Harper hammers homer No. 300 as Phillies flop
PHILADELPHIA – Bryce Harper put the Philadelphia Phillies ahead in the eighth inning with his 300th home run, but Brandon Drury capped a three-run ninth with a tiebreaking, two-run homer that lifted the Los Angeles Angels to a 10-8 victory on Wednesday that prevented a three-game sweep.
In a game with four lead changes, Los Angeles led 7-6 before Harper’s two-run homer in the eighth off Matt Moore (4-1). Harper and Moore were 1-2 among Baseball America’s top prospects in 2012.
“I really wanted to do it at home in front of this fanbase and this great city,” Harper said. “Hopefully, there’ll be 300 more.”
Harper’s homer, his 15th this season and 10th in August, came in the 30-year-old’s 1,481st game. He homered in three straight games for the second time this month and has 10 homers in August. Moore was the 224th pitcher he went deep against.
Pinch-hitter Mike Moustakas struck out leading off the ninth but reached on a wild pitch by Craig Kimbrel (7-5). Nolan Schanuel’s single put runners at the corners, giving him a team-record 10-game hitting streak at the start of his big league career. Luis Rengifo hit a sacrifice fly to tie the score.
After Shohei Ohtani struck out, Drury lofted a fastball on the outside corner to the opposite field and over the wall in right for his 19th homer.
Wednesday’s other games
Mariners 5, Athletics 4: J.P. Crawford dropped a two-run single into left field in the seventh inning to give Seattle the lead, and the Mariners closed out the winningest month in franchise history at 21-6, bettering the previous franchise record of 20 victories in a month. The Mariners have won 13 of their last 15 games and will head into September in the middle of an AL West title race with Houston and Texas. Teoscar Hernández capped his hot month with a three-run homer in the third inning – his 23rd of the season – that erased an 3-0 deficit.
Astros 7, Red Sox 4: Framber Valdez, who pitched seven nohit innings in his previous start against the Tigers in Detroit, retired the first 10 Boston batters on Wednesday and took a shutout into the sixth inning to help Houston complete its first sweep at Fenway Park. Houston, which played in the NL for 50 years before switching in 2012, has won five straight. Valdez (10-9) extended his no-hit string to 10 1/3 straight innings before Justin Turner blooped a single into center in the fourth, with Houston already ahead 7-0. Boston scored all its runs off Valdez in the sixth.
Guardians 5, Twins 2 (10): Kole Calhoun hit a three-run home run in the 10th inning to cap visiting Cleveland’s late comeback against the Minnesota bullpen and trim its deficit in the AL Central to five games. Five relievers had a hand in squandering another stellar start by Sonny Gray, who gave the Twins seven scoreless innings. Emilio Pagán (5-2) took the loss despite pitching the best of the bunch.
White Sox 10, Orioles 5: Visiting Chicago hit three home runs off 13-game winner Kyle Gibson to rally from an early fourrun deficit and avoid a three-game sweep. Anthony Santander homered for the AL East-leading Orioles, who led 4-0 in the first inning before fading to their third loss in 12 games.
Rays 3, Marlins 0 (10): Josh Lowe hit a tiebreaking single during visiting Tampa Bay’s three-run 10th inning, and the Rays pulled within 1½ games of AL East-leading Baltimore with their fourth straight win. Four Tampa Bay pitchers combined on a four-hitteras the Rays won for the eighth time in nine games overall to close out a 17-8 August.
Reds 4, Giants 1: Christian Encarnacion-Strand homered and drove in three runs in his first four-hit game in the majors, and visiting Cincinnati avoided a three-game sweep. Encarnacion-Strand, a Bay Area native who played at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, finished a triple shy of the cycle. Elly De La Cruz and Luke Maile each had two hits, and Hunter Greene outdueled Logan Webb in his first start against San Francisco.
Cubs 3, Brewers 2: Cody Bellinger drove in the tiebreaking run with a ricochet infield single in the eighth inning and host Chicago pulled within three games of the first-place Brewers in the NL Central. Bellinger’s sharply hit ball up the middle glanced off the right ankle or foot of reliever Joel Payamps and to third baseman Andruw Monasterio. Bellinger beat out Monasterio’s throw, allowing Mike Tauchman to score from third.
Cardinals 5, Padres 4: Tommy Edman hit a two-run homer off Josh Hader in the 11th for his second walk-off hit in two days off the All-Star closer, and host St. Louis beat San Diego to drop the Padres to 0-12 in extra innings this season. San Diego wasted a 3-0 lead and matched the expansion 1969 Montreal Expos, who had the most losses by a team that finished the season winless in extra-inning games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Blue Jays 7, Nationals 0: Alejandro Kirk had three hits and three RBIs, Chris Bassitt and Jay Jackson combined on a fivehitter and host Toronto took two of three from Washington. Kirk hit a two-run double in the first inning, doubled and scored in the fourth, singled and scored in the sixth and hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Bassitt (13-7) allowed three hits in eight innings.
Mets 6, Rangers 5 (10): DJ Stewart hit a two-run homer to tie it in the eighth, then “drove in” the winning run on a basesloaded hit-by-pitch by Aroldis Chapman in the 10th inning as host New York sent Texas to its 10th loss in 13 games.