Hudson gets 10th win, Cardinals edge Pirates
PITTSBURGH — Former Mississippi State pitcher Dakota Hudson rebounded from a shaky start Tuesday night for the St. Louis Cardinals and earned his 10th victory of the season.
Hudson surrendered a Starling Marte homer three batters into the bottom of the first, then settled down and the Cardinals rallied for a 4-3 win.
The 24-year-old rookie didn't allow a run the rest of the way, working 6 1/3 innings, giving up six hits and three walks to improve to 8-1 in his last 12 starts. His overall record now stands at 10-4.
Paul Goldschmidt homered for the second straight night and José Martínez added his 10th home run this season for St. Louis.
Goldschmidt, who hit a go-ahead grand slam in the 10th inning on Monday, delivered a two-run drive to the left-field seats in the third inning off Chris Archer (3-7). Martínez put St. Louis in front with a solo shot leading off the fifth, and Hudson and two relievers shut down the Pirates after spotting Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead.
Giovanny Gallegos and Andrew Miller retired the last eight Pittsburgh batters, with Miller throwing a perfect ninth for his third save.
St. Louis moved to 9-2 since the All-star break to close ground on the first-place Chicago Cubs in the quickly widening NL Central. The Cardinals and Pirates were separated by a halfgame at the break. The gap has expanded considerably over the last two weeks.
Pittsburgh fell to 2-9 since over its last 11 games, with four of the losses to St. Louis.
Archer couldn't take advantage of Marte's 17th home run and has now given up 24 home runs in 96 2/3 innings. Acquired in a trade with Tampa Bay last summer that sent future All-star outfielder Austin Meadows and pitcher Tyler Glasnow to the Rays, is 6-10 with a 5.01 ERA with the Pirates.
Hudson has been the most consistent member of the Cardinals' rotation and has lost just once since May 7. It looked like he was in trouble early, but he worked crisply after laboring through the first.
Goldschmidt's drive inside the foul pole in left with one on in the third gave him six home runs this month and 20 for the fifth straight season and seventh time in his nine-year big league career. Martínez, who preserved a 6-5, 10-inning win Monday by throwing out Kevin Newman at home, put the Cardinals in front an inning later. Hudson didn't let the rally go to waste.
Pittsburgh's best chance came in the fifth when a single and two walks loaded the base with no outs. Pitching coach Mike Maddux came out to talk to Hudson, and Hudson responded by striking out All-star Josh Bell on three pitches and getting Colin Moran to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Adam Frazier, another former MSU player, had two hits for the Pirates.
Mets 5, Padres 2
NEW YORK — Robinson Canó hit three home runs, breaking loose from a seasonlong slump in a huge way and leading Jason Vargas and the New York Mets over the San Diego Padres.
The 36-year-old Canó drove in all five runs and went 4 for 4. Vargas pitched one-hit ball for six shutout innings, possibly enhancing his trade value.
Canó began the day batting just .243 with six homers in his first season with the Mets. Yet before the game, manager Mickey Callaway expressed confidence that Canó would produce, putting him in the category of "Hall of Fame hitters."
Canó homered three times in a game for the first time in his career. It was just the third threehomer game ever by a Mets player at home — Lucas Duda and Kirk Nieuwenhuis both did it in July 2015.
After singling in the first, Canó made it 1-0 in the fourth with his first home run at Citi Field since early April.
Canó hit a two-run homer off Chris Paddack (6-5) in the sixth and a two-run shot in the seventh off Logan Allen — both drives sailed into the second deck.
(Photo by Jeff Roberson, AP file)
Of Canó's nine homers this year, five have come since the All-star break. This was his 23rd career multihomer game and first since 2017 with Seattle.
Yoenis Céspedes was the previous Mets player to hit three homers, doing it in 2017. The feat has been accomplished by 13th different Mets players, with Céspedes doing it twice.
Vargas (5-5) put on a pitching clinic, getting the San Diego hitters to consistently flail away.
The 36-year-old lefty permitted only a single by Eric Hosmer in the fifth, struck out eight and walked three. Rookie Fernando Tatis Jr. struck out three times and Manny Machado swung at a strike three that bounced.
Several scouts were at Citi Field, and no doubt the performance Vargas piqued their interest as the July 31 trade deadline approaches.
Vargas' hardest fastball was clocked at 84.6 miles per hour — Paddack's slowest changeup came in a tick faster 84.7.
The anticipated showdown between rookie stars Pete Alonso and Paddack didn't amount to much — the slugging Alonso walked twice and grounded out against the young fireballer.
Edwin Díaz relieved with two on in the ninth and got his 22nd save in 26 chances, allowing an RBI double to Tatís before retiring Manuel Margot on a game-ending lineout with two on.
Red Sox 5, Rays 4
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Christian Vázquez hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning, Marcus Walden bailed Boston out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and the Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays to move into second place in the AL East for the first time since the second day of the season.
The defending World Series champions have recovered from a 3-8 start and improved to a season-high 10 games over .500 at 56-46, moving one percentage point ahead of the Rays (5747), who have lost seven of eight. The Red Sox had not been in second place since they were 1-1 after play on March 29, tied with Tampa Bay and Toronto. They have closed on Oakland, which leads for the second AL wild-card berth.
With the score 2-2, Vázquez hit his second career pinch-homer, a drive into the left-field seats off Colin Poche (2-4).
Boston boosted the lead to 5-2 in the eighth when Andrew Benintendi hit an RBI groundout and Jackie Bradley Jr. was hit by a pitch from Adam Kolarek with the bases loaded, forcing in a run.
Ji-man Choi's had a run-scoring single off Brandon Workman in the ninth. Walden entered with the bases loaded and two outs, walked Tommy Pham on four pitches, then retired Austin Meadows on a game-ending groundout.
Rays starter Yonny Chirinos settled after giving up a pair of two-out runs in the first inning — one on a wild pitch allowing Rafael Devers to score from third base and the other on Benintendi's RBI single.
Former Mississippi State player Mitch Moreland made his return to the lineup and to first base for the Red Sox after being on the disabled list due to injury.