Estrada lifts Giants
Thairo Estrada hit a threerun homer during San Francisco’s four-run eighth inning, and the Giants beat the Brewers 5-1 on Thursday to avoid a four-game sweep.
A day after falling out of first place for the first time since May 30, the Giants moved into a tie atop the NL West with the idle Los Angeles Dodgers. Austin Slater also connected, and Logan Webb pitched seven sparkling innings.
San Francisco had dropped four in a row.
Milwaukee wasted a terrific performance by Eric Lauer, who tossed seven innings of three-hit ball. The NL Central leaders had won four in a row.
Darin Ruf put the Giants ahead to stay with a two-out RBI double off Devin Williams in the eighth. Estrada followed with a drive to left for his fourth homer.
Phillies 7, Nationals 6 — Andrew McCutchen drove in four runs and Philadelphia erased a six-run deficit on its way to the three-game series sweep.
The Phillies overcame a disappointing start from Aaron Nola and rallied against the Nationals’ bullpen for their sixth consecutive win. Philadelphia pulled within 1 1/2 games of NL East leader Atlanta and two games of idle Cincinnati in the race for the second NL wild card.
Mets 4, Marlins 3 — Dominic Smith broke a seventhinning tie with a pinch-hit RBI single, and the Mets earned their fifth straight victory.
Marlins leadoff batter Miguel Rojas and Mets counterpart Jonathan Villar each homered on the first pitch they saw, the first time that’s happened in a major league game since at least 1985, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Statisticians at Elias were unable to go back any further with certainty because prior pitch-count records aren’t precise.
Francisco Lindor doubled home a run for the Mets and scored on a balk by Sandy Alcantara.
The teams were rained out Wednesday night, one day after acting Mets general manager Zack Scott was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated, hours after attending a fundraiser at team owner Steve Cohen’s house.
Jeurys Familia pitched an inning for the win, and Edwin Díaz got three outs for his 28th save.
American League
Athletics 8, Tigers 6 — Jed Lowrie hit a three-run homer in the first inning for the first of Oakland’s eight two-out runs against Matt Manning.
Mark Canha followed Lowrie’s shot with another homer for 4-0 lead. It was the 14th homer of the season for both Lowrie and Canha.
Khris Davis’ RBI double in the fourth made it 8-0 before the Tigers battled back by scoring six runs.
Manning, a 6-foot-6 rookie right-hander, was charged with eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Oakland starter Frankie Montas permitted three runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings.
Harold Castro, Akil Baddoo and Jeimer Candelario homered for the Tigers.