Pujols hits milestone homer in Angels win
TORONTO » Albert Pujols moved into sole possession of 10th place on baseball’s all-time list by hitting his 584th home run, Matt Shoemaker pitched six shutout innings and the Los Angeles Angels snapped an 11-game road losing streak by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 8-2 on Wednesday night.
Pujols finished 4 for 4 with three RBIs. After he and Mike Trout hit back-to-back homers in the first, Pujols hit a sacrifice fly in the second, singled in the fourth and sixth innings, then capped his night with an RBI double in the eighth.
For Pujols, the homer broke a tie with Mark McGwire on the all-time list. A three-time MVP and 10-time All-Star, Pujols is two home runs shy of tying Frank Robinson for ninth place.
Two pitches after Trout hit his 24th home run, Pujols did the same. It was the fourth time this season the Angels have hit consecutive homers.
Both shots came off Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada, who allowed seasonworsts of six runs and 10 hits in five innings. CUBS 6, PADRES 3 » Major league ERA leader Kyle Hendricks pitched six effective innings and Chicago finished off a three-game sweep, beating San Diego.
Hendricks (12-7) gave up two runs and four hits, striking out eight and leaving with a 2.19 ERA. He has allowed no more than three earned runs in 17 straight starts. YANKEES 5, MARINERS 0 » Rookie Gary Sanchez kept up his torrid stretch with his seventh home run in the past nine games, and Masahiro Tanaka won his fourth straight start in New York’s victory over Seattle.
Tanaka (11-4) threw seven shutout innings and got the better of the Mariners and former Japan League teammate Hisashi Iwakuma (14-9). RANGERS 6, REDS 5 » Yu Darvish hit only the second homer by a Texas pitcher and Adrian Beltre had a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning in the Rangers’ victory over Cincinnati. RAYS 4, RED SOX 3 » David Ortiz hit his 30th home run in the first inning, but Tampa Bay came back from a threerun deficit to beat Boston to prevent the Red Sox from taking sole possession of the AL East lead.
Luke Maile doubled with two out in the 11th and scored after Red Sox pitcher Heath Hembree (4-1) dropped a throw to first base on Kevin Kiermaier’s grounder. ORIOLES 10, NATIONALS 8 » Baltimore closer Zach Britton saw his remarkable streak of 43 straight games without allowing an earned run end, then shut down Washington’s ninth-inning rally.
The Nationals scored five times in the ninth, one of them charged to Britton. But after his own mistake helped Washington put runners on first and second with one out, Britton got Ryan Zimmerman to ground into a double play. MARLINS 3, ROYALS 0 » Jose Fernandez pitched seven innings and appeared to avoid a serious injury when he tweaked his right leg on his final pitch, helping Miami snap Kansas City’s winning streak at nine.
Fernandez (13-7) pulled up after striking out Christian Colon to end the seventh, and rubbed his right knee before limping to the dugout. The Marlins pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the seventh. ATHLETICS 5, INDIANS 1 » Kendall Graveman pitched into the seventh inning to become Oakland’s first 10-game winner this season, and the Athletics beat Cleveland. ASTROS 5, PIRATES 4 » Evan Gattis hit his 20th home run, leading Collin McHugh and Houston over Pittsburgh for the Astros’ fifth victory in six games. BREWERS 7, ROCKIES 1 » Ryan Braun hit two home runs and Milwaukee tied a season high with its fourth straight victory, beating Colorado.
Braun hit a solo drive off Tyler Anderson (4-5) in the fourth. He connected for his 24th homer off Chad Qualls in a four-run seventh.