PITTSBURGH (AP) — Nick Gonzales hit the winning RBI single in the ninth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied from a three-run deficit for an 8-7 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.
With the Pirates trailing 7-6, Connor Joe led off the ninth with a single before José Alvarado (1-4) walked Andrew McCutchen. Michael A. Taylor, running for Joe, and McCutchen executed a double steal. Oneil Cruz brought in the tying run on a one-out fielder’s choice.
Gonzales then sent a first-pitch cutter through the left side of the infield to win it.
Carmen Mlodzinski (2-3) allowed two singles in the ninth before retiring three in a row.
Weston Wilson, who had a career-best three hits, put the Phillies ahead 4-3 in the third inning with a home run to left, his first this season and second in the majors. He capped a three-run first inning with his first of two singles, grounding it off the chest of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to follow a two-run double from Nick Castellanos.
Cruz drove in the first of Pittsburgh’s three runs off Aaron Nola in the first, hitting a double with an exit velocity of 120.5 mph to center. He led off the third with another double before scoring on a sacrifice fly to tie it 4-all.
Nola was tagged for four runs and six hits with four strikeouts in five innings.
DIAMONDBACKS 5, CUBS 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Gabriel Moreno had three hits, scored twice and drove in a run and Ryne Nelson pitched five-plus solid innings, leading Arizona to a victory over Chicago.
Nelson (7-6) struck out nine batters and allowed just three hits as Arizona won for the seventh time in 10 games. Reliever Ryan Thompson escaped a bases-load, no-out jam in the eighth inning allowing one run and Paul Sewald pitched the ninth inning for his 14th save.
Christian Walker singled to drive in Moreno and Ketel Marte to cap a three-run third inning off Cubs starter Justin Steele (2-4). Moreno singled in the first run. Randal Grichuk and Corbin Carroll also drove in a run for Arizona.
The Diamondbacks’ streak may dictate whether the defending National League champions will be either buyers or sellers at the July 30 trade deadline.
Steele allowed five runs on nine hits before he was pulled after 4 2/3 innings. A strength of Chicago’s pitching staff, Steele hadn’t allowed more than three runs in a game over his previous nine starts, a stretch that dated to May 22.
NATIONALS 8, REDS 5
WASHINGTON(AP) — Patrick Corbin pitched six sharp innings on his 35th birthday, Juan Yepez hit a three-run homer and Washington began the second half of the season by beating Cincinnati.
Corbin (2-9) picked up a rare victory, retiring the first eight batters and completing six innings while giving up fewer than two runs for the first time this year. The left-hander allowed one run on three hits, walked none and struck out six to frustrate the Reds (47-51), who entered the All-Star break with a realistic shot at a wild-card playoff berth.
Cincinnati made it interesting in the ninth, scoring four times against Jose A. Ferrer and Derek Law and forcing Nationals manager Dave Martinez to summon All-Star closer Kyle Finnegan, who retired fellow All-Star Elly De La Cruz on a grounder for his 26th save in 30 opportunities.
Keibert Ruiz also homered for Washington (45-53), which hovered around .500 through mid-June but lost 14 of 20 going into the break. General manager Mike Rizzo said earlier Friday that he would listen to trade offers for Finnegan and outfielder Lane Thomas as he continues a rebuild that began at the trade deadline in 2021.
Rizzo would surely also be willing to deal Corbin, a pending free agent who is making $35 million this season and is 29-66 with a 5.58 ERA since 2020.
TIGERS 5, BLUE JAYS 4
TORONTO (AP) — Mark Canha and Wenceel Pérez hit two-run homers, Jack Flaherty struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings to win for the sixth time in seven starts and Detroit beat Toronto for their third straight victory.
All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and outfielder George Springer had two-run homers for Toronto. The Blue Jays lost for the third time in four games.
Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette left after six innings because of a strained right calf.
The two-time All-Star and two-time AL hit leader lined out to right field to end the sixth and was injured running to first base, hopping down the line in pain. Leo Jimenez replaced Bichette in the top of the seventh.
Flaherty retired the first 13 batters in order before Bichette singled in the fifth. Daulton Varsho followed with a bloop hit but Flaherty struck out Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement.
Flaherty (7-5) allowed two runs and three hits. He’s 6-1 since a May 23 home loss to Toronto.
YANKEES 6, RAYS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Gerrit Cole struck out eight in six strong innings, Juan Soto went 4 for 4 and New York beat Tampa Bay.
Cole (3-1), making his sixth start since returning from right elbow inflammation on June 20, allowed one run and six hits on a night fans received a promotional bobblehead of the 33-year-old right-hander holding his Cy Young Award. He walked one and threw 103 pitches — reaching the 100 mark for the second straight outing.
Soto reached base five times and continued his personal success against Tampa Bay starter Zach Eflin (5-7) with three hits, including a double in the fourth inning when he scored after two Rays errors. Soto is hitting .500 (17 for 34) off Eflin, whom he faced often when the right-hander was with the Phillies and he was with Washington.
Soto added his fourth hit of the game, leading off the sixth with a double off Shawn Armstrong. He scored on an RBI single by Aaron Judge.
Soto had his second four-hit game since joining the Yankees in a December trade from the Padres. It was the right fielder’s ninth career four-hit game and his average climbed from .295 to .303. In his first chance at getting a fifth hit, Soto drew a walk in the eighth.
GUARDIANS 7, PADRES 0
CLEVELAND (AP) — José Ramírez’s two-run single highlighted a six-run eighth inning, Tanner Bibee and three relievers combined on a four-hitter, and American League Central-leading Cleveland beat San Diego.
Cleveland had five hits and a bases-loaded walk by David Fry in the eighth, but the big hit was a single up the middle by Ramírez that gave him 79 RBIs — the second-most in the majors behind Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (86).
Brayan Rocchio added a two-run single and Tyler Freeman had a sacrifice fly in the inning for the Guardians, who have the best home record in the majors at 31-11. Their 59-37 overall mark trails only Philadelphia (62-35).
Bibee (8-4) worked 5 2/3 innings, limiting San Diego to two hits and not allowing a runner past second base. Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and Nick Sandlin wrapped up Cleveland’s ninth shutout of the season.
The Padres, who have played an MLB-high 100 games, slipped to .500. They are 1 1/2 games out of the final NL wild-card spot.
MARLINS 6, METS 4
MIAMI (AP) — Jake Burger homered and doubled to help Miami beat New York.
Nick Fortes had two hits and an RBI, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled twice and stole a base for Miami. The Marlins overcame Jeff McNeil’s two-homer game for New York.
Down 5-4, New York threatened with one out against Miami reliever Calvin Faucher in the eighth when José Iglesias walked and McNeil reached on an infield single. A wild pitch from Faucher advanced both runners before Iglesias was tagged out at home while attempting to score on Harrison Bader’s grounder to shortstop Xavier Edwards.
Tanner Scott relieved Faucher and ended New York’s threat by retiring Francisco Lindor on a pop-out to second. Scott, the Marlins’ NL All-Star representative, also worked a perfect ninth for his 15th save.
Fortes hit an RBI single off reliever Dedniel Nuñez in the eighth to pad the Marlins’ lead.
ORIOLES 9, RANGERS 1
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Anthony Santander homered twice and drove in five runs after Adley Rutschman and Colton Cowser had already hit two-run homers, and AL East-leading Baltimore beat Texas in the first game out of the break.
Rutschman and Cowser both went deep in the first inning, putting the Orioles up 4-0 before All-Star starting pitcher Corbin Burnes had even thrown his first pitch.
Burnes (10-4), back on the same mound where he started the All-Star Game three nights earlier, struck out six and allowed one run over six innings. The right-hander limited Texas to two hits, but walked four while throwing 60 of 101 pitches for strikes.
Nathan Eovaldi (6-4) gave up six runs on three homers in his five innings. The Texas right-hander was 5-0 with a 1.99 ERA in his first 10 starts at home this season.
Gunnar Henderson led off the game with the first of his four singles before catcher Rutschman’s 17th homer. They both also started for the American League in the All-Star Game.
ROYALS 7, WHTE SOX 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Michael Wacha pitched seven scoreless innings, Bobby Witt Jr. homered and drove in two runs and Kansas City beat Chicago.
Witt drove Chris Flexen’s inside fastball above the left field bullpen for his 17th homer in the first inning. Witt added an RBI in the third on the second of his three hits for a 2-0 lead.
Since June 24, Witt has hit safely in 17 of 19 games, batting .403 with 12 extra-base hits.
Wacha (7-6) allowed four hits and a walk, striking out seven. He is 6-2 in his last 10 starts, surrendering no more than three earned runs in each.
Michael Massey’s two-out, two-run single highlighted the Royals’ five-run fifth. Kansas City has won five of its last seven.
Flexen (2-9) threw 4 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs on four hits and five walks. In 13 starts since his last win on May 8, he is 0-6.
ROCKIES 7, GIANTS 3
DENVER (AP) — Jake Cave hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the eighth inning in Colorado's victory over San Francisco.
Cave also doubled as a pinch hitter in the seventh, and Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar added homers for the Rockies. Colorado has 15 home runs in its last four games.
Cave hit a 410-foot shot to right field off Ty Rogers (1-3), the 31-year-old outfielder’s third homer in 10 games after going without one in his first 66 games of the season.
Doyle hit a 434-foot homer in the sixth, his fifth in the past seven games and 10th since June 28.
Tovar’s solo shot in the eighth gave the Rockies their final run of the night. He has three homers in the past two games.
Jalen Beeks (6-4) threw a perfect 1 1/3 innings for the victory.
ATHLETICS 13, ANGELS 3
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Max Schuemann hit a three-run homer, JJ Bleday and Shea Langeliers both added two-run shots, and Oakland beat Los Angeles but lost top prospect Jacob Wilson to a left hamstring strain in his major league debut.
Schuemann, who went 3 for 4 and entered the game batting .351 in July, gave the A’s a 6-2 lead in the fourth with his homer. He added an RBI double in the sixth, moving from third to shortstop after Wilson’s injury. Oakland scored seven times in the sixth, with Bleday and Langeliers both hitting homers.
The A’s, who scored 18 runs the game before the All-Star break , have recorded double-digit runs in their last two games.
A’s starter JP Sears (7-7) pitched into the sixth and allowed two earned runs on solo homers by Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel.
Wilson, the A’s first-round pick in 2023 and top prospect according to MLB.com, left the game after straining his hamstring while scoring on Lawrence Butler’s two-run triple in the third. Wilson, who had just singled in his first career at-bat, was visibly frustrated in the dugout in between innings, stretching out his hamstring before leaving the game with a trainer.
Wilson, 22, also missed more than a month with a knee injury at Triple-A Las Vegas earlier this season. He was hitting over .400 in the minors.
ASTROS 3, MARINERS 0
SEATTLE (AP) — Hunter Brown worked around trouble while allowing four hits in six innings, Yainer Diaz delivered the big blow with a two-run single and Houston moved into a tie for first place in the AL West with a victory over Seattle.
The Astros (51-46) trailed Seattle by 10 games and were seven games under .500 on June 18, but have surged over the past 24 games. Houston improved to 18-6 over the last 31 days and used one big inning against Seattle starter Luis Castillo to complete the climb in pulling level.
Since holding that 10-game lead, the Mariners (52-47) have stumbled to an 8-16 mark, including a lifeless effort against their division rival coming out of the All-Star break that led to boos from the home fans after the final out.
Seattle’s offense again remained the problem. Brown (8-6) labored through the first two innings, but came up with key pitches when needed. He got Cal Raleigh to line out with the bases loaded and two outs in the third inning, and induced a double play from Josh Rojas to end the fifth after the first two batters reached.
Brown worked through the sixth, walking three and striking out five. Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly were perfect in the seventh and eighth, and Josh Hader pitched the ninth for his 19th save.
DODGERS 4, RED SOX 1
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Freddie Freeman hit a grand slam in the eighth inning and Los Angeles beat Boston.
Dodger Stadium was shaking to chants of “Freddie! Freddie!” after Freeman’s seventh career grand slam — second this season. Fans wanted a curtain call and Freeman waved from the top of the dugout steps.
The Dodgers, who lost six of seven before the All-Star break, had as many hits in the eighth inning — two — as they had combined in the previous seven innings.
Ryan Yarbrough (4-2) earned the win after allowing one hit in a scoreless eighth and Daniel Hudson earned his fifth save after giving up one hit in the ninth.
All-Star game MVP Jarren Duran hit a solo home run off Gavin Stone in the fifth inning to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. It was his 11th homer.
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