Brewers beat Cards

MILWAUKEE — Jimmy Nelson finally beat St. Louis with six strong innings, and the Milwaukee Brewers held on for a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday night. Nelson (9-5) entered 0-8 with a 7.01 ERA in 11 appearances (10 starts) against the Cardinals.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

BREWERS 3, CARDINALS 2

MILWAUKEE — Jimmy Nelson finally beat St. Louis with six strong innings, and the Milwaukee Brewers held on for a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Nelson (9-5) entered 0-8 with a 7.01 ERA in 11 appearances (10 starts) against the Cardinals. This time, the right-hander overcame his division rival by allowing just two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.

The Brewers’ bullpen kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard for three innings, including Anthony Swarzak striking out the side in the eighth after Josh Hader issued a leadoff walk.

Left fielder Ryan Braun and shortstop Orlando Arcia collided and allowed Stephen Piscotty to reach on a single with one out in the ninth, but Corey Knebel worked around the miscue to earn his 19th save.

REDS 9, PIRATES 1 Billy Hamilton hit a three-run homer and tripled, Eugenio Suarez and rookie Jesse Winker also went deep, and the Cincinnati Reds overwhelmed the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hamilton tripled and scored in the first inning. Then he sent a pitch from Jameson Taillon (6-5) into the right-field seats in the second for his third home run of the season as the lastplace Reds beat Pittsburgh again.

MARLINS 7, NATIONALS 6 Max Scherzer hit his first career homer to help build a sixrun lead, but he pitched only one inning before departing with a neck spasm, and the Miami Marlins rallied to beat the Washington Nationals. Scherzer slept funny and left the game as a precaution, the Nationals said. The Marlins took the lead with a four-run fifth inning. Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer off Matt Albers (5-2), and Derek Dietrich’s RBI triple put Miami ahead 7-6.

DODGERS 3, BRAVES 2 Kenta Maeda allowed only two hits in seven scoreless innings, Cody Bellinger homered and the streaking Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves for their ninth straight win. The slumping Braves were shut down by Maeda (10-4) but cut their deficit to one with Johan Camargo’s two-run homer off Josh Ravin in the eighth. Atlanta ended the inning with Brandon Phillips, who had a pinch-hit single, on third base.

CUBS 16, DIAMONDBACKS 4 Jon Lester

hit his first major league homer and struck out nine to reach 2,000 for his career, helping the Chicago Cubs pound the Arizona Diamondbacks. Anthony Rizzo went deep twice and Ian Happ and Javier Baez also connected as Chicago kicked off a six-game homestand with its 14th win in 17 games since the All-Star break.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

ORIOLES 7, ROYALS 2 Dylan Bundy allowed three hits over a career-high eight innings, newcomer Tim Beckham had two hits and scored twice and the resurgent Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals for their fourth straight victory. Seth Smith drove in three runs to help the Orioles move within two games of .500 (5254) for the first time since July 3. Kansas City will seek to avoid a three-game sweep on Wednesday. The Royals came to town having won 10 of 11, but they’ve only scored three runs in these two games at Camden Yards.

TIGERS 4, YANKEES 3 John Hicks hit a three-run homer in his first big league game in more than a month, Justin Upton added a solo drive off CC Sabathia, and the Detroit Tigers held on to beat the New York Yankees. A 27-year-old rookie recalled Monday for his fifth major league stint this season, Hicks drove a slider over the right-center field wall in the second inning, capping a 10-pitch at-bat.

RED SOX 12, INDIANS 10 Christian Vazquez hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Boston Red Sox pulled off the final rally of a wild game, beating the Cleveland Indians despite an astonishing catch by center fielder Austin Jackson. In the fifth inning, Jackson robbed Hanley Ramirez of a leadoff homer with a leaping grab in the right-center triangle at Fenway Park.

RAYS 6, ASTROS 4 Evan Longoria became the second Tampa Bay player to hit for the cycle and drove in three runs to lead the Rays over the Houston Astros. He was a double shy when he came to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning and laced a laser to left field. Longoria dashed to second base and slid in to avoid the tag of Jose Altuve. He was initially ruled out, but the call was overturned after a crew chief review.

BLUE JAYS 8, WHITE SOX 4 Justin Smoak hit his 31st homer, Josh Donaldson homered and drove in three runs, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox. Smoak and Donaldson each connected for the second straight night and third time in five games. Donaldson also had a sacrifice fly and RBI double. Marcus Stroman (10-5) went seven innings, allowing four runs and seven hits. He was winless in his previous three starts despite a 1.89 ERA in that stretch.

MARINERS 8, RANGERS 7 Robinson Cano doubled twice and drove in three runs as the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers. Cano’s two-run double in the sixth was the 499th of his career, moving him into a time with Rusty Staub for 63rd in MLB history. Jarrod Dyson had his 200th career steal in the win and threw out a runner from centerfield at third to end the eighth inning in a one-run game. Nelson Cruz homered and Leonys Martin had two hits and two RBIs for Seattle.