Harper’s blast leads Phillies past Reds; Ramirez grand slam powers Guardians
Bryce Harper returned from a three-day paternity leave and belted a tworun homer to lead the visiting Philadelphia Phillies past the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 on Thursday.
Starter Zack Wheeler (2-3) allowed one hit over six shutout innings to record the win for the Phillies, who earned a split of the four-game series with their second shutout in four days. Wheeler struck out eight and walked four in recording his second straight win.
Wheeler extended his scoreless streak to 13 1⁄3 innings in posting his second straight scoreless start, and third this season.
Trea Turner had three hits, while Harper and Bryson Stott had two hits. Stott drove in two with a two-out, third inning triple that put Philadelphia on top, 2-0.
Cincinnati starter Nick Martinez (0-1) took the loss, allowing five runs on a career-high tying 11 hits over six innings. Martinez returned to the rotation after Frankie Montas went on the injured list with a bruised forearm.
After missing the first three games of the fourgame series, Harper picked up where he left off against Cincinnati, drilling a two-run homer in a four-run third inning as the Phillies built a 4-0 lead.
The third-inning blast reached several rows deep up the right field bleachers for his fifth homer of the season, four of which have been at the expense of Cincinnati pitching.
Harper had three homers, including a grand slam, in a 9-4 win on April 2 in Philadelphia.
Harper fouled a ball off the outside of his left knee in the fifth inning and went down to one knee. Two pitches later he lined a grounder to short for his second hit.
The Reds had a big chance in the third when they loaded the bases against Wheeler but couldn’t push across a run.
Following a walk to Jeimer Candelario, Santiago Espinal singled to right for Cincinnati’s first hit. Two outs later, Elly De La Cruz walked to load the bases. Spencer Steer lined a ball down the left field line just foul before flying out to the warning track in right to end the threat.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Guardians 6, Red Sox 4: Jose Ramirez hit a second-inning grand slam and added an important insurance run in the seventh as Cleveland beat visiting Boston.
On the 10th pitch of his at-bat against Boston starter Chase Anderson (0-1) with the bags packed, Ramirez sent a no-doubt drive into the right-field seats for his second homer of the series.
In the seventh, after the Red Sox clawed back to make it 5-4, Ramirez singled for his third hit, stole second and went to third on catcher Reese McGuire’s throwing error. Ramirez then scored on another McGuire miscue and Cleveland held on to take two of three from Boston with its ninth win in 11 games.
Rafael Devers posted his second straight threehit game and Rob Refsnyder had two hits with an RBI for the Red Sox, who completed a 4-2 road trip despite the loss.
Boston loaded the bases against Cleveland starter Triston McKenzie with one out in the second, but the right-hander fanned Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran to get out unscathed.
McKenzie lasted four innings, allowing two runs on six hits, walking two and fanning seven.
Cleveland’s Hunter Gaddis (1-0) got the win and Emmanuel Clase retired the side in the ninth for his eighth save.
Twins 6, White Sox 3: Edouard Julien homered twice as Minnesota belted five home runs to complete a four-game series sweep of visiting Chicago.
It was the second multihomer game of the season for Julien. Ryan Jeffers, Carlos Santana and Jose Miranda also homered and Trevor Larnach went 2-for-4 with a run scored for Minnesota which won for the fifth time in its past six games.
Cole Sands (1-0) picked up the win with an inning of hitless relief and Griffin Jax picked up his fourth save.
Brewers 7, Pirates 5: Gary Sanchez socked a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the top of the eighth to lift visiting Milwaukee to a win against Pittsburgh.
Rhys Hoskins went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and William Contreras went 2-for-4 with a home run to help the Brewers split the four-game series.
Jared Koenig (1-0) gave up two hits in the seventh inning for the win. Trevor Megill pitched a clean ninth for his first save.
Mariners 4, Rangers 3: Ty France and Luis Urias hit two-run home runs as Seattle defeated Texas to move past the hosts into first place in the American League West.
Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Smith hit solo homers for Texas, which lost for the fourth time in its past six games.
Cubs 3, Astros 1: Pete Crow-Armstrong slugged a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth and his first MLB hit lifted host Chicago to a series sweep over Houston.
For boxscores, complete standings, scores go to the eEdition at MiamiHerald.com.
New York Baltimore Boston Toronto Tampa Bay Central
Cleveland Kansas City Detroit Minnesota Chicago West
Seattle Texas
Los Angeles Oakland Houston
East
Atlanta Philadelphia New York Washington Miami Central
Milwaukee Chicago Cincinnati Pittsburgh St. Louis West
W
17 16 14 13 13 W
18 15 14 11 3 W
13 13 10 9 7
W
17 16 13 10 6 W
16 16 14 13 11 W
L
8 8 12 12 13
L
7 10 11 13 22
L
12 13 15 16 19
L
6 10 11 13 20
L
8 9 11 13 14
L
Pct
.680 .667 .538 .520 .500
Pct
.720 .600 .560 .458 .120
Pct
.520 .500 .400 .360 .269
Pct
.739 .615 .542 .435 .231
Pct
.667 .640 .560 .500 .440
Pct
GB WCGB
— — 31⁄2 11⁄2 4 2 41⁄2 21⁄2 GB WCGB —
— — 3 — 4 1 61⁄2 31⁄2 15 12 GB WCGB
—
3 4 61⁄2
GB WCGB
— — 21⁄2 — 41⁄2 2 7 41⁄2 121⁄2 10 GB WCGB
— — 21⁄2 11⁄2 4 3 51⁄2 41⁄2 GB WCGB
—
— 21⁄2 5 6 81⁄2
Los Angeles San Diego Arizona S.F. Colorado
FRIDAY AMERICAN LEAGUE
Kansas City at Detroit (Olson 0-3),1:10 Oakland (Stripling 0-5) at Baltimore (Burnes 3-0),7:05
Tampa Bay (Eflin 1-2) at Chi. White Sox (Flexen 0-3),7:40
Minnesota (Ober 1-1) at L.A. Angels (Sandoval 1-3),9:38
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington at Miami (Luzardo 0-2),7:10
St. Louis (Mikolas 1-3) at N.Y. Mets (Butto 0-0),7:10
Philadelphia at San Diego (Musgrove 3-2),9:40
Pittsburgh (Priester 0-1) at S.F. (Harrison 2-1),10:15
INTERLEAGUE
L.A. Dodgers at Toronto,7:07 Chi. Cubs at Boston (Crawford 1-0),7:10 Cleveland (Allen 3-0) at Atlanta (Sale 2-1),7:20
Cincinnati (Ashcraft 3-1) at Texas (Eovaldi 1-2),8:05
N.Y. Yankees at Milwaukee,8:10
Arizona (Gallen 3-1) at Seattle,9:40
15 14 12 12 6
11 13 14 14 19
.577 .519 .462 .462 .240
THURSDAY
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cleveland 6, Boston 4 Minnesota 6, Chi. White Sox 3 Seattle 4, Texas 3
Toronto at Kansas City Oakland at N.Y. Yankees
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Milwaukee 7, Pittsburgh 5 Philadelphia 5, Cincinnati 0 San Diego at Colorado
L.A. Dodgers at Washington
INTERLEAGUE
— 11⁄2 3 3 81⁄2
— 21⁄2 4 4 91⁄2
WEDNESDAY
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore 6, L.A. Angels 5 Boston 8, Cleveland 0
Tampa Bay 7, Detroit 5
N.Y. Yankees 7, Oakland 3 Kansas City 3, Toronto 2 Minnesota 6, Chi. White Sox 3 Texas 5, Seattle 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta 4, Miami 3 (10)
St. Louis 5, Arizona 1
N.Y. Mets 8, S.F. 2
Cincinnati 7, Philadelphia 4 Milwaukee 3, Pittsburgh 2
L.A. Dodgers 11, Washington 2 San Diego 5, Colorado 2
INTERLEAGUE
Chi. Cubs 4, Houston 3
Miami AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Arraez 1b 5 1 3 0 0 0 .299 B.De La Cruz dh 4 1 1 0 1 2 .262 Chisholm Jr. cf 4 0 1 0 1 2 .247 Bell 1b 4 0 0 1 0 0 .179 Brujan 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .087 J.Sanchez rf 3 1 1 1 1 0 .224 Ti.Anderson ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .229 Gordon lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .204 Rivera 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .234 Bethancourt c 4 0 0 0 0 2 .000
Totals 36 3 7 2 3 9 Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Acuna Jr. rf 3 2 0 0 2 1 .281 Harris II cf 5 1 3 1 0 1 .330 Riley 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .242 M.Olson 1b 3 1 1 0 0 1 .216 Ozuna dh 4 0 3 2 0 0 .344 Arcia ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .302 Kelenic lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .314 Tromp c 2 0 1 0 1 1 .273 Duvall ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .237 L.Williams pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 --Da.Fletcher 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 Guillorme 2b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .158 D’Arnaud c 0 0 0 0 1 0 .293
Totals 33 4 10 3 4 10
Miami 010 000 002 0 — 3 70 Atlanta 201 000 000 1 — 4 10 1
E—M.Olson (1).LOB—Miami 7, Atlanta 8.2B—Duvall (2), Harris II (5), M.Olson
(8), Rivera (1).HR—J.Sanchez (2), off R.Lopez.RBIs—Bell (10), Harris II (12), Ozuna 2 (29), J.Sanchez (9).SB—Acuna Jr. (11), Chisholm Jr. (5).CS—Harris II (2).
GIDP—Acuna Jr. 2, Ti.Anderson, hisholm Jr., Guillorme. . DP—Miami 4 (Rivera, Arraez, Bell), (Arraez, Bell), (Bethancourt, Arraez), (Rivera, Arraez); Atlanta 2 (Arcia, M.Olson), (Guillorme, Arcia, M.Olson).
Runners left in scoring position—Miami 4 (Chisholm Jr. 2, B.De La Cruz, Gordon); Atlanta 3 (Acuna Jr., Kelenic 2).
Miami IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA S.Sanchez 22⁄3 5 3 3 1 3 59 7.20 B.Smith 11⁄3 2 0 0 1 1 19 3.75 Hoeing 2 0 0 0 0 1 27 1.12 Nardi 1 0 0 0 1 3 22 8.44 Faucher 2 2 0 0 1 2 32 0.00 Tn.Scott L, 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 3.38 0-4
Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA R.Lopez 7 3 1 1 2 6 82 0.72 Jimenez H, 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 9 0.90 Iglesias BS, 1 3 2 1 0 1 27 2.89 1-8
Minter W, 4-1 1 1 0 0 1 1 14 1.50 Scott pitched to 1 Batter in the 10th
Inherited runners-scored—B.Smith 1-1.HBP—by S.Sanchez (M.Olson).
Umpires—Home, Jonathan Parra; First, John Libka; Second, James Hoye; Third,
Rob Drake. T—2:40.A—38,950 (41,500).