PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mitch Keller pitched seven innings, Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a two-run single in a four-run eighth and the Pittsburgh Pirates shut out St. Louis over a three-game series, winning 5-0 Wednesday to extend their winning streak to a season-high six.
Pittsburgh pitchers extended their scoreless streak to 31 innings as the Pirates finished a 6-0 homestand that started against the New York Mets in which they outscored opponents 43-4.
Keller (3-10) won his second straight start following a 15-start winless streak. He allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked one. Dennis Santana and Isaac Mattson completed the six-hitter with one inning each.
Pittsburgh, last in the NL Central, hadn’t had three straight shutouts since 2015. The Cardinals were blanked in three consecutive games for the first time since 2022.
RAYS 6, ATHLETICS 5
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Josh Lowe, Yandy Díaz and rookie Jake Mangum homered, Ryan Pepiot posted a quality start and Tampa Bay avoided a three-game sweep with a win over the Athletics.
Trailing 2-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Rays batted around and scored five runs. Lowe’s leadoff shot tied the contest, Brandon Lowe followed with a double to extend his major-league leading hitting streak to 18 games and Díaz put Tampa Bay ahead with a two-run homer.
Pepiot (6-6) pitched six innings, allowing four hits and two runs — on Brent Rooker and Max Schuemann solo homers — walking three with nine strikeouts. He fanned five of his last six batters.
TWINS 2, MARLINS 1
MIAMI (AP) — Brooks Lee and Carlos Correa drove in runs to back a strong start by Simeon Woods Richardson, and Minnesota beat Miami to end the Marlins’ eight-game winning streak.
Byron Buxton singled off Janson Junk to begin the game. He advanced on a wild pitch and Willi Castro’s single before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Lee that ended the Twins’ 18-inning scoreless streak.
Kyle Stowers homered for the second straight game, a solo shot off Woods Richardson to tie it in the second. It was his fifth homer in nine games and 15th overall.
Castro, who went 3 for 4, doubled leading off the fourth, Lee and Correa followed with two straight singles for a 2-1 lead.
BLUE JAYS 11, YANKEES 9
TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Blue Jays wasted an eight-run lead, that outlasted the Yankees as George Springer scored the go-ahead run on Devin Williams’ eighth-inning wild pitch to tie New York for the AL East lead.
Toronto scored seven runs in the first inning off Will Warren and led 8-0 in the third, but the Yankees rallied with six runs in a sixth that included Giancarlo Stanton’s first home run of the season, a three-run drive. New York tied the score 9-9 in the eighth when Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off Yimi García (1-2), Judge’s 31st home run this season.
Springer walked with one out in the bottom half off Williams (2-3) and stole second. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was intentionally walked, both runners advanced on Alejandro Kirk’s flyout and Williams bounced a changeup as Springer came home. Addison Barger followed with an RBI single.
Toronto won its third straight in the series and matched the Yankees at 48-38. New York had held sole possession of the division lead since April 14, opening a seven-game advantage by late May. The Yankees are 13-18 since May 28, losing six of the past 10 series. Toronto has gone 21-10 in that span.
BREWERS 7, METS 2, 1ST GAME
METS 7, BREWERS 3, 2ND GAME
NEW YORK (AP) — New leadoff batter Brandon Nimmo launched a grand slam off rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski, and New York beat Milwaukee to split their day-night doubleheader.
Dropped from the top spot, slumping All-Star Francisco Lindor followed Nimmo’s second-inning slam with a home run and finished with three RBIs as the Mets snapped a four-game slide by winning for only the fourth time in 18 games.
Joey Ortiz hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the sixth inning of the opener that sent Milwaukee to a 7-2 victory behind Freddy Peralta in the makeup of Tuesday night’s rainout.
Misiorowski (3-1) came out firing 100 mph fastballs, touching 102 mph against Lindor in the first, but the 23-year-old right-hander was finally tagged in his fourth major league start. He was charged with five runs, five hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings.
PADRES 6, PHILLIES 4, 1ST GAME
PHILLIES 5, PADRES 1, 2ND GAME
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh each homered and Philadelphia beat San Diego Padres to earn a doubleheader split.
Kepler hit his 10th homer of the season — a two-run shot off San Diego starter Dylan Cease (3-8) in the fourth inning — to put the Phillies ahead 2-1.
Marsh hit a solo home run of Cease an inning later, his third this season, to make it 3-1.
Alec Bohm had an RBI triple and Nick Castellanos had an RBI single for the Phillies, who have won four of their last six games.
Cristopher Sánchez (7-2) allowed one run and five hits across seven innings while striking out five. It was his sixth consecutive start allowing two runs or fewer, and 10th time this season where he pitched at least six innings and allowed two or fewer earned runs.
The Padres won the opener 6-4, but by winning the nightcap, the Phillies won the series. The two NL playoff hopefuls will meet again in San Diego in the final series before the All-Star break next weekend.
RED SOX 5, REDS 3, 1ST GAME
REDS 8, RED SOX 4, 2ND GAME
BOSTON (AP) — Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit his first career grand slam during a five-run seventh inning and the Cincinnati Reds rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox 8-4 on Wednesday night.
Elly De La Cruz, TJ Friedl and Santiago Espinal added RBIs for the Reds.
Nick Martinez (6-8) pitched 6 2/3 innings, yielding four runs off nine hits to help Cincinnati avoid being swept in the three-game interleague series.
Wilyer Abreu hit a two-run home run for the Red Sox. Romy Gonzalez drove in two runs, including an RBI double in the seventh to pull Boston within 5-4.
Earlier Wednesday, Abreu hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth to help Boston earn a 5-3 win in the completion of a game suspended by rain on Tuesday.
TIGERS 11, NATIONALS 2, 1ST GAME
NATIONALS 9, TIGERS 4, 2ND GAME
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nathaniel Lowe hit a go-ahead triple with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and finished with four RBIs as Washington rallied to beat Detroit for a doubleheader split.
Josh Bell had three RBIs for Washington, which won at home for only the second time in 11 games since June 7.
Jahmai Jones drove in two for AL-leading Detroit. The Tigers had won three in a row, including an 11-2 victory in the first game as Riley Greene hit two homers and tied a career high with six RBIs.
Detroit had retired 13 consecutive Nationals when Tommy Kahnle (0-1) entered in the eighth. With the Tigers leading 4-3, he gave up two singles and a walk before Lowe pulled one down the right-field line to clear the bases. Lowe scored on Bell’s double to left-center, which ended Kahnle’s outing.
The Nationals scored twice more when Paul DeJong greeted reliever Brenan Hanifee with an RBI single and came around on Jacob Young’s one-out grounder.
Cole Henry (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for his first major league victory.
RANGERS 6, ORIOLES 0
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Marcus Semien and Corey Seager homered, Nathan Eovaldi pitched five strong innings in his second start since missing a month with an elbow issue and Texas beat Baltimore.
Ezequiel Duran had a two-run single in the fourth, Josh Smith had three singles and Alejandro Osuna singled twice and walked a night after the rookie hit his first big league home run.
The Rangers planned to limit Eovaldi (5-3) to five innings after his bout with elbow inflammation. The right-hander allowed two hits and struck out five while throwing 72 pitches.
Dane Dunning pitched three innings for his second career save, both this season.
BRAVES 8, ANGELS 3
ATLANTA (AP) — Matt Olson had a grand slam among his three hits, and Atlanta used a seven-run sixth inning to beat Los Angeles.
Sean Murphy hit a three-run homer, and Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies each had two hits for the Braves, who received more bad injury news before the game when it was announced right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach was headed to the IL with a broken elbow.
Braves left fielder Jurickson Profar returned from an 80-game PED suspension and went 2 for 4 with a home run and two runs scored.
Aaron Bummer (1-1) earned the win, pitching 2 2/3 perfect innings in relief of 20-year-old rookie Didier Fuentes.
CUBS 5, GUARDIANS 4
CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong had two hits and two RBIs after being chosen an All-Star starter for the first time in his career, Shota Imanaga won his second straight start since returning from a hamstring injury and Chicago beat Cleveland.
Seiya Suzuki added two hits and three RBIs for the Cubs, who have opened July with consecutive victories over Cleveland after dropping seven of their final 11 in June. They lead the NL Central at 51-35.
Carlos Santana, Lane Thomas and David Fry hit solo home runs for Cleveland, which has dropped six straight and fell to 40-44.
Imanaga (5-2) gave up three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings and struck out four. Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee (4-9) allowing five earned runs in four innings.
ASTROS 5, ROCKIES 3
DENVER (AP) — Jose Altuve hit a go-ahead two-run single in the sixth inning to move into second place on Houston’s career hits list and the Astros beat Colorado to win their 12th straight series.
Altuve went 2 for 5 and gave the Astros a 4-2 lead with his 2,315th career hit, moving him past Jeff Bagwell. Craig Biggio leads the franchise with 3,060 career hits.
Hunter Brown (9-3) allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He struck out eight to join Lance McCullers Jr. as the only Astros pitchers to reach 500 in their first 86 appearances.
Bennett Sousa pitched the ninth for his third save.
GIANTS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 5, 10 INNINGS
PHOENIX (AP) — Patrick Bailey’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning brought home Jung Ho Lee and San Francisco snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Arizona.
The Giants led 5-3 heading into the ninth, but Geraldo Perdomo led off with a single and then Ketel Marte — who was named a National League All-Star starter at second base earlier in the day — launched a tying homer to right off Camilo Doval for his 18th long ball of the season.
San Francisco retook the lead in the 10th on Bailey’s fly ball to center after Lee advanced to third on an infield single by Heliot Ramos. Doval (4-2) worked the bottom of the 10th for the win.
MARINERS 3, ROYALS 2
SEATTLE (AP) — Julio Rodriguez hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning and Randy Arozarena drove in two runs as Seattle beat Kansas City.
Rodriguez, who left the bases loaded in the fifth inning, atoned for that missed opportunity by hitting a first-pitch cutter from reliever Steven Cruz, who entered for Angel Zerpa (3-1), to the left side. Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia got a piece of Rodriguez’s hit before it ricocheted past him, allowing the Mariners to take a 2-1 lead.
Arozarena, who hit a solo homer in the sixth inning, added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly to center in the seventh. The Mariners needed that extra run as the Royals closed within a run in the eighth inning on an RBI single from Salvador Perez.
Mariners reliever Carlos Vargas (3-5) struck out two in one inning of relieft and closer Andres Munoz picked up his 19th save.
DODGERS 5, WHITE SOX 4
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Kershaw got his 3,000th strikeout and Freddie Freeman capped a three-run ninth inning by singled in Shohei Ohtani, lifting Los Angeles over Chicago.
Kershaw became the 20th pitcher to reach 3,000 when Vinny Capra took a slider for a called third strike for the final out of the sixth inning.
Los Angeles trailed 4-2 and hadn’t scored since the second inning when Michael Conforto singled and Tommy Edman and Hyesong Kim drew back-to-back walks from Grant Taylor (0-1) to open the ninth. Ohtani hit into a run-scoring forceout, Mookie Betts tied the score with a sacrifice fly off Steven Wilson and Freeman singled sharply to right.
Los Angeles won for the 14th time in 17 games and clinched its seventh straight series victory.
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The Associated Press