Braves take bats to Nats
Kurt Suzuki homered, Julio Teheran earned his third consecutive victory and the Atlanta Braves defeated the Nationals, 13-2, yesterday in Washington to earn a rare series victory on the road against their National League East rival.
Brandon Phillips had four hits and three RBI for the Braves, who had dropped seven consecutive road series against the Nationals and had lost 23 of their last 25 games in Washington before taking two of three this week.
Braves outfielder Matt Kemp left the game in the third inning after suffering an apparent leg injury while sliding into third base.
Darren Baker, the son of Washington manager Dusty Baker, was drafted by the Nationals in the 27th round of the MLB draft, 15 years after he first made headlines. The younger Baker, now an 18-year-old shortstop, was just 3 when he was a bat boy for the San Francisco Giants, managed by his father, in the 2002 World Series. During Game 5, Darren Baker had run to the plate to pick up a bat when J.T. Snow scored, then scooped up the youngster to avoid a collision with another runner.
Padres 4, Reds 2 — Franchy Cordero’s go-ahead single in the seventh inning capped a comeback that included Hunter Renfroe’s homer, sending host San Diego to a sweep-completing win over Cincinnati.
Mets 9, Cubs 4 — Curtis Granderson opened a fiverun eighth with his 300th career homer to snap a tie, Lucas Duda added a three-run shot in the same inning and host New York rallied past Chicago.
Rockies 5, Pirates 1— Raimel Tapia went 4-for-4 and scored three times, Ian Desmond homered and German Marquez (5-3) got the win as Colorado beat host Pittsburgh to snap a threegame slide.
American League
Blue Jays 7, Rays 6 — Russell Martin hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, Kendrys Morales homered and drove in four runs, and Toronto held on for the narrow victory against visiting Tampa Bay after blowing a late three-run lead.
Trailing 6-3, the Rays tied it in the eighth on Logan Morrison’s homer and Derek Norris’ sacrifice fly.
Orioles 10, White Sox 6 — Wellington Castillo drove in five runs, including a grand slam that put visiting Baltimore ahead to stay against Chicago.
The Orioles placed first baseman Chris Davis (oblique) on the 10-day disabled list.
Astros 13, Rangers 2 — Derek Fisher homered and had an RBI single for his first major league hits in a nine-run sixth inning to help host Houston beat Texas and avoid a three-game sweep.
Mariners 6, Twins 4 — In Minneapolis, Mitch Haniger and Mike Zunino homered against Ervin Santana early, and the Seattle bullpen held off Minnesota late.
Interleague
Marlins 11, Athletics 6 — Marcell Ozuna homered to start a comeback from an early four-run deficit and later added a double for a threeRBI day, Tyler Moore also homered and Miami powered past visiting Oakland for a two-game sweep.
Royals 7, Giants 2 — Mike Moustakas homered in the second inning, Jorge Bonifacio and Lorenzo Cain went back-to-back in the third and Kansas City secured a short sweep of host San Francisco.
Diamondbacks 2, Tigers 1 — Taijuan Walker (5-3) went five innings in his return from the disabled list, and Arizona won a fourth straight game, against Detroit.
Elsewhere in baseball — Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig is appealing a one-game suspension from MLB for making an obscene gesture Tuesday to Indians fans in Cleveland. . . .
CC Sabathia (hamstring) is headed to the disabled list, leaving a big hole in the New York Yankees rotation.