Pirates go 14 for 9th straight win
PITTSBURGH — Pinch-hitter Russell Martin singled home the winning run in the 14th inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates earned their ninth straight victory, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 on Sunday.
Gaby Sanchez led off the 14th with a single. With one out, he stole second. After a walk, Martin hit a soft liner to center off Francisco Rodriguez (1-1). Sanchez chugged around third and slid home ahead of a throw by Carlos Gomez.
Pittsburgh reached the midpoint of its season with the best record in the majors at 51-30.
Reliever Vin Mazzaro pitched five perfect innings for the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen hit a tying single in the Pittsburgh eighth.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Giants 5, Rockies 2 at Denver: Colorado thought Drew Pomeranz had solved his inconsistency during a stay in the minor leagues that lasted nearly three months.
The 24-year- old lefthander out of Collierville High and Ole Miss was 8-1 with a 4.20 ERA in 15 starts at Triple-A Colorado Springs.
His minor league numbers didn’t translate in his Rockies season debut.
Pomeranz (0-1) allowed four runs, seven hits and four walks in 4¥ innings. He is 1-7 with a 6.17 ERA in his last 16 big league starts.
“I’m really disappointed I didn’t pitch the way I’ve been,” Pomeranz said Sunday. “I made some good pitches, but I made some mistakes.”
Hunter Pence hit a tworun homer as San Francisco ended its longest losing streak in three years at six games.
Braves 6, Diamondbacks 2 at Atlanta: Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla and Brian McCann homered, powering the Braves past Arizona for a three-game sweep in the matchup of division leaders. Former Germantown standout Paul Maholm (9-6) gave up two runs and eight hits in 6 innings for the Braves, who improved to a big league-best 28-11 at home.
“You can’t ever pick and choose when you’re going to score runs,” said Uggla, a former U of M standout. “You’ve got to grind out atbats. You’ve got to battle and have some timely hitting, so you’ve got to ride the wave when it comes.”
Nationals 13, Mets 2 at New York: Ian Desmond homered and Washington roughed up rookie Zack Wheeler and the Mets with a four-run second.
Dodgers 6, Phillies 1 at Los Angeles: Yasiel Puig ended his sensational first month in the major leagues with his first four-hit game as the Dodgers beat Philadelphia. The Cuban-born right fielder got his first major league triple in the fifth and scored on Adrian Gonzalez’s double for a 4-0 lead. Puig singled his first two times up and stole second base both times.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Angels 3, Astros 1 at Houston: Josh Hamilton doubled home the goahead run in the eighth and scored on shortstop Jake Elmore’s overthrow, helping Los Angeles to its sixth straight win.
Indians 4, White Sox 0 at Chicago: Justin Masterson pitched his major leagueleading third shutout of the season and Cleveland completed its first fourgame sweep in Chicago since 1948.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4 at Boston: Shane Victorino’s hard grounder eluded Toronto f irst baseman Josh Thole for an error as Jonathan Diaz raced home with the winning run in the ninth for the Red Sox.
Orioles 4, Yankees 2 at Baltimore: Chris Davis set a franchise record by hitting his 31st home run before the All-Star break, and the Orioles capped a threegame sweep of New York.
Rays 3, Tigers 1 at St. Petersburg, Fla.: Jeremy Hellickson earned his fifth June win as Tampa Bay beat the Tigers.
Royals 9, Twins 8 at Minneapolis: David Lough hit three doubles, then launched a tiebreaking home run in the eighth that led Kansas City past Minnesota.
INTERLEAGUE
Rangers 3, Reds 2 at Arlington, Texas: Yu Darvish struck out eight in 6 scoreless innings and the Rangers scored twice on a squeeze bunt in defeating Cincinnati.
Cubs 7, Mariners 6 at Seattle: Alfonso Soriano and Darwin Barney each doubled twice and Chicago built a six-run lead before holding off the Mariners.