No-hit bid thwarted, but Bubic gets win

Kris Bubic carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago Cubs 4-2 on Saturday.

Whit Merrifield had three hits and stole home as part of a double steal, helping Kansas City to its fifth win in six games. Nicky Lopez also had three hits and drove in a run, and Andrew Benintendi finished with two hits.

Bubic (4-6), a Mitty High School and Stanford alum, was working on a no-hitter when the game was delayed in the middle of the seventh because of an approaching storm.

The heavy rain never materialized, and Bubic returned after a 34-minute delay. When play resumed, Frank Schwindel walked and Patrick Wisdom followed with a drive into the bleachers in left for his 20th homer.

“That’s just a shame he wasn’t able to finish that,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “That’s an embarrassment. You pull us off the field, that rain better happen. I hope there’s some sort of follow up. That can’t happen.”

During the delay, Bubic went to the bullpen to try and stay loose.

“A situation like that is never ideal,” he said. “It is what it is. I’m not going to make excuses.”

Bubic, who turned 24 on Thursday, struck out nine and walked two.

Chicago dropped its 12th straight home game, matching the franchise record.

Dodgers 4, Mets 3: Trea Turner, Albert Pujols and Chris Taylor homered, and host Los Angeles beat New York. The Dodgers have won nine consecutive games, matching a season-best win streak. Six of those wins have come against the Mets, who have dropped eight of nine overall.

Indians 5, Angels 1:

Triston McKenzie struck out Shohei Ohtani three times while pitching two-hit ball into the eighth inning, leading Cleveland to a home win over Los Angeles.

Astros 15, Mariners 1:

Houston’s offense got a boost with a breakout game from rookie Taylor Jones, helping the host Astros to another rout of Seattle. Jones had four RBIs and finished a single shy of the cycle.

Yankees 7, Twins 1:

Gerrit Cole struck out Josh Donaldson with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning and got through the sixth throwing shutout ball, and New York beat visiting Minnesota for its season-high ninth straight win.

Rays 8, White Sox 4:

Brandon Lowe, Manuel Margot and Joey Wendle each had two hits and two RBIs, and host Tampa beat Chicago.

Blue Jays 3, Tigers 0:

Hyun Jin Ryu cruised through seven innings, Randal Grichuk and Marcus Semien each homered, and Toronto beat Detroit at home.

Brewers 9, Nationals 6:

Christian Yelich had a grand slam in the eighth inning, a solo shot in the first and finished with six RBIs as host Milwaukee held on to beat Washington.

Reds 7, Marlins 4:

Nick Castellanos hit a two-run homer and drove in four runs to help host Cincinnati beat Miami.

Braves 5, Orioles 4:

Austin Riley put Atlanta ahead for good with a homer in the fifth inning, and the visiting Braves stretched their winning streak to eight games by handing Baltimore its 17th consecutive defeat.

Rangers 10, Red Sox 1:

Brock Holt hit two RBI singles, and Texas used a strong start by Jordan Lyles to beat host Boston.

Pirates 5, Cardinals 4:

Yoshi Tsutsugo and Kevin Newman homered and Ke’Bryan Hayes added a two-run single, rallying visiting Pittsburgh past St. Louis.

Rockies 5, D’backs 2:

Elias Diaz hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning after Garrett Hampson hit a game-tying two-run pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the eighth, lifting Colorado past Arizona.

Padres 4, Phillies 3:

Adam Frazier scored on Connor Brogdon’s wild pitch in the the 10th to give host San Diego the win.