Nats top Braves
The Washington Nationals beat former Arkansas Razorback Dallas Keuchel (above) and the Atlanta Braves 6-3 on Monday in the opener of a three-game series. Anthony Rendon hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the sixth inning to propel the Nationals, who moved within 4½ games of the NL East-leading Braves.
WASHINGTON — As the entire stadium got excited around him, Anthony Rendon put his head down for another routine trip around the bases.
The even-keeled Rendon hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the sixth inning, and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series to close within 4½ games of the National League East leader.
“Hit it far and loud,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “It was clutch.”
With the score 2-2, Rendon connected off of Chad Sobotka for his 23rd home run this season and third career slam, raising his career RBI total to 500. Rendon, who had two hits, is hitting .370 in his last 19 games with 9 doubles, 3 home runs and 20 RBI.
“I wanted to be ready for the fastball, be on time, just see something over the middle of the plate,” Rendon said.
Patrick Corbin (9-5) allowed 2 runs and 5 hits in 6 innings, striking out 8 and walking 1. Sean Doolittle gave up a home run to pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson in the ninth.
Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) gave up 4 runs, 6 hits and 4 walks in 51/3 innings, dropping to 0-3 with a 5.08 in five starts against Washington. Making his eighth start (3-4) for the Braves since signing in June, he is 0-2 in three outings since winning at San Diego on July 12.
“Very disappointing. That’s about it,” said Keuchel, who expressed frustration with umpire Adam Hamari’s strike zone. “I thought I punched out about 10 guys. I got rewarded with extra at-bats. That’s where that lies.”
Juan Soto singled home a run in the first, and Trea Turner hit an RBI double in the second. The 20-yearold Soto also made a leaping catch at the left-field wall in the sixth to deny Adam Duvall of a possible two-run home run.
Atlanta scored in the fourth when Duvall hit a sharp two-out grounder to Rendon. The third baseman made a diving backhand stop, but his throw attempting to prevent an infield single sailed past first for an error and Freddie Freeman, who had been on second, came home.
MARLINS 11, DIAMONDBACKS 6 Caleb Smith endured a bad stretch after a base-running adventure but recovered to pitch seven innings and help host Miami beat Arizona. Smith laid down a bunt in the second inning and wound up at third base thanks to two errors on the play. The jaunt may have taken a toll, because in the next inning he gave up three hits, including a three-run home run by Ketel Marte. Smith (7-4) allowed only 1 other run, struck out 9 and retired his final 10 batters.
REDS 11, PIRATES 6 Jose Iglesias’ grand slam completed host Cincinnati’s 10-run second inning and the Reds beat Pittsburgh. The lastplace Pirates lost their ninth consecutive game, their longest skid since they dropped 10 in a row in 2011. Alex McRae (0-3) made his first major league start after seven relief appearances. He retired four batters and was replaced during Cincinnati’s biggest inning in four years. The Reds piled up 6 hits and 3 walks while sending 13 batters to the plate. Joey Votto singled home a pair of runs, first baseman Josh Bell had a throwing error, and Iglesias’ second career grand slam off Montana DuRapau made it 10-1. Every Reds player in the lineup scored in the inning. Cincinnati hadn’t scored so many runs in an inning since it also had 10 in the sixth against Detroit on Aug. 24, 2015.
ROCKIES 9, DODGERS 1 Jon Gray allowed 3 hits over 8 innings to win for the first time in a month, and host Colorado beat Los Angeles for its third victory in 11 games this season against the National League champions. Nolan Arenado had a two-run single in a five-run fifth inning, David Dahl hit a two-run home run into the rightfield second deck in the eighth, and Ian Desmond finished a home run short of the cycle.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
BLUE JAYS 7, ROYALS 3 Cavan Biggio hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning, Randal Grichuk and Teoscar Hernandez also went deep, and visiting Toronto rallied past Kansas City. Top prospect Bo Bichette singled in the first at-bat of his big-league career, and the Blue Jays got a strong spot start from Thomas Pannone in the opener of a 10-game trip. Tim Mayza (1-1) earned the victory with a scoreless inning of relief.