Marte’s homer gives Marlins 3-2 win over Blue Jays
MIAMI — Starling Marte celebrated his Miami debut with a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, helping the Marlins top the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Marte, who was acquired in a trade with Arizona on Monday, drove a 1-0 pitch from Shun Yamaguchi (1-3) deep to left-center for his third homer. He also reached on an error in the sixth and scored from first on Garrett Cooper’s double.
James Hoyt (1-0) got the final two outs in the eighth for the win, and Brandon Kintzler pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save.
Jon Berti homered for Miami, which moved back above .500 with the win. It had dropped its last eight home games.
Robbie Ray made his debut for Toronto, pitching 3 1/3 innings in relief of Julian Merryweather. Ray, who came over in a trade with the Diamondbacks on Monday, allowed two runs, one earned, and four hits.
Jonathan Villar, who was traded from the Marlins to the Blue Jays at the deadline, drove in the first run of the game with a grounder in the first. But he also committed the error that put Marte on in the sixth.
Berti’s second homer tied it at 1 in the third. But Derek Fisher put Toronto back in front with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Miami right-hander Elieser Hernández departed in the third because of a sore lat muscle. Hernández raised his hands after he threw three consecutive balls to Cavan Biggio and looked toward catcher Jorge Alfaro, prompting a mound visit from manager Don Mattingly and training staff.
Hernandez allowed one run and two hits in two-plus innings.
Yanks beat Rays, benches empty after Chapman’s brush back
NEW YORK — Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman threw a 101 mph fastball near the head of pinch-hitter Michael Brosseau while closing out his first save of the season, prompting the benches to empty after New York ended a six-game losing streak against the Tampa Bay Rays with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night.
Chapman’s first pitch to Brosseau with two outs in the ninth inning whizzed past Brosseau’s head, and umpires met before issuing warnings to both benches amid a budding rivalry that’s been dominated this season by Tampa
Bay. The Rays are 7-2 against the Yankees and lead second-place New York by 3 1/2 games.
Chapman struck out Brosseau to end it, and Brosseau began walking toward the visiting dugout before turning back to exchange words with someone on the Yankees. The dugouts and benches emptied and players gathered near home plate, but they mostly kept their distance before dispersing to their respective clubhouses.
Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka hit Joey Wendle with a pitch in the first inning, which Rays manager Kevin Cash believed was intentional.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Cash said. “It was mishandled by the Yankees. Certainly the pitcher on the mound. It was mishandled by the umpires.
“Somebody has to be accountable. The last thing I’ll say on it is I got a whole damn stable full of guys that throw 98 mph. Period.”
Told of Cash’s threat, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said it was “a pretty scary comment. I don’t think that’s right at all. But I’m not going to get into it right now.”
Teams have been warned not to leave the benches this season as part of the league’s coronavirus protocols. Players on both sides seemed to be urging others to deescalate.
Chapman began the season on the COVID-19 injured list. He had been 0 for 1 in save chances this season.
DJ LeMahieu homered twice, and Gio Urshela hit a tiebreaking, three-run Little League homer in the sixth inning as New York beat the
Rays at Yankee Stadium for the first time this season.
Masahiro Tanaka (1-1) pitched six innings of tworun ball in his longest outing of the season. Five days after getting pulled in the fifth inning after 66 pitches at Atlanta, he allowed two runs and three hits and struck out a season-high seven batters.
The Yankees mounted a rally off Ryan Thompson (1-2) in the sixth to snap a 2-2 tie. They took a 5-2 lead when Urshela hit a sinking liner to center field for a two-run double, then scored thanks to shoddy Rays defense.
Center fielder Kevin Kiemaier attempted to make a diving catch but the ball went by him and to the warning track, allowing Luke Voit and Clint Frazier to score. Urshela took third on the relay throw and scored when shortstop Willy Adames overthrew catcher Michael Perez for an error.
Urshela slid headfirst, and his right hand touched the plate before Perez could apply the tag from Thompson’s throw. The call stood after the Rays challenged.
Urshela’s hit helped the Yankees win for the fourth time in five games following a seven-game losing streak that was their longest since June 2017.
Zack Britton pitched a hitless eighth in his return from a hamstring injury.
The Rays had their six-game winning streak snapped and also lost for only the third time in their last 16 games.
Kiermaier hit a tworun homer in the fifth off Tanaka, reaching the second deck in right field on an 0-2 slider. Willy Adames hit a solo shot in the seventh off Jonathan Loaisiga.
LeMahieu hit his 11th career leadoff homer two pitches in, sending an 0-1 changeup just over the left field fence against Trevor Richards. He homered again with one out in the third, hitting a 1-1 fastball just over the right field wall.
It was LeMahieu’s fourth career multihomer game and 71st multihit game since the start of last season, the most in the AL.