Rays defeat Braves to snap 7-game skid
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Isaac Paredes and Yandy Díaz homered as the Tampa Bay Rays snapped a season-high, seven-game skid with a 10-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday in a matchup of teams with the best records in baseball.
Zach Eflin (10-4) gave up two runs and four hits over five innings in a 77-pitch outing as Tampa Bay avoided the three-game series sweep.
Travis d’Arnaud homered for the MLB-best Braves, who are 20-3 since June 14 and head into the All-Star break at 60-29. Atlanta has homered in 26 consecutive games, the longest streak in modern-era franchise history.
Atlanta All-Star Bryce Elder (7-2) allowed seven runs, six hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings, his shortest outing this season.
Cubs 7, Yankees 4: Yan Gomes hit a tying pinch-hit two-run single in the seventh inning following a fielding error by second baseman Gleyber Torres, and Seiya Suzuki homered and hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth in Chicago’s win over New York.
The Cubs (42-47) won for the fifth time in 14 games since getting to within a game of .500 following a 9-1 win over St. Louis June 24 in London.
Padres 6, Mets 2: Manny Machado homered twice off Max Scherzer and drove in five runs for San Diego, which got six strong innings from Joe Musgrove to beat New York and take two of three in a series between high-priced, yet underwhelming, teams.
The Padres got to Scherzer (8-3) right away and handed him his first loss since May 3 at Detroit. Kim Ha-Seong hit a leadoff single to left, Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled off the center field wall with one out and then Machado drove a 2-2 pitch into the middle balcony of the four-story brick warehouse in the left field corner. Machado homered into the home run porch in right, his 15th, in the fifth for his third multi-homer game this season.
Royals 4, Guardians 1: Ryan Yarbrough won his first game back after being hit in the face by a line drive two months ago and Kansas City snapped a six-game losing streak.
Yarbrough (2-4) suffered several facial fractures when he was hit on May 7 against Oakland by a line drive clocked at 106.2 mph. The left-hander limited the Guardians to one run and six hits over six innings. Scott Barlow earned his 11th save.
Bieber (5-6) came in 6-0 in 14 career starts against the Royals. The right-hander allowed four runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Isbel homered for Kansas City, which staggered into the All-Star break at 26-65 – the second-most losses before the break in franchise history.
Marlins 7, Phillies 3: Bryan De La Cruz had a solo homer among his four hits as Miami took the three-game series from Philadelphia.
Jesús Sánchez and rookie Dane Myers also went deep for the Marlins, who reached the All-Star break with their best record in franchise history at 53-39.
Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo (8-5) struck out nine and allowed four hits over 6 1/3 innings.
Miami’s Luis Arraez went 0 for 4 and his major league-leading batting average dropped to .383.
Nationals 7, Rangers 2: Joey Meneses homered for the third consecutive day, Patrick Corbin earned his first home victory since May 20, and Washington sent AL West-leading Texas to its eighth loss in 11 games.
Stone Garrett and Dominic Smith also homered for last-place Washington, which won the final two games of the series after dropping 15 of its previous 16 at Nationals Park.
Corbin (6-10) matched his victory total from all of last year, when he led the majors with 19 losses. He retired the first 10 men he faced and allowed one run and five hits while striking out six over seven innings.
Blue Jays 4, Tigers 3: Nathan Lukes’ RBI double in the 10th inning gave Toronto a comeback win over Detroit.
The Blue Jays trailed 3-1 with two outs in the ninth before Matt Chapman walked and Danny Jansen hit a homer over the Toronto bullpen in left-centerfield.
Daulton Varsho started the top of the 10th with a grounder to second and Zack Short threw out automatic Alejandro Kirk at third. Lukes followed with an RBI double off José Cisnero (2-2).
Red Sox 4, Athletics 3: Masataka Yoshida scored the tying run with good baserunning and hit a go-ahead homer two innings later as Boston rallied and extended its winning streak to five games.
J.P. Sears took a no-hitter into the fifth for Oakland despite allowing an unearned run in the first thanks to one of three A’s errors.
Boston trailed 3-1 in the middle of the sixth before Adam Duvall hit a solo homer to lead off the bottom half, then Yoshida singled, stole second, took third on a bad throw from catcher Manny Piña and scored on Christian Arroyo’s double to tie it. Yoshida bounced one off the top of the Green Monster to make it 4-3 in the eighth.
Brewers 1, Reds 0: Wade Miley pitched six strong innings and Milwaukee made a first-inning run stand up in a win over Cincinnati.
The victory pulled the Brewers to within a game of the NL Central-leading Reds heading into the All-Star break. Milwaukee took two of three in the series.
A trio of Brewers relievers – Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps and Devin Williams – combined to complete the shutout. Williams retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his 20th save in 22 tries.
Christian Yelich led off the Brewers half of the first with a ground-rule double off Ben Lively (4-5) and scored on Jess Winker’s two-out single.
Orioles 15, Twins 2: Anthony Santander hit two of Baltimore’s six homers and the Orioles completed a series sweep of Minnesota.
Aaron Hicks added a three-run homer against his former team in the Orioles’ seven-run fifth. Austin Hays, Ramón Urías and Adley Rutschman also went deep for Baltimore.
It’s the second time in four games Baltimore scored at least 14 runs. They scored 14 against the Yankees in the series finale Thursday.
Former Twin Kyle Gibson (9-6) was sharp, striking out 11 and allowing just three hits in seven innings, two to Edouard Julien.
Cardinals 4, White Sox 3: Paul DeJong had an RBI double in the 10th inning to give St. Louis a win over Chicago.
DeJong lined a pitch from Keynon Middleton (2-1) down the left field line, scoring automatic runner Nolan Gorman.
St. Louis catcher Willson Contreras hit a two-run homer and reached base four times with two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch.
JoJo Romero (1-0), the fourth Cardinals reliever, pitched two innings for his first career win.
Mariners 3, Astros 1: Jarred Kelenic hit a two-run double to back up a strong start by Logan Gilbert, lifting Seattle past Houston.
Gilbert (7-5) allowed just three hits in seven innings, with his only mistake coming when Martín Maldonado connected on a solo homer in the sixth. Matt Brash threw a scoreless eighth and Paul Seawald struck out two in the ninth for his 17th save.
The Mariners won three of four games in this series to head into the All-Star break having won seven of their past nine games.
Giants 1, Rockies 0: Logan Webb overcame a shaky start for a 10-strikeout, complete-game victory and San Francisco made J.D. Davis’ solo homer in the fourth inning stand up in a win over Colorado as Rockies starter Kyle Freeland left the game with an apparent right shoulder injury.
Webb (8-7) labored through a 19-pitch first inning against the Rockies before settling in. The 26-year-old right-hander, who was winless in his previous two starts after allowing seven runs over 11 2/3 innings, allowed seven hits in his first career shutout and reached double-figure Ks for the fourth time this season.
Freeland (4-10) left the game in the seventh inning with an apparent injury to non-throwing shoulder. The 30-year-old left-hander was trying to field a bunt by Brett Wisely and dove to get the ball. He then rolled over and screamed in pain as teammates rushed to him. Colorado manager Bud Black and a team trainer also came out to examine the pitcher, who slowly walked off the field cradling his right arm.
Davis’s 11th homer of the season sent the Giants into the All-Star break with a record of 49-41, good enough for third place in the NL West behind Arizona and the Los Angeles Dodgers.