Nola strikes out 12 as Phillies defeat Giants
PHILADELPHIA — Aaron Nola struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven stellar innings, Odubel Herrera had two hits to extend his career-best on-base streak to 37 games, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Aaron Altherr, Carlos Santana and Jorge Alfaro hit solo home runs for Philadelphia.
Nola (5-1) allowed one run and five hits while walking none.
Hector Neris got the last two outs, striking out both batters, for his seventh save in nine chances. Manager Gabe Kapler elected to leave Tommy Hunter in for the first batter in the ninth rather than go to Neris, who blew a save in Sunday's 5-4 loss at Washington.
Pablo Sandoval homered off reliever Edubray Ramos for the Giants while pinchhitting in the eighth.
The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the second on Brandon Crawford's RBI grounder. The run halted Nola's scoreless streak at 14 1/3 innings, but that is all San Francisco got off the Phillies' ace.
Nola went at least seven innings for the fourth straight start, improving to 4-0 with a 1.91 ERA in that stretch. The Giants went down swinging on nine of Nola's K's. The right-hander recorded nine consecutive outs via strikeout between the second and fifth innings, ending with a pickoff of Gregor Blanco at first for the final out in the fifth.
The Phillies tied it in the bottom of the second when Altherr hit an 82-mph slider from Derek Holland (1-4) to deep left.
Philadelphia went ahead an inning later with a pair of runs. Alfaro drove a 79-mph slider from Holland over the fence in left, and Herrera's single up the middle drove in Cesar Hernandez to make it 3-1.
Herrera's streak is Philadelphia's longest since Jimmy Rollins reached base in 38 straight games overlapping the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
Santana, robbed of hits during his first two at-bats, made sure no one could catch the ball in his third trip, leading off the sixth with a homer to right off Cory Gearrin to make it 4-1.
Third baseman Evan Longoria made a diving snare of Santana's liner in the second and Austin Jackson made a leaping catch in center in the fourth on Santana's fly ball.
Jackson made an error in the third when he failed to pick up the ball cleanly on the warning track, allowing Hernandez to reach third on a double and giving the center fielder 11 miscues in the last five games for San Francisco. The Giants entered second in the majors behind Texas with 28 errors this season.
Holland gave up three runs and six hits with three strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
San Francisco's Buster Posey went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts to end his 23-game hitting streak against the Phillies. In 40 career games against Philadelphia, Posey is batting .388 (62 for 160).
CHICAGO — Kris Bryant slid home safely with the go-ahead run on Victor Caratini's grounder to the right side in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Miami Marlins.
Caratini wound up with the winning RBI, a few innings after the Cubs catcher got into a heated situation at home plate with Miami's Derek Dietrich.
Bryant drew a leadoff walk from Kyle Barraclough (0-2) in the eighth, took second on a wild pitch and moved to third on Anthony Rizzo's grounder. With the infield playing in, Caratini hit a grounder to second baseman Starlin Castro, who took his time and threw a bit wide and high to the plate, allowing Bryant to easily score.
Bryant scored the tying run in the sixth when he got hit by a pitch from Jose Urena and came home when Caratini grounded into a force.
Caratini was in the middle of a tense moment in the Miami fourth, when Dietrich got thrown out by right fielder Ben Zobrist attempting to score from second on Lewis Brinson's single.
Dietrich tried to run over Caratini after the ball easily beat him to the plate. The two exchanged words as the dugouts and bullpens emptied, but there appeared to be no punches or shoves. There were no ejections, either.
Carl Edwards Jr. (1-0) worked a scoreless eighth, and Brandon Morrow retired all three batters in the ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.
Miami's Justin Bour homered in a threerun first against Jen-Ho Tseng. Chicago's David Bote delivered a pinch-hit two-run double in the second.
Called up from Triple-A Iowa with Yu Darvish on the 10-day disabled list because of the flu, Tseng allowed three runs in two innings before being lifted for a pinch hitter. He gave up four hits and struck out three in his second major league start and third appearance.
Urena gave up three runs and seven hits in 51/3 innings. The right-hander is winless in eight starts.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Ronald Acuna Jr. hit the third home run of his sensational rookie season and the Atlanta Braves beat the Tampa Bay Rays.
Sean Newcomb (3-1) allowed two singles in six innings and has thrown 13 scoreless innings over his last two starts for the Braves. Atlanta ended a three-game skid and won its sixth consecutive road game, including three consecutive road shutouts.
Four relievers pitched the final three innings for Atlanta, including Arodys Vizcaino, who earned his fifth save.
Acuna's long home run came off Blake Snell in the third inning. Snell (2-2) gave up one run and four hits while striking out five in 6 1/3 innings. It was his sixth straight start in which he has given up two runs or fewer.
Acuna is batting .320 with six RBIs in his first 12 major league games.
Newcomb gave up three walks while striking out six. He has a 1.78 ERA in his five road starts.
Rays catcher Wilson Ramos extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a broken-bat single off Vizcaino leading off the ninth, but Denard Span then lined into a double play with Mallex Smith pinch running for Ramos.
Rays shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, who had one of the hits off Newcomb, left the game in the eighth inning after lunging to catch a ball that landed behind the pitchers' mound after caroming off a speaker above home plate. It was ruled a foul ball.
Former Braves left-hander Johnny Venters pitched the ninth for the Rays. He returned to the majors this season for the first time since pitching with Atlanta in 2012. His career was put in jeopardy by four major elbow surgeries, including three Tommy John operations.
MILWAUKEE — Reliever Brent Suter homered off AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber and threw 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a win over the Cleveland Indians.
Suter hit the first pitch thrown by Kluber in the third, a sinker, to center for the first homer of his professional career. It was the first home run given up by Kluber to a pitcher in his eight years with the Indians.
Suter (2-2) had an eventful night on the mound too. The left-hander entered with one out in the first for starter Wade Miley, who left following 19 pitches with a strained right oblique.
Suter allowed five hits, including solo homers to Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor, and struck out five in handing Cleveland its fourth straight loss.
He made a diving catch of a bunt attempt in front of the plate by Kluber in the second inning with two men on and one out, then threw out Brandon Guyer at second for an inning-ending double play.
Three more relievers combined to hold the Indians scoreless for the final four innings, with Josh Hader fanning three over the last two innings for his fifth save.
Travis Shaw had a two-run homer in the first inning for Milwaukee.
Kluber (5-2) had his five-start winning streak snapped after allowing five hits and three runs over six innings. He has given up eight homers over his past four games.
DENVER — Jon Gray continued Colorado's strong stretch of starts with seven scoreless innings, and the Rockies beat the Los Angeles Angels for their sixth straight win.
Gray walked one and struck out eight to notch Colorado's ninth straight quality start, a franchise record. He shook off a 28-pitch first inning to hold the Angels' potent lineup to four hits.