Arcia breaks tie in 7th, Brewers hold off Cardinals
MILWAUKEE — It was a memorable return for Alex Reyes. Same for Orlando Arcia, albeit for much different reasons.
Reyes pitched four scoreless innings for St. Louis in his return from Tommy John surgery, but Arcia hit a tiebreaking RBI single in Milwaukee’s two-run seventh and the Brewers held off the Cardinals for a 3-2 victory on Wednesday.
“It was fun. It was fun knowing that I had the ball today,” Reyes said. “Being able to go out there that first inning and execute pitches pretty quickly and strike out two. It was huge.”
Making his first major league appearance since Sept. 29, 2016, the 23-year-old right-hander allowed 3 hits, struck out 2 and walked 2. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second.
“My job is to get outs,” Reyes said. “That’s what I was trying to do.”
Reyes was done after throwing 73 pitches, 42 for strikes.
Two years ago, Reyes was 4-1 with a 1.57 ERA, striking out 52 in 46 innings. He felt pain during a prespring training bullpen session in February 2017 and was operated on by Cardinals physician Dr. George Paletta.
Reyes went 3-0 in four minor league injury rehabilitation starts this month at Class A Palm Beach and Peoria, Class AA Springfield and Class AAA Memphis. He struck out 44 in 23 innings.
Arcia was recalled from Class AAA Colorado Springs. He was sent down to work on his batting.
He looked pretty good in the seventh. With two out and runners on first and second, Arcia stopped a 0-for-15 slide with a base hit against Sam Tuivailala (1-1).
Jeremy Jeffress (5-0) got the victory despite allowing two runs in the top of the seventh. Josh Hader struck out the side in the eighth and got two outs in the ninth, and Corey Knebel struck out Jose Martinez for his fifth save in seven chances.
Milwaukee went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, but the NL Central leaders still improved to 19-8 in May, setting a team record for victories in the month. Christian Yelich homered for the Brewers, and Erik Kratz had two hits and scored a run.
REDS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 4 Adam Duvall’s grand slam erased an early four-run deficit, and visiting Cincinnati rallied to beat Arizona.
PIRATES 2, CUBS 1 Joe Musgrove pitched seven strong innings and his hard slide led to both teams emptying their benches as host Pittsburgh beat Chicago.
METS 4, BRAVES 1 Brandon Nimmo and Adrian Gonzalez each drove in two runs, Jason Vargas pitched five scoreless innings and visiting New York beat Atlanta.
GIANTS 7, ROCKIES 4 Brandon Crawford kept up his May hitting surge by lining two singles, helping San Francisco avoid being swept with a victory over host Colorado.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
RED SOX 6, BLUE JAYS 4 J.D. Martinez hit a tiebreaking, two-run home run over the Green Monster and out of Fenway Park, and Boston beat visiting Toronto to complete a three-game sweep.
YANKEES 5, ASTROS 3 Luis Severino struck out 11 in seven innings, beating longtime Yankees nemesis Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) for the second time this year as host New York topped Houston.
TIGERS 6, ANGELS 1 Jose Iglesias’ two-run single keyed Detroit’s five-run sixth as the Tigers took advantage of Shohei Ohtani’s departure following the second rain delay to beat visiting Los Angeles. ROYALS 11, TWINS 8 Mike Moustakas homered, doubled and drove in four runs in the first two innings, and Jorge Soler went 4 for 5 with a home run, but host Kansas City nearly blew a nine-run lead before holding on for a victory over Minnesota.
INTERLEAGUE
NATIONALS 2, ORIOLES 0 Max Scherzer pitched eight innings of two-hit ball to earn his eighth consecutive victory, Bryce Harper hit his 18th home run and Washington beat host Baltimore.