Rays dump Red Sox, win 8th straight
Guerrero’s 2 homers lift Jays over Orioles
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Wander Franco extended his on-base streak to 30 games with a two-run single, fellow rookie Luis Patiño pitched neatly into the sixth inning and the AL Eastleading Tampa Bay Rays won their eighth in a row, beating the Boston Red Sox 6-1 Monday night.
Brandon Lowe hit his careerhigh 31st homer on the first pitch from Boston starter Nick Pivetta, sending the Rays on their way.
Boston, which led the Rays by 1½ games entering a three-game series at Tampa Bay on July 30, dropped nine game back in the division race.
Bobby Dalbec hit his 18th homer for the Red Sox, who hold a two-game lead over Oakland for the second AL wild-card spot.
The 21-year-old Patiño (4-3) gave up one run and five hits in 5⅔ innings. T
The Rays went up 3-1 in the fourth. Kevin Kiermaier hit a two-out double, went to third when Mike Zunino reached on a wild pitch while striking out and scored on Lowe’s high hopper over Dalbec for a single.
Pivetta (9-7) allowed six hits, five walks and four earned runs with six strikeouts in five innings.
BLUE JAYS 7, ORIOLES 3: In Toronto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit two homers and raised his season total to 38, Robbie Ray pitched seven innings for his first win in six starts, and Toronto won its third straight with a victory over Baltimore.
Guerrero hit a solo home run off right-hander Chris Ellis in the fourth inning and a three-run blast off righty Marcos Diplán in the seventh.
Bo Bichette hit a game-tying single off Dillon Tate (0-4) in the sixth, and Teoscar Hernández followed with a two-run double.
Ray (10-5) allowed two runs and four hits and struck out 10.
Toronto’s George Springer went 1 for 2 with a walk, scored twice, was hit by a pitch and stole a base in a busy return to the lineup after missing 13 games because of a sprained left knee.
Ryan Mountcastle homered and had two RBIs for the Orioles. The loss dropped Baltimore to 3-24 in August.
PHILLIES 7, NATIONALS 4: In Washington, Bryce Harper homered in the first inning and Philadelphia won its fourth straight with a victory over Washington.
Brad Miller also went deep and Ronald Torreyes added a basesloaded triple for Philadelphia, which improved to 7-1 at Nationals Park this season.
Carter Kieboom homered for Washington, which has dropped three in a row, five of its last six and 19 of 25.
Josiah Gray (0-2) allowed six runs in four innings, the shortest of his six starts since joining Washington at the trade deadline from the Dodgers.
Zack Wheeler (11-9) pitched six innings for Philadelphia, yielding four runs while striking out four.
CARDINALS 3, REDS 1: In Cincinnati, Jon Lester allowed one hit while pitching into the seventh inning, Paul Goldschmidt homered and St. Louis inched closer to slumping Cincinnati in the NL wild-card race.
The Cardinals closed within 2½ games of Cincinnati for the second wild-card spot. San Diego is between them.
The Reds have scored one run in each of their last three games, all losses.
Lester (5-6) retired 16 consecutive batters after giving up his only hit, Kyle Farmer’s secondinning leadoff home run. He walked two and struck out five in 6⅓ innings, earning his fourth straight win. Giovanny Gallegos pitched the ninth for his third save.
The Cardinals needed just two batters to grab a 2-0 lead. Luis Castillo (7-14) walked Tommy Edman to lead off the game. Goldschmidt followed with an opposite-field homer to right, his 22nd of the season.
TWINS 3, TIGERS 2: In Detroit, Bailey Ober pitched six solid innings and Josh Donaldson’s two-run homer helped Minnesota beat Detroit.
The Twins have won three of four. Detroit has lost four of five, scoring only nine runs.
Ober (2-2) held the slumping Tigers’ offense to two runs on five hits in six innings. He struck out five without walking a batter. Alex Colome earned his 10th save.
Tigers starter Casey Mize (7-7) gave up three runs on five hits — including Donaldson’s homer, his 21st of the season — in six innings.
Derek Hill hit a solo homer for the Tigers.
RANGERS 4, ROCKIES 3: In Arlington, Texas, A.J. Alexy pitched one-hit ball through five shutout inning and won his major league debut, DJ Peters, Leody Taveras and Nick Solak homered in consecutive innings and Texas beat Colorado.
Alexy (1-0) allowed only a second-inning double to C.J. Cron. The 23-year-old struck out four and walked three while throwing 81 pitches. Joe Barlow pitched a perfect ninth inning for his third save in three opportunities.
Local product Trevor Story hit a solo homer in the seventh inning and a two-run shot in the eighth for Colorado.
German Marquez (11-10) gave up all four runs on seven hits in six innings.
ANGELS 8, YANKEES 7: In Anaheim, Calif., Shohei Ohtani hit his major-league leading 42nd home run, Jack Mayfield connected for his first career grand slam and Los Angeles defeated New York.
Despite the longballs from Ohtani and Mayfield, the difference in the game ended up being a two-out single by Juan Lagares off Clay Holmes in the eighth inning that drove in Brandon Marsh with the go-ahead run.
Lagares had three hits and drove in two runs. Marsh led off the eighth with a single against Wandy Peralta (4-3).
The Yankees have lost three in a row following a 13-game winning streak.
Note
ANGELS: Los Angeles Angels two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani will not take the mound for Tuesday night’s game against the New York Yankees in order to give his right hand extra time to heal.
Angels manager Joe Maddon also said outfielder Mike Trout is experiencing soreness in his right calf after running the bases Saturday and that discussions about shutting down the threetime AL MVP for the rest of the season are approaching.