Arozarena, Rays make more magic in the ninth

Randy Arozarena lined an RBI single to rightcenter to complete a three-run ninth inning off Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase as the Tampa Bay Rays rallied to beat the visiting Guardians, 6-5, on Saturday.

Clase (1-7) allowed Yandy Díaz’s one-out double. Díaz advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored to tie it at 5 on Brandon Lowe’s infield single before Arozarena won it on an 0-and-2 pitch.

“I was trying not to strikeout,” Arozarena said through a translator. “I was looking up at the radar and I noticed he was throwing 102 miles per hour. I was also trying not to swing too hard. I choked up a little bit [on the bat].”

It was Clase's ninth blown save in 40 chances. Tampa Bay won Friday night's series opener, 9-8, when Wander Franco hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the ninth after the Rays blew a three-run lead in the top of the inning.

“They're pumped,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of his players. “They were pumped last night . . . Maybe a little more pumped tonight simply because we were down and behind for the entire day.”

Cleveland wasted an impressive start by rookie

Gavin Williams, who struck out 10 over five inning.

Williams allowed one run, five hits, and didn't walk a batter in his 10th career start and had his ERA drop from 2.90 to 2.80. Williams's fastball was consistently in the upper 90s to go with a curveball 20 m.p.h. slower.

Williams's 22 strikeouts over his past two starts are the most by a Cleveland rookie in a twogame span since Herb Score in 1955. He joined Score and Bob Feller (1936) as the only Cleveland rookies with consecutive double-digit strikeout performances.

The Guardians were without All-Star third baseman José Ramírez, who had his MLB suspension for fighting with Chicago’s Tim Anderson reduced from three games to two on Saturday. Ramírez also won’t play in Sunday’s series finale.

Earlier in the day, the Rays announced that AllStar lefthander Shane McClanahan is done for the season with to a left arm injury.

Braves have a blast in New York

Spencer Strider pitched seven scoreless innings and Ozzie Albies homered as the visiting Braves beat the Mets, 6-0, in the nightcap to complete a doubleheader sweep. The Mets were shut out for the 13th time this season.

The Braves routed the Mets, 21-3, in the opener when Albies homered and drove in six runs and

Nicky Lopez added four hits — including his first homer since Sept. 9, 2021 — and five RBIs before tossing a scoreless ninth inning. Lopez is the third position player this season to homer and also toss a scoreless inning of relief.

Atlanta has outscored New York, 118-54, in the last 16 games, dating to last season.

Strider (13-4) allowed three hits and struck out six just hours after Allan Winans (1-0) worked seven scoreless innings and struck out nine on the way to his first big league win.

Kevin Pillar had a run-scoring single and Marcell Ozuna hit a two-RBI double in support of Strider before Albies hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning.

Albies’s shot ran the Braves’ major league-leading total to 225 homers. In the opener, Matt Olson had his seventh multi-homer game of the season and the 20th of his career.

Sean Murphy and Austin Riley also homered for the NL East leaders, who scored eight runs in the ninth inning runs off Mets infielder Danny Mendick. The 21 runs were the third-highest single-game total in franchise history.

Marlins’ Alcantara goes distance

Sandy Alcantara threw a five-hitter, Luis Arraez homered and the host Marlins beat the Yankees, 3-1. Alcantara (5-10) struck out 10 in his major league-leading third complete game and first home win since going the distance against Minnesota on April 4. The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner induced 10 groundouts before a season-best crowd of 33,986.

Jake Burger and Jesus Sanchez each had two hits for the Marlins. Arraez finished 1 for 4 and his major league-leading batting average fell a point to .365.

Tucker sparks Astros’ rout

Kyle Tucker hit a three-run homer and RBI single to lead the Astros to another 11-3 win over the Angels. It was Houston’s fifth win in six games. Before the game, the Astros placed first baseman José Abreu (back) and reliever Phil Maton on the injured list. Maton took a line drive in the right elbow off the bat of Angels third baseman Eduardo Escobar in the ninth inning Friday ... Christopher Morel hit a tiebreaking double in the ninth inning and the Cubs beat the Blue Jays, 5-4, in Toronto. Dansby Swanson added a threerun home run as the Cubs won for the 18th time in 24 games. Toronto lost for the fourth time in five games after winning its previous four . . .

Keibert Ruiz hit the first pitch of the ninth inning into the right-field bullpen to give the host Nationals a 3-2 victory over the Athletics. Ruiz homered for the second consecutive night to help Washington win for the seventh time in its last 10. The Athletics are 51 games under .500 for the first time since finishing 54-108 in 1979.