Darvish dazzles vs. White Sox
Yu Darvish struck out 10 in his career-high fifth consecutive victory, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1 on Sunday to stop the South Siders’ seven-game win streak.
Kyle Schwarber hit a tworun homer in the sixth inning as the Cubs won for just the fourth time in their last 11 games. The NL Central leaders were outscored 17-5 in the first two games of the series.
José Abreu went deep for the White Sox in the second, matching a major league record with a home run in four consecutive at-bats. Abreu connected five times in the first two games against the Cubs, including three homers and four RBIs in Saturday night’s 7-4 win.
Darvish (5-1) allowed one run and six hits in seven innings. Jeremy Jeffress got four outs for his third save.
Padres 5, Astros 3 — Fernando Tatis Jr. made two spectacular plays at shortstop, Manny Machado hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning and the San Diego Padres got a lockdown performance from their bullpen to beat the Houston Astros for a threegame sweep.
The Padres, who got to nemesis Zack Greinke in the fourth inning, have won seven straight, all against the two Texas teams.
American League
Rays 5, Blue Jays 4 — Josh Fleming pitched five innings of two-run ball for Tampa Bay, winning his major league debut.
Fleming (1-0) is the 11th different starter in 29 games this season for the injuryfilled Rays pitching staff.
John Curtiss worked 1 2/3 perfect innings to get his first career save.
The AL East-leading Rays took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on an RBI single from pinch hitter José Martínez, Austin Meadows’ sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single by Brandon Lowe off Ryan Borucki (1-1).
Twins 5, Royals 4 — Nelson Cruz hit his 10th homer for Minnesota, and closer Taylor Rogers dodged trouble in the ninth inning.
Cruz connected on Trevor Rosenthal’s 99-mph fastball for a solo shot that went an estimated 441 feet to center field in the ninth. The drive gave Minnesota a two-run lead and helped the Twins win their eighth series in nine tries this season.
Mariners 4, Rangers 1 — Kyle Lewis and Sam Haggerty homered and Justin Dunn pitched one-hit ball over six innings, leading Seattle to the win.
The trio of rookies sent the Rangers to their eighth straight loss and helped the Mariners to their first series win and sweep of the season.
Dunn (2-1) earned his second career win, both coming against Texas. He struck out six and walked one.
Tigers 7, Indians 4 — Tarik Skubal and Daniel Norris combined to pitch six innings of one-run ball, leading Detroit to the victory.
Jorge Bonifacio hit a tworun homer and Niko Goodrum and Grayson Greiner connected for solo drives for the Tigers, who won for the second time in the threegame series after losing their previous 20 games to Cleveland.
Athletics 5, Angels 4 — Mark Canha hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels.
Matt Olson made the last out of the ninth, but Franklin Barreto came in to run for him at the start of the 10th. After Matt Chapman singled Barreto to third, the Angels brought the infield in before Canha hit a high fly to center off Ty Buttrey (1-1). Mike Trout made the catch but Barreto scored without a throw.
National League
Phillies 5, Braves 4 — Rhys Hoskins, Didi Gregorius and Alec Bohm homered, Philadelphia’s bullpen turned in a rare sparkling performance and the Phillies snapped a five-game skid with a victory over the Atlanta Braves.
It wasn’t easy for the Phillies, who watched closer Brandon Workman survive the ninth when Dansby Swanson, the potential tying run, was tagged out at the plate by catcher Andrew Knapp to end the game. The Braves challenged the call, but it was upheld.
Heath Hembree, making in Phillies’ debut, retired his two batters in the sixth to strand a pair of runners in scoring position.
Cardinals 6, Reds 2 — Yadier Molina had four hits and top prospect Dylan Carlson hit his first career homer, helping the Cardinals to the victory.
Harrison Bader also connected for St. Louis, which won three of four in the series. Molina, Carlson and Bader each finished with two RBIs.
Nationals 9, Marlins 3 — Aníbal Sánchez pitched seven effective innings for Washington, and Trea Turner drove in three runs.
Sánchez (1-3) allowed one run and five hits in his longest outing of the season. The veteran right-hander went 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in his first three starts this month.
Dodgers 11, Rockies 3 — Kiké Hernández hit a threerun drive and Mookie Betts went deep twice in the Dodgers’ seven-homer attack, powering Los Angeles past the Colorado Rockies for a three-game sweep.
The Dodgers are the only team in the majors yet to lose a series, unbeaten in 11. They have won 11 of 12 games overall and own the best record in baseball at 22-8 at the halfway point of this abbreviated season.
Giants 6, Diamondbacks 1 — Mike Yastrzemski celebrated his 30th birthday with a go-ahead home run and the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks for their sixth consecutive victory.
Trevor Cahill and four relievers held the Diamondbacks to five hits.