Franco, Rays beat Red Sox, take East lead

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Wander Franco had two key run-scoring hits, the Tampa Bay bullpen worked out of a pair of bases-loaded jams, and the Rays moved into first place in the American League East with a 9-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

Franco’s RBI triple off Nathan Eovaldi gave Tampa Bay a 6-5 lead in the sixth. Franco added a run-scoring single during a three-run eighth that made it 9-5. Francisco Mejía had a two-run single in the eighth.

Xander Bogaerts and Bobby Dalbec homered for the Red Sox, who had at least a share of the divisional lead since June 28 but fell a half-game behind Tampa Bay.

■ Mets 5, Reds 4: At New York, Joey Votto came oh-so-close to matching the major league record with a home run in eight consecutive games, Javier Báez did clear the fence in his New York debut, and the Mets rallied past Cincinnati in 10 innings. Votto, riding a seven-game homer streak, laced a line drive that hit the orange padding atop the right-field wall in the eighth and bounced back into play — mere inches from sailing over near the 370-foot sign.

■ Yankees 4, Marlins 2: At Miami, Anthony Rizzo homered in his second consecutive game since joining the Yankees, leading New York over Miami on a night Marlins manager Don Mattingly missed the game after testing positive for COVID-19.

■ Angels 1, Athletics 0: At Anaheim, Calif., Shohei Ohtani ended a 29-inning scoreless drought for Los Angeles against Oakland with an RBI double, and Jaime Barria outdueled Cole Irvin.

■ Giants 8, Astros 6: At San Francisco, the Giants hit five home runs, four off Astros ace Zack Greinke, to beat Houston and become the first team in the majors with 65 wins.

■ Dodgers 8, Diamondbacks 3: At Phoenix, Justin Turner hit a go-ahead, two-run homer, and Albert Pujols had a pair of RBI singles for Los Angeles.

■ Rockies 5, Padres 3: At San Diego, Germán Márquez outdueled Yu Darvish and hit a 418-foot home run off his counterpart to lead Colorado past the Padres.

■ Indians 12, White Sox 11: At Chicago, White Sox rookie catcher Seby Zavala became the first player to hit the first three home runs of his career in the same game, but Cleveland rallied to beat Chicago. One of Zavala’s blasts was a grand slam.

■ Braves 8, Brewers 1: At Atlanta, Dansby Swanson hit a grand slam and a two-run shot and drove in a career-high seven runs to lead Atlanta past Milwaukee.

■ Blue Jays 4, Royals 0: At Toronto, George Springer hit two home runs, Alek Manoah pitched seven dominant innings, and Toronto got its third straight victory.

■ Orioles 5, Tigers 2: At Detroit, John Means struck out six in six strong innings, and Maikel Franco homered for Baltimore.