Mets set team record with 24-4 win, but Phils bounce back for split
Acuña’s HR streak ends as Braves fall to Rockies
PHILADELPHIA — Rhys Hoskins hit a threerun homer and Scott Kingery had a solo shot as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Mets 9-6 on Thursday night to split their doubleheader.
In the first game, Jose Bautista hit a grand slam and had a career-high seven RBIs as the Mets set a franchise record for runs, prompting the Phillies to use two position players to pitch the final three innings of a 24-4 rout.
The Mets kept on hitting in the nightcap with three straight doubles on Zach Eflin’s first four pitches. Michael Conforto’s tworun double made it 2-0.
But then Hoskins crushed one high off the foul pole to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead in the bottom half against Steven Matz (5-10), just activated from the disabled list. Hoskins, who went deep in both ends of the twin bill, has 11 of his 25 homers since the All-Star break — and three in the last four games.
The Phillies added three runs in the second. Kingery homered, Wilson Ramos had an RBI single and Cesar Hernandez swiped home on a double steal.
Eflin (9-4) gave up four runs and seven hits in 6⅔ innings. Seranthony Dominguez got the last two outs.
The Phillies moved within 1½ games of NL East-leading Atlanta.
In the opener, Corey Oswalt (2-2) allowed four solo homers in six innings, Amed Rosario hit a leadoff homer and had three RBIs and the Mets took advantage of four errors to score 11 unearned runs.
Even reliever Jerry Blevins got his first career hit, a line-drive RBI single off Kingery.
The Mets scored more than 15 runs in consecutive games for the first time in franchise history. They beat Baltimore 16-5 Wednesday night.
Hoskins, Maikel Franco, Nick Williams and Jorge Alfaro went deep for the Phillies.
Roman Quinn, the team’s fourth outfielder, gave up a homer to Conforto on his second pitch — a 79 mph fastball. Quinn got five outs, gave up seven runs and threw 42 pitches. Kingery went the final 1⅓ innings and allowed two runs.
ROCKIES 5, BRAVES
3: In Atlanta, Colorado snapped Ronald Acuña Jr.’s home run streak and Atlanta’s five-game winning streak, rallying for three unearned runs in the ninth inning to beat the Braves.
David Dahl homered in the third and capped the winning rally with a twoout, two-run single off Brad Brach.
One night after being plunked in the left arm by Miami’s Jose Urena in the first inning, Acuña was back in the lineup looking to extend his homer streak to six games. Wearing a red protective guard, the 20-year-old slugger received a standing ovation his first time up and lined the second pitch — one more than he saw the previous game — into center field for a single, extending his hitting streak to nine games.
His hitting streak continued because he was not credited with an official
at-bat in the game he was hit by the pitch. CUBS 1, PIRATES 0:
In Pittsburgh, Jon Lester pitched six innings to win for the first time in just over a month and Ian Happ homered as Chicago beat Pittsburgh.
Lester (13-5) allowed five hits, struck out eight and had no walks while improving to 3-1 against the Pirates this season. His previous victory came July 15 at San Diego and he had gone 0-3 with a 10.32 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break.
NATIONALS 5, CARDINALS 4: In St. Louis, Bryce Harper had three hits and drove in three runs, Koda Glover earned the save in the first opportunity since Ryan Madson was placed on the disabled list, and Washington snapped a four-game losing streak with a victory over St. Louis.
The Nationals won for just the third time in their last 10 games and snapped the Cardinals’ season-high, eight-game winning streak.
RANGERS 8, ANGELS
6: In Arlington, Texas, Jurickson Profar started a triple play and homered to help Texas rally from an early five-run deficit in a victory over Los Angeles.
Texas turned the sixth triple play in franchise history in the fourth. With the bases loaded, David Fletcher hit a low liner toward third base that Profar picked on a short hop. Playing near the bag, Profar stepped on third to force out Eric Young Jr. and then tagged Taylor Ward, who had stumbled off the base into foul territory.
Profar then threw to Odor, and the second baseman tagged Kole Calhoun between first and second. RAYS 3, YANKEES 1:
In New York, rookie lefthander Adam Kolarek pitched out of a basesloaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning to lift Tampa Bay over New York to win its first series at Yankee Stadium since 2014.
Tampa Bay had lost 12 straight series in the Bronx, a record since the ballpark opened in 2009.
TWINS 15, TIGERS 8: In Minneapolis, Logan Forsythe had a career-high five hits and Jorge Polanco drove in four runs as Minnesota outslugged Detroit.
The teams combined for seven homers, with Polanco’s three-run shot accounting for one of three by the Twins.