Surging Indians move into first
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Triston McKenzie bounced back from a rugged start to pitch one-hit ball into the sixth inning and the Cleveland Indians completed a four-game sweep by blanking the Kansas City Royals 4-0 Thursday.
It was the fifth straight loss for the Royals, who came into the series with the best record in baseball. Cleveland, which moved into first place in the AL Central with the victory, has won five straight and nine of 11.
PHILLIES 2, BREWERS 0: Zack Wheeler struck out eight and tossed a three-hit shutout and Alex Bohm homered to lead host Philadelphia over Milwaukee for a four-game sweep of the series. Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin lead a rotation that have the Phillies in first place (17-15) and as the only team in the NL East with a winning record.
BLUE JAYS 10, ATHLETICS 4: Randal Grichuk homered, doubled and drove in five runs to lead Toronto to a victory at Oakland. Toronto earned a split of the four-game series after dropping the first two games against the AL West leader. Marcus Semien homered among his four hits, Danny Jansen and Teoscar Hernandez each drove in two runs.
RANGERS 4, TWINS 3 (10): Willie Calhoun’s RBI single in the 10th inning put Texas ahead to stay in a win at Minnesota. Joey Gallo and Jonah Heim homered for the Rangers, who rode their bullpen to a third straight win to match the team’s season-long streak. They raised their record to 3-0 in four-game series and 4-0 in extra innings.
RAYS 8, ANGELS 3: Mike Zunino homered and Brett Phillips drove in two runs on three hits as Tampa Bay came from behind to win at Los Angeles. Trailing 3-1 in the eighth, the Rays batted around while scoring seven runs, with Phillips contributing a tworun single and Zunino driving in a run with a base hit. Angels starter Andrew Heaney pitched 6 2⁄3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out 10.
BRAVES 3, NATIONALS 2: Ehire Adrianza made the most of a rare start on a day off for slumping NL MVP Freddie Freeman, providing a nice defensive play and a two-run single to back Drew Smyly’s strong outing, leading Atlanta to a win at Washington. Atlanta swept Washington for the first time since 2014.
METS 4, CARDINALS 1: Taijuan Walker allowed one hit in seven innings and New York scored three runs on bases-loaded walks in a win at St. Louis. Walker (2-1) struck out eight and walked none as the Mets salvaged a split of the four-game series.
RED SOX 12, TIGERS 9: Franchy Cordero had three hits to snap an 0-for-25 slump, then brought home the game-winning run in the eighth with the help of Detroit’s fourth error, and host Boston held on after blowing three leads to Detroit.
MARLINS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 1: Adam Duvall hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning to help Miami win at home for a series sweep. The Diamondbacks came into the series second in the majors in runs but were outscored 20-4 in three games at Miami.