Rays’ rookie Faria dominates again
TORONTO » Rookie Jacob Faria dazzled again and Logan Morrison hit his 18th home run of the season to help the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 on Tuesday night.
Six days after his bigleague debut, Faria (2-0) became the third Rays pitcher all-time to win his first two career games, joining Jeremy Hellickson and Joe Kennedy. The victory was Tampa Bay’s sixth in its last seven games.
The 23-year-old righthander held the Blue Jays to six hits in 6.1 innings, striking out eight and giving up one run. He was called up on Monday to replace Matt Andriese, who went on the disabled list with a hip complaint.
Corey Dickerson went 4 for 5 with a homer — his 15th of the season.
Marco Estrada (4-5) had his shortest outing of the season, lasting just 3.1 innings after giving up 12 hits and being charged with six runs in his sixth straight loss to Tampa.
Taylor Featherston opened the scoring in the third inning with his first home run of the season, lining a drive over the fence in right-center field. CUBS 14, METS 3 » Anthony Rizzo began the game with a long home run after a surprising move to the leadoff spot, rookie Ian Happ hit his first career grand slam and Chicago trounced New York.
Backed by a season-best seven-run second inning, the World Series champs snapped a nine-game skid on the road and moved back to .500 through 64 games. The Cubs had lost five of six overall.
Jon Lester (4-4) earned his 150th win and matched a season high with 10 strikeouts. He allowed a run and five hits over seven innings.
Rizzo, batting leadoff for the first time in his career, had two hits, three RBIs and a bases-loaded walk. He’s reached base in 21 of his last 36 plate appearances. NATIONALS 10, BRAVES 5 » Ryan Zimmerman hit his 18th and 19th home runs of the season in his return from back soreness, and Washington Nationals scored five sixth-inning runs against R.A. Dickey to defeat Atlanta.
Zimmerman went 3 for 4 and drove in three runs to help Washington snap a fourgame slide after sitting out the last three.
Daniel Murphy homered, doubled and had three hits and two RBIs as the NL-East leading Nationals scored eight runs against a second Braves starter in as many nights.
Dickey (4-5) went fiveplus innings while allowing his most runs since April 24, 2015. PIRATES 5, ROCKIES 2 » John Jaso hit a pinch-hit two-run homer off Colorado’s Adam Ottavino in the seventh inning to break a tie and Andrew McCutchen homered twice as Pittsburgh pulled away from Colorado.
Jaso sent the second pitch he saw from Ottavino (0-1) just over the fence in center field for his second pinch-hit homer of the season and fifth of his career. Gerrit Cole (4-6) broke out of a funk to allow just one run in seven strong innings.
The Pirates have won a season-high four straight following a four-game losing streak that dropped them to last in the NL Central.
Tony Wolters had two hits and an RBI for Colorado. Trevor Story drove in a run and scored for the Rockies. The NL West-leading Rockies have dropped three consecutive games for the first time this season. CARDINALS 6, BREWERS 0 » Jose Martinez hit a pair of solo homers and St. Louis beat Milwaukee in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.
Martinez connected in the fifth and eighth innings for his first multi-homer game. He added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.
Martinez’s 415-foot opposite field drive to right-center ignited a three-run Cardinals rally in the fifth. Matt Carpenter followed with an RBI double and scored on Dexter Fowler’s single to make it 3-0.
Kolten Wong had an RBI double and Martinez added a sacrifice fly as the Cardinals extended their lead to 5-0 in the sixth. MARLINS 8, ATHLETICS 1 » Giancarlo Stanton returned to Miami’s starting lineup after recovering from a bruised wrist and hit a two-run homer to help beat Oakland.
Stanton missed only one start after being hit on the right wrist by a fastball Saturday. His 17th homer of the year put Miami ahead 4-1 in the fifth inning.
Marcell Ozuna hit his 16th homer and had two singles, hiking his average to .332.