Blach tosses shutout in Giants rout
PHILADELPHIA — Ty Blach looked like Madison Bumgarner out there.
The rookie left-hander tossed his first career shutout and became the first pitcher in eight years to walk three times as the San Francisco Giants routed the skidding Philadelphia Phillies 10-0 on Friday night.
Denard Span had five hits to lead the Giants’ offense. Making his eighth start for the injured Bumgarner, Blach (4-2) scattered seven hits, struck out four and didn’t walk a batter to win his fourth consecutive start.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “As a kid, you dream about pitching in a big league game and pitching a shutout. I executed well and felt fresh.”
Blach has thrown at least seven innings and allowed three runs or fewer in five straight starts.
“He’s stepped in and done a terrific job,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “He commanded the ball well.”
Eduardo Nunez added three hits and three RBIs for the Giants, who snapped a threegame losing streak. They had a season high in runs by the sixth inning and tied a season best with 15 hits.
“Good to see [Span] break out like that,” Bochy said.
REDS 3, BRAVES 2 (10 INNINGS)
In Cincinnati, Devin Mesoraco brought an 0-for-15 slump with him to the plate in the 10th inning. He busted out with his first gameending homer.
Eugenio Suarez scored the tying run in the ninth on Jim Johnson’s wild pitch, and Mesoraco led off the 10th with a homer, rallying the Cincinnati Reds to a victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Mesoraco, who got into the game as a defensive replacement in the 10th, connected off Jose Ramirez (2-2) for his first career gameending homer. He took extra batting practice earlier in the day, trying to get out of his slump.
“Usually, in those situations, I’m making an out, so it felt pretty good,” Mesoraco said.
Raisel Iglesias (2-0) faced three batters in the top of the 10th inning, leaving the Reds in position to end their three-game losing streak.
PIRATES 12, METS 7
In New York, with catcher Francisco Cervelli feeling ill and ace Gerrit Cole struggling again, Pittsburgh needed a boost at the plate.
Elias Diaz had just the thing for the ailing Pirates.
“Big shot in the arm,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
Diaz hit his first major league homer and drove in six runs as a late addition to the lineup, lifting the Pirates over the New York Mets.
Diaz hit a go-ahead, three-run shot off reliever Paul Sewald (0-1) during a seven-run sixth inning. Pittsburgh led 11-7 when New York finally retired the side, a swift reversal after the Mets went up 7-4 with a five-run fifth.
Diaz also had a three-run double off Matt Harvey in the fourth. The rookie catcher got the start when Cervelli was scratched just after batting practice, about 30 minutes before the first pitch.
“Those two big swings, that’s a night he’ll never forget,” Hurdle said.
DODGERS 2, BREWERS 1 (12 INNINGS)
In Milwaukee, Cody Bellinger homered in the 12th inning off Milwaukee Brewers reliever Neftali Feliz, salvaging a win for the Los Angeles Dodgers on a night when ace left-hander Clayton Kershaw recorded his 2,000th strikeout.
Kenley Jansen (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, stranding the potential tying run at third with one out in the speedy Jonathan Villar by striking out Orlando Arcia looking and getting Travis Shaw to pop out to short.
The Dodgers pulled out a win and a couple impressive mound milestones, too.
Their pitchers set a franchise record with 26 strikeouts, breaking the previous mark of 22 set on Aug. 8, 1972, in a 19-inning loss to Cincinnati.
Jansen’s strikeout of Hernan Perez in the 11th was his 36th of the season without having allowed a walk all year, setting a major league mark.
ROYALS 4, INDIANS 0
Jason Vargas goes into every game he starts expecting to make it to the end.
Thanks to a bunch of double plays Friday in Kansas City, Mo., he made it. The veteran lefthander tossed his first shutout in nearly three years, outdueling Royals nemesis Josh Tomlin and sending Kansas City to a 4-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
Vargas (7-3) allowed seven hits over the first six innings but deftly induced double plays in four of them to escape any trouble. He then set down the Indians in order the rest of the way, making a nifty grab of Carlos Santana’s liner in the ninth to end it.
TIGERS 15, WHITE SOX 5
In Detroit, the Tigers didn’t get as much rest as they might have wanted Thursday on their day off, but it was enough to get them hitting again.
In their first game after a 4-7 road trip that included four games in a 48-hour stretch in Chicago, the Tigers had a season-high 11 extrabase hits in a win over the Chicago White Sox.
“We got in early Thursday morning, so it wasn’t ideal, but the bats certainly came alive,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “It was good to see our big guys swinging the bat again.”
Miguel Cabrera and J.D. Martinez combined for five hits, all for extra bases, and six RBIs in eight at-bats.
Martinez went 3-for-5 with a double, triple and homer, but flew out to right in the seventh inning to miss out on Detroit’s first cycle since Carlos Guillen in 2006. Martinez missed the first 33 games of the season with an ankle injury, and is hitting .297 with a .797 slugging percentage in 20 games.
BLUE JAYS 7, YANKEES 5
In Toronto, Francisco Liriano came off the disabled list and kept on shutting down the New York Yankees.
Josh Donaldson hit two solo home runs, Liriano pitched five innings in his return from a sore shoulder and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees.
Justin Smoak added his team-leading 13th homer, a two-run drive in Toronto’s threerun first inning. He drove in three runs.
Activated off the disabled list before the game after being out since May 10 because of a sore shoulder, Liriano (3-2) allowed two runs and four hits in five-plus innings. The lefty walked two and struck out five.
“I thought he was really good,” manager John Gibbons said. “He had a little tough patch early on where he lost the strike zone, but as his outing went along he got better and better.”
Liriano, who made one minor league rehab start at Triple-A Buffalo on Sunday, said he was pain-free and didn’t feel any fatigue in his 81-pitch outing against the AL East leaders.
“Everything worked well for me today,” Liriano said. “My slider and curveball were working good.”