Stanton homers twice as Marlins rally past Padres
MIAMI » Giancarlo Stanton homered twice Friday, increasing his major leagueleading total to 49, and tied a career high with five RBIs to help the Miami Marlins climb above .500 for the first time since April by beating San Diego 8-6.
Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer, his 30th, to put Miami ahead to stay in the seventh inning.
Stanton has nine multihomer games this season, the most in the majors since Jose Bautista had nine with Toronto in 2010. Stanton’s home run total is the highest in the National League since Prince Fielder hit 50 for Milwaukee in 2007 — and the Marlins still have 35 games to play.
Stanton is on pace to finish with 63 homers. He increased his RBI total to 105, tying his career high.
Led by their All-Star right fielder, the Marlins (64-63) have recovered from a 1427 start to join the NL wildcard chase. They’ve won 11 of their past 14 games, and the latest victory thrilled a lively crowd of 22,489, which gave Stanton a standing ovation after his second homer and booed when he was walked in the seventh.
Two batters later, Ozuna homered off Kirby Yates (35) to increase his RBI total to a career-best 101.
Stanton’s first swing sent a pitch onto the left field concourse, traveling an estimated 462 feet to give Miami a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Dee Gordon rounded the bases ahead of Stanton, shaking his head with a grin of amazement at his teammate’s binge.
The Marlins slugger barely cleared the wall — and the glove of a leaping Blash in right field — in the third inning for his 16th homer in August.
Stanton also made a diving catch in right field in the second to rob Blash of a hit. METS 4, NATIONALS 2 » Jacob deGrom had 10 strikeouts in 7.2 innings against Washington’s makeshift lineup, and New York beat the Nationals.
DeGrom (14-7) allowed one run on five hits. He upped his strikeout total to 201 this season by fanning the side in the seventh.
Matt Reynolds and Dominic Smith drove in runs during the eighth for a 3-0 lead. REDS 9, PIRATES 5 » Rookie Robert Stephenson fanned a career-high 11 Pirates, and Scott Schebler drove in three runs with a homer and his first triple of the season, leading Cincinnati to a victory.
Stephenson (2-4) stymied Pittsburgh with sharpbreaking pitches in his fifth start and 19th overall appearance, allowing two runs in 5.2 innings.
The right-hander fanned the first six batters for a modern Reds record, according to information from the Elias Sports Bureau provided by the team. The major league record is eight by Houston’s Jim Deshaies in 1986 and the Mets’ Jacob deGrom in 2014. BRAVES 5, ROCKIES 2 » Julio Teheran won at home for the first time in four months, Matt Kemp and Kurt Suzuki hit home runs and Atlanta beat Colorado.
Teheran (8-11) snapped an Atlanta record streak of nine straight home losses as he allowed two runs and five hits with no walks in 7.1 innings.
Kemp and Suzuki each hit first-pitch homers off Bettis (0-1). Kemp hit a tworun shot in the first and Suzuki led off the second with a line-drive shot over the left-field wall. Kemp had three hits. TWINS 6, BLUE JAYS 1 » Bartolo Colon pitched 6.2 innings for his second straight win, Byron Buxton had three hits and two RBIs and Minnesota beat Toronto.
Joe Mauer had three hits and scored twice as Minnesota snapped a seven-game losing streak north of the border. The Twins had not won in Toronto since June 11, 2014.
Justin Smoak hit his 35th homer for Toronto. INDIANS 4, ROYALS 0 » Rookie Ryan Merritt pitched a career-high 6.2 innings and Cleveland recorded its ALleading 13th shutout with a win over Kansas City.
Merritt (1-0) was called up from Triple-A Columbus before the game to take the injured Danny Salazar’s spot in the rotation. The 25-yearold left-hander scattered seven hits for his second career win.