The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Alfaro delivers in a pinch for Padres with walkoff homer
Jorge Alfaro hit a pinchhit three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the San Diego Padres a 3-2 win Sunday against his former team, the Miami Marlins.
Alfaro went deep to center field on the first pitch he saw from Cole Sulser (01), sending Petco Park into a frenzy and earning him a curtain call. He was purchased from the Marlins for cash in December.
Until the ninth, it appeared that the Padres were headed for a second straight shutout. But Trent Grisham and CJ Abrams got on base ahead of Alfaro.
Jazz Chisholm homered for the Marlins, who have lost seven of eight games.
Miami’s Trevor Rogers held San Diego to five hits in five innings.
San Diego’s Joe Musgrove pitched seven strong innings, allowing two runs and five hits while striking out eight and walking one. METS 2-6, PHILLIES 3-1 » Pete Alonso homered twice, had three hits and drove in five runs to lead New York over host Philadelphia for a doubleheader split.
In the opener, Bryce Harper homered again off Max Scherzer and the Phillies became the first team to beat the new Mets ace, snapping a four-game skid.
Harper took Scherzer (4-1) over the wall in right for a solo homer with two outs in the first. He added an RBI single in the third. The reigning NL MVP also homered off Scherzer, his former Washington teammate, on May 1.
Scherzer suffered his first loss since last May 30, ending a string of 24 straight starts without a defeat. The streak spanned his starts with the Nationals, Dodgers and Mets.
The Phillies recorded 10 hits against the righthander, marking just the 14th time in 413 career games Scherzer has allowed double-digit hits. Nine of the hits were singles.
He gave up three runs in six innings, striking out seven and walking none.
ASTROS 5, TIGERS 0 » Aledmys Díaz hit a grand slam, Jake Odorizzi threw five innings of one-hit ball and host Houston beat Detroit Tigers for a four-game sweep and its seventh straight victory.
Díaz’s second home run of the season came in the third inning on a 92 mph fastball from Tigers reliever Drew Hutchison (0-3).
RANGERS 1-4, YANKEES 2-2 » Brad Miller hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer off Michael King in the seventh inning that lifted visiting Texas over New York to salvage a doubleheader split.
The Yankees took the opener on Gleyber Torres’ game-ending homer leading off the ninth.
WHITE SOX 3, RED SOX 2 » Dallas Keuchel halted his three-start losing streak with six solid innings, José Abreu hit a two-run double and Chicago beat Boston for its season-high sixth straight victory.
Leury García added an RBI single for the White Sox (14-13), who moved over .500 for the first time since April 20 and completed a 5-0 road trip, including three wins at Fenway Park.
Christian Vázquez had an RBI single for Boston (10-19), which has lost a season-most five straight and 14 of 18.
Keuchel (2-3) allowed two runs on eight hits, fanning five and walking one after posting a 9.90 ERA in his previous three starts.
REDS 7, PIRATES 3 » Colin Moran hit a grand slam and a two-run homer against his former team, powering host Cincinnati over Pittsburgh.
Cincinnati took two of three in the weekend series, improving the majors’ worst record to 5-23.
Moran spent the past four seasons with Pittsburgh after arriving from Houston in a trade for Gerrit Cole. He signed with the Reds in March and has started the last six games at first base with Joey Votto on the COVID-19 injured list.
BRAVES 9, BREWERS 2 » Adam Duvall and William Contreras homered to help Charlie Morton win for the first time in five starts as Atlanta cranked up its bats in a win over visiting Milwaukee.
Matt Olson hit a two-run double during a four-run second inning. Duvall homered in the third off starter Aaron Ashby and Contreras added a three-run drive in the fifth off Jandel Gustave.
The Braves were winless over Morton’s last four starts, a stretch that included a 7.85 ERA. But the 38-year-old right-hander (2-3) pitched around three walks to allow two hits with five strikeouts in five scoreless innings.
The defending World Series champions won just their second series of the season in nine tries to improve to 14-16. DIAMONDBACKS 4, ROCKIES 0 » Zac Gallen struck out seven in seven crisp innings, Jose Herrera hit a two-run double for his first big-league RBIS and host Arizona blanked Colorado.
Ketel Marte had three hits to boost his average to .206 and the Diamondbacks took advantage of a few mistakes by Colorado’s Germán Márquez (0-3) to win for the ninth time in 12 games.
Gallen (2-0) allowed just five hits.
Arizona jumped on Márquez early, scoring three runs in the second on Herrera’s double and Nick Ahmed’s RBI single.
Márquez gave up another run in the fifth inning on a wild pickoff throw. He allowed four runs and six hits and struck out seven with four walks in six innings.