Kluber, Tribe trip Yanks
Corey Kluber outpitched Luis Severino in a marquee matchup of All-Stars, and slumping Jose Ramirez homered twice to power the Cleveland Indians past the Yankees, 6-2, last night in New York, for their fifth straight victory.
Carlos Santana hit a tiebreaking homer off Severino in the seventh inning and Austin Jackson also went deep for the AL Central leaders, who increased their cushion to seven games over idle Minnesota.
Coming off three consecutive shutouts in a sweep of Kansas City, the defending AL champions ran their scoreless streak to 30 innings before Chase Headley homered against Kluber (13-4) leading off the third. The 2014 AL Cy Young Award winner went eight innings and allowed only three hits, rebounding from a loss to the Red Sox last week that ended a five-game winning streak and marked his first defeat since July 4.
Kluber struck out seven and walked one as the Indians (74-56) won for the 14th time in 18 games.
Slumping Yankees slugger Aaron Judge did not play and the team plans to give him tonight off, too, hoping the rest will help him find his swing.
Orioles 7, Mariners 6 — Adam Jones hit a milestone home run, Welington Castillo had three hits and two RBI and host Baltimore nipped Seattle for its fifth straight victory.
Chris Davis doubled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning for the resurgent Orioles, who climbed over .500 (66-65) for the first time since June 11. Baltimore jumped past Seattle (66-66) to within 11⁄2 games of idle Minnesota for the final AL wild card spot.
Jones’ solo home run in the fifth inning gave him 25 for an Orioles-record seventh consecutive season. He shared the mark of six with Cal Ripken Jr.
Ben Gamel homered and had a career-high five RBI in Seattle’s third straight defeat.
Rays 12, Royals 0 — Host Kansas City extended its scoreless streak to an AL record-tying 43 innings, getting shut out for a fourth straight game in a loss to Tampa Bay.
The Royals haven’t scored since the second inning of a 3-2 loss to Colorado last Thursday. Austin Pruitt (7-4) pitched six innings for the Rays.
Angels 3, Athletics 1 — In Anaheim, Calif., Andrew Heaney scattered allowed one run on two hits in six innings while striking out 10, and Los Angeles edged Oakland.
National League
Nationals 11, Marlins 2 — Max Scherzer overpowered Giancarlo Stanton, Howie Kendrick hit a three-run triple and host Washington clubbed Miami.
Scherzer (13-5) allowed one run and five hits, including Christian Yelich’s home run, and had 10 strikeouts in his return from the 10-day disabled list.
Stanton, named NL Player of the Week for the second time this month on Monday, went 0-for-3 against Scherzer with two strikeouts and a groundball double play one day after becoming the first NL player to hit 50 home runs in a season since Prince Fielder in 2007.
Jayson Werth had a tworun homer off Jose Urena (12-6) in his first game with the Nationals since suffering a left foot contusion on June 5.
Stanton batted .448 (13for-29) with five home runs and 11 RBI last week. His 17 homers in August are one shy of the major league record of 18 set by Rudy York in 1937. The slugger didn’t hit the ball out of the infield against Scherzer.
Cubs 6, Pirates 1 — Mike Montgomery pitched sixhit ball into the eighth inning and helped himself at the plate, leading host Chicago past Pittsburgh.
Montgomery (5-6) struck out four and walked none in his second start since he was inserted into the rotation after Jon Lester was placed on the 10-day disabled list. The left-hander was pulled after Jordy Mercer snapped his 171⁄3-inning scoreless streak with a leadoff homer in the eighth.
Carl Edwards Jr. got three outs before Wade Davis finished the six-hitter as Chicago moved 21⁄2 games ahead of idle Milwaukee for the top spot in the NL Central.
Phillies 6, Braves 1 — Rhys Hoskins ended his homer streak but did drive in the go-ahead run with a sixth-inning double, Aaron Nola pitched seven strong innings and host Philadelphia dropped Atlanta.
Rookie slugger Hoskins didn’t go deep after homering in five straight games while becoming the fastest ever to reach 11 home runs, doing it in 18 games and 64 at-bats.
Giants 3, Padres 0 — Jeff Samardzija allowed just three singles in pitching his first shutout since 2015, and Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik homered to lead visiting San Francisco over San Diego.
Samardzija (9-12) frustrated the Padres to beat them for the first time in four starts this year. He allowed infield singles to Wil Myers in the second and Yangervis Solarte in the fifth before Cory Spangenberg singled to right in the eighth. It was his fourth shutout and ninth complete game.
Interleague
Tigers 4, Rockies 3 — In Denver, Nicholas Castellanos had three hits, including a two-run triple, and Jordan Zimmermann rebounded from early trouble to help Detroit beat Colorado.
The Rockies stranded 11 baserunners as they began a nine-game homestand. Their lead for the second NL wild-card spot dwindled to three games over idle Milwaukee.
Elsewhere in baseball — The New York Mets terminated David Wright’s rehab assignment because of shoulder pain and ruled Yoenis Cespedes out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.