Harper hits 2 HRs, drives in 5, as Nats slam Braves
ATLANTA >> Bryce Harper had two homers, including a grand slam, among four hits and the Washington Nationals overwhelmed Julio Teheran and the Atlanta Braves 14-4 on Wednesday night.
Harper drove in five runs. His third-inning grand slam just cleared the reach of leaping Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte. Harper’s seven career homers off Teheran are his most against any pitcher.
Ryan Zimmerman added an eighth-inning grand slam off Ian Krol, sending some Braves fans for the exits at new SunTrust Park. The Nationals had 20 hits.
Washington’s Joe Ross (10) allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings in his 2017 debut.
Teheran (1-1) allowed seven runs on seven hits in four innings.
Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth left the game during a third-inning at-bat with a groin spasm. He appeared to suffer the injury on a check swing.
Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman walked in the first and hit his sixth homer in the third. That gave Freeman 12 consecutive plate appearances in which he reached safely, an Atlanta record. The streak ended with Freeman’s sixthinning groundout to shortstop Wilmer Difo. Freeman had a run-scoring single in the eighth. MARINERS 10, MARLINS 5 >> Miami’s Ichiro Suzuki hit his first home run on the road in nearly four years. The 43-year-old homered off Evan Marshall in possibly his final at-bat at Safeco Field, where he anchored right field and the top of Seattle’s batting order for 11½ seasons.
Rookie Mitch Haniger extended his hitting streak to 13 games with three hits and four RBIs, and Seattle won for the fifth time in six games. CUBS 7, BREWERS 4 >> Addison Russell hit a three-run homer off Neftali Feliz (0-2) that capped a four-run ninth inning.
Chicago trailed 4-1 before Willson Contreras’ RBI single in the sixth Carlos Torres, and Russell’s run-scoring single cut the deficit to one run in the eighth. Kris Bryant’s RBI single tied the score. ROYALS 2, GIANTS 0 >> Jason Vargas (3-0) scattered four hits over seven innings with nine strikeouts and no walks, and Kansas City finally scored off Madison Bumgarner.
Bumgarner (0-3) matched Vargas pitch for pitch until the fifth, when Paulo Orlando managed a one-out single. Orlando stole second, took third on a groundout and went home when Mike Moustakas delivered a base hit. That ended Bumgarner’s streak of 18 scoreless innings against the Royals, dating to the 2014 World Series opener. CARDINALS 2, PIRATES 1 >> Dexter Fowler hit his first two home runs for St. Louis, which completed a threegame sweep — all by 2-1 scores. The Cardinals are 6-9, winning their opener and losing nine of 11 before the sweep.
Fowler had three of the Cardinals’ eight hits, including homers in the third and fifth off Gerrit Cole (1-2). Josh Bell had tied the score with a fourth-inning homer against Michael Wacha (2-1) ATHLETICS 9, RANGERS 1 >> Khris Davis hit his seventh home run of the season, Yonder Alonso and Chad Pinder also went deep.
Josh Phegley hit a two-run double in a four-run first that gave a quick lead to Jesse Hahn (1-1), who allowed one run and two hits over six innings, struck out four and walked four. YANKEES 9, WHITE SOX 1 >> Aaron Judge hit a 448-foot homer, Masahiro Tanaka (2-1) pitched seven innings of one-run ball and New York completed its first stretch at Yankee Stadium this season 8-1, its most wins in a homestand since going 9-1 from July 17-26, 2009.
Judge followed Starlin Castro’s three-run shot in the fifth for the Yankees’ first back-to-back homers of the season. Chase Headley and Aaron Hicks also went deep to give New York a season high four home runs. BLUE JAYS 3, RED SOX 0 >> Francisco Liriano (1-1) allowed four hits in 5.1 innings and combined with three relievers combined on a six-hitter.
Kevin Pillar had three hits for the second straight game and stole two bases as the Blue Jays won for the third time this season and improved to 2-6 on their homestand. ORIOLES 2, REDS 0 >> Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0) held the Reds to a pair of singles in the second inning and four walks overall in 7.2/3 innings to overcame a dominating performance by rookie Amir Garrett (2-1), who struck out 12 in seven innings.