Rays carry combined perfect game into 9th, beat Orioles 4-1
BALTIMORE — The Tampa Bay Rays took a combined perfect game into the ninth inning before Hanser Alberto beat the shift with a leadoff single against Ryan Yarbrough, wrecking history in the making and taking some of the edge off their 4-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.
Ryne Stanek pitched the first two innings before Yarbrough took over.Yarbrough was literally unhittable — until the ninth.
Tampa Bay’s try for the first combo perfect game in the majors came two days after a pair of Los Angeles Angels pitchers teamed up for a no-hitter.
Alberto pushed a grounder to the right side, precisely where the second baseman usually stands.
Stevie Wilkerson followed with a single, and an RBI single by Anthony Santander off Oliver Drake enabled Baltimore to break up the shutout.
Emilio Pagan struck out Trey Mancini for his sixth save.
Yarbrough (8-3) allowed only five balls out of the infield by Baltimore, all of them becoming routine outs.
Michael Brosseau and Austin Meadows homered off Tom Eshelman (0-2) as Rays won three of four from the Orioles, who own the worst record in the majors.
Braves 4, Padres 1
SAN DIEGO — Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and All-Star rookie Mike Soroka struck out a career-high nine to win his 10th straight decision as Atlanta fin- ished off a three-game sweep.
The NL East-leading Braves have won seven of eight.
Soroka (10-1) lost his season debut on April 18 against Atlanta but has won each of his last 10 decisions since April 24, a span of
15 starts.
He got Sunday’s decision thanks to Freeman’s shot deep to right field off Trey Wingenter (1-2) with two outs in the eighth. Soroka allowed six hits in seven scoreless innings and walked one. His previous strikeout high was eight in a
3-1 home win against San Diego on April 29. The 21-year-old made five starts in 2018.
A.J. Minter pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
Astros 12, Rangers 4
ARLINGTON, Texas — Justin Verlander followed a two-run first inning with five no-hit innings and José Altuve hit Houston’s franchise-record ninth grand slam of the season.
Verlander (11-4) gave up four hits, all singles, and struck out seven. He retired his last 15 batters following a leadoff walk in the second inning as the Astros salvaged a split of the four-game series after losing the first two games.
Verlander didn’t allow a home run for the first time since June 6. He has given up a major league high 26 homers this season — four shy of his career high in a full season.
Altuve, the Astros’ leadoff hitter with George Springer given the day off, had three hits and scored three times after having four hits in Saturday’s 11-inning win.
Ariel Jurado (5-5) gave up five runs in the first two innings pitching on six days’ rest in making his first start since July 3.