Albies powers Braves past Jays
ATLANTA Ozzie Albies snapped Atlanta’s power drought with two homers, and the Braves beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-5 on Wednesday night to move back into a tie for the NL East lead.
Mike Foltynewicz (75) and the Braves led 70 before Toronto scored five runs in the seventh on Justin Smoak’s leadoff homer and a grand slam by Devon Travis. But Albies hit a two-run shot in the eighth to help Atlanta hold on for just its second win in eight games.
Coupled with Philadelphia’s loss to the New York Mets, the Braves moved into a tie with the Phillies for the division lead.
Albies, headed to his first All-Star game next week, led off the sixth with a drive off Luis Santos that ended Atlanta’s season-long stretch of five games without a homer. He also had a sacrifice fly in the Braves’ six-run second.
PIRATES 2, NATIONALS 0
PITTSBURGH — Starling Marte hit a two-run home run and Trevor Williams combined with four relievers on a five-hitter as the Pirates beat the Nationals.
Williams (7-7) won for just the second time in his past 10 starts, giving up four hits with three strikeouts and three walks.
Gio Gonzalez (6-6) remained winless since May 28 despite allowing just two runs, six hits, one walk and four strikeouts.
Washington lost for the 11th time in 16 games and fell back to .500.
Richard Rodriguez, Edgar Santana, Kyle Crick and Felipe Vazquez followed Williams with one scoreless inning each. Vazquez earned his 20th save in 24 opportunities.
TWINS 8, ROYALS 5
MINNEAPOLIS — Brian Dozier hit a two-run home run, going deep for the second straight game to give Minnesota a boost on its way to a win over Kansas City.
Lance Lynn (7-7) recovered from a three-run homer by Salvador Perez in the first inning to win his second straight start for the Twins, who used the bottom third of their lineup to launch rallies in the second and the fourth against Royals starter Burch Smith (0-1).
RAYS 4, TIGERS 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — C.J. Cron’s three-run home run in the seventh inning carried Tampa Bay Rays to its fifth straight win, a win over Detroit.
Cron’s 18th homer came off Jordan Zimmermann after singles by Kevin Kiermaier and Matt Duffy.
The Tigers, who struck out 14 times against five Tampa Bay pitchers, have lost four straight and 18 of 22.
GIANTS 5, CUBS 4, 13 innings
SAN FRANCISCO — Buster Posey singled off the right-field wall in the 13th inning for his fifth career game-ending hit, sending San Francisco past Chicago.
Brandon Belt drew a two-out walk from James Norwood (0-1). Andrew McCutchen then singled to bring up Posey, who ended the 4-hour, 30-minute game with San Francisco’s first run since scoring four in the first.