Padres secure 3-game sweep
SAN DIEGO — Fernando Tatis Jr. made two spectacular plays at shortstop, Manny Machado hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning and the Padres got a lockdown performance from their bullpen to beat the Astros 5-3 on Sunday for a threegame sweep.
The Padres, who got to nemesis Zack Greinke in the fourth inning, have won seven straight, all against the two Texas teams. The Astros have lost three straight. They came in on an eight-game streak.
Tatis retreated into left field and jumped to rob George Springer of a hit for the second out of the eighth inning. Springer couldn’t believe it, and reliever Craig Stammen (3-1) clapped for the 21year-old star.
Tatis then led off the eighth with a single to shallow right-center off rookie Enoli Paredes (1-1), and Machado followed with a shot to right-center, his eighth.
The Padres weren’t able to add on to their “Slam Diego” power display of winning the last week. On Saturday night, they became the first team in big league history to hit five grand slams in six games.
They were also the first to hit a grand slam in four straight games, a streak started by Tatis on the road Monday night against the Rangers and continued by Machado with a walkoff grand slam Wednesday night at home against the Rangers.
The Padres never loaded the bases Sunday.
In the fifth, Tatis made a spinning stop of Jose Altuve’s grounder to start an inning-ending double play.
Rays: Josh Fleming pitched five innings of tworun ball to win his major league debut, and the AL East-leading Rays beat the visiting Blue Jays 5-4 on Sunday. Fleming is the 11th different starter in 29 games this season for the injury-filled Rays pitching staff. The lefty went 12-7 between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham last year. John Curtiss, the fourth Rays reliever, worked 12⁄3 perfect innings to get his first career save. Jays starter Trent Thornton left after a scoreless inning with right elbow inflammation. That came just few hours after another rotation member, Matt Shoemaker, went on the 10-day IL due to right shoulder inflammation. The Rays took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on an RBI single from pinch hitter José Martínez, Austin Meadows’ sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single by Brandon Lowe off Ryan Borucki (1-1). Rays manager Kevin Cash was ejected in the sixth for arguing a checkswing call.
Pirates: Gregory Polanco’s two-run HR in the eighth lifted the host Pirates to a 5-4 victory over the Brewers and a threegame series sweep. Polanco connected off David Phelps (2-3) for his fourth HR of the season and finished 2-for-3 with a walk. It was Polanco’s second two-hit game in as many days, lifting his batting average from .085 to .151. The Pirates nearly doubled their season win total in one weekend. They entered the series with a 4-17 record, worst in the major leagues. Pirates rookie JT Brubaker remained winless in five career appearances, including three starts. He gave up two runs and four hits in four innings with six strikeouts and one walk.
Cardinals: Yadier Molina had four hits and top prospect Dylan Carlson hit his first career HR, helping the Cardinals beat the visiting Reds 6-2. Harrison Bader also connected for the Cards, who won three of four in the series. Molina, Carlson and Bader each finished with two RBIs. The Cardinals scored the last six runs after Eugenio Suárez hit a two-run HR in the first inning for the Reds. Bader went deep for a two-run shot in the second after he also homered during Saturday’s 3-0 win. Molina put the Cards ahead to stay with an RBI single against Tyler Mahle (0-1) in the third. The Cards added three more in the seventh against Nate Jones.
Extra innings: White Sox 1B Jose Abreu tied a major league record when he homered in his first at-bat against the Cubs, his fourth straight plate appearance with a HR and sixth overall in the series. The Abreu blast was the only run of a 2-1 loss for the visiting White Sox, who have scored their last 20 runs via the long ball. That’s three runs shy of a high mark set by the Brewers last season . ... The Giants designated veteran OF Hunter Pence for assignment. Pence, 37, is hitting just .096 with two HR and six RBIs in 52 at-bats this season after rejoining the Giants in the offseason. He had seemingly resurrected his career last season with the Rangers when he hit .297 with 18 HRs and 59 RBIs and was selected as an AL All-Star.