Nunez homers; Twins take opener against Astros
MINNEAPOLIS—Eduardo Nunez homered and Kyle Gibson pitched 5 2-3 scoreless innings to help the Minnesota Twins to a 3-0 victory over the AL West-leading Houston Astros on Friday night.
Gibson (9-9) gave up four hits, struck out four and walked three. Kevin Jepsen picked up his ninth save, giving the Twins their seventh win in their last eight games to surge back into wild card contention.
Astros star Jose Altuve flied out with the bases loaded to end the game.
Scott Kazmir (2-4) allowed three runs on three hits and struck out six in seven innings. But the lefty hit two batters in Minnesota’s two-run fourth.
Blue Jays 5, Tigers 3
TORONTO—Left-handed starter Matt Boyd fell to 0-3 this season at Rogers Centre.
Boyd, a former Toronto Blue Jays prospect who came to the Detroit Tigers as part of the David Price trade on July 30, gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks over six innings with four strikeouts Friday. Three of the seven hits were home runs —one each to Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista. The Tigers went on to lose, 5-3. Boyd had given up 11 runs on 15 hits over 62/3 innings in two starts at Rogers Centre earlier this season for the Blue Jays.
Indians 3, Angels 1
CLEVELAND—Trevor Bauer, starting in place of an ill Danny Salazar, allowed one run in eight innings and the Cleveland Indians defeated the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 on Friday night.
Bauer (10-10) won for the second time in nine starts. He replaced Salazar, who was scratched because of a virus. Bauer allowed five hits and struck out seven.
Jason Kipnis, the American League’s leading hitter (.324), drove in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning single to cap a three-run rally. Kipnis, who had struck out twice and hit into a double play in his first three at-bats, delivered off Trevor Gott (2-2).
Phillies 7, Padres 1
PHILADELPHIA—Aaron Nola had a little extra motivation to shut down the San Diego Padres.
The rookie pitched seven strong innings and Cameron Rupp homered and drove in four runs, leading the Philadelphia Phillies over San Diego 7-1 Friday night.
Nola (5-1) allowed one run and two hits, striking out six. The righty has permitted one run and five hits in his last two starts over 15 innings.
Nola watched from the dugout as the Phillies were outscored 40-21 in a fourgame sweep by the New York Mets this week.
Pirates 5, Rockies 3
PITTSBURGH—Gregory Polanco kept the Pirates level by throwing out Colorado Rockies speedster Jose Reyes, the would-be go-ahead run, at the plate in the eighth inning Friday night at PNC Park, then helped cap a 5-3 win with an RBI single in the home half of the frame.
After Josh Harrison knocked in the deciding run with a two-out, pinch-hit single to right field off Rockies reliever Scott Oberg in the eighth, Polanco drove in a run with his third hit, and Mark Melancon pitched a clean ninth to earn his 42nd save and take the series opener.
The Pirates (78-49) won for the sixth consecutive time against the Rockies (51-75) at PNC Park. Winners for the 13th time in their past 16 games, the Pirates climbed to a season-high 29 games over .500.
Marlins 4, Nationals 3
WASHINGTON—Martin Prado and Marcell Ozuna homered off Washington starter Max Scherzer, and the Miami Marlins built a three-run lead and held on to beat the Nationals 4-3 on Friday night.
The Nationals began play 6 1-2 games behind the NL-East leading Mets.
Scherzer (11-11) went seven innings, allowing four runs and six hits. After surrendering Ozuna’s homer to open the fourth, he retired the last 12 batters he faced. Scherzer struck out eight without a walk.
He has lost three straight starts for the first time since May 2010.
Miami’s Adam Conley (2-1), in his fifth major league start, gave up three runs and six hits over five-plus innings.
A.J. Ramos pitched around a leadoff single in the ninth for his 23rd save.
Ian Desmond and Wilson Ramos homered for the Nationals.
Cardinals 5, Diamondbacks 3
PHOENIX—Seth Maness came into the game in a tight spot and got some big outs for St. Louis Cardinals.
Maness got three straight outs after coming in with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to help the Cardinals hold off the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 on Thursday night.
Steve Cishek started the inning and walked the bases loaded before being replaced by Maness, who struck out David Peralta and Welington Castillo and got Jake Lamb to roll out to first to end what could have been a big inning for Arizona.