MLB Roundup
Josh Donaldson homered against Sean Doolittle in the top of the 10th, and the Atlanta Braves pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday to take two of three in the series and pad their NL East lead to 6 ½ games.
After the Nationals scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, Donaldson swatted a fastball from Doolittle over the center-field wall for his 25th homer of the season.
Adam Duvall homered for the fourth time in five games. Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies and Tyler Flowers also drove in runs for the Braves, who won consecutive series in Washington for the first time since 2013. They also won two of three in late June.
Atlanta got another quality road start from Mike Soroka (10-2), who pitched seven innings and allowed just three hits, including a leadoff homer to Juan Soto in the second.
That caused his road ERA to climb to 1.20 in 11 starts this season. That’s still the best by a Braves pitcher since Greg Maddux posted a 1.12 mark over 15 starts in 1995.
Washington starter Anibal Sanchez (6-6) could not keep pace, allowing four runs on 10 hits in five innings of work.
Sean Newcomb (5-1) earned the win after working out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth for the Braves. Josh Tomlin pitched a scoreless inning in the 10th for Atlanta.
LA Dodgers 5, Colorado 1: Will Smith hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning to break open a scoreless game and lead the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Colorado Rockies 5-1.
Kristopher Negron also went deep during the rally and Alex Verdugo had four hits. Joe Kelly (5-3) pitched the eighth inning to earn the win.
Rockies starter German Marquez was helped off the field at the start of the seventh inning with what the team said was full-body cramping. The right-hander fanned 10 through six innings, the ninth time in his career with double-digit strikeouts.
NY Yankees 7, Arizona 5: Austin Romine hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning and the New York Yankees beat Arizona 7-5.
Romine’s homer brought a spark to the Bronx on a gray, rainy day that started with the AL East leaders placing slugger Luke Voit on the injured list with a sports hernia that could require surgery. New York had lost four of five, and its only deadline move was to acquire Class A left-hander Alfredo Garcia from the Rockies for reliever Joseph Harvey. The rival Boston Red Sox come to town for a four-game series starting Friday.
Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka made his first start since allowing 12 runs in 3 1/3 innings against Boston last Thursday. He said he would tweak the grip on his splitfinger fastball, and that pitch was more effective against Arizona. The rest of his repertoire fell flat, though, and he was charged with three runs in four-plus innings. He allowed two singles to start the fifth before being relieved.
Adam Ottavino (4-3) got the win with a scoreless inning.
Toronto 4, Kansas City 1: Freddy Galvis and rookie Bo Bichette hit solo home runs to lead the Toronto Blue Jays over the Kansas City Royals 4-1 for a three-game sweep.
Bichette hit his first career homer to open the eighth inning against Royals starter Jakob Junis, a drive to left field. Galvis cleared the center field wall with his 16th to open the seventh.
Rookie Jacob Waguespack (2-1) went six innings for his second win in his fourth big-league start. He held the Royals to three hits and one run. Cam Gallagher barely cleared the left-field bullpen fence for his second homer, drilling a 2-2 pitch from Waguespack to open the third inning.
Rookie right-hander Justin Shafer worked a perfect ninth for his first career save.
Detroit 9, LA Angels 1: Jake Rogers, Brandon Dixon and Gordon Beckham went deep, Daniel Norris picked up his first win since May 12 and the Detroit Tigers defeated the Los Angeles Angels 9-1 to take the three-game series.
Rogers opened the scoring in the third with his first homer in the majors. The rookie catcher, who was called up on Tuesday, deposited a Jose Suarez fastball over the wall in left for a solo shot.
Dixon and Beckham homered during a five-run eighth inning off Luis Garcia. Dixon – who ended up with four RBI – had a two-run blast to left-center and Beckham’s was a three-run shot to right center.
Norris (3-8), who had gone 14 starts without a win, allowed only three hits over five innings with five strikeouts.
Cleveland 10, Houston 4: Roberto Pérez homered twice, Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis each hit a three-run shot and the Cleveland Indians capped a power-packed day with a 10-4 win Wednesday night over the Houston Astros, who added another ace before the trade deadline.
Perez hit a three-run homer in the second inning off rookie José Urquidy (1-1) and a solo shot in the sixth as the Indians stayed on Minnesota’s heels in the AL Central.
Santana connected for his 23rd homer in the fifth and Kipnis hit his ninth – accented by a bat flip – in the sixth as the Indians improved to 34-14 since June 4, when they trailed the Twins by 10 ½ games.
Rookie right-hander Zach Plesac (6-3) recovered after a rough few innings and won his third start in a row.
The Indians’ homer barrage came a few hours after the team acquired sluggers Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes in a three-team trade that sent starter Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati.
Cleveland has been without a prototypical cleanup hitter all season, but Puig and Reyes will make it easier for Indians manager Terry Francona to fill out his lineup card.