Rockies rout Diamondbacks
Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story homered, Kyle Freeland pitched effectively into the seventh, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-3 yesterday in Denver to extend their NL West lead.
David Dahl had three hits and two RBI to help Colorado remain 11⁄2 games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers and increase its advantage over the third-place Diamondbacks to 41⁄2 games.
Diamondbacks righthander Clay Buchholz was scratched from the start because of tightness in his elbow. Matt Koch (5-5) started and allowed four runs on eight hits in three innings.
A.J. Pollock homered for Arizona. The Diamondbacks are 3-12 in September. They lost 5-4 on Wednesday night when DJ LeMahieu hit a tworun homer off Yoshihisa Hirano in the ninth inning.
Freeland (15-7) allowed only two hits and one run through six innings before giving up a triple to Steven Souza Jr. and a double to Nick Ahmed in the seventh. Freeland left after manager Bud Black and trainer Keith Dugger came to the mound.
Dodgers 9, Cardinals 7 — Manny Machado homered and drove in three runs to back Clayton Kershaw, and Los Angeles beat host St.Louis in the opener of a four-game series between playoff contenders.
The Dodgers snapped a five-game losing streak against the Cardinals and moved to within one game of St. Louis for the final NL wild card spot.
Kershaw (8-5), pitching at Busch Stadium for the first time since taking the loss in Game 4 of the 2014 NL Division Series, struck out eight in six innings, allowing four runs — three earned — on eight hits and two walks.
Cubs 4, Nationals 3 — Javier Baez delivered the goahead run with a bunt single in the 10th inning, and visiting Chicago beat Washington in a makeup of a game postponed earlier in the week.
Kris Bryant doubled with one out in the 10th against Sean Doolittle (3-3) and moved to third on ex-National Daniel Murphy’s infield single. Baez, who homered in the sixth and drove in three on the day, bunted just to the right of first baseman Ryan Zimmerman to score Bryant.
Baez, an MVP candidate, has 31 homers and leads the NL with 103 RBI.
The game was a makeup of Sunday’s rainout. Washington returned home between stops in Philadelphia and Atlanta, while Chicago wedged the game in between a pair of three-game series at home. Yesterday was the last mutual off day for the teams, and the Cubs arrived at their hotel rooms around 4 a.m., 12 hours before the first pitch. First baseman Anthony Rizzo boarded the flight to Washington in full uniform.
Mets sweep Marlins — Michael Conforto drove in three runs, Jason Vargas pitched six effective innings and host New York downed Miami 5-2 to sweep a doubleheader.
Conforto clubbed a hardhit double in front of the visitors’ bullpen in right-center field in the fifth inning, scoring two runs and putting New York in front 3-2. The hot-hitting outfielder added an RBI single in the seventh.
In the first game, Conforto and Todd Frazier hit back-toback homers with two outs in the ninth to give New York a 4-3 win. The Mets had been held to two hits up to that point, including starter Steven Matz’ first career homer.
Mets captain David Wright will return for the team’s final homestand, making what will probably be his last appearance as a big leaguer.
American League
Orioles 5, Athletics 3 — Dylan Bundy had eight strikeouts in six solid innings, and host Baltimore ended Oakland’s six-game winning streak.
Stephen Piscotty homered for the A’s, who fell 31⁄2 games behind Houston in the AL West and 11⁄2 back of the Yankees for the top wild card.
Bundy (8-14) gave up two runs and six hits to earn his first win since July 29. The right-hander was 0-5 in his previous seven starts.