DODGERS MAKE IT NINE STRAIGHT WINS WITH HELP FROM MAEDA
ATLANTA» Kenta Maeda allowed only two hits in seven scoreless innings, Cody Bellinger homered and the streaking Dodgers beat the Braves 3-2 on Tuesday night for their ninth straight win.
The Braves were shut down by Maeda (10-4) but cut their deficit to one with Johan Camargo’s two-run homer off Josh Ravin in the eighth. Atlanta ended the inning with Brandon Phillips, who had a pinch-hit single, on third base.
Bellinger led off the fourth with his 29th homer into the Braves’ bullpen in rightcenter off Lucas Sims (0-1).
Sims and second baseman Ozzie Albies made their major league debuts for Atlanta, which has lost six in a row.
Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the ninth to earn his 28th save in 29 chances.
TUESDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
Max Scherzer hit his first career homer to help build a six-run lead, but he pitched only one inning before departing with a neck spasm, and the Marlins rallied to beat the Nationals 7-6. Scherzer slept funny and left the game as a precaution, the Nationals said. The Marlins took the lead with a four-run fifth inning. Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer off Matt Albers (5-2), and Derek Dietrich’s RBI triple put Miami ahead 7-6. … John Hicks hit a three-run homer in his first big league game in more than a month, Justin Upton added a solo drive off CC Sabathia, and the Tigers held on to beat the Yankees 4-3. A 27-year-old rookie recalled Monday for his fifth major-league stint this season, Hicks drove a slider over the right-center field wall in the second inning, capping a 10-pitch at-bat. Upton made it 4-0 in the third when he hit a full-count slider to left-center for his 18th homer. … Dylan Bundy allowed three hits over a careerhigh eight innings, newcomer Tim Beckham had two hits and scored twice and the resurgent Orioles beat the Royals 7-2 for their fourth straight victory. Bundy (10-8) struck out five and walked one. The righthander had not pitched more than seven innings in any of his previous 34 majorleague starts. … Billy Hamilton hit a threerun homer and tripled, Eugenio Suarez and rookie Jesse Winker also went deep, and the Reds overwhelmed the Pirates 9-1. Hamilton tripled and scored in the first inning. Then he sent a pitch from Jameson Taillon (6-5) into the right-field seats in the second for his third home run of the season as the last-place Reds beat Pittsburgh again. … Jimmy Nelson finally beat St. Louis with six strong innings, and the Brewers held on for a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals. Nelson (9-5) entered 0-8 with a 7.01 ERA in 11 appearances (10 starts) against the Cardinals. … Christian Vazquez hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Red Sox a 12-10 win over the Indians. … Jon Lester hit his first major-league homer and struck out nine to reach 2,000 for his career, helping the Cubs pound the Diamondbacks 16-4. … Robinson Cano doubled twice and drove in three runs as the Mariners beat the Rangers 8-7. Cano’s two-run double in the sixth was the 499th of his career, moving him into a time with Rusty Staub for 63rd in MLB history. … Evan Longoria became the second Tampa Bay player to hit for the cycle and drove in three runs to lead the Rays over the Astros 6-4. … Justin Smoak hit his 31st homer, Josh Donaldson homered and drove in three runs, and the Blue Jays beat the White Sox 8-4.