The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Diamondbacks' Rojas leads home run parade at Wrigley
On a perfect day to play home run derby at Wrigley Field, the big winner was Josh Rojas.
Rojas launched his first three longballs of the season and the Arizona Diamondbacks powered past the Chicago Cubs 10-6 Friday.
With a strong wind blowing out on a warm afternoon, the teams combined to clear the brick walls 11 times — the Diamondbacks connected for seven homers.
“I’ve had multi-homer games in the minor leagues and multi-hit games in the the minor leagues, but I’ve never done anything like this,” Rojas said. “This is a pretty good feeling, especially coming into the game with zero and leaving with three.”
David Peralta went deep twice and Alek Thomas and Christian Walker added solo shots as the Diamondbacks won their second straight after a six-game slide.
After a flyout in the first inning, Rojas hit a solo homer in the third, a tworun drive in the fifth and another solo home run in the seventh.
Rojas led off the ninth with a chance to tie the big league record of four home runs in a game, but struck out looking. There have been 18 four-homer games performances in the majors, the last by J.D. Martinez for the Diamondbacks in 2017.
“I was definitely trying to hit a fourth homer in the fifth at-bat, especially with a four-run lead,” Rojas admitted.
The versatile Rojas, who started at third base, entered batting .250 with three RBIS in 13 games after being reinstated from the injured list on May 6.
Jonathan Villar, Patrick Wisdom, Christopher Morel and Ildemaro Vargas all homered for the Cubs.
Humberto Castellanos (3-1) allowed three runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings for the win.
Rojas and Peralta tagged Kyle Hendricks (2-4) with Arizona’s first four homers as the Cubs ace righty yielded a season-high seven runs and eight hits in five innings.
Hendricks entered having allowed just one run in his previous 14 1/3 innings.
RED SOX 7, MARINERS 3 >> Trevor Story hit a grand slam over the Green Monster — and into the hands of a former Red Sox player — a night after hitting three over Fenway Park’s fabled left field wall, leading Boston past Seattle.
Story connected on a thigh-high 1-2 slider off Robbie Ray (4-4), driving it into the first row of seats to give Boston a 4-0 lead in the third inning. Former Red Sox outfielder Jonny Gomes, a member of Boston’s 2013 World Series champion, was seated atop the Monster. He moved a few steps to his right and caught Story’s slam against his body, high-fiving the person next to him with a big smile.
“I’m going to make Trevor sign it and take it home,” the 41-year-old Gomes said with the ball sitting on a tabletop in front of him.
Along with going deep three times in Boston’s victory in the series opener Thursday, Story had four hits and drove in seven runs.
Jackie Bradley Jr. added a three-run shot in the eighth for the Red Sox.
RANGERS 3, ASTROS 0 >> Martín Pérez pitched his first shutout since 2014, scattering seven singles as Texas ended Houston’s nine-game home winning streak.
It was the first completegame shutout for Texas since Kyle Gibson beat the Astros 1-0 on Sept. 16, 2020.
Pérez (3-2) struck out five, walked one and threw 108 pitches. The 31-year-old lefty won his third straight start and has a 1.64 ERA in eight outings this season. Pérez last threw a shutout on April 23, 2014, against Oakland.
Kole Calhoun homered for the Rangers, who snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Astros in Houston. They won for the first time at Minute Maid Park since Sept. 16, 2020.
CARDINALS 5, PIRATES 3 >>
Adam Wainwright pitched seven innings of one-run ball and batterymate Yadier Molina keyed a four-run sixth inning with a two-run single as St. Louis won at Pittsburgh.
Wainwright has won 10 straight decisions against the Pirates and gone 19 starts since last losing to Pittsburgh in 2016, on opening day. He scattered four hits, walked three and struck out three while improving his lifetime record to 23-7 versus Pittsburgh.
BREWERS 7, NATIONALS 0 >>
Eric Lauer pitched seven sharp innings and Rowdy Tellez and Tyrone Taylor homered as Milwaukee defeated visiting Washington.
Lauer (4-1) and Nationals starter Erick Fedde (23) each had a shutout going when Luis Urías drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth. After Christian Yelich hit into a fielder’s choice, Tellez hit Fedde’s next pitch into the second deck beyond the right-field wall.
Lauer struck out five and allowed five hits and no walks.
BLUE JAYS 2, REDS 1 >> Hyun Jin Ryu pitched six shutout innings to earn his first win of the season as Toronto edged visiting Cincinnati.
Making his fourth start of the season, Ryu (1-0) allowed six hits, including five doubles, walked none and struck out three.
Luis Castillo (0-2) made his third start of the season and allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings. The right-hander walked none and struck out five.
The Blue Jays broke a scoreless tie in the fifth when George Springer hit an RBI single and scored on Bo Bichette’s double. ORIOLES 8, RAYS 6, 13 INNINGS >> Rougned Odor hit a two-run homer in the 13th and host Baltimore snapped a 15-game losing streak to Tampa Bay.
The Orioles’ last win over Tampa Bay was on July 19, 2021 at Tropicana Field, and Baltimore hadn’t beaten the Rays at home since Sept. 20, 2020. The 15-game run had been the longest active winning streak over a single opponent in the majors.