Drury’s timely homer for Reds sinks Orioles
Brandon Drury reached 20 homers for the first time in his big league career when he hit a tiebreaking drive in the eighth inning to give the Cincinnati Reds a 3-2 home win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.
Drury broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth with his homer on a splitter off Felix Bautista (3-3), one of the Orioles’ most reliable relievers.
“I was trying to stay on the fastball,” Drury said. “I was a little bit late on one. I was trying to cover for the split. He threw the split and I barreled it.”
Reliever Alexis Díaz (3-1) won despite allowing a tying home run in the eighth to Anthony Santander. Buck Farmer got his first MLB save in six chances.
Orioles starter Austin Voth gave up four hits in five scoreless innings, with six strikeouts and no walks.
“He was outstanding to the max,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’re just not doing enough offensively to help these guys out.”
Cardinals 5, Nationals 0: Paul DeJong homered for the second straight day after ending a minor league demotion, Andre Pallante pitched into the ninth inning and St. Louis won in Washington.
Corey Dickerson also homered for the Cardinals, who broke the game open in the fourth inning against starter Josiah Gray (7-7).
Washington star Juan Soto was 0 for 3 with a walk. Soto is one of several Nationals who could be dealt before Tuesday’s trade deadline. Washington (35-68) has the worst record in the majors and went 6-19 in July.
An All-Star in 2019, DeJong was demoted to Triple-A Memphis in May after hitting .130 with one home run in 24 games. He regained his power stroke with the Redbirds, slugging 17 homers in 51 games.
“I’m just trying to keep that confidence like I had down there and translate it up here,” he said.
Pallante (4-4) allowed five hits in eight-plus innings for St. Louis, which ended July a game behind Philadelphia for the NL’s last wild card.
Late Saturday
Reds 8, Orioles 2: Tyler Mahle recovered from a rocky start to pitch well in a potential trade audition, and Joey Votto hit one of Cincinnati’s three homers.
Jonathan India and Jake Fraley also connected for the Reds, who dealt ace Luis Castillo to Seattle on Friday night.
Mahle (5-7) allowed three straight singles and balked in a run, giving the Orioles a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but he retired his final 13 batters.
Losing pitcher Dean Kremer (3-3) allowed six earned runs in 4 innings.
Nationals 7, Cardinals 6: Josh Bell, likely to be traded by Tuesday, hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning off Génesis Cabrera (3-2) to guide Washington to a comeback victory.
Juan Soto, who could be the biggest name dealt before the deadline, finished 1 for 1 with three walks and scored twice for Washington.
Erasmo Ramírez (3-1) earned the win. Kyle Finnegan got the last five outs for his fourth save of the season.