Arraez breaks .400 in Marlins’ easy win
MIAMI: Luis Arraez went 2-for-4 to raise his batting average to .401, leading the Miami Marlins to their fifth straight win with a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday.
Arraez, who won an American League batting title last year for the Minnesota Twins, scored two runs and drove in one. He leads the majors in batting average.
Miami also got a three-run double from Bryan De La Cruz and a solo home run from Jesus Sanchez.
Marlins starter Jesus Luzardo (5-4) tossed seven innings and allowed one run on two hits with eight strikeouts.
Royals starter Zack Greinke (1-6) gave up four hits and five runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Miami broke the game open with a five-run fifth inning. Kansas City got on the board with one run in the sixth as Nick Pratto hit a lead-off double, advanced on a Matt Duffy groundout and scored on a Luzardo wild pitch.
At Cincinnati, rookie Matt McLain singled home the winning run to cap a three-run, ninth-inning rally and lead the Cincinnati Reds past the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-8 on the night of heralded rookie Elly De La Cruz’s major league debut.
McLain’s hit to the deep left-centrefield gap with one out came against reliever Shelby Miller, who had just entered the game.
The previous batter, Jake Fraley, was hit by a Caleb Ferguson pitch with the bases loaded to tie the score 8-8.
De La Cruz, a 21-year-old third baseman who batted cleanup, went 1-for-3 with a double and walked twice.
Eduardo Salazar (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth inning for his first major league win.
Ferguson (3-1) walked three and allowed three runs while recording just one out in the ninth.
Los Angeles’ Freddie Freeman hit his fifth career grand slam in the fourth inning.
At Toronto, Kevin Gausman struck out 13 in seven sharp innings, George Springer hit a two-run home run and Toronto defeated Houston 5-1.
Gausman (5-2) allowed one run on four hits and no walks while matching his career-high strikeout total.
Daulton Varsho and Bo Bichette added solo homers for the Blue Jays, who earned a fifth victory in six games.
Mauricio Dubon homered for Houston, who had won four of their previous five games.
Astros starter Hunter Brown (5-3) gave up three runs, three hits and two walks while striking out five in six innings. reuters
RESULTS (home team in CAPS)
MIAMI 6 Kansas City 1; PHILADELPHIA 1 Detroit 0; TAMPA BAY 7 Minnesota 0; Chicago White Sox
3 NY YANKEES 2; Oakland 11 PITTSBURGH 2; Arizona 10 WASHINGTON 5; TORONTO 5 Houston 1; CINCINNATI 9 LA Dodgers 8; Boston 5 CLEVELAND 4; ATLANTA 6 NY Mets 4; MILWAUKEE 4 Baltimore 3; TEXAS 6 St Louis 4; San Francisco 10 COLORADO 4; LA ANGELS 7 Chicago Cubs 4; Seattle 4 SAN DIEGO 1