Dodgers’ Scherzer gets 3,000th K, near perfecto vs Padres
LOS ANGELES — Max Scherzer got his 3,000th career strikeout and took a perfect game into the eighth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 8-0 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
Scherzer retired his first 22 batters before Eric Hosmer doubled to deep right with one out in the eighth. The crowd of 42,637 saluted Scherzer with a standing ovation after he finished the inning.
The 37-year-old All-Star reached 3,000 career strikeouts in the fifth when Hosmer went down swinging.
Scherzer struck out nine overall on 92 pitches. The three-time Cy Young Award winner threw an immaculate inning in the second with three strikeouts on nine pitches.
The Dodgers remained 2 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants.
In a big blow, San Diego starter Blake Snell left after 11 pitches with a left adductor injury. The Padres used seven pitchers in the emergency bullpen game.
Corey Seager and Mookie Betts hit solo homers, and Justin Turner added a three-run blast in the seventh to back Scherzer (14-4).
Seager went deep with two outs in the fourth off Dinelson Lamet (2-4). Betts followed in the fifth with a shot into left off Pierce Johnson.
Turner’s homer off Emilio Pagán came with two outs in the seventh. Max Muncy added a run on his RBI double in the right-field corner.
The Padres didn’t come close to getting a hit until Hosmer’s double. They had four ground balls through 7 1/3 innings. Mostly, they popped up or struck out.
Padres reliever Austin Adams hit three batters in the eighth, giving him 23 hit batters this season to tie the live-ball era mark set by Detroit’s Howard Ehmke in 1922.
ASTROS 3, ANGELS 1
HOUSTON — Lance McCullers Jr. threw six strong innings, Kyle Tucker homered and Houston beat Los Angeles.
McCullers (12-4) permitted one run on three hits with seven strikeouts. He won his third straight decision and has allowed two runs or fewer in three straight starts.
After Juan Lagares tied it 1-1 in the fifth with a homer to left, Tucker hit a two-run homer to right-center off Jose Quijada (0-1) in the bottom of the inning.
Since coming off the injured list on Aug. 24, Tucker is 25 for 59 with 11 extra-base hits, including three home runs.
Shohei Ohtani, the Angels’ twoway superstar, went 1 for 3 with a walk on the day Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. tied him for the major league lead in homers at 44.
GIANTS 6, CUBS 5
CHICAGO — Wilmer Flores homered and drove in three runs, Kris Bryant scored two against his former team, and San Francisco hung on to beat Chicago for their season-high seventh straight win.
Owners of the best record in the majors, the Giants matched their longest streak since a seven-game run in August 2020.
They were rolling along with a 6-3 lead in the seventh before the Cubs scored two while chasing Logan Webb (10-3). Chicago had the bases loaded with one out when submarining right-hander Tyler Rogers caught Willson Contreras looking at an 84 mph fastball on a 3-2 count. He then struck out Alfonso Rivas swinging at a 3-2 pitch with the crowd on its feet.
The Cubs had the tying run on in the ninth after Jake McGee gave up a one-out double to pinch hitter Patrick Wisdom. But Frank Schwindel and Ian Happ grounded to first to end the game.
Flores hit an RBI single in the second and singled and scored in the fourth as the Giants went up 3-0. He matched a career high with his 18th homer when he launched a two-run shot to left against Justin Steele (3-3) in the fifth to stretch the lead to 5-2.
Bryant got a standing ovation when he stepped to the plate in the first. He drove in a run with a force in the third, and singled and scored in both the fifth and seventh innings to help make it 6-3.
Bryant was 4 for 12 with five runs in an emotional first series against Chicago since being traded prior to the July 30 deadline.
RANGERS 4, ATHLETICS 3
OAKLAND — Isiah Kiner-Falefa had three hits and two RBIs, Taylor Hearn won his fourth straight start and Texas put another dent in Oakland’s playoff hopes.
Yohel Pozo singled twice and scored a run, and Leody Taveras added an RBI triple for Texas. The Rangers won their second series in Oakland this season after going 0-7-2 in their previous nine trips to the Coliseum.
Matt Olson hit his 34th home run for Oakland. Yan Gomes also went deep.
The A’s, who began the day two games behind the New York Yankees for the second AL wild card, have lost 17 of 26.
Hearn (6-4) did not walk a batter for the third consecutive start and retired 16 of 17 after giving up backto-back singles in the first.
The left-hander struck out two and allowed five hits and three runs in six innings to become the first Rangers pitcher to win four straight since Lance Lynn won five in a row in 2019.
Danny Santana pitched two scoreless innings. Joe Barlow worked the ninth for his sixth save.