MLB roundup: Mariners rally late, end losing streak to Astros

July 31 – Pinch hitter Abraham Toro delivered a two-out, two-run single as the visiting Seattle Mariners turned a ninth-inning rally into a 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday.

Toro turned on a first-pitch slider from Astros closer Ryan Pressly (3-3), driving in Jesse Winker and Adam Frazier to erase a one-run deficit and help the Mariners end a five-game losing skid to Houston.

Erik Swanson (2-0) pitched around two hits in the eighth inning to earn the win. Closer Paul Sewald recorded his 13th save with a perfect ninth. Mariners starter Chris Flexen gave up two runs on three hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings.

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Martin Maldonado and Jose Altuve hit consecutive doubles to spark a two-run Astros rally in the seventh inning. Altuve then scored the go-ahead run when Yuli Gurriel delivered an RBI single to center field for a 4-3 lead. Starter Framber Valdez survived a ragged first frame to extend his streak of consecutive quality starts to 17 by logging seven innings.

Rays 6, Guardians 4

Corey Kluber pitched six innings against his former team while Brandon Lowe and Yandy Diaz each hit two-run homers to help Tampa Bay beat Cleveland at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Lowe, Josh Lowe and Rene Pinto each had two hits for the Rays, who won for just the second time in their last eight games. Kluber (7-6), who pitched in Cleveland from 2011-19, gave up four runs on eight hits over six innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts.

Andres Gimenez hit a three-run home run for the Guardians, who are 3-5 in their last eight games. Steven Kwan doubled for Cleveland to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

Yankees 8, Royals 2

Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer in the second inning, the 200th of his career, and host New York defeated Kansas City.

Judge reached 200 homers in his 671st career game. The only player to get there quicker was Ryan Howard, whose 200th career homer occurred in the first baseman’s 658th career game back in 2009.

Salvador Perez hit a sacrifice fly and Maikel Garcia had an RBI single for the Royals, who have been outscored 30-7 during a five-game losing streak.

Blue Jays 5, Tigers 3

Teoscar Hernandez hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning to fuel host Toronto’s win over Detroit.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the first inning. He then stole his second base of the season and scored on a single by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. The Blue Jays have won two of the first three contests of their four-game series.

Derek Law (0-1) allowed Santiago Espinal’s leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth before George Springer’s grounder forced Espinal at second. Guerrero was hit by a pitch and the bases were loaded on Law’s error on Lourdes Gurriel’s comebacker. Bo Bichette then hit a sacrifice fly and Hernandez belted his 14th homer of the season to stake Toronto to a 5-3 lead.

Brewers 9, Red Sox 4

Hunter Renfroe, Omar Narvaez and Tyrone Taylor homered for visiting Milwaukee in a win against Boston.

Rowdy Tellez had three hits, an RBI and scored a run, and Christian Yelich, Andrew McCutchen and Kolten Wong joined Narvaez in having two hits and a run scored for the Brewers, who have won four straight and seven of eight since the All-Star break.

Brewers starter Eric Lauer (7-3) allowed one run and four hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked three. The Red Sox have lost seven of nine since the All-Star break.

Mets 4, Marlins 0

Right-hander Carlos Carrasco pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings and won his 100th career game as New York defeated host Miami.

Carrasco (11-4) allowed four hits and two walks, striking out seven and getting two double-play grounders. His career record is 100-82. His 11 wins this season are one more than he had in his three previous seasons combined.

Francisco Lindor drove in half of New York’s runs. The other runs came on solo homers by Jeff McNeil and J.D. Davis. Marlins third baseman Charles Leblanc made his major league debut, going 1-for-3 with a double and two strikeouts.

Nationals 7, Cardinals 6

Josh Bell smashed a three-run home run in the seventh inning to complete a comeback from a three-run deficit as Washington defeated visiting St. Louis.

Victor Robles also homered for the Nationals and Nelson Cruz drove in two runs as the Nationals moved to 4-4 since the All-Star break by snapping a two-game skid. Bell’s 14th homer of the season came off Genesis Cabrera (3-2).

Nolan Arenado and Paul DeJong hit home runs for St. Louis, but the Cardinals were denied notching just their second three-game winning streak since mid-June.

Reds 8, Orioles 2

Jonathan India hit a tiebreaking two-run homer and fell a triple shy of the cycle for the second time in six games while Joey Votto added a solo home run as Cincinnati beat visiting Baltimore.

Tyler Mahle (5-7) was the latest Cincinnati pitcher to showcase his talents in very effective fashion leading up to Tuesday’s trade deadline. One day after ace Luis Castillo was sent to Seattle for four highly regarded prospects, Mahle retired the final 13 batters he faced after allowing two runs in the first inning.

Mahle struck out seven and walked none over six innings after allowing five hits to the Orioles the first time through the order. Cincinnati pitching retired 19 straight before Adley Rutschman opened the ninth with an infield single.

Twins 7, Padres 4

Gilberto Celestino hit a tiebreaking single in the fifth and Carlos Correa hit a two-run homer in the eighth to lead visiting Minnesota past San Diego.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Minnesota and evened the three-game interleague series. Twins starter Sonny Gray (6-3) held the Padres to one run on five hits through five innings to get the win.

Padres starter Joe Musgrove (8-4) suffered his fourth straight loss despite giving up two runs on four hits and two walks, with eight strikeouts in six innings.

Braves 6, Diamondbacks 2

William Contreras hit two home runs and Ian Anderson may have saved his spot in the starting rotation by throwing six scoreless innings in Atlanta’s win over visiting Arizona.

Anderson (9-6) needed a good effort after allowing seven runs in his last start and had compiled a 6.25 ERA over his previous 12 starts. He responded with his first scoreless appearance since going 6 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs on June 19. The right-hander allowed only one hit, one walk and struck out nine.

Arizona broke up the shutout with two runs in the ninth off reliever A.J. Minter on RBI singles by Daulton Varsho and Jake McCarthy.

White Sox 3, Athletics 2

Adam Engel scored on a Zach Jackson wild pitch with one out in the ninth inning to record the winning run and Gavin Sheets drilled a two-run homer as host Chicago defeated Oakland.

Sheets, who tied the game in the seventh, doubled to lead off the ninth. Josh Harrison followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance Engel, who was pinch running for Sheets, to third base.

Chicago snapped a two-game skid while ending Oakland’s season-best four-game winning streak.

Rockies 5, Dodgers 3

Brendan Rodgers had three hits, Randal Grichuk and Jose Iglesias had two hits each and Colorado beat Los Angeles in Denver.

Kyle Freeland (6-7) struck out six batters in six innings while allowing six hits and three runs to get the win. Daniel Bard pitched the ninth for his 22nd save on the same day he signed a two-year contract extension with Colorado.

Trea Turner homered and Hanser Alberto and Freddie Freeman had two hits each for the Dodgers. Los Angeles had won six straight over the Rockies.

Phillies 2, Pirates 1 (10 innings)

An error in the 10th inning brought home the go-ahead run as Philadelphia extended its win streak to four games by beating host Pittsburgh.

In a 1-1 tie with Yerry De Los Santos (0-3) on the mound, Matt Vierling hit a grounder toward shallow right. First baseman Michael Chavis fielded it and tried to cut down automatic runner Didi Gregorius at third, but the ball scooted past third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, allowing Gregorius to score.

J.T. Realmuto hit a solo homer for the Phillies, who have won the first three games of a four-game series. Philadelphia starter Ranger Suarez pitched six scoreless innings and recorded eight strikeouts and one walk. He allowed just three hits. Corey Knebel (3-5) pitched the ninth and 10th to pick up the win.

Angels 9, Rangers 7

Luis Rengifo’s two-out, two-run double capped a five-run eighth inning to lead Los Angeles to a comeback victory over Texas in Anaheim, Calif.

The Angels trailed 7-4 going into the bottom of the eighth but rallied against the Rangers’ bullpen with three walks and three hits. David Fletcher got the Angels to within 7-6 with a two-run double. After an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani and a walk to Taylor Ward, Rangers reliever Brett Martin threw a wild pitch, allowing Fletcher to score and tie the game at 7-7.

The Rangers threatened in the ninth, putting the potential tying runs in scoring position with two out, but Raisel Iglesias retired Adolis Garcia on a fly ball to deep center to earn his 16th save.

Giants 5, Cubs 4

One of San Francisco’s top prospects of the present honored one of the most admired from the past when Joey Bart hit a home run in a 5-4 victory over visiting Chicago.

After Will Clark’s No. 22 was retired before the game, Bart, who like Clark was also a No. 2 overall draft selection by the Giants, smacked his seventh homer in a three-run fourth inning against Cubs starter Drew Smyly (3-6). It followed a David Villar single and a two-run shot by Gonzalez, his fourth, pushing the San Francisco lead to 5-0.

Down 5-1, the Cubs rallied for three runs in the ninth, each coming on a bases-loaded grounder to shortstop. Dominic Leone then got a fourth straight grounder, this one to second base off the bat of Ian Happ, to end the game.

–Field Level Media

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