Liriano, Pirates hold off Brewers

PITTSBURGH — Pedro Alvarez and Garrett Jones each homered and Francisco Liriano pitched six strong innings as the surging Pittsburgh Pirates won their eighth straight game, 2-1 over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.

Alvarez hit his 20th home run with one out in the second inning. Pittsburgh, which has had 20 consecutive losing seasons, has the best record in the major leagues at 50-30.

Jones hit a drive to the shrubbery in straightaway center field, his seventh homer, to lead off the fourth.

That was enough for Liriano (7-3), who is 4-1 in five home starts this season and was pitching in front of the Pirates’ fifth straight sellout crowd at home.

“The energy of the crowds has been unbelievable and we’ve been soaking it all up,” said Pirates closer Jason Grilli, who earned a save. “People are dusting off their Pirates shirts and coming out in droves, and we’re trying to give them what they want to see.”

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Braves 11, Diamondbacks 5 at Atlanta: Jason Heyward hit a tying RBI double and Andrelton Simmons scored the go-ahead run on the same play in a seven-run eighth that gave the Braves a win over Arizona.

Rockies 2, Giants 1 at Denver: Nolan Arenado hit a game-ending single with two outs in the ninth to lift Colorado and send San Francisco to its sixth straight loss.

Mets 5, Nationals 1 at New York: Dillon Gee (67) beat Washington for the third time this season and the Mets scored the go-ahead run when third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and shortstop Ian Desmond made errors on the same play.

Marlins 7, Padres 1 at Miami: Jacob Turner pitched a seven-hitter for his first complete game in 19 career starts, helping the Marlins beat San Diego.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Rays 4, Tigers 3 (10 innings) at St. Petersburg, Fla.: Yunel Escobar had an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th to cap Tampa Bay’s comeback over Detroit.

Luke Scott had tied it at 3 on a solo homer with one out in the eighth off Tigers starter Justin Verlander, who allowed three runs, nine hits and four walks over a season-high eight innings.

Twins 6, Royals 2 at Minneapolis: Kyle Gibson allowed two runs and eight hits in six innings in his major league debut, and Trevor Plouffe homered to help Minnesota beat Kansas City.

Angels 7, Astros 2 at Houston: Howie Kendrick and Chris Iannetta homered to help Los Angeles to a win over the Astros.

Indians 4, White Sox 3 at Chicago: Nick Swisher singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth as Cleveland beat the White Sox for the third time in less than 24 hours. Swisher’s homer in the ninth Friday night helped Cleveland to a 9-8 win and a sweep of a doubleheader. This time, Cabrera, Jason Kipnis and Swisher hit three consecutive one-out singles off Jesse Crain (2-3) in the eighth.

Orioles 11, Yankees 3 at Baltimore: Chris Davis homered twice to raise his major league-leading total to 30, and the Orioles extended New York’s losing streak to four games.

Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 2 at Boston: Jose Bautista hit a pair of long homers over the Green Monster, starting with the 200th of his career and following with a tiebreaking, two-run drive off Junichi Tazawa in the eighth to lead Toronto past the Red Sox.

INTERLEAGUE

Reds 6, Rangers 4 (11 innings) at Arlington, Texas: Devin Mesoraco hit a two-run homer in the 11th as Cincinnati snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Rangers.

Cubs 5, Mariners 3 (11 innings) at Seattle: Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer in the 11th to lift Chicago past the Mariners.