Aug 21, 2019 4 min read

The Baltimore Orioles tied a major league record by allowing their 258th home run this season but hit four of their own in an 8-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

Anthony Santander and Renato Núñez hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning for Baltimore, which won its first series since July 25-27 at the Los Angeles Angels.

Jonathan Villar opened the scoring with a two-run shot, while Hanser Alberto put the game away with a three-run blast in the sixth.

Whit Merrifield homered leading off the third for Kansas City. The 2016 Cincinnati Reds owned the previous record for home runs allowed in a season, but the Orioles have 35 games to surpass them.

Chicago White Sox 4, Minnesota 0: Lucas Giolito pitched a three-hit shutout of the second-highest scoring team in the major leagues, racking up 12 strikeouts for the Chicago White Sox in a 4-0 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday to take the series from the first-place Twins.

Giolito (14-6) allowed only runner past first base, a double by Jonathan Schoop in the eighth. The 25-year-old fanned Jake Cave to finish that inning and reach double-digit strikeouts for the third straight time, the first White Sox starter to do so since Chris Sale did so in eight consecutive turns in 2015. The last right-hander with a streak that long for the team was Edwin Jackson, with three in a row in 2010.

Jose Abreu went 3 for 5 with two RBIs for the White Sox from his usual third spot in the lineup, with Leury Garcia and Tim Anderson each producing two hits from their places in front of him. The first three batters scored all four runs against Twins starter Jake Odorizzi (13-6), who was outdone by his fellow American League All-Star.

Tampa Bay 7, Seattle 6: Kevin Kiermaier drove in four runs, including a solo homer during a two-run ninth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Seattle Mariners 7-6.

Kiermaier tied it at 6-6 on a leadoff homer against Matt Magill (3-1). The Rays then loaded the bases on Willy Adames’ single, a double by Mike Brosseau and an intentional walk to pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi with no outs before Magill’s wild pitch with Tommy Pham batting allowed Adames to score the winning run.

Daniel Vogelbach had a solo homer and Mallex Smith added a two-run triple off Emilio Pagan (3-2) as the Mariners went up 6-5 in the top of the ninth.

National League

Colorado 7, Arizona 2: Tim Melville pitched seven innings of two-hit ball in his first major league appearance in almost two years, and the Colorado Rockies cruised to a 7-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Melville, a 29-year-old right-hander with just six previous big-league appearances who started this season in independent ball, limited Arizona to a first-inning double and a sixth-inning home run to go with four strikeouts and two walks. He also picked up his first major-league hit – a two-out, fourth-inning single – and his first two career RBIs.

Atlanta 5, Miami 0: Adeiny Hechavarría and Ronald Acuña Jr. each hit a two-run homer, Julio Teheran struck out a season-high nine and the Atlanta Braves beat Miami 5-0 to continue their mastery of the Marlins.

The Braves are 14-4 against Miami this year after winning the 2018 season series between the NL East rivals 14-5.

Teheran (8-8) combined with Sean Newcomb and Josh Tomlin for a seven-hit shutout. The right-hander allowed five hits in seven innings.