Naquin makes an impression in Mets’ victory over Braves
Deadline acquisition Tyler Naquin homered twice in his home debut, Edwin Diaz locked down his first two-inning save as a pro and the New York Mets beat the visiting Atlanta Braves 6-4 Thursday night to open a pivotal five-game series between the NL East rivals.
Pete Alonso and Daniel Vogelbach hit back-to-back homers in the third for the Mets, who extended their lead over the Braves to 4½ games. Alonso, who began the scoring with a single in the first, finished with three RBIs.
Naquin, acquired from the Cincinnati Reds last Friday, hit solo shots in the second and sixth off Kyle Wright.
Carlos Carrasco (12-4) extended his scoreless streak to 23 1/3 innings before Michael Harris II laced a twoout, RBI single and Ronald Acuña Jr. followed with a two-run homer in the fifth. Carrasco allowed three runs on four hits and one walk with six strikeouts in six innings.
ROCKIES 7, PADRES 3 >> Ryan McMahon hit a three-run homer off Joe Musgrove and drove in five runs for visiting Colorado, which beat San Diego to avoid a five-game sweep.
Kyle Freeland (7-7) won his third straight start, holding San Diego to two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked four. Freeland loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth and then got Manny Machado to fly out to left.
Juan Soto had a triple and double and scored a run for the Padres.
Musgrove (8-5) lost his fifth straight decision over seven starts. The right-hander allowed six runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked one.
ASTROS 6, GUARDIANS 0 >> Justin Verlander pitched six innings for his MLB-leading 15th victory, Chas McCormick and Martin Maldonado each homered and had three RBIs, and AL West-leading Houston blanked host Cleveland.
Verlander (15-3) gave up two hits, both singles, and struck out five.
Zach Plesac (2-10) remained winless since June 5 in Baltimore, allowing four runs, seven hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings. The righthander is 0-6 in his last 10 starts.
PIRATES 5, BREWERS 4, 10 INNINGS >>
Bryan Reynolds raced home on a wild pitch with one out in the bottom of the 10th, lifting Pittsburgh past firstplace Milwaukee to complete a threegame sweep.
Reynolds tied it earlier in the inning when he hit a ground-rule double down the right-field line off Matt Bush (2-2). Reynolds moved to third on a fly to right field by Ke’Bryan Hayes and scored when a pitch from Bush slipped by Brewers catcher Victor Caratini to give the Pirates their third comeback win over Milwaukee in as many days.
The Brewers have lost four in a row. Milwaukee took the lead in the top of the 10th when Duane Underwood Jr. (1-3) hit Kolten Wong with the bases loaded and two outs.
CARDINALS 4-7, CUBS 3-2 >> José Quintana won in his debut with St. Louis, Tyler O’Neill and Nolan Arenado homered and the Cardinals beat visiting Chicago to complete a doubleheader sweep.
The Cardinals won the opener as Lars Nootbaar hit a tying sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and a gameending RBI single in the ninth.
Quintana, traded from the Pirates to St. Louis on Monday, surrendered one run, one hit and two walks and struck out seven batters in six innings in a no-decision debut with the Cardinals, who have won four straight and are tied for first place in the NL Central with Milwaukee.
Jordan Hicks (3-5) allowed a run on a hit and two walks, and Génesis Cabrera and Chris Stratton each tossed a scoreless inning in relief in the combined two-hitter.
O’Neill hit a three-run home run, his sixth of the season, off Kervin Castro (0-1) in the bottom of the seventh inning to break a 2-all tie.
In the opener, St. Louis trailed 3-0 before rallying in the seventh against Marcus Stroman. Nolan Gorman and Paul Goldschmidt hit back-to-back homers before Arenado doubled and scored on Nootbaar’s flyball to center.
BLUE JAYS 9, TWINS 3 >> Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a three-run homer, Teoscar Hernández homered for the second straight day and Toronto cruised to a win over host Minnesota.
The Blue Jays won for the 12th time in 15 games and got six effective innings from Alek Manoah (125), who allowed two runs on two hits and four walks.