Major League Baseball results | Thursday
Reds 5, Nationals 4 (10)
WASHINGTON — Nick Senzel made a leaping catch against the right-field wall to save a run in the ninth inning, then hit a two-run homer leading off the 10th to lift the Cincinnati Reds over the Nationals 5-4 Thursday for their first series sweep at Washington since 2006.
Cincinnati (49-39) stretched its winning streak to five with the four-game sweep that maintained a two-game lead over the second-place Brewers in the NL Central heading into a weekend series at Milwaukee. The Reds have won 20 of their last 24 games overall and 19 of their last 22 on the road, moving 10 games over .500 for the first time since Aug. 29, 2021. They also host the Brewers in a three-game series the weekend after the All-Star break.
“It was important for us to focus game to game here, especially this last one,” Senzel said. “It just brought some crazy delays and slow pace and hot and humid, just kind of how D.C. is. We kept fighting to the end. We knew how important it was for us to take care of business, and now it’s time to go to Milwaukee and the All-Star break on a good note.”
Senzel said he felt he needed to make up for allowing Riley Adams’ single to fall starting a two-run fifth. He started with a leaping catch on CJ Abrams with the sun in his eyes for the second out of the ninth after Adams’ one-out double off Tony Santillan (1-0), who worked a scoreless inning in his first Reds appearance since June 13, 2022.
“It’s one of the best plays I’ve ever seen, for that ball to be able to stick in his glove like that,” Cincinnati manager David Bell said. “He has great hands wherever he is on the field. With the game on the line, that’s the game right there.”
With Tyler Stephenson on second as the automatic runner, Senzel gave Cincinnati a 5-3 lead when homered on a first-pitch fastball from Hunter Harvey (3-4).
“He made a nice catch and he comes up and hits a big home run for them,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said.
Alexis Díaz earned his 25th save in 26 chances, allowing an RBI single to Lane Thomas before retiring Keibert Ruiz on a game-ending flyout with runners on second and third.
Playing exactly one month after his major league debut, Elly De La Cruz had two hits and finished the series 10 for 18. The third baseman went into foul territory and made a 95.6 mph throw to first on Adams’ grounder for the final out of the sixth, the fastest throw for an infield assist in the major leagues this season and the fastest for the Reds since Statcast began tracking in 2015.
Cincinnati is 22-6 since bringing up the 21-year-old, who is hitting .325 with four homers, 15 RBIs, 12 stolen bases and a .905 OPS.
Last-place Washington (34-53) fell to an NL-worst 13-31 at home and has lost 14 of 15 at Nationals Park since June 3.
Washington starter MacKenzie Gore pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and was removed after a 1-hour, 43-minute rain delay, Cincinnati’s Brandon Williamson remained after the delay and pitched three shutout innings with four strikeouts.
Tigers 9, Athletics 0
DETROIT — Javier Báez had a two-run single in the first inning and All-Star Michael Lorenzen (3-6) combined with Tyler Holton, Brendan White and Chasen Shreve on a four-hitter.
Jake Marisnick homered and drove in two runs for the Tigers, who pitched their fifth shutout of the season.
Rookie Hogan Harris (2-3) allowed a career-high seven runs, eight hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings. Oakland has been blanked 10 times and was held to four hits or fewer for the 16th time. At 25-64, the A’s are on pace to finish 46-116, the most losses since the 2003 Tigers went 43-119.
Brewers 6, Cubs 5
MILWAUKEE — Victor Caratini homered off Michael Fulmer (0-5) to break a 5-5 tie in the eighth
Cody Bellinger was 4 for 4 with three RBIs for the Cubs, finishing a triple shy of the cycle and raising his average to .298.
Milwaukee led 4-1 in the sixth inning and 5-3 in the eighth before Yan Gomes’ two-run homer off J.C. Mejía (1-0). Joel Payamps got his third save.
Blue Jays 6, White Sox 2 (11), 1st Game
Blue Jays 5, White Sox 4, 2nd Game
CHICAGO — Whit Merrifield hit two solo homers, Matt Chapman also connected and Toronto beat Chicago for a doubleheader sweep.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits and two RBIs for Toronto, including a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning. Fellow All-Star Bo Bichette had four of the team’s 16 hits.
Toronto used a six-run 11th inning to beat the White Sox in the opener. George Springer hit a tiebreaking RBI single, and Jordan Romano (4-4) worked the 10th for the win.
The Blue Jays (48-40) completed a season sweep, outscoring Chicago 35-11 in six games. They are 10-2 against the White Sox since the start of last year.
The doubleheader was scheduled after Wednesday night’s game was postponed because of rain.
Cardinals 3, Marlins 0
MIAMI — Nolan Arenado homered in the sixth inning off Eury Pérez (5-3), Jack Flaherty pitched shutout ball for his second straight start and St. Louis won the series finale to avoid a four-game sweep.
Luis Arraez had his 12th three-hit game and his batting .389.
Flaherty (6-5) allowed nine hits in 6 2/3 innings, struck out five and walked two. He has lowered his ERA from 4.95 to 4.27 in his last two starts.
Chris Stratton escaped the basesloaded jam in the seventh when Jesús Sánchez to hit into an inning-ending forceout. Jordan Hicks got three outs for his sixth save.
Phillies 3, Rays 1 (11)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner had RBI singles off Ryan Thompson (1-2), in the 11th inning and Philadelphia completed a three-game sweep that extended Tampa Bay’s losing streak to a season-high five.
Matt Strahm (3-3) worked two innings for Philadelphia, which has won 12 straight road games, one shy of the team record set in 1976. The Phillies also had a 12-game run that spanned the 1887-88 seasons.
Tampa Bay was swept at home for the first time this season. The Rays are 34-13 at Tropicana Field.
Orioles 14, Yankees 1
NEW YORK — Gunnar Henderson set career highs with two homers, four hits and five RBIs — all in the first four innings. Henderson hit his first leadoff homer before the Orioles sent 21 batters to the plate in the third and fourth innings, opening a 13-0 lead with 11 hits, three walks and one hit batter.
Luis Severino (1-4) allowed seven runs and 10 hits over 2 2/3 innings and has a 7.38 ERA with a .315 opponents’ batting average and .560 slugging percentage.
Baltimore scored its most runs since a 15-10 win over Boston last Aug. 19 and had 20 hits. Kyle Bradish (5-4) allowed three hits over six innings.
Guardians 6, Royals 1
CLEVELAND — José Ramírez and Josh Naylor homered on consecutive pitches in the sixth inning, powering Cleveland past Kansas City.
Ramírez homered to left field and, Naylor, who missed the previous two games because of tendinitis in his right wrist, drove one over the wall in right against reliever Amir Garrett (0-1).
Andrés Giménez also homered for Cleveland (43-44). The Guardians haven’t been at .500 since April 28 at 13-13.
Eli Morgan (4-1) worked a scoreless inning before Enyel De Los Santos, Trevor Stephan and Nick Sandlin completed the six-hitter. Light rain pushed the scheduled start back 81 minutes,
Red Sox 10, Rangers 6
BOSTON — Kiké Hernández blooped a bases-loaded, broken-bat single in the seventh to give the Red Sox the lead and then drove in another run on an infield hit later in the six-run inning as Boston rallied to beat former pitcher Nathan Eovaldi t.
Boston led 1-0 and 3-1 before the AL-West leading Rangers scored two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth for a 5-3 lead. The Red Sox got one back in the sixth, when they chased Eovaldi, and then sent 12 batters to the plate against four pitchers in the seventh. No. 9 hitter Connor Wong had three hits for Boston, and Josh Winckowski (3-1) got the win with a scoreless inning of relief. The Red Sox won for the fifth time in six games.
Josh Sborz (4-4) was charged with three runs on three hits and two walks while getting just two outs.
Mariners 5, Astros 1
HOUSTON — Eugenio Suárez homered twice with three RBIs, J.P. Crawford added a solo shot and Seattle beat Houston.
Suárez connected off Ronel Blanco (2-1) to make it 2-0 in the second and Crawford’s homer put Seattle up 3-0 an inning later. Suárez, who also doubled, made it 5-1 with his second home run to start the ninth.
Seattle starter George Kirby (8-7) allowed six hits and one run in 6 2/3 innings to help the Mariners win for the fifth time in six games.
Mets 9, Diamondbacks 0
PHOENIX — Francisco Lindor homered and had two triples among his five hits, Francisco Alvarez homered for the third straight game and New York routed Arizona.
Carlos Carrasco (3-3) allowed three hits in eight innings for the once-struggling Mets, who had 17 hits for their fifth straight win.
Alvarez became the first Mets rookie to have three homers in a three-game series twice in a season — Larry Elliot in 1964 was the only other New York rookie to do it once — and Pete Alonso hit his 26th of the season.
The last team to be shut out this season, the Diamondbacks lost their fourth straight and All-Star rookie Corbin Carroll went down with a right arm injury on a swing in the seventh inning. Ryne Nelson (5-5) was the loser.