Jeremy Pena clubbed a walk-off home run with two outs in the ninth inning, his second homer of the game, as the Houston Astros completed a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels with a 4-2 victory on Sunday.
Pena drilled a first-pitch slider from Angels reliever Ryan Tepera (1-2) to straightaway center field, scoring Jose Altuve, who singled after Tepera retired the first two batters of the ninth. Pena smacked his 11th home run and recorded his first career multi-homer game.
Astros closer Ryan Pressly (2-2) struck out the side in the top of the ninth to help set a franchise record for Houston. Four Astros pitchers combined for 20 strikeouts, the most in club history for a nine-inning game. Astros starter Framber Valdez struck out a career-high 13 in six innings.
The Angels tied the major league record for most strikeouts, becoming the eighth team to strike out 20 times in a nine-inning game.
Phillies 4, Cardinals 0
Zack Wheeler and two relievers combined on a four-hitter as Philadelphia shut out visiting St. Louis.
Wheeler (7-4) held the Cardinals to those four hits and a walk while striking out five batters over seven innings. Nick Nelson set the down the Cardinals in the eighth inning and Corey Knebel closed out the ninth. JT Realmuto hit a two-run homer and Rhys Hoskins added a solo homer, a double and two runs for the Phillies.
Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (6-6) allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out five batters and walked one.
Mariners 2, Athletics 1
Robbie Ray notched a season-high 12 strikeouts over 6 2/3 strong innings and rookie Julio Rodriguez homered as Seattle defeated visiting Oakland.
The anticipated pitching duel between Ray (7-6) and Oakland’s Frankie Montas (3-9) fizzled after Montas was pulled following the first. Montas departed with shoulder inflammation. Ray, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner in Toronto before signing as a free agent with the Mariners in the offseason, allowed one run on four hits with two walks.
Ray was unscathed until the seventh, when Elvis Andrus hit a two-out, solo homer to left-center field.
Royals 7, Tigers 4
Emmanuel Rivera and Edward Olivares homered and drove in two runs apiece as visiting Kansas City defeated Detroit.
Nicky Lopez collected four hits and drove in a run, while Whit Merrifield reached base four times and scored twice. Brady Singer struck out nine in 4 2/3 innings before Jose Cuas (2-0) got one out and was awarded the win. Scott Barlow got the last three outs and recorded his 12th save.
Tarik Skubal (5-7) gave up five runs on as many hits in 4 2/3 innings and has now taken losses in each of his last five starts.
Brewers 2, Pirates 0
Omar Narvaez hit a two-run home run as visiting Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh to earn a split of the four-game series.
In the fifth, Pirates starter Zach Thompson (3-6) issued a leadoff walk to Kolten Wong on four pitches. After Luis Urias flied out to left, Narvaez hit his third homer, an estimated 427-footer that cleared the stands in right for a 2-0 Milwaukee lead.
It was Brandon Woodruff’s (7-3) second outing after a long IL stint due to a high ankle sprain and finger numbness. He pitched six strong innings, allowing no runs and six hits, with eight strikeouts and no walks. Josh Hader picked up his 25th save in his first appearance in the series.
Marlins 7, Nationals 4 (10 innings)
Miami produced four of its eight hits in the game in the 10th inning to defeat host Washington amid a topsy-turvy late-inning stretch.
Brian Anderson, Jon Berti and Joey Wendle had run-scoring singles in the 10th. Jesus Sanchez belted a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to propel the Marlins to a 4-3 lead. Avisail Garcia had reached on a two-out walk to extend the game before Sanchez’s 11th homer of the season.
The late innings overshadowed a splendid outing for Marlins starter Pablo Lopez, who threw six no-hit innings before he was tagged for two runs. Josh Bell’s double in the bottom of the seventh was the Nationals’ first hit. Bell also homered the following inning.
Rays 7, Blue Jays 3
Shane Baz struck out seven in six innings, Harold Ramirez and Randy Arozarena hit two-run home runs and visiting Tampa Bay defeated Toronto to extend its win streak to three games.
The Rays did most of their damage by scoring six runs in the fifth. Taylor Walls led off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Yandy Diaz, who was thrown out trying to go to second. Wander Franco singled with two away and Ramirez lined his fourth homer of the season to left. Trent Thornton replaced Stripling and allowed Ji-Man Choi’s seventh homer of the season. Isaac Paredes then singled and Arozarena hit his eighth homer of the year.
Shawn Armstrong entered the game in the ninth and allowed singles to Cavan Biggio and Bo Bichette, followed by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s one-out RBI double. Teoscar Hernandez walked to load the bases. Jason Adam took over to earn his third save with two strikeouts.
White Sox 13, Giants 4
Right-hander Lucas Giolito struck out seven in six strong innings, Gavin Sheets capped a big weekend with a three-run double and Chicago thumped host San Francisco to completed a three-game sweep.
Seby Zavala collected two doubles, a single and three RBIs, while Leury Garcia and Josh Harrison scored three times apiece for the White Sox, who wrapped up a 4-2 California swing by equaling their season high for runs. Chicago also put up 13 in a shutout win at Detroit last month.
Austin Wynns, who had caught the first eight innings, pitched the ninth for the Giants and allowed the final two runs and two of Chicago’s 17 hits.
Padres 4, Dodgers 2
Luke Voit, Eric Hosmer and Ha-Seong Kim all drove in ninth-inning runs as visiting San Diego rallied past Los Angeles to avoid a four-game series sweep.
The Padres were two outs away from leaving Los Angeles empty handed when they came back to earn just their second victory in the last eight games. San Diego rookie left-hander MacKenzie Gore settled down from a shaky start to give up one run on five hits over 5 2/3 innings with four walks and three strikeouts. Nick Martinez (3-3) added 2 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win.
Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings for the Dodgers to rebound from a start at Colorado in which he gave up a season-high six runs. The left-hander gave up just four hits and one walk while striking out eight.
Orioles 3, Twins 1
Ryan Mountcastle homered and doubled and Tyler Wells won his fifth consecutive start as Baltimore snapped a four-game losing streak with a victory over Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Trey Mancini and Rougned Odor also homered for the Orioles, who also ended a 12-game losing streak at Target Field dating back to July 9, 2017. Wells (7-4) carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning for the second straight game and allowed three runs or less in his 15th consecutive start.
The Twins scored their only run in the bottom of the sixth. Gilberto Celestino led off with a walk, advanced to second on a single by Luis Arraez and took third when Carlos Correa grounded into a double play. Jorge Polanco then drove in Celestino with a single to right.
Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 5
C.J. Cron’s second three-run home run of the game vaulted Colorado to a win over Arizona to claim the rubber match of the three-game series in Denver.
The Rockies trailed right-hander Zac Gallen and the Diamondbacks 5-0 going to the sixth inning, mostly on the strength of a grand slam by David Peralta in the fifth. Gallen worked six innings, giving up three runs on the first of Cron’s homers along with four hits, two walks and four strikeouts.
In five innings, Colorado starter Chad Kuhl gave up five runs on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts. The right-hander entered with a streak of 12 consecutive scoreless innings in Coors Field, but that streak was snapped in the second inning.
Reds 4, Braves 3
Albert Almora Jr. delivered a walk-off, bases-loaded single as Cincinnati rallied to avert a three-game sweep to visiting Atlanta.
Almora’s single against A.J. Minter (4-2) gave the Reds their first walk-off victory of the season. It came after the Braves tied the game in the top of the ninth on solo homers by Marcell Ozuna and Michael Harris II against Hunter Strickland (1-2). Cincinnati, which scored three runs in the eighth to take a 3-1 lead, snapped a four-game losing streak overall and a 10-game home winless skid.
Ozuna had two solo homers on the afternoon for the 14th multi-homer game of his career. Charlie Morton allowed one hit through seven shutout innings, walking one and striking out 10.
Guardians 2, Yankees 0
Triston McKenzie allowed just one hit in seven innings and Franmil Reyes drove in both runs as Cleveland blanked visiting New York to salvage the final contest of a three-game series.
McKenzie (5-6) walked one and struck out seven, allowing just three Yankees baserunners. Reyes blasted his sixth home run to lead off the fourth and added a two-out RBI single in the eighth for the Guardians.
Left-hander Jordan Montgomery (3-2) pitched five strong innings for the Yankees. He allowed just three hits and one run — Reyes’ homer — and walked three. Montgomery fanned eight batters.
Mets 4, Rangers 1
Eduardo Escobar hit a two-run homer, Carlos Carrasco pitched effectively into the sixth inning and host New York beat Texas.
Starling Marte homered, and Jeff McNeil hit an RBI double for the Mets, who gave manager Buck Showalter his 1,600th career win. Showalter became the 22nd manager to reach 1,600 wins and is two behind Fred Clarke for 21st on the all-time list.
Jonah Heim homered for the Rangers, who were unable to win consecutive series for the second time this season.
Red Sox 4, Cubs 2 (11 innings)
After losing the first two games of the weekend set against Chicago, Boston avoided a sweep by taking down the Cubs.
In the top of the 11th, Rowan Wick (1-3) picked up a short chopper to the mound and tossed the ball over the head of David Bote, allowing two runs to cross the plate for the Red Sox. MLB hits leader Rafael Devers picked up two base hits, as did Red Sox catcher Christian Vasquez, designated hitter Franchy Cordero and infielder Christian Arroyo.
Right-hander Keegan Thompson started for Chicago and wasn’t sharp. Thompson allowed seven hits and two runs in four innings pitched, while walking three and striking out three.
–Field Level Media
