the win. Yoshi Tsutsugo hit a solo homer and an RBI single for the Pirates.
Marlins 8, Nationals 7 (10 innings)
Jazz Chisholm Jr., who opened the 10th inning on second base, stole third and scored on a game-ending wild pitch, leading host Miami over Washington.
Chisholm also had the first two-homer game of his career and finished with three runs and three RBIs.
Washington was led by rookie Keibert Ruiz, who went 3-for-5 with a career-high four RBIs.
–Field Level Media