Rockies end 8-game losing streak, beat Sale and Braves

Hamilton Spectator

01-05-2025

The Colorado Rockies ended an eight-game losing streak as Brenton Doyle hit a tiebreaking home run off reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale in the third inning of a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday.
Colorado had lost 16 of its previous 17 games and had been outscored by 78 runs. At 5-25, the Rockies avoided joining the 1988 Baltimore Orioles as the only teams since 1901 to lose at least 26 of their first 30 games.
Doyle homered on an inside fastball, ending an 0-for-20 skid with a 421-foot drive to left-center. He later doubled.
Rookie Chase Dollander (2-3), the Rockies' No. 9 overall pick in the 2023 amateur draft, allowed one run, two hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts. Making his fifth big league start, he got his second win. Dollander came out after trying to pitch with a cracked fingernail.
Jake Bird, Seth Halvorsen and Zach Agnos finished a three-hitter, with Agnos getting three outs for his first major league save. Bird struck out two in 1 1/3 innings and has 24 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings.
CARDINALS 6, REDS 0, 1ST GAME
CARDINALS 9, REDS 1, 2ND GAME
CINCINNATI (AP) — Willson Contreras hit a three-run homer in the first inning of the second game, Pedro Pagés added a solo shot and St. Louis swept a day-night doubleheader from Cincinnati.
Contreras and Pagés homered off 22-year-old left-hander Chase Petty, 22, who allowed nine runs, seven hits and two walks over 2 1/3 innings in his major league debut. Pagés homered on the 11th pitch of his at-bat and Jordan Walker added a two-run double in the third.
St. Louis entered 2-12 on the road and matched its season wins total away from home.
Petty was selected 26th overall by Minnesota in the 2021 amateur draft and was acquired in the March 2022 trade that sent pitcher Sonny Gray to the Twins.
Cardinals starter Steven Matz allowed five hits with no walks and six strikeouts in four scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 1.50.
Gordon Graceffo (1-0) got his first major league win, giving up one run and two hits in five innings with five strikeouts and no walks. He averaged 96.4 mph with his fastball.
St. Louis
hit three consecutive homers in the ninth inning
and beat the Reds 6-0 in the first game, a makeup of Tuesday's rainout. Cincinnati was 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position on the day.
TIGERS 7, ASTROS 4
HOUSTON (AP) — Javy Báez capped a five-run third inning with his ninth career grand slam and Detroit avoided a series sweep by beating Houston.
Baez's two-out homer off AJ Blubaugh (0-1), a 24-year-old right-hander making his major league debut, put the Tigers ahead 7-1. All five runs were unearned due to shortstop Jeremy Peña throwing error on Kerry Carpenter's grounder.
Riley Greene tied his career high with four hits.
Brenan Hanifee (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Jackson Jobe, who allowed three runs, four hits and four walks in three innings. Detroit has won five of seven and nine of 13.
Blubaugh (0-1) struck out two in a 1-2-3 first and gave up seven runs — two earned — and five hits in four innings with six strikeouts and a walk.
Peña hit the first career leadoff home run, the first of his three hits, but Colt Keith hit a two-run homer in the second to put Detroit ahead for good.
Jose Altuve hit a two-run double in the fifth and Victor Caratini homered in the seventh against Tyler Holton.
Holton struck out Yainer Diaz to strand two runners in the seventh and Tommy Kahnle struck out Christian Walker to leave two runners on in the eighth.
Houston went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners.
DODGERS 12, MARLINS 7
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tony Gonsolin threw six strong innings in his return from Tommy John surgery, Mookie Betts drove in four runs and Los Angeles extended their win streak to five with a victory over Miami.
Gonsolin, making his first start since Aug. 18, 2023, gave up three runs and six hits, struck out nine and walked none in a 77-pitch effort.
The Dodgers, who banged out 17 hits, pushed a 4-3 lead to 8-3 in a span of four pitches in the sixth. Betts drove a two-run triple off the center-field wall and Freddie Freeman followed with a two-run homer. Betts also keyed a three-run third with a two-run single.
Cal Quantrill (2-3) gave up four runs and six hits in 3 2/3 innings to fall to 1-7 with an 8.22 ERA in nine appearances against Los Angeles. Kyle Stowers homered twice for Miami.
MARINERS 9, ANGELS 3
SEATTLE (AP) — J.P. Crawford hit a tie-breaking two-run single in a six-run seventh inning and Seattle won their seventh straight series with a victory over Los Angeles and
Mike Trout,
who left the game with a sore left knee.
The outfielder was lifted for Jo Adell in the fourth after running out a groundout in his previous at-bat. Trout has started all 29 games this season and is batting .179 with nine home runs. In four of the previous five seasons he has played fewer than 100 games, including just 29 last year.
Trout, who was 1 for 2 on Wednesday, said he hoped to play Thursday.
While the Angels have lost five straight, the Mariners have won four in a row and are 15-3 in their last 18 games.
Emerson Hancock pitched six innings, giving up nine hits and three runs. Casey Legumina (2-0) got the win with a scoreless seventh.
Leo Rivas had three hits and three RBIs and Randy Arozarena hit his fifth homer for Seattle.
PADRES 5, GIANTS 3
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Elias Díaz homered and scored twice, and Fernando Tatis Jr. had three hits for San Diego, who beat San Francisco for a two-game sweep.
The Padres leapfrogged the Giants into second place behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ultra-competitive NL West.
Díaz homered on a line shot to left off Landen Roupp (2-2) leading off the third for a 2-0 lead. A fan in the front row wearing a Giants T-shirt reached his glove over the fence but the ball caromed off his wrist. After a lengthy crew chief review, it was determined it wasn't fan interference. It was the catcher's second homer.
Tatis had three singles and scored on Manny Machado's single to right in the two-run fifth. Jose Iglesias beat out a dribbler for a two-out infield hit that scored Luis Arraez. Arraez, a three-time batting champion who returned from the seven-day concussion injured list
on Tuesday night,
had his first triple of the season to bring in Díaz with two outs in the sixth.
Michael King (4-1) held the Giants to one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Robert Suarez pitched the ninth for his major league-leading 12th save.
GUARDIANS 4, TWINS 2
CLEVELAND (AP) — Bo Naylor hit a three-run homer and Luis Ortiz kept Minnesota's hitters off balance and off the scoreboard for 6 1/3 innings, leading Cleveland to a win over Minnesota.
Naylor connected in the seventh inning off reliever Brock Stewart after the Guardians finally scratched out a run against Minnesota starter Pablo López (2-2), who held Cleveland scoreless over the first 6 1/3 innings.
Cade Smith (1-0) struck out the only two batters he faced. Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth — he gave up one run and two hits with a wild pitch — for his fifth save. It was the struggling All-Star closer's first save since April 19.
Brooks Lee homered for the Twins.
PIRATES 4, CUBS 3
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen hit a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh inning just seconds before a
fan fell
off the 21-foot Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh's win over Chicago.
With the Pirates trailing 3-2 in the seventh, Isiah Kiner-Falefa reached on a fielding error by third baseman Jon Berti and took second on Bryan Reynolds' single.
McCutchen then hit a grounder up the middle that deflected off the leg of sliding shortstop Dansby Swanson and into right-center field.
Then the fan flipped over the railing from the first row of seats. Players frantically waved for medical attention and the fan was removed from the field on a cart.
The Cubs scored three runs in the fifth inning to pull ahead 3-2. Ian Happ hit an RBI single, Kyle Tucker drove in a run with a groundout and the third scored on Ryan Borucki's wild pitch.
Oneil Cruz doubled and scored on Ke'Bryan Hayes' single in the first inning and Joey Bart doubled and scored on Jared Triolo's sacrifice fly in the fourth as the Pirates, who snapped a three-game losing streak, built a 2-0 lead.
Swanson had three hits for the NL Central-leading Cubs, who lost for the third time in four games.
ORIOLES 5, YANKEES 4
BALTIMORE (AP) — Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías homered during Baltimore's four-run second inning, and the Orioles held on for a victory over New York despite three more hits by Aaron Judge.
Judge hit a two-run homer in the first, then added two singles to finish April with a .427 batting average, but the last-place Orioles managed to take two of three in this series with the AL East leaders. Baltimore won the opener and finale by a run each while losing the middle game 15-3.
Bryan Baker (2-0) won in relief, one of six bullen arms the Orioles used. Félix Bautista pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save, striking out Trent Grisham on a 99.2 mph pitch to leave Judge in the on-deck circle when the game ended.
Carlos Carrasco (2-2) allowed four runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.