Cubs overpower Giants, take series from SF
CHICAGO — Kris Bryant, Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist hit solo homers, and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 5-1 on Thursday for their third-straight win.
Heyward went deep for the second time in three games and has a fivegame hitting streak since a sprained finger in his right hand caused him to miss 12 games.
Zobrist added two singles as the Cubs took three of four games from the Giants and finished a 7-2 homestand.
Spot starter Eddie Butler (2-0) allowed one run and four hits in five innings, rebounding from a sloppy outing last week against Milwaukee, when he walked five over three innings. Mike Montgomery pitched one-hit ball over four innings for his first professional save.
Jeff Samardzija (1-6) gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts. He also gave up three home runs against Arizona in his first start of the season on April 6.
San Francisco went 3-4 on its trip, losing its final three games.
Phillies 2, Rockies 1
PHILADELPHIA — Tommy Joseph hit a tying home run in the seventh inning and a winning single in the 11th, lifting the Philadelphia Phillies over Colorado and stopping the Rockies from a four-game sweep.
Joseph homered off Tyler Anderson and lined the game-ending hit against Scott Oberg after Michael Saunders’ one-out double.
Jeanmar Gomez (3-1) pitched a hitless 11th is his return from a disabled list stint caused by an elbow injury. Philadelphia stopped a five-game losing streak, winning for the fifth time in 25 games. Colorado, which has the NL’s best record, had won four in a row.
Trevor Story homered in the fourth off Vince Velasquez, who allowed eight hits in five innings and struck out seven. Three of the strikeouts were by major league hits leader Charlie Blackmon, who went 2 for 5 in the game.
Anderson gave up six hits in seven innings.
Pirates 9, Braves 4
ATLANTA — Ivan Nova pitched into the ninth inning, Adam Frazier hit a three-run homer and the Pittsburgh Pirates pounded Bartolo Colon.
The Pirates split the four-game series at SunTrust Park after losing the first two contests. This one was easy after Pittsburgh put up five runs in the third inning, capped by Frazier’s third homer this season.
Nova (5-3) threw 100 pitches in 8
1/3 innings, giving up three hits in the ninth and missing out on becoming the first pitcher in the big leagues with three complete games this season. It was the first time in three career starts against Atlanta that he has surrendered an earned run.
Colon (2-5) had another tough outing. One day after his 44th birthday, he allowed seven runs and 10 hits in a five-inning stint, raising his ERA to
6.96.
An All-Star last season for the New York Mets, Colon has been charged with five or more runs in half of his 10 starts with the Braves.
Yankees 3, Royals 0
NEW YORK — Helped by a great first-inning catch that forced center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury from the game with a concussion and sprained neck, Luis Severino won for the first time in a month and led the New York Yankees Wednesday night.
On the first pitch of the game, Ellsbury sprinted 107 feet and raised his glove above his head to catch Alcides Escobar’s fly. Ellsbury’s head jarred into the wall as the ball landed in his glove, and he crumpled to the field. After being checked by manager Joe Girardi and head athletic trainer Steve Donohue, he remained in the game but was replaced by Aaron Hicks starting the second.
Didi Gregorius homered against Jason Hammel (1-6) leading off the third inning.
Severino (3-2) allowed four hits and struck out seven over eight innings. Dellin Betances struck out the side in a perfect ninth for his fourth save.
Cardinals 6, Dodgers 1
LOS ANGELES — Mike Leake allowed four hits over eight innings and St. Louis beat Los Angeles.
Jedd Gyorko had three hits and drew a walk in the two-run second inning that gave the Cardinals the lead for good.
Yadier Molina hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Molina’s streak ties Kolten Wong for the Cardinals’ longest this season.
Leake (5-2) struck out five and walked none. He maintained a National League-leading 1.91 ERA.
Nationals 5, Mariners 1
WASHINGTON — Anthony Rendon hit a three-run homer for his eighth of the season and Tanner Roark allowed a run over seven innings to lead Washington.
Rendon has three homers and eight RBIs in the Nationals’ two victories to open this three-game series.
Roark (4-2) completed seven innings for the first time in seven starts and held the Mariners to 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Red Sox 9, Rangers 4
BOSTON — Dustin Pedroia waved home the tiebreaking run on a wild pitch, then singled in two more during Boston’s seven-run seventh inning as the Red Sox won their third straight.
Chris Sale (5-2) struck out six, falling short in his attempt to become the first pitcher in baseball’s modern era to strike out at least 10 batters in nine straight games in one season. He allowed three earned runs, six hits and a walk in 7 1/3 innings and received more runs of support in the seventh inning alone than in any previous game this season.
Sam Dyson (1-5) faced seven batters in relief of Martin Perez and gave up four hits, three walks — two intentional — and a wild pitch without retiring a batter. Mike Napoli homered for Texas, which has lost three of four to follow a 10-game winning streak.
Pirates 12, Braves 5 (10)
ATLANTA — Gift Ngoepe doubled
to drive in Andrew McCutchen for the go-ahead run before Pittsburgh Pirates hit three straight homers during a seven-run 10th inning to beat Atlanta.
Pittsburgh’s Jose Osuna hit a bases-loaded, two-run single off Jose Ramirez in the ninth to tie it at 5.
After Ngoepe’s double, the Pirates put the game away with Josh Harrison’s two-run single, followed by homers from David Freese, Osuna and Jordy Mercer — all off Josh Collmenter (02). Freese’s homer was a two-run shot.
Rays 5, Angels 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Steven Souza Jr. homered twice to rally Tampa Bay past Los Angeles.
Colby Rasmus also went deep for the Rays and Erasmo Ramirez pitched six strong innings in his third start of the season.
Albert Pujols hit his 597th career home run, a two run shot in the first for the Angels. It was his sixth of the season.
Cubs 5, Giants 4
CHICAGO — Anthony Rizzo hit two home runs, Kyle Hendricks tossed seven strong innings and Chicago held on to beat San Francisco.
Rizzo hit solo homers off Matt Moore (2-5) in the second and fourth innings for his 14th career multi-home run game. He has four homers over his last four games and 11 on the season.
Javier Baez made it 3-2 with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Miguel Montero doubled and scored in the seventh. Jason Heyward tripled and came around on Jon Jay’s sacrifice fly in the eighth after the Giants left the bases loaded.
Hendricks (4-2) gave up two runs and five hits. He struck out five and walked none over seven innings, retiring 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.
Tigers 6, Astros 3
HOUSTON — Jose Iglesias finished a triple shy of the cycle, Ian Kinsler had two hits and scored twice, and Detroit snapped a three-game skid.
Iglesias, who scored three runs, doubled to lead off the eighth. He moved to second on a single by Kinsler before scoring on Alex Avila’s RBI grounder off Chris Devenski (3-3) to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Following an intentional walk to Miguel Cabrera, Kinsler scored on Victor Martinez RBI grounder.
Iglesias then hit a two-run homer in the ninth.