Orioles defeat the Yankees to take a one game lead in the AL East
BALTIMORE (AP) — Dean Kremer pitched seven innings of two-run ball, Adley Rutschman extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the New York Yankees 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Baltimore won the first two games of a four-game series between the AL East’s top teams and opened a one-game AL East lead, the largest this season for the defending division champion.
Juan Soto hit a 447-foot homer and Austin Wells also had a solo drive for the Yankees, which has lost four of six and scored just two runs in the series.
Kremer (2-2) matched his longest outing this season, allowing four hits and striking out four. While he surrendered Wells’ leadoff homer in the third and Soto’s sixth-inning drive onto Eutaw Street beyond the right-field wall, he also induced three double-play grounders.
Jacob Webb recorded four outs --- including striking out Aaron Judge to end the eighth --- for his first bug league save.
CARDINALS 2, TIGERS 1, 1ST GAME
TIGERS 11, CARDINALS 6, 2ND GAME
DETROIT (AP) — Wenceel Pérez hit homers from both sides of the plate, including a tiebreaking blast in the fifth inning, to help Detroit beat St. Louis 11-6 Tuesday to split a doubleheader.
In the opener, Jack Flaherty tied an American League record with seven straight strikeouts to start a game and struck out a career-high 14 before St. Louis rallied against a usually strong bullpen with a two-run ninth inning to beat Detroit 2-1.
The Tigers went ahead again in the second game and pulled away with a four-run seventh.
Perez hit a right-handed, opposite-field solo shot in the second inning off Steven Matz and a left-handed, two-run homer against Ryan Fernandez to put Detroit ahead 7-5.
The 24-year-old Dominican became the first rookie to clear the fences for the franchise hitting right and left handed in the same game since Raúl Casanova in 1996, and the first Tiger with any level of experience to do it since Victor Martinez in 2018.
Perez hit a homer for the first time in the majors on Sunday in his 16th game.
Tyler Holton (2-0) allowed a run in one inning in relief of Matt Manning. Kyle Leahy (0-1) took the loss after giving up two runs on two hits in 1 1/3 innings.
ROYALS 4, BLUE JAYS 1
TORONTO (AP) — Michael Massey hit a two-run home run, Cole Ragans struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings, and Kansas City beat Toronto to snap a three-game losing streak.
Bobby Witt Jr. reached base three times and drove in a run as the Royals improved to 17-11 in April. It’s the most victories Kansas City has had in a month since going 17-9 in June 2017.
Ragans (2-2) allowed one run and four hits. The left-hander left because of cramping in his left calf after walking consecutive batters. John Schreiber came on and retired Cavan Biggio to end the inning.
Schreiber got four outs and right-hander James McArthur finished for his seventh save in eight chances.
Toronto’s Davis Schneider hit a one-out single in the second but Royals right fielder Hunter Renfroe threw Schneider out at second base as he tried to extend his hit. Renfroe leads the major leagues with 67 outfield assists since 2017.
RED SOX 4, GIANTS 0
BOSTON (AP) — Rookie Wilyer Abreu had a single, double and his first career triple, Cooper Criswell pitched five scoreless innings and Boston beat San Francisco for their major league-leading sixth shutout.
Abreu, who finished a homer shy of hitting for the cycle, helped Boston win its third straight. Jarren Duran singled in his first three at-bats and drove in a run and Rob Refsnyder had a pair of RBI singles as the Red Sox quickly ended to Giants ace Logan Webb’s streak of 19 straight scoreless innings.
San Francisco finished with just four hits to match a season low and was shut out for the second time this year.
MARLINS 7, ROCKIES 6, 10 INNINGS
MIAMI (AP) — Dane Myers hit a game-winning single in the 10th inning as Miami overcame a five-run deficit and beat Colorado, making the Rockies the first team since 1900 to trail in each of its first 29 games.
Miami (7-24) bounced back from a 5-0 first-inning deficit by scoring five times in the ninth, then rallied from down 6-5 in the 10th and ended a seven-game losing streak.
The Rockies (7-22) had lost Sunday and joined the 1910 St. Louis Browns as the only teams to trail in each of their first 28 games.
Colorado never was behind until after the final pitch.
Backed by a 5-0 first-inning lead, Adam Feltner entered the ninth trying for his first professional complete game but allowed Vidal Bruján’s leadoff single, hit Christian Bethancourt with a pitch, then gave up Luis Arraez’s RBI double.
Justin Lawrence relieved and walked Bryan De La Cruz, gave up Dane Myers’ two-run single, forced in a run when he hit Jesús Sánchez with a pitch with the bases loaded and allowed Emmanuel Rivera’s sacrifice fly.
Ryan McMahon’s RBI double against Tanner Scott (1-4) put the Rockies ahead 6-5 in the 10th, but De La Cruz had a run-scoring double off Jalen Beeks (2-2) in the bottom half and scored when Myers’ grounded an opposite-field single to right. Hunter Goodman made a one-hop throw to the plate but the ball bounced out of Elias Díaz’s mitt as De La Cruz slid into the catcher.
METS 4, CUBS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — DJ Stewart hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning Tuesday night, lifting the New York Mets to a win over the Chicago Cubs.
Stewart, whose roster spot could have been in jeopardy with the activation of J.D. Martinez last week and the return Tuesday of Starling Marte from the bereavement list, had just three hits in his previous 23 at-bats before homering into the second deck in right field against Adbert Alzolay (1-3) to give New York a 4-1 lead.
Stewart gazed toward the home dugout before flipping his bat like a baton upon beginning his trot.
Sean Reid-Foley (1-0) tossed a hitless sixth. Jorge López earned his second save after giving up a run in the ninth, when Mike Tauchman doubled and scored on a groundout by pinch-hitter Matt Mervis.
Pete Alonso had a sacrifice fly in the first for the Mets before Miguel Amaya tied the score with a sacrifice fly in the second.
RANGERS 7, NATIONALS 1
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jon Gray retired 22 of the last 23 batters he faced while limiting Washington to three singles over eight innings and Texas won to end the Nationals’ four-game winning streak.
Josh Smith and Leody Taveras homered for the defending World Series champion Rangers (16-14), who have won back-to-back games for only the second time since April 6.
Coming off a four-game sweep of Miami on the road, the Nationals (14-15) missed a chance to get over .500 for the first time since July 1, 2021.
TWINS 6, WHITE SOX 5
CHICAGO (AP) — Max Kepler hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning and Minnesota won their ninth straight game, beating the Chicago White Sox.
The Twins extended their best win streak since a 10-game run in June 2008. They also won their seventh in a row against the White Sox and put themselves in position to sweep Chicago again after taking four at Target Field last week, though this one certainly wasn’t easy.
Chicago’s Andrew Benintendi homered leading off the eighth to tie it at 5 after Minnesota scored twice in the top half. But the Twins pulled it out in the ninth.
Byron Buxton walked leading off against Michael Kopech (0-3) and took third on Manuel Margot’s one-out single. Kepler then put Minnesota on top with a sacrifice fly to center.
Jhoan Duran pitched around a leadoff single by Tommy Pham in the bottom half and picked up the save after missing the Twins’ first 28 games because of a strained right oblique muscle. Caleb Thielbar (1-1) recorded the final two outs in the eighth.
BREWERS 8, RAYS 2
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Willy Adames hit a three-run homer and Milwaukee beat Tampa Bay Rays in a game that included a nasty fight between the teams.
The fracas ensued after Jose Siri grounded out against Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe leading off the eighth inning. Uribe and Siri exchanged words near first base and things quickly became heated.
With an umpire standing between them trying to keep the peace, Uribe threw a punch at Siri, who then took a wild swing at the reliever.
Milwaukee first baseman Rhys Hoskins tried to break up the fight but was knocked to the ground as both dugouts and bullpens emptied quickly.
The animosity between Siri and the Brewers had been building all night, starting when he took a long look at his solo home run off Freddy Peralta in the third.
When Siri came up again in the sixth, Peralta drilled him with a 3-0 fastball, leading to ejections for Peralta and Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy.
It was the second consecutive ejection for Murphy, thrown out of Monday’s game against the Rays for arguing a call.
Adames drove in four runs and Brice Turang had three RBIs as the Brewers snapped their three-game losing streak.
Peralta (3-0) struck out seven and walked none in 5 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Siri’s home run.
Tyler Black made the most of his big league debut for the Brewers by getting hits in each of his first two plate appearances. Then he came within a few feet of his first career home run his third time up.
ASTROS 10, GUARDIANS 9, 10 INNINGS
HOUSTON (AP) — Pinch-hitter Victor Caratini’s two-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning and Josh Hader’s first two-inning outing since 2019 lifted Houston over Cleveland.
Houston trailed by 1 after pinch-hitter David Fry’s RBI double off Josh Hader (1-2) with two outs in the top of the inning.
Caratini homered to right-center field off Hunter Gaddis (1-1) to give the Astros a season-high three-game winning streak. They swept a two-game series over the Rockies in Mexico City this weekend.
Hader pitched a scoreless ninth before returning for the 10th. It was the first time he had gotten more than three outs in a regular-season game since getting four on Aug. 14, 2020, and his first two-inning appearance in five years.
Josh Naylor hit a three-run homer and Andrés Giménez hit his first homer this season with a two-run shot for Cleveland before Estevan Florial tied it with a three-run homer in the Guardians’ five-run sixth.
Alex Bregman hit his first homer of the season with a three-run shot, Jon Singleton added a three-run home run and Joey Loperfido singled with two RBIs in his major league debut as the Astros built an 8-3 lead before Cleveland’s comeback.
ATHLETICS 5, PIRATES 2
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — JJ Bleday hit a go-ahead home run with one out in the fifth and a two-run drive in the seventh for his first career multi-homer game, leading Oakland past Pittsburgh.
Mitch Spence (3-1) struck out two over three scoreless innings for the win in relief of starter Alex Wood. The left-hander is still winless over four starts in Oakland since joining the club as a free agent Feb. 2 — and he is yet to pitch more than 5 2/3 innings in seven 2024 starts.
Tyler Nevin and Abraham Toro hit RBI singles in the second for the A’s after Shea Langeliers doubled to start the inning against Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller (2-3).
Connor Joe homered in the first and singled in the fifth for the Pirates — matching his team’s total hits from a night earlier in a 5-1 defeat. Ke’Bryan Hayes added a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
MARINERS 3, BRAVES 2
SEATTLE (AP) — Luis Castillo threw seven shutout innings to continue Seattle’s run of starting pitching dominance and the Mariners’ bullpen held on for a victory over Atlanta.
Castillo (3-4) retired the final 11 hitters he faced and allowed just three hits to an Atlanta squad with the second-best offense in MLB. He left to a standing ovation after throwing 103 pitches and striking out seven.
With Castillo’s stellar outing, Mariners starting pitchers have allowed two earned runs or fewer in a franchise-record 18 consecutive games.
The AL West-leading Mariners are also the first team in MLB history to post an ERA of 1.60 or lower and 160-plus strikeouts in an 18-game span.
The Braves lost consecutive games for the first time this season, the last team in the majors to do so.
Atlanta threatened in the fourth inning when Matt Olson drew a one-out walk and Marcell Ozuna followed with a single, but Castillo struck out Orlando Arcia and got Michael Harris III to ground out to end the inning.
The Mariners struck first on Jorge Polanco’s two-run homer in the third. Dylan Moore added another for Seattle with a fourth-inning RBI double against Braves starter Reynaldo López.
Lopez (2-1) allowed six hits and three earned runs over five innings, with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Ozzie Albies drove in a run with an RBI single off Mariners reliever Ryne Stanek in the eighth. Stanek allowed three singles before he was replaced by Andrés Muñoz with two on. Muñoz threw the ball away on an infield single by Austin Riley to score Jarred Kelenic.
After intentionally walking Olson to load the bases, Muñoz retired Ozuna and Arcia to end the inning.
Muñoz then pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.
PHILLIES 7, ANGELS 5
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Johan Rojas hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth inning moments after Nick Castellanos’ tying shot, sending Philadelphia to a victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Trailing 5-4 with one out and nobody on base in the ninth, the Phillies avoided only their second back-to-back losses since March with three extra-base hits on five pitches from Angels closer Carlos Estévez (0-1), who blew his second save of the season in spectacular fashion.
After Castellanos hit a solo shot to right, Bryson Stott doubled and scored on Rojas’ first homer of the season.
Luis Rengifo hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning for the Angels, who began another chapter of life without Mike Trout with an appropriately gut-wrenching defeat. Los Angeles has lost 10 of 12.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, DODGERS 3, 10 INNINGS
PHOENIX (AP) — Christian Walker homered twice, including a two-run drive in the 10th inning that gave Arizona a bee-delayed win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A bee swarm atop the netting behind home plate caused a delay of nearly two hours as players and fans waited for a beekeeper to remove the colony.
The activity in the game didn’t pick up until late.
Gabriel Moreno hit a tying single for Arizona in the eighth, but Los Angeles reliever Nabil Crismatt (1-1) worked a perfect ninth to send it to extra innings.
The Dodgers loaded the bases against Scott McGough (1-3) in the 10th, and Will Smith drove in Gavin Lux with a sacrifice fly for a one-run lead.
Walker wasted no more time ending the long, buzzy night, launching Crismatt’s third pitch of the 10th into the left-field seats, scoring the automatic runner as well and setting off a wild celebration at Chase Field.