Mariners eke out key win over Rays
By The Associated Press
Luis Castillo went six innings to win his sixth consecutive decision, Mike Ford drove in a run and the Seattle Mariners beat the host Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 on Thursday night in a matchup of playoff contenders.
Castillo (12-7) allowed four hits. four walks and struck out eight. The right-hander worked out of two-on, one-out jams in each of the first three innings.
Andrés Muñoz worked the ninth to get his 12th save and complete a four-hitter.
Muñoz hit Luke Raley with a pitch leading off the ninth, but Raley was thrown out trying to steal second by catcher Cal Raleigh.
Taylor Walls then drew a walk and stole second as Jonathan Aranda struck out. Harold Ramírez struck out to end the game,
Rays starter Zack Littell (3-5) went a career-high eight innings, giving up one run and five hits.
Seattle moved within a halfgame of idle Houston for the AL West lead, and is 51/2 games back of the Rays for the top AL wild card. The Mariners, currently holding the second wild card, are 41-19 over their last 60 games.
Eugenio Suárez doubled leading off the second and scored on Ford’s single.
Ronald Acuña Jr. hit two of Atlanta’s five homers, Matt Olson increased his major league-leading total to 47 and the Braves beat slumping Adam Wainwright and visiting St. Louis.
Acuña raised his season total to 34 homers with his third multihomer game this season. Olson homered for his fourth straight game, and Michael Harris II and Travis d’arnaud also went deep for major league-best Atlanta (91-48), which leads second-place Philadelphia by 14 games in the NL East.
Max Fried (7-1) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, improving to 5-0 in his last seven starts. He is 5-0 in his career against the Cardinals.
Wainwright (3-11), pitching in his home state of Georgia for the final
BRAVES 8, CARDINALS 5 >> time against the team that drafted him in 2000, allowed six runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, including four solo home runs. He is stuck at 198 wins, losing seven straight starts and dropping to 0-10 in 11 outings since winning at the New York Mets on June 17.
Tommy Pham hit two first-pitch home runs, Ryne Nelson was efficient on the mound in his return from the minors and Arizona defeated Chicago at Wrigley Field.
Ketel Marte added his 22nd homer to help the Diamondbacks win their second straight and move a half-game ahead of Miami for the last of the three NL wild-card spots. Chicago holds the No. 2 wild card, three games ahead of Arizona.
Nelson (7-7), recalled from Triple-a Reno a night earlier, gave up two hits and walked two in the first 5 2/3 innings.
Seiya Suzuki tripled and scored the first run for Chicago, which saw a four-game streak end and missed a chance to trim idle Milwaukee’s NL Central lead to one game.
Pham had a solo shot off Javier Assad (3-3) in the first and Marte added a two-run homer in the fourth to give Arizona all the offense it needed. Pham drove in two more with his homer in the eighth off reliever Keegan Thompson.
Assad pitched the first 5 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits while walking one.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, CUBS 2 >>
Carlos Rodón allowed Spencer Torkelson’s first two-run homer two batters in and was tagged for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings as New York dropped back to .500 with a home loss to Detroit.
The Tigers dealt a blow to the slim playoff hopes of the Yankees (70-70) who had tied a season high of five straight victories and had won eight of nine. Trying to avoid its first losing season since 1992, New York has just 22 games left.
Matt Vierling, who had four hits, chased Rodón (2-5) with an RBI single that put Detroit ahead 6-1 in the fourth and Torkelson went deep on the second pitch from rookie Randy Vásquez.
TIGERS 10, YANKEES 3 >>