Pillar’s triple, catch lift Rockies
Garrett Hampson and Sam Hilliard homered and newcomer Kevin Pillar delivered a key triple as the Colorado Rockies bounced back from a battering, rallying to beat the San Francisco Giants 9-6 Wednesday.
A day after getting 27 hits in a 23-5 rout at Coors Field, and Alex Dickerson leading the way with three home runs and two doubles, the Giants again started fast. Mike Yastrzemski homered to help San Francisco score four times on six hits in the first inning.
By the fourth inning, the Giants already had six runs and 11 hits. But the Rockies bullpen pitched shutout ball the rest of the way — Dickerson finished with a double and single in five at-bats.
Hampson homered for the third time in two days. Pillar, acquired in a trade with Boston on Monday, hit a go-ahead, two-run triple in a fiverun seventh inning.
Trevor Story added three hits for Colorado. Yastrzemski had three hits for the Giants.
One out into the game, Yastrzemski connected on a 3-2 pitch off Kyle Freeland for his eighth homer of the season. Dickerson, Joey Bart and Daniel Robertson followed with two-out RBI singles and one inning later, Freeland was out of the game. He allowed four runs on eight hits over two innings, his shortest outing of the season.
The Rockies trailed 6-4 going into the seventh. After Sam Coonrod (0-1) was relieved by Tyler Rogers, Pillar, who spent most of last season with the Giants, tripled for a 7-6 lead. Hilliard followed one out later with a two-run homer that landed in the left field bleachers.
Mychal Givens (1-0), acquired over the weekend from Baltimore, worked a scoreless inning for the win. Daniel Bard got three outs for his fourth save.
National League
Reds 4, Cardinals 3 — Joey Votto’s single in the bottom of the ninth inning drove in Shogo Akiyama with the winning run as the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 on Wednesday night.
Facing Giovanny Gallegos (1-1), Akiyama and Curt Casali walked with one out and Votto delivered a sharp line drive to right to send Akiyama sliding across the plate and extend his hitting streak to six games.
The Cardinals had loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but Raisel Iglesias (2-2) struck out
Tyler O’Neill and Lane Thomas to escape.
Phillies 3, Nationals 0 — Zack Wheeler tossed three-hit ball over 6 M innings to outpitch Max Scherzer, Jay Bruce hit a solo homer and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 3-0 Wednesday night.
Neil Walker was 3 for 3 with two RBIs for the Phillies, who’ve won eight of nine and three in a row to go two games over .500 for the first time since they were 79-77 last Sept. 24.
The defending World Series champion Nationals have lost five straight and eight of nine to fall to 12-22. They’ve been shut out in consecutive games.
Wheeler (4-0) struck out six and lowered his ERA to 2.20. David Phelps retired the four batters he faced in his debut with the Phillies. Brandon Workman finished for his eighth save in nine chances and fourth for Philadelphia.
Scherzer (3-2) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings. He slammed his glove with two hands in the dugout after his final inning.
Bruce drove his sixth homer the opposite way to left in the sixth to make it 3-0.
American League
Indians 5, Royals 0 — Triston McKenzie tossed six innings of three-hit ball to celebrate his 23rd birthday, Tyler Naquin hit a pair of homers for the only runs of the game, and the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 5-0 on Wednesday night.
McKenzie (2-0) needed just 81 pitches thanks to six strikeouts, no walks and some slick defense behind him. His bullpen went the rest of the way, holding the Royals without a hit over the final three innings.
Naquin’s first homer was a tworun shot off Jakob Junis (0-1) in the second inning. Naquin then provided his relievers with some much-needed breathing room by adding a three-run homer off Scott Barlow in the ninth.
The result was the fifth consecutive loss in a series-deciding game for the Royals, and their 10th straight defeat in rubber games involving Cleveland. In fact, Kansas City has won just three of its last 35 games to decide a series.
McKenzie had a lot to do with it Wednesday night. The youngster, who missed all of last season with injuries, retired the first 10 batters he faced. And when he ran into the slightest bit of trouble, his defense was there to help.
The first time came when Hunter Dozier hit an infield single to deep shortstop; he was wiped out by an inning-ending double play. The next came when the Royals put runners on second and third with one out in the fifth, and Carlos Santana snared a sharp grounder by Adalberto Mondesi, stepped on first and then doubled Ryan McBroom off third.
And when McKenzie whiffed on a grounder in the sixth, Francisco Lindor was there to field it and throw the runner out.
Junis was nearly as good with the exception of a couple of base hits and the big mistake to Naquin. The right-hander set down the Indians in order in the first and third, and he was cruising along in the fourth when Josh Naylor’s line drive hit
Junis in the right arm between the biceps and triceps — he recovered to throw out Naylor and end the inning.
Junis was removed before the start of the fifth for precautionary reasons.
Interleague play
Mets 9, Orioles 4 — Michael Conforto went 4 for 5 with a homer and five RBIs, Pete Alonso hit a lengthy solo shot and the New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles to snap a five-game losing streak.
Conforto matched his career high in hits with a two-run homer in the first inning, RBI doubles in the fifth and seventh, and a runscoring single in the eighth. His first double made it 3-2, and New York padded the advantage as part of a 14-hit attack.
Alonso had just one hit, but it was a whopper. His sixth-inning drive off John Means (0-3) was only the fifth in the history of Camden Yards to reach the second deck in left field.
The Mets also got some decent pitching to earn a split of the twogame series and end a skid that matched their longest of the season. David Peterson (4-1) threw four innings of two-hit relief before giving way in the eighth to Miguel Castro, obtained in a trade with Baltimore on Monday.
Blue Jays 2, Marlins 1 — Lourdes Gurriel homered and Hyun Jin Ryu pitched six solid innings to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 2-1 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.
After Miami’s Sixto Sanchez got through the first four innings on 43 pitches, Gurriel snapped the rookie right-hander’s 11-inning scoreless string with a two-run shot for a 2-0 lead in the fifth. Gurriel drove Sanchez’s 0-1 slider over the left-center wall for his fifth homer.
Ryu (3-1) allowed one run and six hits, walked two and matched a season high with eight strikeouts.
Sanchez (1-1) was lifted after seven innings. He allowed six hits and struck out five.
Elsewhere in baseball... Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman was suspended for three games Wednesday, a day after he threw a fastball near the head of pinch-hitter Michael Brosseau while closing out his first save of the season in a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Chapman said the pitch was not intentional and he is appealing the suspension.
“I think it was a little harsh,” Chapman said through a translator. “That’s the reason I’m going to appeal.”
Chapman, who previously was disciplined in his career for intentionally throwing at the head area, also was fined by MLB
Yankees manager Aaron Boone received a one-game suspension and was also fined.
Rays manager Kevin Cash received a one-game suspension and was fined an undisclosed amount after being ejected during the game and for his comments afterward.
Cash said following the game that someone has to be accountable, adding, “And the last thing I’ll say on this is I got a whole damn stable full of guys that throw 98 mph. Period.”