Chicago Cubs down Cincinnati Reds 9- 5
CHICAGO: Slumping sluggers Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber homered, rookie Ian Happ connected again and the Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-5 on Tuesday.
Happ hit his second homer in his third major league game and Addison Russell also went deep as Chicago returned to .500 after a lackluster road trip. NL MVP Kris Bryant added two hits in his first appearance after missing three games with an illness.
The Cubs (19-19) had dropped seven of nine, including four of their last six at division leaders Colorado and St. Louis. Schwarber’s continued trouble in the leadoff spot and the shaky performance so far by the rotation had created some angst for a fan base expecting more of the same after Chicago’s historic World Series championship last year, but no one seemed a bit worried around the team.
Willson Contreras had two hits and two RBIs, and John Lackey (4-3) pitched into the sixth inning in the opener of a 10-game homestand.
Joey Votto, Zack Cozart and Tucker Barnhart homered for Cincinnati on a warm and windy night at Wrigley Field. But Bronson Arroyo (3-3) was hit hard in five innings, allowing five runs and eight hits.
Rangers 5 Phillies 1: In Arlington, Texas, Yu Darvish struck out nine over seven solid innings and Texas beat Philadelphia to stretch the majors’ longest active winning streak to seven games.
Nomar Mazara had a solo homer in the first, and Mike Napoli hit a two-run shot in the eighth. Napoli, who came in hitting .165, went 3 for 3.
Darvish (4-2) allowed four hits and two walks. He preserved a tworun lead by striking out Brock Stassi with runners at first and second after he allowed his only run on an RBI single by Freddy Galvis in the seventh inning.
Orioles 13 Tigers 11, 13 innings: In Detroit, Chris Davis homered in the 12th inning and again in the 13th, and Baltimore finally held on after the second one.
Davis led off the 12th with a home run that started a three-run inning for the Orioles, but Detroit rallied with three of its own in the bottom half to keep the game going. Davis came up again with a runner on third in the 13th and hit a two-run shot off Francisco Rodriguez ( 1- 5) that gave Baltimore the lead for good.
The Orioles led 7-1 after scoring seven runs in the third, but they squandered that big advantage and needed Mark Trumbo’s solo shot with two outs in the ninth just to force extra innings. Baltimore snapped a four-game losing streak.
Astros 12 Marlins 2: In Miami, unbeaten ace Dallas Keuchel became the first seven-game winner in the majors despite pitching only five innings, his shortest outing this season, and Houston beat swooning Miami.
Jake Marisnick tripled his sea- son RBI total to six with a pair of two-run homers against his former team, both caroming off the home run sculpture at Marlins Park. Brian McCann also had four RBIs.
Keuchel allowed two runs, both in the first inning, and threw 70 pitches before departing with a 10-2 lead. His ERA rose to 1.84.
Nationals 8 Pirates 4: In Pittsburgh, Bryce Harper belted his 13th home run, Ryan Zimmerman smacked a two-run double to add to his major league-leading RBI total and Washington held off struggling Pittsburgh.
Harper’s laser to the last row of seats in right field in the ninth gave the 24-year-old star a home run in every ballpark in the National League. He finished with two hits to move ahead of Zimmerman for the major leaguelead in batting average (.388).
Stephen Strasburg (4-1) allowed three runs in six-plus innings, walking one and striking out three on a night he didn’t have his best stuff.