Braves top Reds on Freeman blitz
ATLANTA — Freddie Freeman celebrated his newly won All-Star berth by driving in four runs with three hits and the Atlanta Braves beat Mat Latos and the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 on Thursday night.
Freeman held off Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig to win the fan voting for the final spot on the National League All-Star roster. The first baseman drove in two runs with a firstinning double and added run-scoring singles in the second and fourth innings.
Justin Upton also had three hits to help Tim Hudson (6-7) earn his second straight win. Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 25th save.
Latos (8-3) lasted four innings in his shortest start of the season.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Phillies 3, Nationals 1 at Philadelphia: Kyle Kendrick outpitched All-Star Jordan Zimmermann, pinch-hitter Kevin Frandsen hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh and Philadelphia beat Washington.
The Phillies are 7-3 since July 2, including series wins over first-place Pittsburgh and Atlanta, to pull within a game of the second-place Nationals and one game of .500.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Yankees 8, Royals 4 at New York: Derek Jeter was back, and New York felt a whole lot better.
The Yankees captain singled on his first pitch of the season, scored a run and went 1 for 4 with an RBI groundout in his return from a nine-month layoff to help New York beat Kansas City for a four-game series split.
Red Sox 8, Mariners 7 (10 innings) at Seattle: Daniel Nava hit a two-out single in the top of the 10th inning to score pinch-runner Jackie Bradley Jr., and Boston rallied from a 5-1 deficit for the second time in four games to beat Seattle .
White Sox 6, Tigers 3 at Detroit: Joshua Phegley’s sixth-inning grand slam gave Chris Sale some longawaited run support, and Chicago went on to beat Detroit in a game that included a bench-clearing altercation shortly after the White Sox took the lead.
Rays 4, Twins 3 at St. Petersburg, Fla.: Matt Moore won his 13th game this season, Luke Scott and Evan Longoria hit back-toback homers, and surging Tampa Bay completed a four-game sweep by beating Minnesota.
Moore (13-3), left off the AL All-Star team announced last weekend, won his fifth straight start and set a team record for victories before the AllStar break.
Indians 4, Blue Jays 2 at Cleveland: Rookie Danny Salazar pitched six superb innings to win his major league debut, leading Cleveland over Toronto.
Salazar, who began the year in Double-A, allowed one run and two hits.
Orioles 3, Rangers 1 at Baltimore: Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 34th homer to back a dominating pitching performance by Miguel Gonzalez, and Baltimore beat Texas to earn a split of the four-game series.