Cowser’s bat, arm lift AL East-leading Orioles to win over Phillies
PHILADELPHIA — Rookie Colton Cowser hit a tiebreaking double in the ninth inning after helping to throw out the potential go-ahead run in the eighth to lift the surging Baltimore Orioles to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.
Ryan Mountcastle and Jordan Westburg went deep for the Al-east leading Orioles, who have won 13 of 16 games. Baltimore moved 2 1/2 games ahead of idle Tampa Bay.
Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber drove in runs for the defending NL champion Phillies. Philadelphia has lost five of six.
Cowser entered as a defensive replacement for Aaron Hicks in the third inning after Hicks was hurt making a diving catch. The Orioles led 2-1 in the eighth when Castellanos lined a two-out single to center with runners on first and second. Schwarber scored easily from second, and Bryce Harper tried to put Philadelphia ahead by reaching home from first base. But shortstop Jorge Mateo took Cowser’s throw and fired home to catcher James Mccann, whose tag in Harper’s chest just got him before his hand touched the plate.
“We did a lot of good things defensively,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Enormous play.” “Huge,” Cowser said. After Gunnar Henderson walked with one out and went to second on a wild pitch in the ninth, Cowser lined a double to left off Craig Kimbrel (6-2) that went off the glove of diving left fielder Schwarber.
“Felt really good,” Cowser said.
Bryan Baker (4-3) was on the mound for Castellanos’ hit and was credited with the victory.
Cionel Pérez pitched out of trouble in the ninth for his first save.
“They’re all frustrating,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “You want to win every game.”
ROYALS 5, GUARDIANS 3
CLEVELAND — Salvador Perez became the 10th player in major league history to hit 200 homers as a catcher and Ryan Yarbrough allowed one run in six innings, lifting the Kansas City Royals to a 5-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.
Perez hit a two-run shot in the sixth off Logan Allen (43) to put Kansas City ahead 4-0. He has 240 total home runs in 12 seasons, all with the Royals. Hall of Famer Mike Piazza holds the big league record for homers as a catcher with 396.
“Every time we win and I hit a homer, I feel better,” said Perez, who didn’t know about the milestone until afterward. “I like to compete every day and do my best.”
Yarbrough (3-5), who carried a shutout into the sixth, won at Cleveland for the second time in 15 days. The left-hander struck out one and didn’t issue a walk in his third start since being struck on the face by a liner from Oakland’s Ryan Noda on May 7.
“The Guardians are an aggressive team, but don’t strike out much, so I tried to put them in positions where they had to swing the bat,” Yarbrough said. “I wanted to control what I could control.”
Edward Olivares had a two-run double and Maikel Garcia hit a solo homer for Kansas City, which ended a five-game skid and has the second-worst record in baseball (29-73). Scott Barlow gave up two hits in the ninth before retiring Myles Straw and Steven Kwan to pick up his 12th save.
TWINS 4, MARINERS 3,
10 INNINGS
MINNEAPOLIS — Carlos Correa’s flare to right field evaded a sliding Teoscar Hernández and scored automatic runner Donovan Solano in the 10th as Minnesota won its second straight game in extra innings.
Solano moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Christian Vázquez against Paul Sewald (3-1), and Ryan Jeffers reached when no Seattle player covered first base on another bunt. Correa then sent a soft liner to right that Hernández couldn’t catch.
Jorge Lopez (4-2) retired all three batters he faced in the top of the 10th for Minnesota, which is 9-2 since the All-star break.
Max Kepler had an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game for the Twins. Kolten Wong hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer with two outs in the top of the inning for the Mariners.
ROCKIES 10, NATIONALS 6
WASHINGTON — Nolan Jones hit a two-run homer, Alan Trejo had a double and three singles, and Colorado beat Washington.
Karl Kauffman (1-3) pitched four-plus innings of one-run relief for his first major league win as last-place Colorado (40-60) improved to 6-3 since the Allstar break.
Jeimer Candelario had a three-run homer and a double for the Nationals, who were looking for their first four-game winning streak of the season.
Patrick Corbin (6-11) gave up six runs — five earned — and 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings.
TIGERS 5, GIANTS 1
DETROIT — Tarik Skubal struck out nine while recording his first victory in over a year and Detroit handed San Francisco its season-worst sixth straight loss.
Skubal (1-1) held the Giants scoreless on two hits in five innings in a game that was a makeup of an April 16 postponement. His previous victory came against Oakland on July 21 last season. He had flexor tendon surgery in August.
Zack Short hit a two-run homer and Kerry Carpenter also drove in two runs for Detroit.