Ceddanne Rafaela’s walk-off, two-run homer inside Pesky’s Pole with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning propelled the Boston Red Sox to an 11-9 win over the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.
Rafaela’s third home run in as many games landed just 308 feet from home plate but allowed Boston to salvage a win in the three-game series. The game featured five lead changes and three ties. The previous batter, Abraham Toro, dunked a single into shallow center, also off Brock Burke (4-1).
Wilyer Abreu, Toro and David Hamilton all had two hits and two RBIs for the Red Sox. Cooper Criswell (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief to post the victory.
Taylor Ward hit a three-run homer and Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel both had two extra-base hits and scored two runs apiece for the Angels.
Rockies 3, Marlins 2
Hunter Goodman had two hits, Kyle Freeland pitched into the seventh inning and visiting Colorado beat Miami to sweep the three-game series.
It was the first time Colorado has swept a series since May 13-15, 2024, at San Diego. Freeland (1-8) allowed two unearned runs in 6 1/3 innings. Tyler Kinley pitched the ninth to earn his second save as Colorado notched its first three-game winning streak of the season.
Miami’s Heriberto Hernandez had two singles — the first two hits of his major league career — and Cal Quantrill (3-6) took the loss against his former team, allowing two runs over five innings.
Nationals 2, Cubs 0
MacKenzie Gore pitched seven shutout innings, Ahmed Rosario homered and Washington beat visiting Chicago.
Gore outdueled Chicago’s Matthew Boyd, who took a perfect game into the sixth. Gore (3-5) allowed hits to the first three batters he faced and none after that. The majors’ strikeout leader issued one walk while striking out seven. Nasim Nunez doubled, walked and knocked in a run for Washington.
Kyle Finnegan allowed a pair of singles in the ninth but retired Kyle Tucker to finish up his 17th save. Boyd (5-3) went 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits.
Guardians 4, Yankees 0
Angel Martinez hit a two-run homer in the first inning to back 5 2/3 stellar innings from Luis L. Ortiz as visiting Cleveland earned a victory over New York.
Martinez entered in a 6-for-40 skid but gave Cleveland a 2-0 lead. Jose Ramirez doubled after Martinez went deep to extend his on-base streak to 30 games, and he scored on a two-out double by Daniel Schneemann. Ortiz (3-6) allowed three hits, struck out seven and walked three.
Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt (2-3) settled down after the rocky start and allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander struck out eight and walked one.
Brewers 9, Reds 1
Jackson Chourio and Daz Cameron belted two-run homers to lead visiting Milwaukee to a blowout win over Cincinnati. Chourio finished 3-for-5 while Isaac Collins added a three-run homer for the Brewers, who clinched their 12th consecutive series win against the Reds.
Brewers opener DL Hall threw three scoreless innings. Quinn Priester (3-2) came on in relief and held the Reds to one run and two hits over five innings.
Reds starter Andrew Abbott (5-1) endured through his roughest outing of the season, yielding five runs on seven hits in six innings.
Pirates 3, Astros 0
Rookie Mike Burrows threw a career-high 5 1/3 innings as host Pittsburgh blanked Houston.
The Pirates snapped a two-game skid as Burrows (1-1), Chase Shugart, Braxton Ashcraft and David Bednar combined on the shutout. Burrows allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six. Bednar tossed a one-hit ninth inning for his seventh save.
Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz each had two hits for the Pirates, who got their runs on a fielder’s-choice grounder, a sacrifice fly and a ground-ball double play.
Blue Jays 2, Phillies 1
Alejandro Kirk’s tiebreaking RBI single off the right field wall in the ninth inning lifted Toronto over visiting Philadelphia.
Kirk’s game-winning hit came against former Blue Jays reliever Jordan Romano (0-2). After Bo Bichette fouled out, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled to extend his on-base streak to 34 games. Guerrero stole second and scored the winning run on Kirk’s two-out hit.
Former Phillies reliever Jeff Hoffman (5-2) retired one batter in the ninth to pick up the win. Jose Berrios pitched six strong innings for Toronto, allowing one run on four hits.
Rays 5, Rangers 4
Brandon Lowe went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two RBIs and Tampa Bay used a four-run third inning to top visiting Texas.
Rays starter Shane Baz (5-3) surrendered three runs on five hits in five innings. Pete Fairbanks allowed an unearned run in the ninth but earned his 11th save.
Jonah Heim hit a two-run homer and Wyatt Langford finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs for the Rangers, who have lost the first two games of the three-game series. Kumar Rocker (1-4) returned from the injured list and surrendered five runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Diamondbacks 2, Braves 1
Merrill Kelly allowed only one hit over seven scoreless innings and visiting Arizona held on to defeat Atlanta for its third straight win.
Kelly (6-2) allowed one walk and struck out eight. He did not allow a base runner until Marcell Ozuna walked to lead off the fifth inning. Atlanta’s first hit came with two out in the sixth on a line-drive single by Ronald Acuna Jr. Arizona has won the first two games of the three-game set and takes a 3-2 edge in the season series. The Braves have lost three in a row.
Atlanta starter Chris Sale (3-4) worked six innings and allowed one run on three hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts — giving him 2,510 for his career and passing Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson for 39th on the all-time strikeout list. It was Sale’s first career loss to the Diamondbacks.
Mets 6, Dodgers 1
Pete Alonso hit two homers and collected five RBIs for visiting New York, which continued its surge with a win over Los Angeles.
Griffin Canning (6-2) tossed six scoreless innings for the Mets, who have won two of the first three games in the four-game set to clinch the season series between the teams who opposed one another in last year’s National League Championship Series. New York leads the series four games to two entering the Thursday finale.
Juan Soto opened the scoring on Wednesday with a run-scoring groundout for the Mets, who have won nine of 11 overall. Andy Pages had three hits, including a ninth-inning homer, but the Dodgers lost for the third time in four games.
Twins 6, Athletics 1
Harrison Bader slammed a two-run homer and Ryan Jeffers also went deep to help Minnesota notch a victory over the Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif.
Jeffers had two RBIs and Willi Castro added a run-scoring single for Minnesota, which has outscored the Athletics 26-8 while winning the first three contests of the four-game series. Minnesota’s Zebby Matthews (1-1) allowed one run and four hits over five innings for his second career victory in his 13th start.
Jacob Wilson had two hits for the Athletics, who have lost nine straight games and 20 of their past 21. Wilson was back in the lineup after missing Tuesday’s game due to a neck injury.
Giants 6, Padres 5
Heliot Ramos tied the game with a two-RBI double in the seventh inning, Jung Hoo Lee followed with a go-ahead sacrifice fly and San Francisco rallied from a five-run deficit to overtake visiting San Diego.
Patrick Bailey began the comeback with an RBI double in the fifth and Matt Chapman closed the gap to 5-3 with a two-run homer, his 11th, in the sixth, greasing the path for the Giants to put up more runs than they’d scored in a game since May 16.
The Padres took their 5-0 lead by scoring twice in the first on a two-RBI triple by Gavin Sheets and three times in the fifth. Jackson Merrill had a run-scoring double and Sheets made it a four-RBI night with a two-run single to create the five-run cushion.
Tigers 5, White Sox 4
Colt Keith delivered a go-ahead double in the eighth inning and Riley Greene had three hits and two RBIs to lift visiting Detroit to a victory against Chicago.
Will Vest (5-0) struck out three over two innings of scoreless relief, and Tommy Kahnle pitched a perfect ninth to earn his eighth save.
Chase Meidroth collected three hits and an RBI for the White Sox. Reliever Brandon Eisert (2-1) gave up one run and one hit in one inning.
Orioles 3, Mariners 2
Heston Kjerstad’s two-run triple in the seventh inning proved decisive as Baltimore rallied to defeat host Seattle.
Adley Rutschman homered for the Orioles, who won their season-high fifth straight game and improved to 8-2 over their past 10. Reliever Yennier Cano (1-4) got the victory and Felix Bautista worked the ninth for his 11th save.
Cal Raleigh went 2-for-4 with a double with an RBI and a run scored and Randy Arozarena hit a sacrifice fly for the Mariners, who dropped to 3-5 on their nine-game homestand that concludes Thursday.
–Field Level Media
