LDN - Sports

Highlights of Sunday's MLB games

[June 13, 2016] June 12 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Sunday's Major League Baseball games:

Royals 3, White Sox 1

Yordano Ventura struck out a season-high 10 batters in seven innings, and the Kansas City Royals held on for a 3-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon.

Whit Merrifield finished 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run to lead the Royals at the plate. Salvador Perez added a solo home run as Kansas City won its second consecutive game.

Ventura (5-4) fanned 10-plus batters for the fifth time in his career and the first time since Oct. 3, 2015, against the Minnesota Twins. He struck out the side in the second inning and again in the sixth inning.

A pending nine-game suspension did little to distract Ventura, who is appealing the penalty for his role in a June 7 brawl with the Baltimore Orioles. Ventura allowed one run on five hits and walked one.

Cubs 13, Braves 2

The Chicago Cubs were a comedy of errors defensively with Bill Murray on hand for the final two games against Atlanta.

The Cubs won both in laughers anyway, making the actor-comedian happy and improving the team's major-league-best record to 43-18.

Jon Lester (8-3) didn't allow an earned run over seven innings and the Cubs made four errors in the first two innings against the Braves on Sunday. The Cubs had three errors in Saturday's game.

Anthony Rizzo had three hits and three RBIs, while Javier Baez blasted a three-run homer as part of a six-run eighth inning that followed a three-run seventh by the Cubs.

Tigers 4, Yankees 1

Michael Fulmer continued his impressive run when he pitched six effective innings and won his fifth straight start as Detroit defeated New York.

Fulmer (7-1) ran his scoreless streak to 28 1/3 innings by holding the Yankees to two hits. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it is just shy of the Detroit rookie record set by John Hiller, who had 28 2/3 scoreless innings Aug. 10-29, 1967.

The right-hander also has allowed one earned run in his last 34 1/3 innings, giving him an earned run average of 0.26 in his last five starts and lowering his overall earned run average from 6.52 to 2.52. He only allowed a leadoff single to Aaron Hicks and a bloop double to Austin Romine that started the fifth.

Blue Jays 10, Orioles 9

Russell Martin hit a three-run homer, Kevin Pillar had a homer and two RBIs, Devon Travis had two RBIs and Toronto held on to defeat Baltimore.

The Blue Jays won the final three games of the four-game series after the Orioles took the opener.

Adam Jones hit two home runs and Pedro Alvarez, Chris Davis and Matt Wieters each homered once for the Orioles, who fell behind by six runs before cutting the lead to one.

Rays 5, Astros 0

Matt Moore recorded his best game of the season, holding Houston to two hits in seven innings, as Tampa Bay claimed a series victory.

Moore (3-4) matched his season high with 10 strikeouts, equaled his longest outing and set a season low for hits and runs -- this after getting only one win in his previous nine starts. The Rays took two of three games from the Astros, who saw Dallas Keuchel (3-9) pitch well until a rough fifth inning in which he gave up five runs.

The Rays broke the game open with a five-run fifth inning, getting to Keuchel after four dominant innings.

Athletics 6, Reds 1

Marcus Semien and Jake Smolinski each a hit two-run homer to help Oakland avoid the sweep with a victory over Cincinnati in the finale of a three-game interleague series.

Danny Valencia added a solo homer in the eighth, his 10th of the season, for the Athletics, who collected 15 hits to snap a seven-game losing streak.

Fernando Rodriguez (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the victory.

Brewers 5, Mets 3

Zach Davies won his fourth consecutive decision and struck out seven as Milwaukee salvaged a series split with a win over New York.

Keon Broxton and Scooter Gennett had two hits each for the Brewers, who produced nine hits off Mets left-hander Steven Matz (7-3). Matz surrendered five runs while striking out five over six innings.

Davies (5-3) came into his 11th start of the season riding high -- since starting the season 0-3 with an 8.78 ERA, he had gone 4-0 with 2.91 mark in his last seven and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning his last time out.

Twins 7, Red Sox 4

Max Kepler belted a three-run, walk-off home run in the 10th inning to lift Minnesota to victory over Boston at Target Field.

Kepler hit an 0-2 fastball from Red Sox right-hander Matt Barnes over the center-field fence for his first career home run with runners at second and third and one out.

Michael Tonkin (2-2) struck out two in one inning of scoreless relief to earn the win.

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Diamondbacks 6, Marlins 0

Rookie Peter O'Brien hit a three-run homer to cap a four-run first inning, and Robbie Ray threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings in Arizona's victory over Miami.

O'Brien hit his first homer of the season in his second start after being recalled Friday from Triple-A Reno, where he led all the affiliated minor leagues with 17 homers and 142 total bases while hitting .330.

Ray (3-5) gave up three hits, all singles, and one walk while throwing a career-high 117 pitches. He struck out six and faced two batters over the minimum. Two of the hits were erased by double plays.

Rockies 2, Padres 1

Mark Reynolds hit a tiebreaking, solo home run in the seventh inning, leading Colorado to a win over San Diego.

Reynolds drove the first pitch from Kevin Quackenbush (3-3) over the out-of-town scoreboard in right field to put the Rockies ahead 2-1. It was his fourth homer of the season.

Colorado left-hander Tyler Anderson was extremely impressive in his major league debut. However, he was denied a win when Gonzalez Germen (2-0) relieved him in the top of the seventh and allowed an inherited runner to score the tying run. Anderson gave up six hits and one run in 6 1/3 innings with no walks and six strikeouts.

Nationals 5, Phillies 4

Jayson Werth hit a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as Washington rallied for a win over Philadelphia to sweep the three-game series.

Jonathan Papelbon (1-2) gave up a game-tying homer to Maikel Franco in the top of the ninth but emerged with the win.

The Phillies tied the game at 3-3 in the sixth as Odubel Herrera had an RBI double and Freddy Galvis singled to drive in Herrera. Philadelphia's Cody Asche hit his first homer of the year, a solo shot in the fifth that cut the deficit to 3-1. Danny Espinosa gave Washington a 3-0 lead in the second with a solo homer.

Indians 8, Angels 3

Carlos Santana hit two home runs and drove in three runs to lead Cleveland past Los Angeles.

Santana hit a solo homer in the second inning and a two-run drive in the ninth to increase his total to 12 home runs. Francisco Lindor added three RBIs and three hits, including a solo home run.

Los Angeles center fielder Mike Trout left the game in the eighth inning when Tommy Hunter hit him with a pitch in the right hand. X-rays revealed no fracture, but Trout sustained a right thumb contusion during the Angels' eighth loss in 10 games.

Rangers 6, Mariners 4

Cole Hamels threw seven strong innings, and Texas' offense came alive to take two of three in the series from Seattle.

Mitch Moreland hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning and Ian Desmond added a two-run single in the sixth as the Rangers opened up a five-game lead atop the American League West. The last time Texas had a lead that wide in the division standings was in May 2013.

Hamels (6-1) held Seattle to one run on four hits over seven innings. The Mariners rallied for three runs over the final two innings before the game ended with Seattle's Robinson Cano getting thrown out at second base trying to stretch an RBI single into a double.

Cardinals 8, Pirates 3

Matt Holliday and Randal Grichuk hit home runs in St. Louis' win for a sweep of a weekend series against Pittsburgh, who have lost five straight.

Holliday went 3-for-4 with two RBIs before leaving in the seventh for a pinch runner. The Cardinals pounded out 14 hits, with eight starters getting at least one and six players driving in at least one run.

The sweep was the first for the Cardinals at PNC Park since August 2009. They finished a two-series road trip 5-1 and are a season-high seven games over .500.

The five-game losing streak is the longest of the season for the Pirates, dropping them to just a game over .500.

Giants 2, Dodgers 1

Fifteen-year veteran Jake Peavy outdueled 19-year-old Julio Urias in a battle of the ages, pitching San Francisco to a victory over rival Los Angeles in a nationally televised game. The first-place Giants won two of three in the weekend series to take a five-game lead over the second-place Dodgers in the National League West.

Brandon Belt hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to account for all of the scoring for the Giants, who recorded their fourth one-run win over the Dodgers this season.

(Editing by Andrew Both/Simon Jennings)

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