Soto, Nationals destroy Marlins
Jon Lester (3-4) pitched seven scoreless innings and homered, Juan Soto hit two home runs and the Washington Nationals routed the Miami Marlins, 18-1, Monday night at Nationals Park in Washington.
Lester (3-4) turned in his longest outing of the season, allowing six hits while striking out seven without a walk.
He added his fourth career homer, connecting on a 1-0 fastball with a man on in the fifth off David Hess, and added a single for his fourth career multihit game.
“He fell behind, and I was trying to hit a heater,” Lester said. “I was guessing. I don’t know how other pitchers hit, but I’m probably the idiot that guesses along like I would pitch guys. Just figured he was going to throw me a heater and tried to be on time. Got it, and fortunately didn’t miss it.”
Soto continued his torrid post-All Star game pace, going 3 for 4 with five RBIs and three runs scored. He’s 10 for 17 (.588) with five homers, 11 RBIs and 8 runs scored in four games since the break.
“It just makes everybody better,” manager Dave Martinez said of Soto’s surge. “It picks everybody up. And it stretches out our lineup tremendously. He’s swinging the bat well, and he’s hitting the ball all over the field very hard.”
Trea Turner drove in four runs with a homer and a triple. Josh Bell also homered for the Nationals.
Other games
Cardinals 8, Cubs 3: Dylan Carlson homered and drove in four runs, Jake Woodford pitched 5⅔ innings in his first start of the season, and host St. Louis climbed back to .500 with a win over division rival Chicago.Three Cubs errors, including two in a row by shortstop Javier Baez in the fourth, led to four runs for the Cardinals, who won their third in a row.
Mets 15, Reds 11: Kevin Pillar and Michael Conforto hit back-to-back home runs in a five-run 11th inning and visiting New York rallied to beat Cincinnati after trailing, 7-3, in the second. Conforto had two of the Mets’ seven home runs in the win at Great American Ball Park.
Orioles 6, Rays 1: Rookie right-hander Spenser Watkins gave up one run in six innings as visiting Baltimore tied a season high with its third consecutive win. Randy Arozarena had a run-scoring double in the sixth for the Rays.
Tigers 14, Rangers 0: Miguel Cabrera drove in five runs, including a basesloaded double in a four-run fifth, and host Detroit routed Texas. The Rangers have lost six in a row, the past three by a combined score of 29- 0. The last major league team to allow that many runs while being shut out in three consecutive games was the 1906 Brooklyn Superbas, who were outscored 31-0 between July 69.
Red Sox 13, Blue Jays 4: Hunter Renfroe hit a grand slam, Kike Hernandez drove in three runs with two homers, and Boston snapped a two-game losing streak with a rout of Toronto in Buffalo, N.Y. The loss snapped the Blue Jays five-game winning streak.
Twins 3, White Sox 1; White Sox 5, Twins 3: Nelson Cruz hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth after tying the score with a solo homer in the sixth, as visiting Minnesota ended a three-game losing streak. In the second game, Rookie Gavin Sheets hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh, giving Chicago White a doubleheader split.
Astros 4, Indians 3: Yordan Alvarez hit his 17th homer of the season, and Zack Greinke picked up his ninth win for host Houston. Alvarez’s two-run blast gave the Astros a 4-1 lead and the bullpen held on.
Padres-Braves, ppd: The game was postponed because of rain and will be made up as part of a daynight doubleheader on Wednesday.