Diaz dodges jam as Mets top Dodgers
NEW YORK — Edwin Diaz struck out Gavin Lux on a 102.8 mph fastball to escape an eighth-inning jam as the New York Mets beat the majors-leading Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Thursday.
Francisco Lindor hit a tying RBI double in the sixth, stole third base and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Darin Ruf after the Mets were held to one hit in five innings by Clayton Kershaw, who made his first start since Aug. 4.
National League East-leading New York (84-48) took two of three from Los Angeles (90-40), its first series win over the Dodgers since Sept. 3-5, 2011. Los Angeles lost consecutive games for the first time since July 25 and 26.
Chris Bassitt (12-7) allowed two runs on six hits in six innings for his fifth straight victory. The right-hander departed after the Mets went up 3-2 in the sixth.
New York led 5-2 when Diaz opened the eighth by walking Freddie Freeman and plunking Will Smith. Freeman advanced to third on a warningtrack flyout by Max Muncy and scored on Justin Turner’s flyout near the 408-foot sign in center.
Diaz escaped by whiffing Lux on the hardest pitch of his career. It was the fifth time in his past 13 appearances that the Mets’ closer pitched in the eighth inning. Adam Ottavino followed with a perfect ninth for his third save.
Kershaw returned from a back injury and settled down after a three-walk, 25-pitch first inning in which New York went up 1-0. He struck out six and retired his final 13 batters in a 73-pitch outing.
Lindor’s single three batters in was New York’s lone hit until Starling Marte opened the sixth against Chris Martin (4-1) with an infield single. Lindor then doubled to center, scoring Marte.
■ Braves 3, Rockies 0: At Atlanta, Austin Riley and Michael Harris II homered to back rookie Spencer Strider (9-4), who allowed two hits and walked none while striking out an Atlanta-record 16 in eight shutout innings. John Smoltz previously held the Braves’ single-game strikeout record with 15, a feat the Hall of Famer accomplished twice. Colorado fell to a majors-worst 20-44 on the road.
■ Orioles 3, Guardians 0: At Cleveland, Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander and Ryan Mountcastle homered off Shane Bieber (8-8) to back rookie
Kyle Bradish (3-5), who allowed two hits in seven shutout innings. Bradish hasn’t allowed a run in 15 straight innings after going more than three months without a win. Bieber struck out 11 in seven innings.
■ Mariners 7, Tigers 0: At Detroit, Julio Rodriguez and Ty France hit back-to-back homers in the third as Seattle capped a three-game sweep. Logan Gilbert (11-5) allowed two hits while striking out nine over six scoreless innings to halt a ninestart winless streak dating to July 5. Detroit was shut out for the 18th time this season.
■ Red Sox 9, Rangers 8: At Boston, Rafael Devers hit a two-run double and then scored the winning run on Rob Refsnyder’s RBI single in Boston’s four-run ninth. Alex Verdugo’s three hits included a homer in the sixth, and he drew a walk and scored on Devers’ double in the ninth.
■ Nationals 7, Athletics 5: At Washington,
Joey Meneses capped his four-hit day with a walk-off three-run homer with two outs in the 10th. Fellow rookie Shea Langeliers homered in the Oakland fifth and hit a go-ahead two-run double with two outs in the 10th.
■ Diamondbacks 5, Brewers 0: At Phoenix, Christian Walker hit a two-run homer and Josh Rojas a two-run double to back Merrill Kelly (12-5), who allowed four hits while striking out seven in seven shutout innings.
■ White Sox 7, Royals 1: At Chicago, Andrew Vaughn and A.J. Pollock each hit a two-run homer and a single to back Johnny Cueto (7-6), who allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings.