D’Arnaud’s 3 homers ‘coolest night ever’
Travis d’Arnaud was down to his last strike. And so were the Rays, down 42 with two on and two outs in the ninth inning against AllStar Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman.
D’Arnaud hacked at the next pitch, fouling off a 100 mph heater. Then another. After two tempting balls in the dirt, he faced a full count. Chapman came back with a slider high and away — and d’Arnaud sent it high and away.
The catcher hit his third home run of the game, a goahead drive that sailed over leaping right fielder Aaron Judge for a startling shot that helped Tampa Bay overcome its Yankee Stadium woes to beat New York 54 on Monday night. “Coolest night ever,” d’Arnaud said. The 30yearold catcher tied a Tampa Ray record for homers in a game. It has been done five times, most recently by Evan Longoria in 2012.
Dodgers 16, Phillies 2: Cody Bellinger hit his 32nd and 33rd homers, Clayton Kershaw struck out seven in six innings and major-league-leading Los Angeles routed host Philadelphia.
Indians 8, Tigers 6: Oscar Mercado hit his second homer of the game, a leadoff blast in the seventh inning for host Cleveland.
Red Sox 10, Blue Jays 8: Rookie Michael Chavis hit a grand slam, Xander Bogaerts had three hits and Andrew Benintendi drove in three runs as host Boston beat Toronto.
Reds 6, Cubs 3: Eugenio Suarez and Yasiel Puig each hit his 22nd home run of the season, and Cincinnati rallied at Wrigley Field.
Braves 4, Brewers 2: Freddie Freeman hit his 25th home run and Max Fried pitched five scoreless innings for visiting Atlanta.
Royals 5, White Sox 2: Jakob Junis struck out a career-high 10 and Nicky Lopez had two RBIs and two runs for host Kansas City.
Cardinals 7, Pirates 0: Miles Mikolas pitched an eight-hitter and Tyler O’Neill hit a pair of two-run homers, leading host St. Louis.
Briefly: Eduardo Nuñez, who helped the Red Sox win the World Series last year, was designated for assignment. The former Giants infielder was batting .228 in 60 games . ... Mets pitcher Zack Wheeler was put on the 10-day injured list with shoulder fatigue . ... The Tigers bought the contract of pitcher Trevor Rosenthal from Triple-A Toledo . ... The Dodgers placed utilityman Chris Taylor on the 10-day injured list with a fractured left forearm and recalled first baseman/outfielder Matt Beaty from Triple-A Oklahoma City.