Mariners break losing streak, knock down Cards
ST. LOUIS — Rookie James Paxton gave up two hits in six shutout innings and the Seattle Mariners ended a five-game losing streak, beating St. Louis 4-1 Saturday night and dropping the Cardinals into a first-place tie in the NL Central.
St. Louis and Pittsburgh share the division lead once again. The Pirates topped the Cubs 2-1.
The Cardinals were held to three hits, including Matt Carpenter’s league-leading 50th double in the eighth. He later scored on a wild pitch by Charlie Furbush.
Franklin Gutierrez hit a two-run double in the fifth inning that ended St. Louis rookie Michael Wacha’s scoreless streak at 232/3 innings. Kendrys Morales hit his 22nd home run in the eighth off Tyler Lyons to make it 3-0.
St. Louis hitters have been struggling all week, and they never got going against Paxton, 24, who limited them to two singles.
The first was by Wacha (3-1) in the third when Paxton (2-0) came off the bag to field a tapper and then slipped and fell, losing his grip.
The Cardinals had three hits in seven scoreless innings to start the weekend series against the Mariners before winning 2-1 in 10 innings. They broke up no-hit bids in the sixth against Wily Peralta and Marco Estrada, winning both games while taking two of three from the Brewers.
Paxton struck out five and walked two. He won his major-league debut a week ago against Tampa Bay, allowing an earned run in six innings.
Danny Farquhar earned his 14th save in 16 chances.
Wacha struck out five in his seventh career start but also walked four in five innings.
Mariners pitchers were 0 for 20 with 13 strikeouts at the plate this year before Wacha walked Paxton on four pitches in the fifth to put runners on first and second with none out, setting up Gutierrez’s double.
PIRATES 2, CUBS 1 Rookie Gerrit Cole pitched seven strong innings and got home run help from Marlon Byrd and Jose Tabata, leading host Pittsburgh past Chicago. Cole (8-7) gave up 1 run on 5 hits, struck out 7 and walked 3.
REDS 7, BREWERS 3 Joey Votto and ShinSoo Choo each hit two-run home runs, and visiting Cincinnati kept pace in the NL Central race with a victory over Milwaukee.
BRAVES 2, PADRES 1 Kris Medlen allowed four hits over 71/3 scoreless innings to win his fourth consecutive start, leading host Atlanta to a victory over San Diego.
MARLINS 3-1, METS 0-3 Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed two hits in seven innings for his first major-league win in more than a year, and host New York got back-to-back home runs from Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda to beat Miami for a doubleheader split. In the opener, Donovan Solano hit a home run and made two terrific defensive plays after twice getting hit by pitches to send Henderson Alvarez and the Marlins to a victory.
PHILLIES 5, NATIONALS 4 Carlos Ruiz had two doubles and three RBI, John Mayberry hit a home run and visiting Philadelphia held off Washington.
DIAMONDBACKS 9, ROCKIES 2 Wade Miley took a shutout into the seventh inning, Gerardo Parra doubled twice and drove in three runs, and host Arizona beat Colorado.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ANGELS 6, ASTROS 2 Jered Weaver pitched six solid innings, Chris Iannetta hit a home run and visiting Los Angeles stopped Houston’s fourgame winning streak. Weaver (10-8) joined Nolan Ryan as the only Angels pitchers to win 10 or more games for eight consecutive seasons. Brett Wallace homered for Houston.
INDIANS 8, WHITE SOX 1 Ubaldo Jimenez pitched 81/3 strong innings and Asdrubal Cabrera and Lonnie Chisenhall hit home runs to lead visiting Cleveland to a victory over Chicago that helped the Indians keep pace in the AL wild-card race.
ROYALS 1, TIGERS 0 Prince Fielder was thrown out at home plate to end the game, preserving Ervin Santana’s impressive outing and leading visiting Kansas City to a victory over Detroit.