Hamels enjoys winning debut as Cubs rout Pirates
PITTSBURGH: Cole Hamels, making his Cubs debut, struck out nine and gave up one unearned run in five innings on Wednesday as Chicago clobbered the hosts Pittsburgh Pirates 9-2 to split a twogame series.
Willson Contreras hit his ninth homer for the Cubs, who pounded out 15 hits. Contreras, Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist each had three hits.
Hamels (6-9) gave up three hits and walked two. Reliever Brandon Kintzler, also making his Cubs debut, gave up one hit in 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Pittsburgh starter Nick Kingham (5-6) lasted one inning, giving up four runs (two earned) and three hits with a walk and a strike-out. He made 51 pitches.
Yasmani Grandal hit two home runs, including the game-winner in the 10th inning, on a night when Brian Dozier had a home run among his three hits in his Dodgers debut, and Los Angeles pulled beat visiting Milwaukee 6-4.
Grandal’s game-winning shot came after Matt Kemp broke an 0-for-26 slide with a leadoff single in the 10th. Grandal crushed a 1-1 pitch from Matt Albers (3-3) into the seats in the right field corner.
Dylan Floro (4-2) pitched a perfect top of the 10th to earn the victory. The Dodgers ended their three-game losing streak.
Sean Manaea took a shut-out into the seventh inning, and batterymate Jonathan Lucroy drove in four runs with three hits, helping Oakland complete a historic season-series sweep of visiting Toronto with an 78-3 victory.
The win was Oakland’s third in three days at home against the Blue Jays and seventh straight this season, capping Oakland’s first season-series sweep of seven or more games since going 7-0 against Baltimore in 2004.
Manaea (10-7) allowed one run on five hits in six-plus innings. He fanned five and walked two.
Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer, and Tommy Milone threw seven strong innings as Washington defeated visiting New York 5-3.
This game was much different from Tuesday’s series opener, when the Nationals crushed the Mets 25-4. Milone (1-0) allowed one run on three hits in his seven innings. The left-hander struck out nine without a walk and retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.
Ryan Madson took care of the eighth before Kelvin Herrera closed it for his 16th save.
Sonny Gray lasted 2 2/3 innings and was booed off the Yankee Stadium mound as New York fell to Baltimore 7-5.
Tyler Glasnow had a strong debut with his new team in Tampa Bay’s 7-2 win over Los Angeles Angels.