Cardinals prevail in Central clash
ST. LOUIS — Dakota Hudson and two relievers combined on a one-hitter, and Paul DeJong homered to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 on Monday night in a series opener between NL Central contenders.
Yasmani Grandal’s ground-rule double with two outs in the eighth inning off Giovanny Gallegos was Milwaukee’s only hit. Hudson was lifted with two outs in the seventh after throwing 111 pitches, and Andrew Miller got four outs for his fifth save.
St. Louis increased its division lead to a half-game over the idle Chicago Cubs. Third-place Milwaukee is three games back.
Hudson (12-6) matched a career high with seven strikeouts and walked four — including his final batter, Eric Thames. Gallegos entered and retired Ben Gamel on a grounder to end the inning.
Orlando Arcia reached on an error by DeJong at shortstop to begin the eighth before Gallegos got two outs. Grandal then hooked a 1-2 slider just inside the right field line and the ball bounced into the stands.
Miller relieved and, after an intentional walk to Christian Yelich, got Mike Moustakas to ground out with the bases loaded. Miller then closed it out in the ninth.
PADRES 3, REDS 2: Francisco Mejia hit a solo homer off the foul pole, Manny Machado had an RBI single in the first inning, and San Diego held on to beat host Cincinnati. Kirby Yates escaped a bases-loaded threat in the ninth to save San Diego’s third straight win.
NATIONALS 13, PIRATES 0: Asdrubal Cabrera hit the last of Washington’s four homers and drove in five runs, and three relievers combined for 62⁄3 innings of one-hit ball in a rout of host Pittsburgh.
MARINERS 9, RAYS 3: Tom Murphy homered twice and drove in four runs, Austin Nola also went deep and had three RBIs, and Seattle won at Tampa Bay.
ROYALS 5, ORIOLES 4: Nicky Lopez and Nick Dini homered on successive pitches in the seventh inning and Kansas City stretched host Baltimore’s latest losing streak to eight games.
WHITE SOX 6, TWINS 4: Jose Abreu hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the third inning, and visiting Chicago held on to beat AL Central-leading Minnesota.