Wilyer Abreu clubbed his first big-league home run and was one of eight Red Sox batters to record multiple hits as visiting Boston cruised to a 17-1 drubbing of the Houston Astros on Thursday afternoon.
Abreu went 4-for-5 with four RBIs, two runs and a walk. Connor Wong and Alex Verdugo also had four hits and five other players had two apiece for the Red Sox, who earned a split of the four-game series.
All nine batters in Boston’s starting lineup recorded at least one RBI and at least one of the club’s season-high 24 hits. The offensive showcase provided more than enough run support for Red Sox starter Brayan Bello (10-7), who gave up one run on nine hits in seven innings.
Alex Bregman drove in Houston’s lone run with a single. Mauricio Dubon doubled twice for the Astros, who went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. The 16-run deficit is tied for the largest in Astros history.
Dodgers 6, Guardians 1 (completed game from Wednesday)
Mookie Betts delivered his second career five-hit game and drove in two runs as Los Angeles beat host Cleveland in the resumption of a contest that was suspended in the third inning Wednesday because of rain.
The Dodgers mounted all the offense they needed on Wednesday before weather arrived, then added more offense before a one-hour, 13-minute rain delay paused the game further in the ninth inning.
Los Angeles had a 14-4 advantage in hits, including three from Freddie Freeman.
Dodgers 9, Guardians 3 (Game 2)
Los Angeles scored a road doubleheader sweep, riding a four-run fifth inning to top Cleveland.
The Dodgers had earlier in the day beaten the Guardians 6-1 in the resumption of Wednesday’s contest, suspended due to weather.
Mookie Betts, who went 5-for-5 in the day’s first game, finished 2-of-3 in the second. He scored one run and drove in another. Enrique Hernandez went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs with an RBI-double and solo homer. Michael Busch also homered.
Diamondbacks 3, Reds 2
Corbin Carroll hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning and Arizona opened a four-game series against Cincinnati with a victory in Phoenix.
Gabriel Moreno had three hits for the D-backs, who have won five straight and 10 of their past 12. Over seven shutout innings, Merrill Kelly allowed one hit with no walks while matching a career high with 12 strikeouts. Miguel Castro (6-6) earned the win in relief.
Cincinnati was held to three hits and fell a half-game behind Arizona in the chase for the final National League wild-card spot. Cincinnati scored two runs in the top of the eighth before Arizona answered in the bottom half against Alex Young (4-2). Brandon Williamson gave up six hits and one walk while striking out six over six shutout innings.
Rays 5, Rockies 3
Josh Lowe hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning, helping host Tampa Bay complete a series sweep of Colorado.
Randy Arozarena singled on a soft roller to third base off reliever Matt Koch (2-2) in the eighth inning.
Lowe followed by stroking a 111.2 mph rocket 452 feet to center field to stake Tampa Bay to a 5-3 lead. The homer was his 17th of the season.
Nationals 6, Yankees 5
Alex Call hit a go-ahead two-run homer off Tommy Kahnle as visiting Washington used a four-run seventh inning to rally past skidding New York.
Jake Alu had an RBI single before Call and CJ Abrams hit back-to-back home runs off Kahnle (1-3). Joey Meneses added an RBI infield single in the inning as the Nationals won their fourth straight series and earned their ninth win in 12 games.
Yankees star Aaron Judge followed his first career three-homer game Wednesday by hitting one out on the first pitch he saw from Patrick Corbin (9-11) in the first inning. Gleyber Torres hit a two-run homer in the third inning, but the Yankees lost for the 10th time in 11 games after ending a nine-game losing streak one day earlier.
Twins 7, Rangers 5
Ryan Jeffers hit a pinch-hit, two-run go-ahead homer to highlight a three-run eighth inning as host Minnesota rallied to defeat Texas in the opening game of a four-game series in Minneapolis.
Jeffers hit reliever Will Smith’s first pitch 427 feet into the second deck in left-center for his 10th home run of the season, driving in Carlos Correa, who had tied the contest earlier in the inning with an RBI double off the bottom of the center-field fence off losing pitcher Josh Sborz (5-6).
Michael A. Taylor hit two home runs, Royce Lewis went 3-for-3 with a home run and Kyle Farmer also homered for Minnesota, which snapped a two-game losing streak and extended its American League Central lead to six games.
Cubs 5, Pirates 4 (10 innings)
Ian Happ’s RBI single plus an error for a second run in the top of the 10th gave visiting Chicago a win over Pittsburgh.
Cody Bellinger and Nico Hoerner each added an RBI single and Jeimer Candelario had an RBI sacrifice fly for the Cubs, who have won five of six. Chicago starter Justin Steele pitched six innings, giving up three runs (two earned) and six hits, with six strikeouts and two walks.
The Pirates got one back in the bottom of the 10th on Connor Joe’s sacrifice fly before Adbert Alzolay got Joshua Palacios to fly out to end the game. Palacios hit a two-run home run and Ji Hwan Bae added an RBI single for the Pirates, who have lost two straight.
Athletics 8, White Sox 5
Zack Gelof hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning and Shea Langeliers homered twice to lift visiting Oakland to a win against Chicago.
Brent Rooker and Tony Kemp also went deep for the A’s, who won for the third time in four games. Langeliers paced the attack, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Kemp also had two hits.
Chicago connected for three round-trippers, but it wasn’t enough. The White Sox have lost six of eight and nine of their last 12. Thursday marked the 13th time this season the pitching staff has allowed at least four home runs. Luis Robert Jr. belted a two-run shot for Chicago to punctuate a four-run fifth inning that started with Elvis Andrus’ solo homer.
Orioles 5, Blue Jays 3
Kyle Gibson became the first Baltimore starter to last eight innings this season, Anthony Santander hit his third home run in two games and the host Orioles defeated Toronto to take the three-game series.
Cedric Mullins also homered and Adley Rutschman had three hits for the Orioles, who have won five of six and are a season-best 31 games over .500 (79-48).
Gibson (13-7) allowed three runs on six hits in eight innings. He struck out eight and walked one. Felix Bautista pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 33rd save.
–Field Level Media
