Tigers overcome Verlander’s gem to top Astros
Cubs overtake Giants three times in 12-11 win
HOUSTON, Aug 22, (RTRS): John Hicks cranked a leadoff home run in the ninth inning, and the visiting Detroit Tigers overcame former ace Justin Verlander’s twohit complete game with a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros.
Hicks’ blast, his ninth on the season, enabled the Tigers to snap an eight-game losing skid against Houston and a four-game losing streak overall.
Verlander had pitched brilliantly, allowing just one baserunner through eight innings before Hicks drilled a 1-0 fastball out to left field, snapping a 1-1 tie with his 412-foot shot. The only other hit Verlander (15-5) allowed was Ronny Rodriguez’s solo homer with two outs in the fifth. Verlander struck out 11, extending his club record for double-digit strikeout games to seven.
Detroit capitalized on poor baserunning by Jose Altuve in the eighth inning and by Robinson Chirinos in the ninth, gunning both down at third. Chirinos, who had tied the game with a solo homer in the seventh, made the game’s final out trying to stretch a double into a triple.
Cubs 12, Giants 11 In Chicago, the Cubs overcame a trio of deficits, clubbed three home runs and tallied 14 hits in a wild win over visiting San Francisco.
Nicholas Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant each homered for the Cubs, who won their fourth game in a row. Bryant provided the final turning point with a go-ahead, two-run blast in the eighth inning.
Evan Longoria, Mike Yastrzemski, Stephen Vogt and Kevin Pillar went
deep for the Giants, who have dropped three games in a row. San Francisco erased deficits of 6-2, 7-4 and 10-9, while the Cubs overcame 2-0, 9-7 and 11-10 deficits. At least two runs were scored in every inning except the fourth and ninth.
Mets 4, Indians 3, 10 Innings
In New York, J.D. Davis laced the game-winning hit to cap a 10th-inning comeback by New York, which edged visiting Cleveland.
The Mets have won four in a row and are 20-5 since July 25. The Indians have lost six of eight.
Carlos Santana gave the Indians the lead with a two-out homer in the top of the 10th against Luis Avilan (4-0). But the Mets rallied in the bottom of the inning against Brad Hand (6-4). After a fielder’s choice by Michael Conforto tied it, Davis fell into an 0-2 hole, worked the count full and fouled off three pitches before hitting the winning single to left.
Dodgers 2, Blue Jays 1,
10 Innings
In Los Angeles, Max Muncy hit a game-ending home run deep into the seats in right-center field as Los Angeles defeated visiting Toronto. It was the Dodgers’ 11th walk-off victory of the season and improved the club to a baseball-best 50-16 at home this season.
Muncy’s game-ending shot came off Tim Mayza (1-3) and was his 33rd of the season. Muncy also tied a Dodgers record by hitting a home run in his fifth consecutive game.
The Dodgers were two outs away from victory in the ninth inning before Toronto’s Rowdy Tellez hit a gametying home run, his 15th of the season, off struggling Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. Pedro Baez (7-2) pitched a scoreless 10th inning to earn the victory.
A’s 6, Yankees 4
In Oakland, Mike Fiers ran his streak of consecutive starts without a loss to 19, and Liam Hendriks struck out Aaron Judge representing the potential go-ahead run to end the eighth inning, lifting Oakland past visiting New York.
Khris Davis, Marcus Semien and Stephen Piscotty homered for the A’s, who improved to 5-1 on their nine-game homestand by beating the Yankees for the second straight night.
The Yankees out-hit the A’s 11-6 but left 10 runners on base, including two in the eighth when trailing 6-4. Fiers (12-3), who hasn’t lost since May 1, held New York to two runs and six hits in 5-1/3 innings.
Rangers 8, Angels 7 In Arlington, Texas, Hunter Pence singled home the game-winning run in the ninth, and Texas beat Los Angeles for its third walk-off win in the fourgame series.
Elvis Andrus singled off Trevor Cahill (3-8) to start the ninth. He took second and third on wild pitches before scoring on Pence’s single through the left side.
Only one Rangers starter failed to get a hit. Andrus had three hits and scored two runs, Pence had two hits and three RBIs, Nick Solak had two doubles and scored three times, Delino DeShields had two hits and two RBIs, and Willie Calhoun added two hits – including a solo home run – and two runs.
Rays 7, Mariners 6 In St Petersburg, Florida, Kevin Kiermaier homered to lead off the ninth inning to tie the score, and the winning run came across on a basesloaded wild pitch as Tampa Bay salvaged the finale of a three-game series against Seattle.
Following Kiermaier’s homer, to straightaway center field off Mariners right-hander Matt Magill (3-1), a single, a double and an intentional walk to load the bases, Magill threw a curveball in the dirt to Tommy Pham. The ball bounced off catcher Omar Narvaez and toward the third base dugout, allowing Adames to score the winning run.
The Mariners, who saw their fourgame winning streak halted, scored three runs off Rays closer Emilio Pagan (3-2) in the top of the ninth to take a 6-5 lead.
White Sox 4, Twins 0 In Minneapolis, Lucas Giolito allowed just three hits and struck out 12 while pitching his second complete-game shutout of the season as Chicago blanked Minnesota in the rubber game of a three-game series.
Giolito (14-6) threw a season-high 115 pitches in cooling off the hot-hitting Twins, who were shut out for just the third time this season. He didn’t walk a batter while registering double figures in strikeouts for the third consecutive game.
Minnesota had rolled up 29 hits in the first two games of the series and had scored double-digit runs in three of its previous six games, winning five of them.
Rockies 7, Diamondbacks 2 In Phoenix, Tim Melville had the game of his life while making an emergency start, earning his first major league victory while leading Colorado to a victory over Arizona.
The Rockies summoned the 29-year-old right-hander from Triple-A Albuquerque to take the place of scheduled starter Jon Gray, who was placed on the 60-day injured list Wednesday because of a seasonending stress fracture in his left foot.
Melville pitched seven innings, allowing one run and two hits – including a line-drive homer by Ketel Marte in the sixth. He struck out four and walked two. Melville also had his first major league hit and drove in two runs while making his first appearance in the majors in almost two years.
Nationals 11, Pirates 1 In Pittsburgh, Patrick Corbin pitched eight scoreless innings, and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a three-run homer as visiting Washington stomped Pittsburgh.
Corbin (10-5) gave up three hits, all singles and none after the fifth inning. He struck out four and walked two. Tanner Rainey gave up an RBI double to Pittsburgh’s Josh Bell in the ninth to blow the shutout.
Yan Gomes had a two-run double, Anthony Rendon a two-run single, and Adam Eaton and Corbin each had an RBI double for Washington. Every member of the Nationals’ starting lineup scored at least one run.
Phillies 5, Red Sox 2 In Boston, Bryce Harper hit a goahead, two-run home run in the fifth inning as Philadelphia completed a two-game sweep.
Harper’s blast the opposite way over the Green Monster in left field helped the Phillies to their first fullseries sweep of the Red Sox since 2000. Boston had owned a 36-18 edge in their matchups since then prior to losing 3-2 Tuesday.
Reliever Jared Hughes (4-5) escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fourth and earned the win. Hector Neris converted his second save in two days and 23rd of the season with a perfect ninth.
Braves 5, Marlins 0 In Atlanta, Julio Teheran continued his season-long mastery of Miami, throwing seven scoreless innings in Atlanta’s home win.
Teheran (8-8) gave up five hits, walked three and struck out a seasonhigh nine. He improved to 3-0 with a 0.28 ERA in 32 innings against the Marlins this year.
The Braves finished with just three hits, but all drove in runs: Tyler Flowers’ second-inning triple plus two-run homers from Adeiny Hechavarria in the second inning and Ronald Acuna Jr in the fifth.
Orioles 8, Royals 1 In Baltimore, Jonathan Villar, Anthony Santander, Renato Nunez and Hanser Alberto homered as Baltimore defeated visiting Kansas City in the rubber game of a threegame series.
Baltimore has won two straight games after dropping eight in a row. Kansas City lost for the fourth time in five games.
The four home runs gave the Orioles seven of their eight runs on the night. Baltimore took an early 3-0 lead and never trailed despite allowing its 258th homer of the season, tying a major league record set by the 2016 Cincinnati Reds.
Reds 4, Padres 2 In Cincinnati, Luis Castillo allowed one run over six innings, and Cincinnati’s offense took advantage of an outfield error and three walks to score three runs in the third to beat visiting San Diego.
Jose Iglesias hit a fourth-inning homer off Padres reliever Luis Perdomo to give the Reds their final run in the rubber match of a threegame series.
Castillo (12-5) permitted five hits and struck out four. Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 26th save. Brewers 5, Cardinals 3,
7-1/2 Innings In St Louis, Mike Moustakas blasted a three-run homer to lead Milwaukee to a rain-shortened victory.
The game, which was halted in the middle of the eighth inning, brought Brewers manager Craig Counsell relief on his 49th birthday. His team had lost six of its last eight games overall and six straight to the Cardinals.
Keston Hiura contributed a RBI single and a run-scoring double to support Brewers starter Adrian Houser (6-5), who allowed three runs (one earned) in 5-1/3 innings.