Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cards get win
Lance Lynn pitched seven shutout innings, Kolten Wong homered and the St. Louis Cardinals stopped a three-game losing streak, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 Monday night. The Cardinals, who had lost six of seven, are 4-9 and still have the worst record in the NL.
CARDINALS 2, PIRATES 1
ST. LOUIS — Lance Lynn pitched seven shutout innings, Kolten Wong homered and the St. Louis Cardinals stopped a three-game losing streak, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 Monday night.
The Cardinals, who had lost six of seven, are 4-9 and still have the worst record in the NL. Pittsburgh had won three in a row before losing in a game that took only 2 hours, 14 minutes.
Lynn (1-1) allowed three hits and struck out five while walking one. He also hit two batters.
Seung-Hwan Oh worked around an RBI double by pinch hitter Gregory Polanco in the ninth to record the Cardinals’ first save of the season. The last time it took St. Louis 13 games into a season to get a save was 1980, when Mark Littell closed out the Phillies at Veterans Stadium.
Ivan Nova (1-2) gave up five hits and no walks in eight innings while striking out three. In 14 overall starts for the Pirates, Nova has four complete games and a grand total of three walks.
Wong led off the third with a home run that landed in the right field bullpen.
St. Louis added a run in the seventh when Randal Grichuk singled, stole second, took third on a throwing error by catcher Francisco Cervelli and scored on a single by Jose Martinez.
Trevor Rosenthal pitched a spotless eighth for the Cardinals. Polanco doubled with two outs in the ninth before Oh retired pinch hitter John Jaso on a grounder.
BRAVES 5, PADRES 4 Dansby Swanson hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning and the Atlanta Braves, boosted by Freddie Freeman’s two home runs, beat the San Diego Padres for a four-game sweep in their first series at SunTrust Park. Swanson’s bases-loaded hit fell just in front of diving left fielder Allen Cordoba. The Braves have followed a five-game losing streak with five straight wins. Freeman had four hits and drove in three runs. His second homer tied it in the eighth. Jim Johnson (2-0) pitched the ninth. Kurt Suzuki hit a one-out single in the Braves ninth off closer Brandon Maurer (0-1). With two outs, pinch runner Chase d’Arnaud advanced to third on Emilio Bonifacio’s bloop single in front of Cordoba’s dive. An intentional walk to Ender Inciarte loaded the bases for Swanson, whose first career game-ending hit again fell beyond the reach of a charging Cordoba.
BREWERS 6, CUBS 3 Eric Thames homered in his club record-tying fifth straight game and the streaking Milwaukee Brewers turned back the Chicago Cubs. Milwaukee never trailed after Thames hit an opposite-field homer to snap a 3-3 tie in the third inning. Jeromy Burnitz became the first and last Brewers player to homer in five straight games in August, 1997. Ryan Braun and Jeff Bandy also went deep for Milwaukee, the only team to hit as many as three homers in a game off Chicago starter John Lackey (1-2) last season. The victory was the Brewers’ sixth in the last seven games. The Cubs lost for a fourth straight time, their worst stretch since a fivegame skid from July 5-9 last season. Brewers starter Chase Anderson (2-0) pitched five innings of three-run, seven-hit ball to pick up the victory. He walked two batters and struck out five. Neftali Felix pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save in as many tries.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
RED SOX 4, RAYS 3 Andrew Benintendi hit a go-ahead, two-run single as Boston scored three unearned runs following a dropped throw by second baseman Brad Miller, and the Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the annual Patriots’ Day game. Knuckleballer Steven Wright (1-1) allowed three runs — one earned — and nine hits in six innings as Boston won its third straight. Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for a save for the third straight day, his sixth this season. Blake Snell (0-2) gave up four runs — one earned — and seven hits in five innings. The Rays completed a 1-6 trip that followed a franchise-best 5-2 start.
YANKEES 7, WHITE SOX 4 Jordan Montgomery took a shutout into the seventh inning for his first major league win, Matt Holliday homered in his return to the lineup and the New York Yankees romped to their eighth consecutive victory by beating the Chicago White Sox. Holliday put the Yankees ahead with a titanic three-run shot in a five-run third inning, and Aaron Judge added a two-run homer that chased Derek Holland (1-2) with the score 7-0 in the fifth. New York has rebounded from a 1-4 start with its
longest winning streak since a 10-game run in June 2012. Making his second career start, Montgomery (1-0) immediately found himself in a first-inning jam. But the 24-year-old lefty calmly pitched his way out of it by retiring cleanup hitter Jose Abreu and streaking Avisail Garcia with runners at second and third.
ASTROS 3, ANGELS 0 Charlie Morton and three relievers combined for a five-hitter, Jose Altuve drove in two runs and the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels for their fifth straight win. Morton (1-1) worked in and out of trouble over five innings, allowing five hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He had runners on in every inning, including stranding the bases loaded in the second when he got Ben Revere to fly out. Morton has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his three starts this season. Chris Devenski followed Morton with two perfect innings, Luke Gregerson threw a perfect eighth and Ken Giles pitched the ninth for his third save. Astros pitchers retired the last 14 batters. Jesse Chavez (1-2) allowed two runs and seven hits over a season-high seven innings. He struck out five and rebounded after allowing five runs in 41/3 innings in his last outing.
INDIANS 3, TWINS 1 Danny Salazar finished six innings strong after a shaky start, Michael Brantley homered and drove in two runs and the Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins. Salazar (1-1) struck out seven and retired 15 of his last 18 batters after allowing five hits and one walk over a seven-batter stretch spanning the first two innings. Brantley’s groundout tied it in the third, and Edwin Encarnacion’s single gave the reigning AL champions the lead on their way to only their third win in 10 games. Then Brantley took Kyle Gibson (0-2) deep in the fifth inning, raising his career average in 13 at-bats against the Twins right-hander to .385 with four RBIs. Cody Allen loaded the bases in the ninth, but he completed his third save by getting Joe Mauer to fly out to center field.