Bryant’s homer in eighth gives Cubs wild 12-11 win over Giants

CHICAGO — Kris Bryant hit a goahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the Chicago Cubs a 12-11 comeback victory over the San Francisco Giants in a wild, back-and-forth game Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.

Nicholas Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber also connected for Chicago, which has won four straight despite losing leads twice in the last four innings. The Cubs moved back into first place in the NL Central by a half-game over St. Louis, which lost to Milwaukee in a rain-shortened game.

Castellanos, who went 4 for 5, has homered in three straight games for the second time in his career — he also did it with Detroit in 2016 — and has nine in 19 games since being acquired in a trade before the July 31 deadline. He is batting .392 (31 for 79) with the Cubs.

BREWERS 5, CARDINALS 3, 7½ INNINGS

ST. LOUIS — Mike Moustakas homered and Keston Hiura drove in a pair of runs to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a win over the St. Louis Cardinals in a rain-shortened game.

The game was stopped after 7½ innings and made official following a rain delay of 66 minutes.

REDS 4, PADRES 2

CINCINNATI — Luis Castillo shook off his worst career start to

pitch six solid innings, Jose Iglesias hit a solo home run and the Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres to win the three-game series.

Castillo (12-5), who allowed nine hits and eight runs on Friday against St. Louis, bounced back to limit San Diego to five hits and one run with four strikeouts.

BRAVES 5, MARLINS 0

ATLANTA — Adeiny Hechavarria and Ronald Acuna Jr. each hit a tworun homer, Julio Teheran struck out a season-high nine and the Atlanta Braves beat Miami to continue their mastery of the Marlins.

The Braves are 14-4 against Miami this year after winning the 2018 season series between the NL East rivals 14-5.

Teheran (8-8) combined with Sean Newcomb and Josh Tomlin for a seven-hit shutout. The right-hander allowed five hits in seven innings.

ROCKIES 7, DIAMONDBACKS 2

PHOENIX — Tim Melville pitched seven innings of two-hit ball in his first major league appearance in almost two years, and the Colorado Rockies cruised to a win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Melville, a 29-year-old righthander with just six previous bigleague appearances who started this season in independent ball, limited Arizona to a first-inning double and a sixth-inning home run to go with four strikeouts and two walks.

NATIONALS 11, PIRATES 1

PITTSBURGH — Patrick Corbin pitched eight scoreless innings to remain unbeaten in more than two months, and Asdrubal Cabrera’s three-run home run capped a six-run third as the Washington Nationals rolled to a victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Corbin (10-5) struck out four and walked two while throwing 93 pitches to help the Nationals maintain their lead atop the National League wildcard standings.

AMERICAN LEAGUE RAYS 7, MARINERS 6

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Kevin Kiermaier drove in four runs, including a solo homer during a two-run ninth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Seattle Mariners.

Kiermaier tied it at 6-6 on a leadoff homer against Matt Magill (3-1). The Rays then loaded the bases on Willy Adames’ single, a double by Mike Brosseau and an intentional walk to pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi with no outs before Magill’s wild pitch with Tommy Pham batting allowed Adames to score the winning run.

ORIOLES 8, ROYALS 1

BALTIMORE — The Orioles tied a major league record by allowing their 258th home run this season but hit four of their own in a victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Anthony Santander and Renato Nunez hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning for Baltimore, which won its first series since July 25-27 at the Los Angeles Angels.

WHITE SOX 4, TWINS 0

MINNEAPOLIS — Lucas Giolito pitched a three-hit shutout of the second-highest scoring team in the major leagues, racking up 12 strikeouts for the Chicago White Sox in a victory over Minnesota to take the series from the first-place Twins.

Giolito (14-6) allowed only runner past first base, a double by Jonathan Schoop in the eighth. The 25-year-old fanned Jake Cave to finish that inning and reach double-digit strikeouts for the third straight time, the first White Sox starter to do so since Chris Sale did so in eight consecutive turns in 2015.

RANGERS 8, ANGELS 7

ARLINGTON, Texas — Hunter Pence drove in three runs, including an RBI single in the ninth inning that pushed the Texas Rangers past the Los Angeles Angels.

Elvis Andrus led off the ninth with a single up the middle off Trevor Cahill (3-8), the seventh Angels pitcher. After two wild pitches got Andrus to third, Pence grounded a single through the left side of the infield.

INTERLEAGUE PHILLIES 5, RED SOX 2

BOSTON — Bryce Harper homered to give Philadelphia a fifth-inning lead, and Corey Dickerson drove in two runs with a triple and a single to help the Phillies beat the Boston Red Sox and sweep the two-game series.

Boston started the first inning with back-to-back doubles, and Jackie Bradley Jr. homered for the second straight night to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead against Drew Smyly after two innings.

METS 4, INDIANS 3, 10 INNINGS

NEW YORK — J.D. Davis lined an RBI single with two outs that capped a two-run rally in the 10th inning and the New York Mets, helped moments earlier by a huge Cleveland mental lapse, beat the Indians.

All-Star reliever Brad Hand’s failure to cover first base on a potential game-ending double-play grounder cost Cleveland. Davis made the Indians pay with his first career game-ending hit.