LDN - Sports

Highlights of Wednesday's Major League Baseball games

[August 31, 2017] (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Wednesday's Major League Baseball games:

Nationals 4, Marlins 0

Stephen Strasburg pitched his second career shutout and had two hits, including a third career home run, and Wilmer Difo (2-for-4) also went deep as the Washington Nationals defeated the Miami Marlins.

The Marlins entered the contest 5 1/2 games behind the Colorado Rockies for the second wild-card spot in the National League.

The first-place Nationals (81-51) have won four in a row, while the Marlins (66-66) were out-scored 23-5 in the three-game sweep by Washington.

Strasburg (11-4) gave up six hits, walked one and struck out eight while recording his second career complete game.

Orioles 8, Mariners 7

Jonathan Schoop's RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning lifted Baltimore to a seventh straight win.

Schoop's winning hit followed a replay challenge that kept pinch-runner Caleb Joseph on second base and capped some wild momentum swings in the late innings.

The Orioles went ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly to right by Manny Machado.

Brewers 6, Cardinals 5

Chase Anderson gave up a pair of home runs but struck out six over six innings and Milwaukee received homers from Domingo Santana and Jonathan Villar in a victory over St Louis.

Making his third start since a seven-week stint on the disabled list for a strained oblique, Anderson (8-3) held St Louis to two hits and a pair of walks.

Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez (10-10) worked into the sixth but was tagged for six runs -- three earned -- on 10 hits while striking out seven.

Tigers 6, Rockies 2

Justin Verlander took the mound at Coors Field for the second time in his illustrious career and again made pitching at that hitter-friendly ballpark look rather easy.

Verlander held the Rockies to three hits and one run in six innings with one walk and nine strikeouts. Catcher James McCann broke the game open with a three-run homer in the fifth.

Rangers 8, Astros 1

Displaced from its home by extensive flooding, Houston took a second lopsided loss at the hands of Texas in the second of three games in Florida.

Mike Napoli's three-run homer in the fourth inning was the Rangers' 204th long ball this season, jumping them ahead of the Astros for the major league lead.

Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 1

Mitch Moreland hit a go-ahead, two-run homer as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and Rick Porcello pitched 6 2/3 effective innings as Boston defeated Toronto.

Moreland also hit a two-run single in Boston's four-run eighth to finish with four RBIs as the Red Sox swept the three-game series. Hanley Ramirez also homered for Boston, who have won seven straight games at Rogers Centre.

Mets 2, Reds 0

Rafael Montero allowed one hit through eight innings, and RBI doubles by Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki provided the offense in the first inning, lifting New York over Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park.

Montero pitched a career-high 8 1/3 innings, allowing three hits. He struck out eight, two shy of his career high.

Jose Reyes led off the first inning with a double and scored on Flores' two-out double. Plawecki made it 2-0 with a double to left.

Rays 5, Royals 3

Jake Odorizzi picked up his first victory in six starts and Logan Morrison homered to continue his hot streak as Tampa Bay downed Kansas City.

Morrison has 33 home runs and 76 RBIs, both career highs. His fifth-inning home run was his second of the series and the fourth of the week.

[to top of second column]

Cubs 17, Pirates 3

Ian Happ went 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs to lead Chicago's season-high 20-hit attack in a rout of Pittsburgh to complete a three-game sweep.

Kyle Schwarber added a pair of two-run homers and Anthony Rizzo had a solo shot for the Cubs. Jose Quintana (5-3) shook off a rough first inning and sailed to his third win in his last four starts.

Twins 11, White Sox 1

Eddie Rosario homered twice and Jose Berrios dazzled for seven scoreless innings as Minnesota beat Chicago.

Brian Dozier tied his career high with four hits and Ehire Adrianza tripled twice as Minnesota won its third consecutive game and sixth in a row at home to climb within one game of the New York Yankees for the top American League wild-card spot.

Indians 2, Yankees 1 (Game One)

Jose Ramirez went 4-for-4 and Trevor Bauer won his career-high seventh straight decision as Cleveland edged New York in the opening game of a doubleheader.

Ramirez singled in his first at-bat and scored on Yandy Diaz's single. He then doubled in the third, singled in the fifth and doubled in the eighth. It was his third four-hit game of the season and sixth of his career.

Indians 9, Yankees 4 (Game Two)

Ryan Merritt pitched effectively into the sixth inning and Edwin Encarnacion, Yan Gomes and Francisco Lindor homered as Cleveland completed a doubleheader sweep of New York.

Merritt (2-0) started instead of Josh Tomlin and held the Yankees to one run and five hits in 5 1/3 innings while not throwing any pitch faster than 87.8 mph.

Braves 9, Phillies 1 (Game One)

Brandon Phillips collected his 2,000th hit as Atlanta jumped on Philadelphia early in the opening game of a doubleheader.

R.A. Dickey (9-8) handled the Phillies for the third time this season, cruising through six innings before finally giving up a run in the seventh.

Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte tied his career high with five hits, achieving the feat for the third time this season.

Braves 5, Phillies 2 (Game Two)

Inciarte led the way as Atlanta finished off a doubleheader sweep of Philadelphia.

A leadoff single by Inciarte to open the game became a 1-0 lead, after the center fielder stole second and came around to score on Matt Kemp's double. Inciarte added an RBI single in the fourth inning to put the Braves up 3-1.

He finished the doubleheader 8-for-10 with a triple, two runs, five RBIs and two stolen two bases.

Angels 10, Athletics 8

Albert Pujols hit two home runs and Mike Trout finished a double short of the cycle as Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep of Oakland.

The Angels' Cliff Pennington, getting just his third start of the season at shortstop, hit his first career grand slam.

Diamondbacks 6, Dodgers 4

Paul Goldschmidt, Adam Rosales and Chris Herrmann homered, and Robbie Ray struck out 10 as Arizona sent Los Angeles to its season-worst fourth straight defeat.

Rosales and Goldschmidt homered in a three-run first inning and Ray gave up one run in 6 2/3 innings in his first home start since July 23. He missed 26 days after being struck in the head by a line drive July 28.

Padres 5, Giants 0

Travis Wood and Jose Pirela homered, and four relief pitchers retired 14-of-16 batters as San Diego shut out San Francisco in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Five pitchers combined on a six-hitter as San Diego defeated San Francisco for the ninth time in the past 12 meetings. The Padres are 19-7 against the Giants since losing their first nine games against San Francisco to open the 2016 season.

Back to top