Rockies beat Pirates after benches empty

German Marquez matched a career best with nine strikeouts in seven solid innings and also had a wayward pitch that fueled a near brawl as the Colorado Rockies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3, on Saturday night.

Marquez (8-4) hit Andrew McCutchen with a pitch in the sixth inning, and the Pirates outfielder strode toward the mound before being headed off by home plate umpire Chad Fairchild and slowly taking his base. Going into the game, the Pirates had a major league-high 55 batters hit by pitches, including four by Rockies pitchers on Friday night.

In apparent retaliation, Chad Kuhl threw an inside pitch leading off the bottom of the sixth that narrowly missed Carlos Gonzalez, who had to back away from the plate sharply to avoid it. He dropped his bat and walked toward the mound, exchanging words with Kuhl as Fairchild and catcher Francisco Cervelli blocked his path. Players and coaches from both teams streamed onto the field and though there were some heated exchanges, no punches were thrown. ROYALS 7, WHITE SOX 2 >> Mike Moustakas homered twice, and Salvador Perez, Brandon Moss and Jorge Bonifacio also went deep to lead Kansas City over the White Sox, extending Chicago’s longest losing streak in two years to eight games.

INDIANS 2, BLUE JAYS 1 >>Francisco Lindor knows about good timing. Shortly after a hard rain began to fall in the bottom of the 10th inning, Lindor hit a leadoff home run and Cleveland defeated Toronto.