Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Greinke earns 200th win as Astros beat A’s
OAKLAND >> Zack Greinke threw seven smooth innings for his 200th win, pitching the first-place Houston Astros past the Oakland Athletics 4-1 on Sunday to avoid a four-game sweep.
Alex Bregman had a three-run homer among his four hits to back Greinke, who won his third straight start since joining the Astros from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the July 31 trade deadline.
Greinke (13-4) went nine up, nine down on 25 pitches to start the game before giving up Marcus Semien’s 21st homer. The right-hander allowed four hits with three walks and six strikeouts. He became the 115th pitcher in major league history to reach 200 career wins, and the second in Houston’s rotation along with Justin Verlander.
Roberto Osuna finished for his 27th save as the Astros stopped a five-game slide.
Yuli Gurriel added an RBI double for Houston, which snapped Oakland’s four-game winning streak. The Astros went back ahead of the A’s by 7 ½ games in the AL West race. METS 11, ROYALS 5 >> Pete Alonso hit his 40th home run to break the National League rookie record, capping a late outburst by New York against Kansas City.
Michael Conforto launched a long homer in the first inning and drove in four runs. Amed Rosario put the Mets ahead 6-4 with a two-run single in the seventh, and Alonso went deep in the ninth. He snapped a tie with Cody Bellinger, who hit 39 home runs for the Dodgers in 2017 on the way to winning Rookie of the Year honors.
Alonso also had an RBI double and scored three times during his second consecutive three-hit game. Rosario had three hits and three RBIs, and Joe Panik added three hits as the top four batters in the Mets’ lineup combined to go 11 for 18 with nine RBIs and seven runs.
New York scored six times in the seventh to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 9-4 lead. J.D. Davis tied it with a pinch-hit RBI single.
Royals reliever Kevin McCarthy (2-2) was charged with four runs in one-third of an inning. BRAVES 5, DODGERS 3 >> With All-Star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. benched for not hustling, Rafael Ortega stepped up with a sixth-inning grand slam to lift Atlanta over Los Angeles.
Acuña was pulled before the fifth after failing to run out a drive off the right field wall in the third. The ball bounced off the wall for a long single. The 21-yearold Acuña likely would have had an easy double if he had hustled from home plate.
Braves manager Brian Snitker followed Acuña into the tunnel for an apparent conversation during the fourth inning before Adam Duvall entered the game in left field in the fifth, with Ortega moving from left to center.
The move by Snitker came in a 2018 playoff rematch and the decisive game of a three-game series between the top two teams in the National League. INDIANS 8, YANKEES 4 >> Mike Clevinger struck out 10 in five shutout innings to win his seventh straight decision, Mike Freeman had three extra-base hits and Cleveland tamed New York for a four-game split between AL pennant contenders.
A day after manager Aaron Boone and two other Yankees were ejected for again ranting against umpires, it was a relatively quiet afternoon.
Freeman hit a three-run homer and a pair of doubles. Oscar Mercado homered and drove in three runs, and Francisco Lindor also connected for the Indians. Clevinger (8-2) limited the Yankees to three hits and walked two. RED SOX 13, ORIOLES 7>> Rafael Devers went 4 for 5 with a homer, two doubles and four RBIs as Boston rallied from an early six-run deficit to complete a threegame sweep of Baltimore.
J.D. Martinez added three hits and two RBIs, and Sam Travis hit a solo homer for the Red Sox, who won their fifth straight as they try to climb out of a deep hole for the second AL wild card. Boston trails Tampa Bay by 6½ games.
In his last eight games, Devers is 20 for 37 with 12 extra-base hits and 14 RBIs. He raised his season RBI total to 101.
Renato Núñez had a three-run homer and four RBIs for last-place Baltimore, which dropped its seventh in a row. CARDINALS 5, REDS 4 >> Paul Goldschmidt hit a tworun homer, Tommy Edman added a solo shot among his three hits and St. Louis held off Cincinnati to split their four-game series.
Jack Flaherty (7-6) had his scoreless streak snapped at 23 innings, but allowed only one run in five frames as the Cardinals stayed in first place in the NL Central, just ahead of the Chicago Cubs.
Carlos Martinez gave up three straight hits and two runs to open the ninth but hung on for his 14th save, striking out Eugenio Suàrez to end it. Suàrez homered early but also committed a costly error at third base and grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the seventh. RAYS 5, TIGERS 4 >> Ji-Man Choi’s two-run single in the bottom of the ninth completed a rally from a late three-run deficit, and Tampa Bay kept itself in the AL’s second wild-card spot and avoided a series loss to woeful Detroit.
The Rays trailed 4-1 after seven before coming back with two in the eighth and then the winning hit in the ninth.
Travis d’Arnaud reached to open the ninth against Joe Jimenez (3-7) on shortstop Gordon Beckham’s throwing error and went to second when Willy Adames walked. The Rays loaded the bases on Mike Brosseau’s one-out infield single before Choi singled to center. NATIONALS 16, BREWERS 8 >> Juan Soto hit two of Washington’s team record-tying eight homers in a 16-8 rout of Milwaukee.
Matt Adams and Victor Robles hit back-to-back homers in the first to give the Nationals a 4-0 lead, and Anthony Rendon and Soto did the same in the third as the advantage ballooned to 13-0. Washington has gone for back-toback homers ten times this season.
Erick Fedde (4-2) won his third consecutive start, allowing four runs on ten hits over five innings and striking out two. TWINS 6, RANGERS 3 >> Jorge Polanco cleared the bases with a tiebreaking triple in the eighth inning, helping Minnesota to its first-ever four-game sweep of Texas.
Polanco hit a two-out liner to the gap in rightcenter field off Emmanuel Clase (0-2). Minnesota maintained a 2½-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central. MARINERS 7, BLUE JAYS 0>> Yusei Kikuchi pitched his first shutout in the major leagues, throwing a twohitter that led Seattle over Toronto.
Kikuchi (5-8) struck out eight, walked one and retired the final 14 batters in his first win since beating Baltimore on June 23. It was his 26th start for the Mariners and first complete game.
Tom Murphy hit a tworun homer and the Mariners went deep four times. Kyle Seager hit a leadoff homer against Toronto opener Wilmer Font (2-1). ROCKIES 7, MARLINS 6, 10 INNINGS >> Garrett Hampson hit a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th inning, and Colorado rallied to complete a three-game sweep of Miami.
Nolan Arenado homered twice for Colorado, which has won four straight and swept a series for the first time since June 18-20.
Hampson’s game-winner came off Jeff Brigham (2-2) after the Rockies loaded the bases with no outs.
Carlos Estevez (2-2) allowed two runs in the ninth, but the Rockies tied it on Charlie Blackmon’s RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Trevor Story. DIAMONDBACKS 6, GIANTS 1>> Wilmer Flores and David Peralta homered, Merrill Kelly held San Francisco to one run in 5 2/3 innings, and Arizona avoided a fourgame sweep.
Kelly (9-12) struck out five and allowed six hits in his first win at home since June 2. Madison Bumgarner (8-8) took the loss for the Giants after giving up four runs on six hits in six innings.
The Diamondbacks ended a four-game losing streak, spoiling Bruce Bochy’s final game at Chase Field as Giants manager. ANGELS 9, WHITE SOX 2 >> Shohei Ohtani, Kole Calhoun, Matt Thaiss and Anthony Bemboom all homered to lead Los Angeles over Chicago.
Ohtani hit his first home run since July 27 and just his second since the AllStar break. He has a ninegame hitting streak, the longest of his young career.
Calhoun added his career-high 27th homer, a solo shot in the fourth inning. Thaiss hit a three-run homer in the second inning off White Sox starter Dylan Cease (5-6).
Angels rookie Griffin Canning (5-6) pitched seven innings for just the second time. Eloy Jiménez homered and tripled for the White Sox.