Stott, Castellanos fuel Phils past Braves in 10 innings
Bryson Stott poked a two-run double down the left-field line with two outs in the 10th inning, lifting the visiting Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday afternoon.
Stott’s first hit of the series came against losing pitcher A.J. Minter (3-6), who permitted two runs on four walks in one inning.
The winning pitcher was Craig Kimbrel (8-6), who pitched a scoreless ninth inning. Matt Strahm allowed one unearned run in the bottom of the 10th but picked up his second save.
The Phillies (83-69) stretched their lead for the first wild-card playoff spot three games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Braves (97-54) have lost five of their last six games since clinching a sixth straight National League East title.
Nick Castellanos paced the Phillies with a two-run homer and a solo shot. The right fielder also threw out the potential game-winning runner at the plate in the ninth to force extra innings.
Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola retired the first nine batters he faced, pitched six innings and gave up two runs on six hits and eight strikeouts. Nola left the game with a two-run lead.
Atlanta’s Bryce Elder lasted only 3 2/3 innings and allowed four runs on three hits and five walks.
Philadelphia scored a run in the first inning on Alec Bohm’s RBI single and stretched its advantage to 4-0 after Castellanos hit a solo homer in the second and a two-run shot in the fourth. It was the 13th time in his career that Castellanos has hit multiple home runs in a game, and the fourth time this season.
The Braves got a run in the fourth inning on Matt Olson’s single and leagueleading 131st RBI. They cut the lead to 4-2 on a double by Michael Harris II and a run-scoring single by Nicky Lopez in the fifth.
Atlanta tied the game 4-4 in the eighth on Austin Riley’s RBI single and
Marcell Ozuna’s two-out double off the right-field wall.
The Braves had a chance to win it in the ninth, but pinch-runner Luke Williams was thrown out at the plate by Castellanos.
Rangers 15, Red Sox 5: Texas responded to an early four-run deficit with 15 unanswered runs, crushing visiting Boston.
Boston (75-78) received a three-run homer from Adam Duvall and a solo shot from Bobby Dalbec to take a 4-0 lead into the home half of the second inning. That’s when the Rangers’ offense came to life, however.
Jonah Heim headlined the six-run frame with a three-run blast of his own, with Mitch Garver clubbing a solo home run and Marcus Semien ripping a two-run single.
Texas (84-68) scored at least two runs in each of the next four frames to turn a modest two-run edge into a 15-4 advantage.
Twins 5, Reds 3: Jorge Polanco hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the top of the ninth inning to rally Minnesota over host Cincinnati in the deciding game of a threegame series.
Minnesota (81-72) lowered its magic number for clinching the American League Central to two while spoiling a 14-strikeout effort by Reds starter Hunter Greene.
Astros 2, Orioles 1: Mauricio Dubon delivered a walk-off RBI single for host Houston, which maintained its share of first place in the American League West by earning a come-from-behind win over Baltimore. The AL East-leading Orioles (9557) had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Royals 6, Guardians 2: Nelson Velazquez homered to lead Kansas City past visiting Cleveland completing a three-game sweep.
Nationals 13, White Sox 3: Lane Thomas belted a grand slam to help host Washington cruise past Chicago in the rubber match of the three-game series.
The Nationals, who won the last two games of the three-game series, posted their most runs in a game this season. Their previous high came in a 12-10 win at Kansas City on May 26.
The White Sox have lost seven consecutive series.