Stanton homers in 6th straight, Marlins fall 9-4 to Giants
MIAMI — Giancarlo Stanton homered in his sixth consecutive game to give him a major league-leading 44, but the Miami Marlins fell 9-4 to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.
Stanton hit a solo shot to deep left-center field off Madison Bumgarner (3-5) in the third inning, tying the game at 2. He has 11 homers in his last 12 games, and 23 in the last 35. Only Sammy Sosa (25 in 1998) and Barry Bonds (24 in 2001) have hit more in that span, according to Elias.
He is two games from tying the major league record of hitting a home run in eight straight set by Dale Long (1956), Don Mattingly (1987), and Ken Griffey Jr. (1993).
Stanton will look to make it seven straight on Wednesday in the series finale. The Giants will start right-hander Matt Cain. Stanton has four home runs in 22 at-bats against Cain.
Denard Span had three hits, including a home run, and drove in two runs. Hunter Pence also drove in a pair, Ryder Jones hit a solo homer, and Bumgarner knocked in a run while allowing nine hits and four runs in six innings for the Giants, who scored three runs in a pivotal seventh inning.
A.J. Ellis also homered for the Marlins, who led 4-3 after six as starter Dan Straily was in line for his first win since July 7.
Junichi Tazawa (2-3) allowed four hits to begin the seventh, with the Giants scoring three times to take a 6-4 lead. Hunter Pence had an RBI double, pinchhitter Carlos Moncrief had an RBI single, and Stanton had a throwing error for the runs.
The Giants added on three runs in the final two innings to cap the scoring.
NATIONALS 3 ANGELS 1
WASHINGTON — Gio Gonzalez didn’t have much time to worry about an infield single ending another no-hit bid. Not with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols due up.
Gonzalez shook off a single up the middle by Trout, walked Pujols and was saved by Daniel Murphy’s leaping catch at second base. Six innings of two-hit baseball from Gonzalez was more than enough for the Washington Nationals to snap the Los Angeles Angels’ winning streak at six with a 3-1 victory Tuesday night.
For the second time in three starts, Gonzalez (11-5) flirted with
a no-hitter. He had one through eight innings July 31 in Miami, and against the Angels he lowered his home ERA to a major league-best 1.79 while striking out four and walking three.
“He has been giving us the opportunity to win games because he gets outs when he needs them,” said outfielder Howie Kendrick, who hit two solo home runs two days after a walkoff grand slam against San Francisco. “Ground balls, double plays and he has been commanding the ball really well. Making pitches that he
needed, striking guys out, I mean that’s what you need from your starters.”
Gonzalez has developed consistency that was lacking earlier in his career this season throwing to catcher Matt Wieters and could give the Nationals an underappreciated third starter in the playoffs behind Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. Manager Dusty Baker doesn’t want the left-hander thinking that far ahead, and he isn’t because he came close to unraveling in the sixth