Aaron Judge hits 2 more homers as Yankees beat Orioles
NEW YORK:
Rookie sensation Aaron Judge hit two more home runs, including a drive that cleared the distant bleachers at Yankee Stadium, and sent New York romping past Baltimore 14-3 Sunday for its fifth straight win. Even by his lofty feats, it was quite a power show by the 6-foot-7 Judge. He leads the majors with 21 homers and tops the AL with 47 RBIs and a .344 batting average. In the sixth, Judge launched a mammoth shot to left-center field that was estimated at 495 feet, the longest homer in the majors this season, according to Statcast. The ball bounced off the bare hands of a fan standing behind a fence beyond the back row of the bleachers. Judge lined a drive into the right-center seats in his next at-bat, and also doubled earlier. Adam Warren (2-1) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win. Baltimore right-hander Kevin Gausman (3-5) was tagged for seven runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.
CUBS 7, ROCKIES 5
Addison Russell had a go-ahead home run for his first big contribution since an absence in the wake of a Major League Baseball investigation into domestic abuse allegations, and the Cubs stopped the Rockies’ seven-game winning streak. Russell and Kyle Schwarber connected for back-to-back homers off Jordan Lyles (0-2) in the sixth inning. Miguel Montero and Ben Zobrist also went deep, helping the World Series champion Cubs even their record at 31-31. Russell played for the second time since missing the first two games of the series. The MLB investigation began after claims of abuse against his wife were levied in a since-deleted social media post. Carl Edwards Jr. (2-0) won in relief of starter Jake Arrieta. Wade Davis gave up a run in the ninth before getting his 13th save in 13 chances.
DODGERS 9, REDS 7
Corey Seager capped Los Angeles’ six-run eighth inning with his first career grand slam, helping the Dodgers finish off the sweep. Rookie Cody Bellinger sparked Los Angeles’ rally with one-out drive against Austin Brice. Rasiel Iglesias (2-1) replaced Brice with a runner on first and walked three straight batters to force in a run, trimming Cincinnati’s lead to 7-5. Seager then hit a drive to center for his ninth homer. Bellinger also homered in the second and Chase Utley connected in the fifth for the Dodgers, who have won four straight. Luis Avilan (1-1) got the win, and Kenley Jansen got three outs for his 200th career save. Adam Duvall, Scott Schebler, Joey Votto and Devin Mesoraco homered for Cincinnati, which lost 5-4 on Saturday night on Seager’s game-ending RBI double.
RANGERS 5, NATIONALS 1
Max Scherzer struck out 10 to move past 2,000 for his career, but was outpitched by Austin Bibens-Dirkx as the Rangers completed the sweep of the weekend series. Scherzer (7-4) has 2,005 career strikeouts after fanning at least 10 batters seven times this season. He allowed three runs - two earned - and three hits in 7 1/3 innings. Bibens-Dirkx (2-0) allowed a run and three hits in seven innings in his second career start. Shin-Soo Choo slugged his ninth homer as Texas completed its first road sweep of the season.
CARDINALS 6, PHILLIES 5
Dexter Fowler hit a three-run homer for St. Louis, and Adam Wainwright tossed five solid innings. The Cardinals have won three in a row following a season-high sevengame losing streak. Daniel Nava homered for the Phillies, who have dropped five in a row. Philadelphia led 2-0 before Fowler connected against Aaron Nola (3-4) in the fifth inning. It was his ninth homer in his first season with St. Louis. Wainwright (7-4) gave up two runs and six hits, bouncing back nicely from a rough start at Cincinnati on Tuesday. Seung Hwan Oh pitched a rocky ninth inning for his 15th save.
ANGELS 12, ASTROS 6
Albert Pujols homered in the first inning and Eric Young Jr. had a career-high four RBIs, helping the Angels rally for the win. Young capped Los Angeles’ six-run fifth inning with a tiebreaking three-run shot off Michael Feliz (2-1). He also had an RBI single in the seventh. Rookie Keynan Middleton (1-0) pitched a scoreless fifth for his first career win. George Springer and Yuli Gurriel homered for Houston, and Josh Reddick had three hits.
METS 2, BRAVES 1
Seth Lugo pitched seven crisp innings in his season debut, leading the Mets to the road win. Lugo (1-0) came back from right elbow inflammation that had sidelined him all season, helping Mets starters post a 0.83 ERA over the last five games. He gave up one run and six hits. Lugo also doubled off Jaime Garcia (2-5) and scored in the third for a 2-1 lead. The Mets have won four of five heading into a 14-game stretch against four teams that made the postseason last year. Addison Reed got his 11th save in 13 chances. Dansby Swanson had a sacrifice fly for Atlanta. The Braves have lost 16 of their last 21 home games against the Mets.
BLUE JAYS 4, MARINERS 0
Josh Donaldson hit a two-run homer for Toronto, and J.A. Happ struck out eight in six innings. Donaldson and the Blue Jays knocked out James Paxton (5-1) after just four innings, handing him his first loss of the season and sending the thousands of Toronto fans from western Canada back north of the border after their team won two of three this weekend. Donaldson finished with three hits, including an RBI single in the fourth for a 3-0 lead. Happ (1 4) allowed six hits in his first win since Sept. 20.
GIANTS 13, TWINS 8
Buster Posey had three hits and four RBIs, Hunter Pence added three doubles and scored three times, and the Giants avoided a three-game sweep. Eduardo Nunez also had three hits and scored three times while rookie Austin Slater had three hits and a career-high four RBIs to help the Giants win for the fourth time in 12 games. Josh Osich (1-1) retired three batters for the win. Eduardo Escobar and Byron Buxton homered for Minnesota. Matt Belisle (0-1) got two outs and was charged with four runs and four hits.
INDIANS 4, WHITE SOX 2
Carlos Carrasco took a shutout into the sixth and three relievers combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings, leading Cleveland to the victory. Carrasco (6-3) was pulled after Todd Frazier’s two-run double cut Cleveland’s lead to one. The right-hander allowed seven hits, struck out four and walked one in 5 1/3 innings. Andrew Miller retired all five batters he faced, striking out three. Bryan Shaw pitched a scoreless eighth and Cody Allen finished for his 15th save, working around a one-out single. The White Sox have dropped nine of 11. Jose Quintana (28) allowed three runs in five innings, dropping to 0-4 in his last seven starts.
PIRATES 3, MARLINS 1
Ivan Nova pitched six shutout innings, Elias Diaz drove in two runs and the Pirates beat Jeff Locke and the Marlins. Nova (6-4) allowed one hit, struck out four and walked none. Locke (0-2) was charged with three runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings in his first start in Pittsburgh since he signed with Miami in free agency. The left-hander spent the first six years of his career with the Pirates. Ichiro Suzuki hit his second homer for Miami in the eighth. The 43-year-old Suzuki last hit more than one homer in a season in 2013. Felipe Rivero got his second four-out save in as many days.
DIAMONDBACKS 11, BREWERS 1
Robbie Ray struck out 12 in 6 2/3 shutout innings, Paul Goldschmidt hit a grand slam and the Diamondbacks pulled away for the win. Ray (7-3) gave up three hits in what started as a pitchers’ duel with former Diamondback Chase Anderson (5-2). Anderson allowed one run and four hits in six innings, and his scoreless streak stopped at 22 when Jake Lamb drove in David Peralta with a groundout in the bottom of the first. Goldschmidt’s slam came in a fiverun eighth. He connected off Rob Scahill for his 14th homer of the season. Keon Broxton homered in the ninth for Milwaukee.
RAYS 5, ATHLETICS 4
Mallex Smith had three hits and used his speed to set up the go-ahead run, helping the Rays take three of four from the Athletics. Smith led off the seventh with a bunt single and went to third after reliever Daniel Coulombe (0-1) was charged with an error for an errant throw to first that ended up in the right-field corner. Tampa Bay went ahead 5-4 when Corey Dickerson hit a sacrifice fly on the next pitch. Smith, recalled from Triple-A Durham on Friday to fill in for injured Gold Glove center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, also walked and went 8 for 14 in the series. Chase Whitley (2-1) got the win and Alex Colome worked a shaky ninth for his 18th save. Stephen Vogt had three RBIs for Oakland, which has lost eight consecutive road series.
ROYALS 8, PADRES 3
Mike Moustakas homered twice for Kansas City, and Jake Junis pitched sevenplus solid innings. Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer also connected for the Royals, who hit five on Saturday against the Padres. Moustakas hit a three-run home run in the first against rookie Dinelson Lamet (2-2) that gave the Royals an early 4-0 advantage, and a solo homer in the eighth. Junis (2-0) allowed three runs, all on solo homers, and six hits.
TIGERS 8, RED SOX 3
Justin Upton hit a grand slam off the right-field foul pole and Nicholas Castellanos hit a two-run homer as the Detroit Tigers averted a sweep with victory over the Red Sox. The Tigers halted a threegame losing streak in a contest that lasted 4 hours, 6 minutes. Boston had won 13 of 19 and seven of eight in Fenway Park. Daniel Norris (3-4) held Boston to two runs over five innings, giving up seven hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Drew Pomeranz (64) was tagged for six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, snapping his career-best threegame winning streak. Hanley Ramirez had an RBI single and Dustin Pedroia a run-scoring double for Boston. The first six innings took just over three hours, sending a large portion of fans streaming for the exits after the final out of the sixth.— AFP