Meadows helps Rays rally for wild win over Red Sox
BOSTON >> Austin Meadows hit a tying, inside-the-park homer in the ninth inning, Nelson Cruz had a goahead single in the 10th and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied from a six-run deficit to beat the Boston Red Sox 11-10 on Monday.
The AL East-leading Rays took advantage of four errors, the biggest when center fielder Alex Verdugo appeared to lose Cruz’s high fly in the sun with bases loaded and two outs in the fourth.
The ball glanced off Verdugo’s glove and Cruz wound up circling the bases on the play, scoring on second baseman Taylor Motter’s wild throw that let Tampa Bay close to 7-5 against ace Chris Sale.
Cruz also homered and had a pair of RBI singles as the Rays increased their AL East lead to 8 ½ games over New York. The Red Sox missed a chance to move ahead of the Yankees for the top AL wildcard spot.
Wander Franco had four hits for the Rays. Collin McHugh (6-1) got the win.
Hunter Renfroe had three hits and two RBIs for Boston. Garrett Whitlock (7-3) got the loss.
DODGERS 5, CARDINALS 1 >>
Max Scherzer struck out 13 in his hometown and Chris Taylor hit a two-run homer, leading the Dodgers to the win.
Scherzer (13-4) permitted one unearned run and six hits in eight innings. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is six strikeouts away from becoming the 19th player in big league history to reach 3,000.
BLUE JAYS 8, YANKEES 0 >>
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 40th homer, Marcus Semien went deep twice and the Blue Jays beat the Yankees for their fifth straight win.
Hyun Jin Ryu (13-8) pitched six effective innings as the Blue Jays won for the eighth time in nine games.
Guerrero hit his 40th homer on Jameson Taillon’s 13th pitch. The slugger and his Hall of Fame father joined Cecil and Prince Fielder as the second father-son duo to hit 40 homers.
ASTROS 11, MARINERS 2 >>
Rookie Jake Meyers homered and drove in four runs as Houston jumped on Yusei Kikuchi early and sailed to a win over Seattle.
Kikuchi (7-8) allowed three hits but was done in by an error behind him and four walks, which equaled a season high, over 1 2/3 innings in his shortest start this season. He gave up six runs, four earned.
The victory ended a twogame skid for the AL West leaders and snapped Seattle’s five-game winning streak.
TWINS 5, INDIANS 2 >> Jorge Polanco hit a solo homer and doubled three times, leading Minnesota to the victory.
Polanco connected for his 27th homer in the third. He doubled in the first, fifth and seventh, and then struck out in the ninth.
PHILLIES 12, BREWERS 0 >>Bryce Harper hit an early home run, Brad Miller connected twice and Jean Segura added a grand slam, leading Zack Wheeler and the Phillies to the win.
Andrew McCutchen and Freddy Galvis also homered as Philadelphia won for the eighth time in the last 10 games to stay in the playoff chase. The Phillies have beaten the NL Central-leading Brewers five straight times this year.
CUBS 4, REDS 3 >> Frank Schwindel hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning, and the Cubs earned their season-high seventh straight win.
Schwindel’s single through the right side scored Alfonso Rivas, who started the rally with a pinch-hit single off Michael Lorenzen (0-2) and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
NATIONALS 4, METS 3 >> Carter Kieboom and Andrew Stevenson hit RBI singles in the ninth inning off Edwin Díaz, and the Nationals rallied in the finale of a five-game series.
ROYALS 3, ORIOLES 2 >> Andrew Benintendi hit a goahead single for Kansas City in the eighth inning, then reached above the left-field wall to take away a potential tying home run in the ninth.
PIRATES 6, TIGERS 3 >> Ke’Bryan Hayes and Yoshi Tsutsugo each hit a tworun single during Pittsburgh’s four-run seventh inning, and the Pirates stopped their six-game losing streak.
Hayes finished with three hits, and Tsutsugo, Jacob Stallings and Cole Tucker each had two. Kevin Newman hit a tworun homer in the first for Pittsburgh.
RANGERS 4, ANGELS 0 >> A.J. Alexy allowed one hit over six innings in his second straight phenomenal start to begin his major league career, and Jose Trevino drove in two runs in Texas’ victory over the Angels.