Cardinals win with flurry of homers
Nolan Arenado sparked a record barrage of four straight home runs by St. Louis in the first inning, then hit a tiebreaking drive in the ninth that sent the visiting Cardinals over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-6 Saturday.
With two outs in the first, Arenado, Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez and Dylan Carson homered off Kyle Gibson. It was the first time in major league history a team connected for four homers in a row in the first inning.
The Cardinals tied the MLB record for any inning with four in a row. It was the first time they had done it, and the 11th time overall in big league history.
It was 6-all when Arenado led off the ninth by clearing the wall in left field off Seranthony Domínguez (4-2) for his 17th home run. Arenando hit for the cycle on Friday night in the Cardinals’ 5-3 defeat to the Phillies.
Yairo Muñoz hit a tworun double for the Phillies.
Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley (4-1) pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth, striking out five of the seven batters he faced.
After Gibson got the first two outs of the first, Paul Goldschmidt singled before Arenado’s two-run shot to left field on a slider started the long ball onslaught. YANKEES 13-6, GUARDIANS 4-1 >> Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton blasted consecutive homers, Nestor Cortes shut Cleveland down for six innings and New York continued its torrid winning pace with a victory in Game 2 to complete a road doubleheader sweep.
Matt Carpenter homered twice and Gerrit Cole brushed off giving up backto-back home runs in New York’s romp in the opener.
Nolan Arenado hits the first of four consecutive first-inning homers by the Cardinals against the Phillies on Saturday.
The Yankees are 25-6 since May 31.
Cortes (7-3) allowed a homer in the first to Amed Rosario and little else. The left-hander gave up one run and three hits and struck out six, including José Ramírez three times.
At 58-21, New York has the second-best record after 79 games of any team in 93 years. Only the 1998 Yankees (59-20) were better.
Rizzo and Stanton connected for two-out homers in the fourth off Aaron Civale (2-5).
Cole (7-2) was tagged for consecutive homers in the second by Josh Naylor and Franmil Reyes before settling in. The right-hander allowed Cleveland just one other hit and struck out six. WHITE SOX 5, GIANTS 3 >> Gavin Sheets doubled twice and drove in two runs, and Chicago held on for a victory at San Francisco.
Dylan Cease allowed one run in five innings for his third consecutive win. The major league leader in strikeouts per nine innings, Cease (7-3) had only four against San Francisco and overcame LaMonte Wade Jr.’s home run leading off
the first to improve to 4-1 in seven road starts.
Giants starter Logan Webb (7-3) allowed six hits, one walk and five runs (three earned) in six innings. RANGERS 7. METS 3 >> Kole Calhoun homered twice and drove in four runs, Martín Pérez won his seventh straight decision and visiting Texas topped New York.
Calhoun hit a three-run shot off Trevor Williams in the second inning and third-year catcher Jonah Heim followed with his career-high 11th home run to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead.
Starling Marte launched an early two-run homer and Eduardo Escobar also went deep against Pérez (7-2), who had given up only two long balls in 15 starts covering 93 1/3 innings.
But the 31-year-old lefty yielded nothing else, permitting seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. He is 7-0 in his last 11 starts.
BRAVES 4, REDS 1 >> Spencer Strider allowed one hit over six innings and matched a career high with 11 strikeouts, Austin Riley homered for the second straight game and drove in two runs and Atlanta beat host Cincinnati.
Strider (4-2) didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning when Nick Senzel’s single drove in Matt Reynolds.
The loss was Cincinnati’s fourth straight overall and 10th straight at home. The team fell a season-high 25 games under .500 at 26-51.
RAYS 6-11, BLUE JAYS 2-5 >> Francisco Mejía homered twice and Isaac Paredes had three hits and five RBIs to lead Tampa Bay to a second-game victory and doubleheader sweep at Toronto.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 19th home run and Bradley Zimmer added a two-run homer in the second game for the Blue Jays.
Left-hander Shane McClanahan (9-3) shut down the Blue Jays in the opener, allowing one run and three hits over seven innings and lowering his AL-leading ERA to 1.74. That win snapped the Rays’ fourgame losing streak.
Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman left Game 1 after he was hit in the right ankle by a 100 mph line drive off the bat of Wander Franco in the second. Xrays were negative and the Blue Jays said Gausman had a right ankle contusion.
MARINERS 2, ATHLETICS 1 >> Pinch-hitter Justin Upton homered to tie it in the eighth inning and Abraham Toro singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to lift Seattle over Oakland.
TIGERS 4, ROYALS 3 >> Victor Reyes and Riley Greene hit back-to-back homers in the ninth to give host Detroit a win over Kansas City.
With one out, Reyes tied the game off Royals reliever Joel Payamps (2-2). It was the first homer allowed by Payamps in 26 1/3 innings this year. Greene followed with his first career homer.