Betts’ hit for cycle in vain as Red Sox lose their bid for 3-game sweep of Blue Jays
>> TORONTO: Mookie Betts hit for the cycle for the first time in his career on Thursday night, but it was not enough to give the visiting Boston Red Sox a three-game sweep over the Toronto Blue Jays, who held on to win 8-5.
Boston’s six-game winning streak ended, while Toronto snapped a three-game skid.
Betts hit his 27th homer of the season against Ken Giles in the ninth inning to go with a single in the first, a triple in the second and a double in the fourth. It was the first cycle of the major league season. He also walked in the sixth.
The Blue Jays got a two-run homer and three RBIs from Randal Grichuk, a solo shot from Teoscar Hernandez and five innings from Ryan Borucki to salvage the series finale.
Chris Taylor and Brian Dozier homered in a three-run ninth inning that snapped a 5-5 tie, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Colorado 8-5 in Denver.
Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson and Max Muncy also went deep for Los Angeles, and Caleb Ferguson (3-1) got the win with 1-2/3 scoreless innings of relief. The Dodgers moved into a tie with the idle Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the NL West.
Chris Iannetta went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer, and Nolan Arenado also had three hits for the Rockies, who have lost three of four on their homestand and fell to 2-7 in August.
Hunter Renfroe hit a grand slam in the top of the ninth to highlight a sixrun inning and lead visiting San Diego to an 8-4 victory at Milwaukee in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Renfroe’s drive off Joakim Soria into the left field seats was his 12th home run of the season. He has homered in four consecutive games as part of a career-best seven-game hitting streak.
Rookie Franmil Reyes followed Renfroe with an opposite-field homer to right off Jacob Barnes for the Padres’ final run.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a mammoth solo homer in the fifth inning, JA Happ pitched six solid innings, and New York beat visiting Texas 7-3.
Stanton homered for the third straight game when he hammered a 1-1 fastball from rookie Ariel Jurado (2-2) into the lower rows of the left field bleachers.
Stanton’s 28th homer travelled an estimated 449 feet and was clocked at 196kph according to Statcast. It was the hardest hit ball in the majors this season and the hardest hit homer since Statcast was introduced in 2015.