Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Dodgers complete sweep of Cardinals
LOS ANGELES — Russell Martin drove a two-run, twoout single up the middle for the Dodgers’ 10th walk-off win of the season, and Los Angeles swept the St. Louis Cardinals with a 2-1 victory Wednesday.
Martin improbably delivered after a frustrating offensive day for the Dodgers, who have won five straight. Los Angeles couldn’t score during seven brilliant innings of four-hit ball by Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty in his hometown ballpark, but the Dodgers still came through against St. Louis’ bullpen.
Andrew Miller hit Corey Seager with a pitch with one out in the ninth, and Carlos Martinez (2-2) gave up pinch-hitter Will Smith’s single. After Martinez threw a wild pitch to move up both runners, Martin bounced a two-strike single through the middle, and Smith slid home with the winning run.
The Dodgers’ veteran catcher got the ninth walkoff hit of his own career. Batting eighth, he improved his average to .219 and helped Los Angeles post its major league-high 77th win of the season.
Casey Sadler (2-0) pitched the ninth for Los Angeles, which avoided its first shutout loss since May 18 in dramatic fashion.
Dustin May threw 5 2/3 innings of five-hit ball in a strong second career start for the Dodgers, who called up the redheaded power
pitcher last week. May had seven strikeouts and held his own with Flaherty, but remained winless in the big leagues.
Marcell Ozuna homered in the sixth inning for the Cardinals, who went 0-5 on their California road trip after scoring just two runs in three games at Dodger Stadium.
St. Louis’ bullpen couldn’t come through for Flaherty, who struck out 10 with just one walk. He dominated for the second time as a pro at Dodger Stadium, where Flaherty attended his first game on his mother’s lap when he was less than a year old.
The right-hander was born and raised in Burbank, California, just a few miles away on the other side of historic Griffith Park. Flaherty even led Harvard-Westlake School to a state championship at Dodger Stadium six years ago by throwing a shutout and driving in the only run in a 1-0 win in the title game.
WHITE SOX 8, TIGERS 1
DETROIT — The Chicago White Sox came to Detroit on Monday with baseball’s third-worst offense.
They received a nice boost from the Tigers’ pitching staff.
According to Fox Sports Detroit, the White Sox became the first major league team since at least 1974 to put a runner on base in every inning of a four-game series. They scored 26 runs and won three times.
“We had a lot of guys come through for us again today,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “That’s what has been happening in the last few games and we’ve really needed it.”
YANKEES 14, ORIOLES 2
BALTIMORE — Gio Urshela and Kyle Higashioka each hit two home runs, and the Yankees’ long-ball outburst against the Baltimore Orioles reached historical proportions in a blowout that extended New York’s winning streak to eight games.
Urshela had a pair of two-run drives, and Higashioka totaled five RBIs with his two shots. It was the first career multihomer game for both players.
BLUE JAYS 4, RAYS 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash was blunt after the Rays closed out a homestand against Miami and Toronto with a 3-2 record.
“Not good enough,” Cash said. “You’ve got to do better than that. Where we’re at, we’ve got to find ways to win.”
Reliever Brock Stewart allowed two hits over four scoreless innings in his Toronto debut as the Blue Jays withstood a late Tampa Bay rally in a bullpen day.
CUBS 10, ATHLETICS 1
CHICAGO — Ian Happ hit his second career grand slam, Jose Quintana tossed two-hit ball through seven innings to win his sixth straight decision and the Chicago Cubs ripped the Oakland Athletics.
Kyle Schwarber hit a three-run homer, Victor Caratini connected and Javier Baez kept up his latest hot streak with two hits and two RBIs
as the Cubs responded with a rout of their own after Oakland pounded them 11-4 on Tuesday night. NL Central-leading Chicago took two of three from the A’s and won its fifth in six games.
INDIANS 2, RANGERS 0, 1ST GAME INDIANS 5, RANGERS 1, 2ND GAME
CLEVELAND — For two months, they’ve chiseled, chipped and whittled away at Minnesota’s large lead.
The Indians are in position to erase it completely.
Jose Ramirez homered in both games, Cleveland’s bullpen combined on a four-hitter in the second game and the Indians swept a doubleheader Wednesday from the Texas Rangers to set up a fourgame showdown series against the AL-Central leading Twins.
“It’s what we wanted,” said second baseman Jason Kipnis. “We wanted to play some fun games down the stretch.”
NATIONAL LEAGUE METS 7, MARLINS 2
NEW YORK — The New York Mets are convinced their earlier struggles have made them stronger for the stretch.
Michael Conforto homered twice, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil hit two-run shots and surging New York beat the Miami Marlins to complete a four-game sweep.
The Mets took another early lead and posted their sixth straight victory, winning for the 13th time in 14 games. New York has swept the last-place Marlins three times this season.
NATIONALS 4, GIANTS 1
SAN FRANCISCO — Gerardo Parra hit a three-run homer against his former team, Joe Ross pitched six shutout innings of three-hit ball and the Washington Nationals completed a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants.
Parra broke camp with the Giants but was designated for assignment on May 3. His seventh homer came in the third inning off Shaun Anderson (3-4) and made it 4-0.
BREWERS 8, PIRATES 3
PITTSBURGH — Keston Hiura hit two home runs and drove in three runs, powering the Milwaukee Brewers to a win and three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Hiura hit a two-run homer with two out in the first inning for an early 2-0 lead. He sent a fastball from Trevor Williams 388 feet over the wall in right-center. His second homer, the 13th of his rookie season, was a solo shot that made the score 6-1 in the fifth. He also had a double in the third inning.
INTERLEAGUE BRAVES 11, TWINS 7
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins have put on quite the power display this season at Target Field.
The Atlanta Braves produced an even bigger show of strength to win this interleague series between firstplace teams.
MARINERS 3, PADRES 2
SEATTLE — Mallex Smith doubled leading off the eighth inning and scored when Daniel Vogelbach beat out a potential inning-ending double play, and the Seattle Mariners snapped a five-game losing streak with a victory over the San Diego Padres.
ASTROS 14, ROCKIES 3
HOUSTON — With Houston’s powerful offense, there always seem to be men on base when Yuli Gurriel comes to the plate in the bottom part of the Astros order.
On Wednesday, he found a way to send most of them home.
Gurriel drove in a team record-tying eight runs, Gerrit Cole won his 10th straight decision and the Astros routed the Colorado Rockies 14-3 for their sixth victory in a row.
“It’s really incredible with this team, and I feel a big responsibility to drive runners in when they are on base,” Gurriel said in Spanish through a translator.