Homers power Yanks
Didi Gregorius, Brett Gardner and Chris Carter homered, and the Yankees beat Jason Vargas again in a 4-2 victory against the Kansas City Royals last night in New York.
A reversed call in the seventh inning kept the Yankees ahead and enabled Michael Pineda (5-2) to top Vargas for the second time in a week. The Royals, with the worst record in the AL, have lost 5-of-7.
Vargas (5-3) began the day with a 2.03 ERA, tied for second-best in the majors. But the lefty fell to 0-7 lifetime against the Yankees when he was tagged by Gardner and Gregorius, the only left-handed hitters in New York’s lineup.
The Royals trailed 3-2 in the seventh and had a runner on second with two outs. Alcides Escobar hit a grounder that second baseman Starlin Castro fielded behind the bag before making a one-hop throw to first baseman Chris Carter.
Umpire Marvin Hudson ruled safe, and when Carter briefly turned around to look at him, Jorge Soler kept running and slid home ahead of a late throw. The Yankees challenged the call and were right, taking the apparent tying run off the board.
Carter quickly made up for his near miscue, hitting a solo homer.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge was 0-for-3 with a walk. Before the game, the team debuted a new rooting section for the rookie star — The Judge’s Chambers, with 18 fans wearing black robes with his No. 99 in a faux jury box behind his spot in right field.
Angels 3, Rays 2 — Jefry Marte scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the seventh to help Los Angeles beat Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Angels, who have won 6-of-8, pushed across the run without a hit in the seventh inning against Tampa Bay relievers Jumbo Diaz (0-3) and Ryne Stanek. After walking Mike Trout intentionally to load the bases with two out, Stanek threw a ball in the dirt while facing Albert Pujols, allowing Marte to score easily.
Twins 14, Orioles 7 — Max Kepler homered and drove in four runs, Miguel Sano and Jorge Polanco each had a career-high four hits and Minnesota roared back to win in Baltimore.
Minnesota trailed 5-0 in the second inning and 6-2 entering the fifth before cranking up the offense against Ubaldo Jimenez and an ineffective Baltimore bullpen.
A two-run double by Kepler helped the Twins knot the score in the fifth, and Minnesota sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run sixth.
Astros 1, Tigers 0 — Brad Peacock and three relievers combined for a one-hitter and Jose Altuve provided the offense with an RBI double to lead host Houston past Detroit.
Peacock was solid moving out of the bullpen to make a spot start for injured ace Dallas Keuchel. In his first start since September, Peacock allowed the lone hit and struck out eight in 4B innings. He was lifted after walking Tyler Collins with one out in the fifth inning.
Chris Devenski (3-2) took over and pitched 2C innings for the win before Will Harris pitched a scoreless eighth. Ken Giles struck out two in the ninth for his 12th save to allow the Astros to bounce back after being swept by the Indians during the weekend.
National League
Rockies 8, Phillies 1 — Jeff Hoffman struck out seven and tossed three-hit ball for seven innings to lead visiting Colorado to a rout in Philadelphia.
Hoffman (2-0) also had his first big league hit as the National Leagueleading Rockies continued to cruise away from home. They are the best in the majors with a 16-7 road record and are 5-2 on this season-long, 10game road trip.
Giants 6, Cubs 4 — Joe Panik hit his first career leadoff homer and doubled twice, helping San Francisco hold off Chicago.
Brandon Belt also connected and Ty Blach pitched into the eighth inning in the first meeting between the teams since San Francisco was eliminated by Chicago in the NL Division Series last year. Panik, Belt and Justin Ruggiano each had two RBI as the streaking Giants won for the eighth time in 10 games.
Braves 5, Pirates 2 — Newly acquired Matt Adams hit a mammoth two-run homer, Brandon Phillips also went deep to become the 48th player in major league history with 200 career homers and 200 career stolen bases, and host Atlanta beat Pittsburgh.
Ender Inciarte had a career-high five hits for the Braves, who have won 3-of-5 since Freddie Freeman fractured his left wrist.
Interleague
Reds 5, Indians 1 — Scott Feldman struck out a season-high nine while ending his team’s long stretch of ineffective starts, and Scott Schebler homered for the third straight game as host Cincinnati beat Cleveland.
The Reds took the opener of the annual intrastate series. The teams play two games in Cincinnati followed by two in Cleveland. The Indians had won their past four at Great American Ball Park and six straight overall in the Ohio series.
Diamondbacks 5, White Sox 1 — In Phoenix, Zack Greinke struck out a season-high 12 and came within one out of a complete game as Arizona beat Chicago.
The ace right-hander gave up four hits and improved to 5-0 in his last six starts.