Rays answer NY
Travis d’Arnaud hit a twoout homer off Chad Green in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Tampa Bay Rays past the New York Yankees 4-3 yesterday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Aaron Hicks had tied it 3-3 in the top of the ninth for the Yankees, homering on a 2-2, two-out pitch from Colin Poche (2-1).
D’Arnaud’s winning homer against Green (2-3) into the right-field seats got the Rays back within 7½ games of the AL East-leading Yankees, who had won the first two games of a four-game series in extra innings. Tampa Bay is 3-9 against New York this season.
It was just New York’s third loss in its last 19 games.
Nate Lowe hit a go-ahead two-run homer off CC Sabathia in the seventh that gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead. He hit his first big league homer Friday night off Masahiro Tanaka.
Sabathia went a seasonhigh seven innings, giving up three runs and seven hits.
Twins 7, Rangers 4 — In Minneapolis, Michael Pineda struck out a season-high nine over six efficient innings, Jason Castro had two hits and three RBI, and Minnesota beat Texas.
Pineda (6-4) gave up five hits and a run on a solo homer in the sixth inning by Elvis Andrus. The big right-hander had his most strikeouts since 2017 with the New York Yankees prior to a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for all of 2018.
Marwin Gonzalez homered for Minnesota, which leads the majors with 166 home runs this year and matched its total from last season.
Astros 4, Angels 0 — Yuli Gurriel homered for the fourth straight game and Gerrit Cole (9-5) pitched seven scoreless innings before two relievers completed the four-hitter, leading host Houston to a win over Los Angeles.
Gurriel’s solo shot extended Houston’s lead to 3-0 in the sixth and gave him a 10-game hitting streak and the longest stretch of consecutive games with home runs in his career.
Orioles 8, Blue Jays 1 — Andrew Cashner (9-3) pitched seven strong innings to win his third straight start, Renato Nuñez hit a two-run home run and Baltimore beat host Toronto.
Stevie Wilkerson hit a solo homer and Jonathan Villar scored three times. The Orioles used a five-run fourth inning to win their third straight, improving to 4-1 north of the border.
National League
Marlins 5, Braves 4 —
Yadiel Rivera hit a goahead, two-run single in the fifth inning and Miami beat host Atlanta for only the second time this season.
The Braves had been 9-1 against Miami before the Marlins snapped a fivegame losing streak. The Marlins’ struggling offense, shut out in a 1-0 loss to Atlanta in the series opener, had 15 hits, including homers by Harold Ramirez and Starlin Castro.
Pirates 12, Brewers 2 —
Kevin Newman and Starling Marte each drove in three runs, leading host Pittsburgh to a rout of Milwaukee.
Newman had four hits, including a home run, after going 0-for-5 in a 7-6 loss to Milwaukee on Friday. Melky Cabrera also homered for the Pirates.
Dario Agrazal (2-0) allowed two runs in six innings after being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis to start in place of Trevor Williams, who was placed on the paternity list.
Interleague
Indians 7, Reds 2 — Francisco Lindor homered twice, Roberto Perez connected on a tiebreaking shot in the eighth inning, and visiting Cleveland pulled away from Cincinnati to secure its fifth straight victory at Great American Ball Park.
Shane Bieber (8-3) gave one of his best performances a day after learning he’d made the All-Star Game in Cleveland next week, replacing Texas’ Mike Minor. He allowed four hits in eight innings — three by Yasiel Puig, who had a tworun homer.
Indians starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco is being treated for leukemia.
Carrasco made the revelation to a TV station while on a visit to the Dominican Republic, where he was visiting a hospital.
Cubs 6, White Sox 3 — Jon Lester pitched into the seventh inning, and the Cubs beat All-Star Lucas Giolito and the crosstown White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.
Lester (8-6) went 6⅓ innings, allowing three runs (one earned) and six hits. The left-hander improved to 5-2 in his past seven starts, while Giolito got knocked out in a five-run fifth.
Craig Kimbrel hit a batter and walked one in the ninth, but struck out Jose Abreu for his second save in three chances.
Nationals 6, Royals 0 — Max Scherzer sustained a dominant stretch with seven strong innings, Kurt Suzuki homered and host Washington beat Kansas City.
The NL pitcher of the month for June, Scherzer (9-5) allowed four hits and struck out 11 with one walk in his final start before heading to Tuesday’s AllStar Game. He struck out the side in the seventh.
Scherzer has won seven straight starts and has an 0.84 ERA over his last nine appearances.