Diaz leads Cardinals past Marlins
MIAMI (AP) — Aledmys Diaz homered, doubled and drove in three runs against childhood pal Jose Fernandez, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 5-4 Thursday.
Fernandez gave up five runs in five innings and fell to 26-2 at Marlins Park.
Miami's Dee Gordon, the 2015 NL batting and stolen bases champion, returned from an 80-game suspension for failing a drug test and went 0 for 4.
Ichiro Suzuki doubled as a pinch hitter in the seventh for Miami and needs two hits for 3,000.
Diaz and Matt Holliday homered in the third inning against Fernandez (12-5), who had never previously given up more than one homer in a home game.
His only other loss at Marlins Park came on opening day this year against Detroit.
Michael Wacha (6-7) allowed three runs in six innings, and three relievers completed an eight-hitter.
Seung Hwan Oh pitched around a one-out single in the ninth for his seventh save.
Diaz and Fernandez were neighbors growing up in Santa Clara, Cuba, and the Cardinals enjoyed their reunion.
Fernandez walked Jeremy Hazelbaker to start the third inning, and Diaz followed with his 14th homer.
Two batters later, Holliday hit his 18th homer just inside the right-field foul pole, prompting a rueful grin from Fernandez.
The Cardinals homered in 17 consecutive games before being blanked in that department Wednesday.
Hazelbaker tripled and Diaz drove in a run with a double, his 25th, in the Cardinals' two-run fifth.
ROCKIES 2, METS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Mets steady closer Jeurys Familia stumbled for a second straight game, allowing two runs in the ninth inning as the Rockies beat New York for their seventh win in eight games.
Less than 24 hours after Familia's streak of 52 consecutive regular-season saves was snapped, the right-hander entered in the top of the ninth with a 1-0 lead, and couldn't hold it.
Trevor Story had a leadoff single and stole second.
After fellow rookie David Dahl walked, Daniel Descalso bunted up the first base line.
Mets catcher Rene Rivera watched as the ball spun toward foul territory but it stopped fair, loading the bases with no out.
With one out, Familia (2-3) got pinch-hitter Cristhian Adames to hit a slow grounder to the right side.
First baseman James Loney booted the ball and Story scored to make it 1-all.
Familia then threw a wild pitch, allowing Dahl to cross the plate with the go-ahead run.
BREWERS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 4
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Hernan Perez hit a tworun homer, singled and scored the go-ahead run in the sixth, Zach Davies pitched 6 1/3 innings and the Brewers beat the Diamondbacks.
Perez, who started at shortstop for benched Jonathan Villar, crushed Robbie Ray's first pitch 458 feet off the facing of the scoreboard in deep center for the two-run homer in the third.
Davies (8-4) allowed three runs —two earned— on six hits. Facing the Diamondbacks for the first time, he walked one and struck out five.
Jeremy Jeffress pitched the ninth for his 24th save in 25 chances.
The Brewers added a run when Kirk Nieuwenhuis homered off Tyler Clippard leading off the eighth.
Ray (5-10) cruised through the first five innings, then struggled in the sixth with the game tied at 2.
TWINS 6, ORIOLES 2
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rookie Max Kepler continued his midseason surge with a game-tying home run among two hits and two RBIs as the Minnesota Twins rallied to beat the Orioles.
Kepler hit his 11th home run off reliever Odrisamer Despaigne (0-2) leading off the sixth inning to tie the game 2-all after Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jimenez lasted five innings in his first start since July 8. Kepler had an RBI double as part of a four-run seventh.
Minnesota's Ryan Pressly (5-5) combined with two other relievers to allow just two hits the final three innings.