Bieber, Indians shut down Cubs
McCullers outduels Ohtani as Astros rally past Angels
CLEVELAND — Shane Bieber pitched out of some early trouble before extending his strikeout record and César Hernández hit a two-run homer, sending the Cleveland Indians to a 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.
Bieber (4-2) struck out eight and has now fanned at least that many in 20 consecutive starts, a major league mark he builds on every time out. The right-hander’s streak was in jeopardy, but he got Nick Martini for strikeout No. 8 in the seventh.
The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner wasn’t as sharp as usual and needed a career-high 121 pitches to go 6⅔ innings.
James Karinchak finished the seventh for Bieber and worked the eighth. Emmanuel Clase gave up two singles in the ninth, but got Matt Duffy to bounce into a game-ending double play for his seventh save.
ASTROS 5, ANGELS 1: In Houston, Shohei Ohtani struck out 10 in an impressive duel with Lance McCullers Jr., and Houston broke loose against the Los Angeles bullpen.
Ohtani allowed one run and four hits with one walk in seven innings, his longest start of the season. The two-way star then moved to play right field, and Yuli Gurriel homered during Houston’s four-run eighth.
McCullers (3-1) yielded three hits, including a homer by Taylor Ward, while tying a season high with nine strikeouts in going eight innings. METS 3, ORIOLES 2 : In New York, Patrick Mazeika got his second walkoff RBI in four career games with a fielder’s choice grounder in the ninth inning, helping banged-up New York rally to beat Baltimore. The Mets have won six straight. Baltimore led 2-1 entering the ninth after John Means outdueled Marcus Stroman in his first start since last week’s no-hitter. ATHLETICS 3, RED SOX 2: In Boston, Chris Bassitt struck out a season-high 10 over seven effective innings and Oakland beat Boston.
Matt Chapman and Elvis Andrus hit RBI singles for the A’s in the seventh inning as Oakland broke a 1-all tie.
YANKEES 3, RAYS 1: In St. Petersburg, Fla., Jordan Montgomery pitched six strong innings, Aaron Judge and Gary Sánchez homered, and New York beat Tampa Bay for the second time in seven games this season.
Montgomery (2-1) gave up one run, two hits, walked one and tied a career high with nine strikeouts.
GIANTS 4, RANGERS 2: In San Francisco, Logan Webb set a career high with 10 strikeouts in six innings and San Francisco beat Texas to sweep the two-game series.
Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Belt drove in runs for San Francisco. Webb (2-3) allowed two runs and three hits.
BLUE JAYS 5, BRAVES 3: In Atlanta, Vladimir Guerrero homered and Toronto took advantage of Atlanta’s indecisive fielding in the eighth inning to rally past the Braves.
Guerrero had three hits, including a tying single in a three-run eighth.
Ronald Acuña Jr. hit his major leagueleading 11th homer for Atlanta. Marcell Ozuna also connected.
PIRATES 7, REDS 2: In Pittsburgh, Troy Stokes Jr. drove in runs with each of his first two major league hits, JT Brubaker pitched six strong innings and Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati.
Stokes hit an RBI single in the fourth inning. The right fielder also doubled in a run in the eighth. The Pirates had lost eight straight games to the Reds.
CARDINALS 6, BREWERS 1: In Milwaukee, Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill homered off Brad Boxberger in the 11th inning to help St. Louis beat the Brewers for their fourth straight victory.
Goldschmidt broke a 1-all tie when he sent the first pitch he saw from Boxberger (0-1) well over the wall in left-center field for a two-run blast. O’Neill later delivered a three-run shot.
Brewers’ starter Freddy Peralta struck out eight and gave up just one hit and one walk in seven shutout innings.
WHITE SOX 9, TWINS 3: In Chicago, José Abreu hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning and the White Sox won their fourth straight.
Abreu went deep to left center on the first pitch he saw from Jorge Alcala (0-1) for his seventh homer. The AL MVP had two hits and scored three runs.
Yasmani Grandal lofted a three-run homer in the second for first-place Chicago.
PHILLIES 6, NATIONALS 2: In Washington, Bryce Harper treated heckling fans to a long home run, Andrew Knapp delivered a key pinch-hit in place of injured catcher J.T. Realmuto and Philadelphia beat the Nationals.
Realmuto was hit in the left knee by Josh Bell’s foul ball in the seventh inning. The star catcher stayed in the game until Bell struck out to end the inning. Trea Turner homered for Washington.
TIGERS 8, ROYALS 7: In Detroit, Robbie Grossman singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Tigers, after squandering a seven-run lead late, recovered to beat skidding Kansas City.
Grossman had five RBIs for the first time in his career, sending the Royals to their ninth straight loss. He ripped a two-out single off Scott Barlow (1-1) in the ninth to score Niko Goodrum.
PADRES 8, ROCKIES 1: In Denver, Manny Machado homered and tripled to drive in five runs, helping to make up for the absence of Fernando Tatis Jr. and two other teammates as San Diego beat Colorado.
The Padres were without Tatis, their star shortstop, after he tested positive for COVID-19 and was put on the injured list. Tatis was said to be asymptomatic. Utility players Jurickson Profar and Jorge Mateo also were placed on the IL as part of baseball’s contact tracing health and safety protocols.
DIAMONDBACKS 11, MARLINS 3: In Phoenix, Madison Bumgarner threw seven shutout innings, Asdrúbal Cabrera had four hits including a three-run homer, and Arizona beat Miami.
ATHLETICS: Major League Baseball has instructed the Athletics to explore relocation options as the team tries to secure the new ballpark it hopes for to stay in Oakland.
MLB released a statement Tuesday expressing its longtime concern that the current Coliseum site is “not a viable option for the future vision of baseball.”
A’s owner John Fisher said in a statement he will honor MLB’s instructions but remains committed to continuing to pursue the waterfront ballpark proposed for construction in the city’s Howard Terminal location, close to Jack London Square.