Morton gets his 10th win as Rays beat Yankees, 2-1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.— Charlie Morton struck out 10 in 5 2/3 innings to help the Rays split a four-games series with the AL East-leading Yankees.
Morton (10-2) allowed one run, five hits and one walk in lowering his AL-best ERA to 2.32. The AL All-Star has given up two or fewer runs in 15 of 19 starts.
Emilio Pagan, the fourth Tampa Bay reliever, worked the ninth to get his fifth save and complete the five-hitter.
Brett Gardner homered and James Paxton (5-4) gave up two runs and seven hits with 11 strikeouts over six innings for the Yankees, who have a 6 1/2 lead over Tampa Bay.
Indians 11, Reds 1
CINCINNATI—Greg Allen homered and tripled among his career-high four hits, Trevor Bauer stayed hot with seven solid innings and the Indians beat the Reds.
Jake Bauers hit a two-run homer and Tyler Naquin and Jason Kipnis added solo shots, helping Cleveland to a season-high sixth straight win.
Bauer (8-6) improved to 4-0 with a 2.90 earned-run average over his last six starts.
Tyler Mahle (2-9) took the loss.
Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 3
PHOENIX—Alex Young tossed six no-hit innings in his second career start, Eduardo Escobar had three RBIs and the Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep with a win over the Rockies.
Young (2-0) was stellar in his Chase Field debut, allowing one batter over the minimum after walking Tony Wolters in the third inning.
The 23-year-old left-hander was replaced by Yoshihisa Hirano to open the seventh inning after 71 pitches. Trevor Story hit Hirano’s first pitch down the third base line and beat Jake Lamb’s throw for Colorado’s first hit.
Nick Ahmed hit a two-run homer and Escobar finished a homer shy of the cycle for Arizona, which enters the AllStar break above .500 at 46-45. Christian Walker added a tworun single off German Marquez (8-4).
Phillies 8, Mets 3
NEW YORK—Aaron Nola held the Mets hitless into the sixth inning, Jay Bruce homered twice and the Philadelphia Phillies quieted New York.
Rookie Pete Alonso hit his 30th home run to break up Nola’s no-hit bid.
Bruce drove in four runs against his former team and Rhys Hoskins homered as the Phillies took two of three in the series.
The Phils headed into the AllStar break at 47-43—they were 53-42 at this point last year, before adding Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Andrew McCutchen and more in an offseason push.
The feuding NL East rivals kept their cool and there were no warnings from the umpires, a day after a tense game in which Jake Arrieta hit Todd Frazier and later said if the Mets veteran was still upset, “he can come see me and I’ll put a dent in his skull.”
Braves 4, Marlins 3
ATLANTA—Josh Donaldson capped his strong first-half finish by hitting a two-run homer and Charlie Culberson’s defensive play helped the Braves escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to beat the Marlins.
The Braves are 10-2 against the Marlins this season and 24-7 the past two seasons.
Dallas Keuchel (2-2) allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings in his fourth start since signing with Atlanta on June 7.
Trevor Richards (3-10) took the loss.
Pirates 6, Brewers 5
PITTSBURGH—Red-hot rookie Bryan Reynolds hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning to lift the Pirates over the Brewers in their final game before the All-Star break.
The estimated 403-foot shot cleared the seats beyond the fence in right-center field and bounced toward the Allegheny River. Reynolds’ seventh homer of the season came after Kevin Kramer walked and Adam Frazier singled off reliever Junior Guerra (3-2).
Reynolds also hit an RBI double in the fifth and is batting .342 with a .950 OPS.
Brewers star Christian Yelich did not play and pulled out of Monday’s All-Star Home Run Derby with a back injury. It’s unclear if Yelich will still play in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Nationals 5, Royals 2
WASHINGTON—Anthony Rendon doubled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning, Brian Dozier and Victor Robles homered, and the Nationals beat the Royals.
Washington has won 10 of 12 to climb past Philadelphia into second place in the NL East. Since sinking to 19-31 on May 23, the Nationals have gone 28-11 and lost only one of 13 series.
Starting pitching has been a big reason for the turnaround. In extending a trend, left-hander Patrick Corbin struck out 11 and scattered five hits over seven scoreless innings. He left with a 2-0 lead before Sean Doolittle (6-2) blew it.
Jake Dieman (0-6) couldn’t hold it for Kansas City.
White Sox 3, Cubs 1
CHICAGO—Iván Nova pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning for his first home win in eight tries, Eloy Jiménez and José Abreu homered, and the Chicago White Sox beat the crosstown Cubs.
Nova (4-7) finally picked up a victory at Guaranteed Rate Field after going 0-4 with an 8.31 ERA in his first seven starts there. The right-hander allowed five hits over 5 2/3 innings, struck out four and walked one.
Jiménez hit a long, two-run drive to center against Kyle Hendricks (7-7) in the fourth.
Giants 1, Cardinals 0
SAN FRANCISCO—Evan Longoria homered with one out in the seventh inning to break up Jack Flaherty’s bid for a no-hitter, and the Giants held on to beat the Cardinals.
The Giants managed only one baserunner against Flaherty (4-6) until Longoria drove an 0-1 pitch into the left field stands. Longoria has hit five of his 12 home runs this month.
Jeff Samardzija (6-7) pitched seven scoreless innings and allowed four hits to beat the Cardinals for the first time in four career starts at Oracle Park.
Red Sox 6, Tigers 3
DETROIT—David Price pitched one-run ball over five innings, Christian Vazquez and Xander Bogaerts each drove in two runs, and the Red Sox beat the Tigers to complete a threegame sweep.
Boston has won four straight and 15 of 22 entering the AllStar break.
Price struck out six, walked two and allowed four hits. He’s allowed 15 earned runs over his past 10 starts, going 6-0.
Detroit played the final eight innings without designated hitter Miguel Cabrera, who was ejected for arguing a called third strike. The Tigers lost for the 14th time in 16 games, falling to 6-25 since June 1.
The first two games of the series finished after midnight because of lengthy rain delays, but the series finale was played under bright sunshine.
Blue Jays 6, Orioles 1
TORONTO—Trent Thornton pitched six shutout innings to win for the first time in four starts, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a two-run home run and the Blue Jays beat the Orioles to avoid a three-game sweep.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits and scored twice and Teoscar Hernandez drove in a pair as the Blue Jays snapped a three-game home losing streak in their final game before the All-Star break.
Held to one run in each of the first two games of the series, Toronto scored at least six for the ninth time in 11 games.
Thornton (3-6) allowed three hits, walked none and struck out five.
Padres 5, Dodgers 3
LOS ANGELES—Fernando Tatis Jr. homered twice and had four RBIs and Manuel Margot also homered Sunday and the Padres rolled into the All-Star break on a three-game winning streak after beating the Dodgers.
Joey Lucchesi (7-4) held the Dodgers in check into the seventh inning while Margot hit a home run for the second consecutive day as the Padres handed Los Angeles its first three-game losing streak at home this season.
Max Muncy and Justin Turner homered for the Dodgers, who still closed out the first half with a major league-best 60 victories. They became the 15th team in major league history to win 60 games before the break when they defeated the Padres on Thursday, but lost the last three games of the series.
Ross Stripling (3-3) took the loss.
Athletics 7, Mariners 4
SEATTLE—Matt Olson hit a home run for the second straight game to lead a five-run first inning and the Athletics powered past the Mariners.
The win gave the Athletics their seventh win in nine games, and ninth in their last 12. They are 18-8 since June 9, thanks in part to a string of 12 consecutive games with home runs that continued Sunday.
Olson’s 19th homer, a three-run shot to right field off opener Matt Carasiti (0-1) in the first, and Marcus Semien’s solo homer in the second helped the A’s carve out a 6-0 lead that took the pressure of Oakland starter Daniel Mengden (4-1).