Pirates complete series shutout sweep of Cardinals, win behind Keller for 6-0 homestand
Pittsburgh pitchers extended their scoreless streak to 31 innings as the Pirates finished a 6-0 homestand that started against the New York Mets in which they outscored opponents 43-4.
Keller (3-10) won his second straight start following a 15-start winless streak. He allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked one. Dennis Santana and Isaac Mattson completed the six-hitter with one inning each.
Pittsburgh, last in the NL Central, hadn't had three straight shutouts since 2015. The Cardinals were blanked in three consecutive games for the first time since 2022.
RAYS 6, ATHLETICS 5
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Josh Lowe, Yandy Díaz and rookie Jake Mangum homered, Ryan Pepiot posted a quality start and Tampa Bay avoided a three-game sweep with a win over the Athletics.
Trailing 2-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Rays batted around and scored five runs. Lowe's leadoff shot tied the contest, Brandon Lowe followed with a double to extend his major-league leading hitting streak to 18 games and Díaz put Tampa Bay ahead with a two-run homer.
Pepiot (6-6) pitched six innings, allowing four hits and two runs — on Brent Rooker and Max Schuemann solo homers — walking three with nine strikeouts. He fanned five of his last six batters.
TWINS 2, MARLINS 1
MIAMI (AP) — Brooks Lee and Carlos Correa drove in runs to back a strong start by Simeon Woods Richardson, and Minnesota beat Miami to end the Marlins' eight-game winning streak.
Byron Buxton singled off Janson Junk to begin the game. He advanced on a wild pitch and Willi Castro's single before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Lee that ended the Twins' 18-inning scoreless streak.
Kyle Stowers homered for the second straight game, a solo shot off Woods Richardson to tie it in the second. It was his fifth homer in nine games and 15th overall.
Castro, who went 3 for 4, doubled leading off the fourth, Lee and Correa followed with two straight singles for a 2-1 lead.
BLUE JAYS 11, YANKEES 9
TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Blue Jays wasted an eight-run lead, that outlasted the Yankees as George Springer scored the go-ahead run on Devin Williams' eighth-inning wild pitch to tie New York for the AL East lead.
Toronto scored seven runs in the first inning off Will Warren and led 8-0 in the third, but the Yankees rallied with six runs in a sixth that included Giancarlo Stanton's first home run of the season, a three-run drive. New York tied the score 9-9 in the eighth when Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off Yimi García (1-2), Judge's 31st home run this season.
Springer walked with one out in the bottom half off Williams (2-3) and stole second. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was intentionally walked, both runners advanced on Alejandro Kirk's flyout and Williams bounced a changeup as Springer came home. Addison Barger followed with an RBI single.
Toronto won its third straight in the series and matched the Yankees at 48-38. New York had held sole possession of the division lead since April 14, opening a seven-game advantage by late May. The Yankees are 13-18 since May 28, losing six of the past 10 series. Toronto has gone 21-10 in that span.
BREWERS 7, METS 2, 1ST GAME
METS 7, BREWERS 3, 2ND GAME
NEW YORK (AP) — New leadoff batter Brandon Nimmo launched a grand slam off rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski, and New York beat Milwaukee to split their day-night doubleheader.
Dropped from the top spot, slumping All-Star Francisco Lindor followed Nimmo's second-inning slam with a home run and finished with three RBIs as the Mets snapped a four-game slide by winning for only the fourth time in 18 games.
Joey Ortiz hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the sixth inning of the opener that sent Milwaukee to a 7-2 victory behind Freddy Peralta in the makeup of Tuesday night's rainout.
Misiorowski (3-1) came out firing 100 mph fastballs, touching 102 mph against Lindor in the first, but the 23-year-old right-hander was finally tagged in his fourth major league start. He was charged with five runs, five hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings.
PADRES 6, PHILLIES 4, 1ST GAME
PHILLIES 5, PADRES 1, 2ND GAME
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh each homered and Philadelphia beat San Diego Padres to earn a doubleheader split.
Kepler hit his 10th homer of the season — a two-run shot off San Diego starter Dylan Cease (3-8) in the fourth inning — to put the Phillies ahead 2-1.
Marsh hit a solo home run of Cease an inning later, his third this season, to make it 3-1.
Alec Bohm had an RBI triple and Nick Castellanos had an RBI single for the Phillies, who have won four of their last six games.
Cristopher Sánchez (7-2) allowed one run and five hits across seven innings while striking out five. It was his sixth consecutive start allowing two runs or fewer, and 10th time this season where he pitched at least six innings and allowed two or fewer earned runs.
The Padres won the opener 6-4, but by winning the nightcap, the Phillies won the series. The two NL playoff hopefuls will meet again in San Diego in the final series before the All-Star break next weekend.
RED SOX 5, REDS 3, 1ST GAME
REDS 8, RED SOX 4, 2ND GAME
BOSTON (AP) — Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit his first career grand slam during a five-run seventh inning and the Cincinnati Reds rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox 8-4 on Wednesday night.
Elly De La Cruz, TJ Friedl and Santiago Espinal added RBIs for the Reds.
Nick Martinez (6-8) pitched 6 2/3 innings, yielding four runs off nine hits to help Cincinnati avoid being swept in the three-game interleague series.
Wilyer Abreu hit a two-run home run for the Red Sox. Romy Gonzalez drove in two runs, including an RBI double in the seventh to pull Boston within 5-4.
Earlier Wednesday, Abreu hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth to help Boston earn a 5-3 win in the completion of a game suspended by rain on Tuesday.
TIGERS 11, NATIONALS 2, 1ST GAME
NATIONALS 9, TIGERS 4, 2ND GAME
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nathaniel Lowe hit a go-ahead triple with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and finished with four RBIs as Washington rallied to beat Detroit for a doubleheader split.
Josh Bell had three RBIs for Washington, which won at home for only the second time in 11 games since June 7.
Jahmai Jones drove in two for AL-leading Detroit. The Tigers had won three in a row, including an 11-2 victory in the first game as Riley Greene hit two homers and tied a career high with six RBIs.
Detroit had retired 13 consecutive Nationals when Tommy Kahnle (0-1) entered in the eighth. With the Tigers leading 4-3, he gave up two singles and a walk before Lowe pulled one down the right-field line to clear the bases. Lowe scored on Bell's double to left-center, which ended Kahnle's outing.
The Nationals scored twice more when Paul DeJong greeted reliever Brenan Hanifee with an RBI single and came around on Jacob Young's one-out grounder.
Cole Henry (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for his first major league victory.
RANGERS 6, ORIOLES 0
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Marcus Semien and Corey Seager homered, Nathan Eovaldi pitched five strong innings in his second start since missing a month with an elbow issue and Texas beat Baltimore.
Ezequiel Duran had a two-run single in the fourth, Josh Smith had three singles and Alejandro Osuna singled twice and walked a night after the rookie hit his first big league home run.
The Rangers planned to limit Eovaldi (5-3) to five innings after his bout with elbow inflammation. The right-hander allowed two hits and struck out five while throwing 72 pitches.
Dane Dunning pitched three innings for his second career save, both this season.
BRAVES 8, ANGELS 3
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ATLANTA (AP) — Matt Olson had a grand slam among his three hits, and Atlanta used a seven-run sixth inning to beat Los Angeles.
Sean Murphy hit a three-run homer, and Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies each had two hits for the Braves, who received more bad injury news before the game when it was announced right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach was headed to the IL with a broken elbow.
Braves left fielder Jurickson Profar returned from an 80-game PED suspension and went 2 for 4 with a home run and two runs scored.
Aaron Bummer (1-1) earned the win, pitching 2 2/3 perfect innings in relief of 20-year-old rookie Didier Fuentes.
_____
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