Cubs extend win streak to seven games
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Mike Montgomery took a nohit bid into the sixth inning, Kyle Schwarber hit his 28th home run and the Chicago Cubs extended their winning streak to a season-high seven games by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Tuesday night in manager Joe Maddon’s return to Tropicana Field.
Maddon managed Tampa Bay from 2006-14, then left for Chicago and last year led the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908. Chicago holds a 3 1/2-game lead over second-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
A crowd of 25,046, the largest at the Trop since opening day, gave Maddon a standing ovation in the middle of the first inning.
• Red Sox 1, Orioles 0, 11 innings — At Baltimore: Jackie Bradley Jr. scored the game’s lone run on a wild pitch by Brad Brach in the 11th inning, helping the Red Sox improve to 15-3 in extrainning games.
Boston has won 10 of 13 to move a season-high 23 games over .500 (87-64) and draw closer to clinching a postseason berth. The Red Sox stayed three games ahead of the second-place Yankees in the AL East.
With a runner on second and two outs in the 11th, Brach (4-5) walked Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts to load the bases for Mitch Moreland, who sidestepped a bouncing pitch from Brach that enabled Bradley to score without a throw.
• Yankees 5, Twins 2 — At New York: CC Sabathia recovered from a shaky start to pitch six innings, Brett Gardner had a pair of tying hits and the Yankees clinched their sixth straight series win.
With their ninth victory in 11 games, the Yankees opened six-game lead over the Twins for the top AL wild card. Minnesota, which started the night 1 1/2 games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels for the second AL wild card, has lost four of five.
Pitching on seven days’ rest in a game that started 65 minutes late because of a downpour, Sabathia (12-5) allowed two runs and six hits. Aroldis Chapman worked a scoreless ninth for his 20th save in 24 chances.
• Phillies 6, Dodgers 2 — At Philadelphia: Rhys Hoskins had four RBIs for Philadelphia, including a tiebreaking three-run double off Pedro Baez in seventh inning.
Los Angeles’ magic number to clinch its fifth straight division title is two. The Dodgers have lost three consecutive games and 19 of 24.
Hoskins saw 30 pitches in going 2 for 3 with a walk. He knocked out Yu Darvish with a sixth-inning RBI single that cut Philadelphia’s deficit to 21, and then doubled to the left-center gap on the 10th pitch of his at-bat against Baez (3-6) for a 5-2 lead.
• Brewers 1, Pirates 0 — At Pittsburgh: Chase Anderson struck out eight in six innings, Domingo Santana homered and the Brewers shut out the Pirates for the second straight day.
The Brewers won for the ninth time in 11 games, keeping pace in the NL Central and wild-card races. They won for the fourth time in the past seven days against reeling Pittsburgh, which has lost a season-high seven consecutive games and 12 of 13.
It was the 12th shutout of the season for the Brewers, tied for the second-most in the NL.
• Marlins 5, Mets 4, 10 innings — At Miami: J.T. Realmuto homered in the 10th inning and Miami beat New York after rallying for three runs in the ninth against former teammate A.J. Ramos.
With one out, Realmuto connected off Paul Sewald (06) for his 17th homer.
• Cardinals 8, Reds 7, 10 innings — Cincinnati: Dexter Fowler hit a tying homer in the eighth inning and a goahead double in the 10th to help St. Louis get past Cincinnati.
Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong also connected for the Cardinals, who were swept by NL Central-leading Chicago last weekend and had dropped four of five overall. Juan Nicasio (4-5) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win, and Tyler Lyons got two outs for his third save.
• Nationals 4, Braves 2 — At Atlanta: Max Scherzer allowed five hits in seven innings, and Washington tuned up for the playoffs with a victory over Atlanta.
Scherzer (15-6) bounced back from his worst start of the season, also against the Braves last week, when he walked six and was roughed up for seven runs in an 8-2 loss.
• Blue Jays 5, Royals 2 — At Toronto: Marcus Stroman pitched seven innings to win for the first time in six starts and Darwin Barney hit a tworun homer, helping the Blue Jays to the victory.
Alex Gordon’s solo drive for Kansas City in the eighth was the majors’ 5,694th homer of the season, breaking the record set in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era. There were 5,610 homers last year, an average of 2.31 per game, and this year’s average of 2.53 entering Tuesday’s action projects to 6,139.
• Astros 3, White Sox 1 — At Houston: Jose Altuve homered, Alex Bregman hit an RBI double and AL West champion Houston extended its winning streak to five games with a victory over Chicago.
Collin McHugh (3-2) allowed one run and five hits with five strikeouts in five innings for the Astros. It was the right-hander’s first outing since detaching a fingernail on his pitching hand Sept. 8.