Nationals struggling early in defense of title
BLUE JAYS 5, NATIONALS 1
WASHINGTON — The World Series champion Washington Nationals are 1-4 after losing three games in a row. Normally, it would not be a big deal. But in a 60-game, pandemic-shortened season, it means more.
Missing slugger Juan Soto after a positive covid-19 test, the Nationals have scored a grand total of four runs during the skid, including a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night that included two outfielders colliding on a home run by Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., two errors by second baseman Starlin Castro that led to three unearned runs and just one hit for Washington after the third inning.
“In a longer season, you get time to feel these things out,” said Nationals
shortstop Trea Turner, who was caught stealing in the sixth, one of the gaffes Manager Dave Martinez noted afterward. “Now it’s definitely magnified.”
Former Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark (1-0) got the victory in his Blue Jays debut, allowing 1 run and 3 hits in 5 innings.
In the second inning, Guerrero drove a pitch toward the top of the fence, where outfielders Emilio Bonifacio and Victor Robles both gave chase and jumped, colliding into each other. Robles initially appeared to corral the ball with the webbing of his glove, but the contact dislodged the glove from his left hand. The glove and the ball ended up in the visitors’ bullpen, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead.
RAYS 5, BRAVES 2 Yoshi Tsutsugo hit a two-run single during Tampa Bay’s five-run third inning, and the Rays beat visiting Atlanta for their fourth consecutive. Yonny Chirinos pitched four effective innings for Tampa Bay after missing part of summer camp following a positive coronavirus
Tuesday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Chicago Cubs 8, Cincinnati, 5 Pittsburgh 8, Milwaukee 6 San Diego at San Francisco, (n)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cleveland 4-5, Chicago White Sox 3-3 Detroit 4, Kansas City 3
Seattle at LA Angels, (n)
INTERLEAGUE
Toronto 5, Washington 1 Tampa Bay 5, Atlanta 2
NY Mets 8, Boston 3 Minnesota 6, St. Louis 3 Arizona 4, Texas 1
LA Dodgers 5, Houston 2 Colorado at Oakland, (n) NY Yankees at Philadelphia, ppd. Baltimore at Miami, ppd.
test. He allowed one run and four hits.
METS 8, RED SOX 3 J.D. Davis banged a two-run home run off the Pesky Pole, left-hander David Peterson pitched 52/3 innings to win his major league debut and the New York Mets finished
a two-game sweep of host Boston, which suffered its fourth consecutive loss.
TWINS 6, CARDINALS 3 Josh Donaldson homered and drove in two runs in his Target Field debut with Minnesota, Jorge Polanco hit a two-run shot and the Twins beat St. Louis.
DODGERS 5, ASTROS 2 Los Angeles defeated host Houston in a game that included a brief bench-clearing incident. It was the first game between the teams since it was revealed that Houston stole signs en route to a 2017 World Series championship against the Dodgers. In the fifth inning, Los Angeles reliever Joe Kelly threw behind Alex Bregman for ball four. With two outs in the inning, Kelly threw an errant breaking ball over Carlos Correa’s head. Correa took off his batting helmet and stared Kelly down before continuing the at-bat. Kelly struck out Correa, then stuck out his tongue and made a face in his direction. Correa started walking toward him and the players exchanged words, prompting the benches to clear in the first such incident of the pandemic-delayed season
DIAMONDBACKS 4, RANGERS 1 Merrill Kelly took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up a home run as visiting Arizona beat Texas. Rougned Odor’s one-out homer run in the seventh was the first of three hits off Kelly (1-0), who struck out 7 and walked 1 in 72/3 innings.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
PIRATES 8, BREWERS 6 Adam Frazier hit a tiebreaking two-run home run in the eighth inning, and host Pittsburgh rallied for a victory over Milwaukee.
CUBS 8, REDS 5 Javier Baez homered twice and doubled, Alec Mills went six solid innings and the Chicago Cubs won for the fourth time in five games, beating host Cincinnati.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
INDIANS 4-5, WHITE SOX 3-3 Carlos Santana hit a three-run home run, Oscar Mercado had a two-run single and host Cleveland beat the Chicago White Sox to complete a doubleheader sweep. Santana’s first inning blast helped spoil the return of White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon (0-1) from Tommy John surgery. Cleveland won the opener behind a career-high nine strikeouts by Aaron Civale.
TIGERS 4, ROYALS 3 Jonathan Schoop and Christin Stewart each hit a two-run home run in the third inning to lift host Detroit over Kansas City.