Encarnacion homers, Indians down Orioles to ‘extend’ run
Padres snap Diamondbacks’ win streak
CLEVELAND, Sept 9, (AP): Edwin Encarnacion and the Cleveland Indians won their 16th straight game, extending the best streak in franchise history by beating the Baltimore Orioles 5-0 Friday night.
Encarnacion hit a three-run homer in the first inning into some trees next to Heritage Park, the team’s hallowed area where past Cleveland stars and teams are immortalized.
Mike Clevinger (9-5) improved his chances to pitch in the postseason with six strong innings as AL Central leaders became just the third team in the expansion era since 1961 to win 16 straight in a season.
Cleveland’s string is the longest in the majors since Oakland won 20 straight in 2002. The longest winning streak in major league history is 21 by the 1935 Chicago Cubs.
The 1916 New York Giants had a string of 26 wins and one tie.
Encarnacion hit his 34th home run, connecting off Wade Miley (8-12).
Padres 10, Diamondbacks 6 In Phoenix, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ team-record 13-game winning streak ended when Manuel Margot drove in four runs that led San Diego.
Down 8-0, the Diamondbacks scored twice in the fifth and then added four more runs in the sixth. Padres reliever Craig Stammen retired two batters with the bases loaded to preserve an 8-6 lead.
Jordan Lyles (1-2), in his second start for the Padres, pitched into the sixth.
The Padres rocked Patrick Corbin (13-12) for eight runs on 11 hits, seven for extra bases, in 4 1-3 innings.
Rockies 5, Dodgers 4 In Los Angeles, DJ LeMahieu doubled home the go-ahead run and Colorado sent NL West-leading Los Angeles to its eighth straight loss.
The Dodgers blew a 4-1 lead in the first behind Yu Darvish (2-3), who was chased after giving up four runs in the fifth.
San Diego Padres’ Jordan Lyles throws a pitch against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a
baseball game on Sept 8 in Phoenix. (AP)
inning, taking a few steps in before leaping as the ball soared over his head. Herrera chased it down on the warning track and threw to the infield, but shortstop J.P. Crawford missed up the third-base line with his relay, allowing Taylor to slide home safely.
Taylor set a career high with five RBIs and matched a personal best with four hits. Trea Turner homered and drove in three, and Max Scherzer (14-5) allowed four runs over six innings.
Red Sox 9, Rays 3 In Boston, Drew Pomeranz did not allow a hit until the fifth inning and gave up two runs over six and Mookie Betts hit a three-run homer for the Red Sox.
It was the third straight victory for the Red Sox, who lead the secondplace New York Yankees by 4 1/2 games atop the AL East.
Pomeranz (15-5) struck out seven, allowed two hits and walked two en route to tying Chris Sale for the team lead in victories.
Jesus Sucre hit a two-run homer for the Rays, who have homered in a season franchise record 18 straight games.
Brewers 2, Cubs 0 In Chicago, Ryan Braun hit his 300th homer and Jimmy Nelson combined with three relievers on a fivehitter as Milwaukee beat Chicago in the first regular-season Friday night game at Wrigley Field.
Milwaukee pulled within four games of Chicago for the NL Central lead.
Braun hit a two-run drive in the first inning against John Lackey. Nelson pitched four-hit ball over five innings before leaving with a sore right arm, and the Brewers opened the weekend series on a winning note after dropping four of five.
Nelson (12-6) struck out seven and walked two while winning his third straight start.
Rangers 11, Yankees 5 In Arlington, Texas, Martin Perez won his seventh straight start after playoff-hopeful Texas rallied from an early four-run deficit and beat the AL wild card-leading Yankees.
Elvis Andrus had three hits, including the tiebreaking two-run single in the fifth that put the Rangers up 7-5.
Perez (12-10) became the first Rangers pitcher to win seven straight starts since Kenny Rogers set the club record in 2005 with eight in a row. The left-hander allowed five runs, only two earned, while giving up eight hits over 5 2/3 innings.
Tigers 5, Blue Jays 4 In Toronto, third baseman Jeimer Candelario started Detroit’s first triple play in 16 years, Nicholas Castellanos slugged his third career grand slam and the Tigers beat Toronto.
With runners at first and second, Candelario backhanded Kevin Pillar’s grounder and stepped on the bag. Second baseman Ian Kinsler took his feed and made a quick turn for the second
Edwin Encarnacion #10 of the Cleveland Indians hits a three run home run during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Progressive Field on
Sept 8 in Cleveland, Ohio. (AFP)
out, and his throw to first narrowly beat Pillar for the Tigers’ first triple play since Aug 1, 2001.
It was the first time Detroit had a triple play and a grand slam in the same game.
Twins 8, Royals 5 In Kansas City, Mo, Eddie Rosario homered and drove in four runs, helping Minnesota beat Kansas City.
Rosario had a sacrifice fly in the first inning, hit his 21st home run in the third inning off Ian Kennedy (411) and knocked a two-out, basesloaded single in the fourth. Rosario has 10 home runs and 28 RBIs in his past 30 games.
Ervin Santana (15-7) gave up four runs and five hits over five innings for the victory. He is 4-0 in nine starts since a July 21 loss. His 15 victories are tied for the AL lead.
Matt Belisle pitched the ninth for his seventh save.
Cardinals 4, Pirates 1 In St Louis, Luke Weaver pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning and also drove in a run, helping St Louis improve its postseason hopes.
The Cardinals have won seven of nine, pulling within four games of the NL Central-leading Cubs. St Louis is even closer in the chase for the second wild-card spot. Pittsburgh has lost three in a row. Waver (5-1) has won four straight decisions. He gave up seven hits, walked none and struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings.
Mets 5, Reds 1 In New York, Jose Reyes homered twice, Seth Lugo pitched six shutout innings and New York beat Cincinnati for its third straight win.
Travis Taijeron got the Mets started when the 28-year-old rookie led off the second with his first major league home run. New York, which leads the National League in homers, has won 17 of its last 19 games against the Reds including eight straight at Citi Field.
Reyes went deep off Amir Garrett (3-7) in the fifth, scoring Lugo and giving New York a 4-0 lead. Reyes also clubbed a solo shot in the third, becoming the 13th player to hit 100 homers in a Mets uniform.
Giants 9, White Sox 2 In Chicago, Pablo Sandoval snapped his 0-for-39 skid with a threerun homer, and Matt Moore pitched San Francisco past Chicago in an interleague game between last-place teams.
Denard Span also homered and Brandon Crawford had three hits with an RBI for the Giants, who have won back-to-back games after losing seven of eight.
Sandoval went 1 for 3 with four RBIs. His previous hit was a single on Aug. 25 at Arizona.
Avisail Garcia homered for the White Sox, who have dropped five straight.
Marlins 7, Braves 1 In Atlanta, Jose Urena allowed only three hits in 6 1/3 innings and added his first career RBI to stop Miami’s five-game skid.
Urena (13-6) gave up a fourth-inning homer to Freddie Freeman but little else. Atlanta’s only other hits off Urena were a second-inning single by Tyler Flowers in the second and a bunt single by Ozzie Albies in the sixth.
Miguel Rojas and Urena had backto-back RBI singles off Mike Foltynewicz (10-12) in the second. Urena took a .077 batting average into the game and had not driven in a run in 69 career at-bats. kicker Michael Koenen’s foot. The ball bounced backward, teammate Curtis Deloatch fell on it in the end zone and a town that had shed little besides tears let loose a collective howl that nearly tore the roof off the place.
Today, a larger-than-life bronze statue of Gleason’s block, titled “Rebuild,” commemorates that singular sports memory forever.
“It felt like the whole city brought their energy into the building that night,” Jonathan Babineaux, who was playing for Atlanta, recalled. “It was just something, as a player, I’d never felt before and I still remember it to this day.”
In Boston, folks still remember nearly every word slugger David Ortiz spoke in his pregame remarks as the Red Sox returned to Fenway Park just five days after two bombs placed at the finish line of the city’s annual marathon exploded , killing three people and injuring hundreds. “This is our city!” Ortiz yelled. “And nobody’s going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong!”
Stories like those grow fonder in the retelling. At the moment, people around Houston are still struggling to survive and salvage what little Harvey hasn’t swept away or destroyed.
The return of ballgames is one budding sign of normalcy returning. The players feel a commitment to craft something memorable from the chaos.
“Our city won’t be over it anytime soon,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch, whose squad is a near-lock to bring playoff baseball to town next month. “But our families are safe, our city is on the rebuild process and there has been a collective exhale that we can play games for the city of Houston and feel proud.”
Meanwhile, the NFL has apologized for an “unacceptable” tweet with three smiley emojis that likened the Kansas City Chiefs’ big victory over the New England Patriots to a deadly earthquake that shook Mexico.
The tweet came from the league’s official NFL Mexico account after the Chiefs upset the Super Bowl champions 42-27 in the season opener Thursday night. The game ended about a half-hour before the earthquake, which killed at least 32 people. The earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.1, hit the southern coast of Mexico. Authorities say it was the strongest in Mexico in a half-century.