Tigers rally to beat Indians
DETROIT — JaCoby Jones homered and doubled, and the Detroit Tigers rallied against Andrew Miller during a five-run seventh inning to beat the Cleveland Indians 9-8 on Tuesday night.
The Indians led 4-0 and 8-4 before Detroit’s breakthrough seventh for its third straight win. Miller (1-2) allowed two inherited runners to score, then allowed two runs of his own. He faced six batters, giving up two doubles and three walks while getting one out.
Louis Coleman (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning, and Shane Greene, pitching for the fourth straight day, worked the ninth for his ninth save. Nicholas Castellanos also homered for Detroit.
After Dan Otero gave up a run and left two on for Miller in the seventh, Jones and Pete Kozma hit back-to-back RBI doubles before walks by Victor Martinez and Niko Goodrum loaded the bases with two outs. Miller then walked John Hicks to force in the tying run.
The Indians loaded the bases with no one out in the eighth against Daniel Stumpf, but Brandon Guyer struck out and Jason Kipnis hit into an inning-ending double play.
Guyer hit a first-pitch fastball into the Tigers bullpen for his first career grand slam in the first inning off starter Francisco Liriano.
Jones led off the bottom of the inning with his third homer, the 14th hit off Josh Tomlin this season, but Erik Gonzalez made it 5-1 with a home run in the second.
Liriano left with runners on the corners and one out in the fifth, and Zac Reininger got Guyer to hit into a double play.
Hicks pulled the Tigers within 5-2 with an RBI single in the fifth, and Jose Iglesias’ run-scoring groundout made it a two-run game.
Davis, though, hit a two-run double off Reininger in the sixth to give Cleveland a 7-3 lead, and he scored on Ramirez’s double off Hicks’ glove at first.
Castellanos homered in the sixth to make it 8-4 and end Tomlin’s night.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Joey Wendle singled in a run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Tampa Bay Rays over the Kansas City Royals.
Johnny Field and Jesus Sucre led off the inning with singles against Kelvin Herrera (1-1). Herrera retired the next two batters before Wendle laced a single to left.
Jonny Venters (1-0) got two outs for his first victory since Sept. 27, 2012 while with Atlanta against the Mets. The left-hander had been out since 2012 due to four major elbow surgeries, including three Tommy John operations, before returning to the majors this season.
Alex Colome worked a spotless ninth for his eighth save. The Royals lost their fourth straight and sixth in seven. C.J. Cron hammered Ian Kennedy’s first pitch to center for a two-run shot during the Rays’ three-run first. Cron has reached base in a career-high 21 consecutive games and singled in the second for his fifth multihit game in his last seven games.
The Rays batted around in the first, which also included Adeiny Hechavarria’s run-producing single scoring Matt Duffy, who had doubled. Kennedy struck out Sucre with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Left-hander Anthony Banda, who was making his Rays debut after being acquired in a February three-team trade from Arizona, threw only 52 pitches in five innings, allowing three runs and six hits. He became the eighth Rays’ starter in 40 games this season, equaling the number of starters they used in 2017.
Kennedy threw 34 of his 101 pitches in the first inning. He labored through six innings, yielding five runs on seven hits while striking out six. Span went down looking to end the sixth for Kennedy’s 1,500th strikeout.
Whit Merrifield drove in three runs for Kansas City. His seventh-inning two-out single off Sergio Romo scored Alex Gordon and Hunter Dozier. Merrifield’s fifth-inning single scored Dozier.
MINNEAPOLIS — Bobby Wilson hit his first home run in more than a year, Jose Berrios bounced back with strong effort on the mound, and the Minnesota Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals.
Wilson, a journeyman catcher for six different teams in nine major league seasons, hit a slider from St. Louis reliever Luke Gregerson into the left field stands for a two-run homer to cap a three-run seventh inning. It was Wilson’s first major league home run since Sept. 21, 2016 for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Berrios (4-4) surrendered one run on two hits and left after hitting Kolten Wong with a pitch with one out in the eighth. Berrios struck out 10 batters. He had lost three of his past four starts, allowing 18 runs in 18 1/3 innings.