Happ hits two homers in Cubs’ London blitz
Steele strikes out eight in Chicago’s win
Ian Happ hit two solo home runs, Justin Steele struck out eight and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-1, on Saturday in Major League Baseball’s pandemic delayed return to London.
Happ, a Mt. Lebanon grad, led off the second inning with a drive to straightaway center and put another pitcher from Adam Wainwright over the right-field fence in the third as the Cubs won their fourth in a row.
Chicago used a series of two-out hits to pile up runs against Wainwright (3-2), who was pulled after back-to-back doubles in the fourth. Wainwright allowed 11 hits — one short of his career high — and a season-high seven runs in the shortest of his nine starts.
Other games
Orioles 6, Mariners 4: Ryan McKenna hit a walk-off, tworun homer for Baltimore in the bottom of the 10th. Seattle had forced extra innings on Mike Ford’s homer in the top of the ninth. Aaron Hicks also homered for Baltimore.
Dodgers 8, Astros 7: Down 7-3 in the seventh, Los Angeles rallied with David Peralta’s two-run homer in the seventh, then plated three in the eighth to take the lead. James Outman’s ground-rule double score two and moved pinch-runner Jonny DeLuca to third. A balk called on Ryne Stanek scored the go-ahead run.
Blue Jays 7, Athletics 3: Vlad Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer in the sixth to put Toronto ahead. Guerrero was 2 for 3 with three RBIs, his first of the game coming when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the second inning.
Giants 7, Diamondbacks 6: Luis Matos’ two-run homer in the sixth put San Francisco ahead. Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s infield single in the ninth cut the lead to one but Camilo Doval struck out Pavin Smith to earn his 22nd save.
Braves 7, Reds 6: Atlanta ended Cincinnati’s 12-game winning streak with home runs by Travis d’Arnaud, Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna.
White Sox 5, Red Sox 4: Elvis Andrus hit a game-ending single in the ninth to beat Boston, which had tied the game in the top of the ninth on Justin Turner’s RBI single.
Royals 9, Rays 4: Freddy Fermin’s three-run homer in the fourth helped Kansas City defeat MLB leading Tampa Bay. After Wander Franco’s solo homer and Jake Raley’s RBI single in the second gave the Rays a 4-0 lead, the Royals scored nine answered runs.
Guardians 4, Brewers 2: Cleveland erased a 2-1 deficit with a run in the sixth on Josh Naylor’s RBI single and David Fry’s run-scoring single. The Guardians added to their lead in the eighth when Tyler Freeman scored on an error by Milwaukee.
Tigers 3, Twins 2: Detroit scored three in the second inning then withstood late solo homers by Carlos Correa and Joey Gallo.
Notes
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said he has a torn ligament in his right big toe and is experiencing pain when he walks. There remains no timetable for a return to the lineup by Judge, the reigning American League MVP.
• Shane McClanahan, the Tampa Bay Rays’ 10-game winner, had his next start pushed from Wednesday to Friday because of mid-back tightness.