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MLB roundup: Moreland's slam lifts Red Sox to eighth straight

[April 21, 2018] Mitch Moreland hit reliever Emilio Pagan's first pitch of the evening for a tie-breaking grand slam in the sixth inning Friday night, propelling the Boston Red Sox to their eighth straight win, a 7-3 triumph over the Oakland Athletics in Oakland, Calif.

The Red Sox trailed the opener of a three-game series 3-0 after one inning, but quickly evened the score on a three-run home run by Jackie Bradley Jr. in the second, setting the stage for Moreland's game-winning blow four innings later.

Right-hander Hector Velasquez (3-0) pitched three innings of shutout relief to get the win. A's starter Kendall Graveman (0-4), who loaded the bases in the sixth, took the loss.

Graveman had retired 11 straight batters following Bradley's homer before Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi and Hanley Ramirez singled consecutively to open the sixth. Pagan then came on and immediately served up Moreland's grand slam, the third of his career and first since 2016. The homer was Moreland's second of the season.

Mets 5, Braves 3 (12 innings)

New York's Robert Gsellman pitched two innings of scoreless relief and scored the winning run in the 12th inning to give his team a win over Atlanta at SunTrust Park.

Gsellman, who batted for himself in the 12th, was hit by a pitch by Atlanta reliever Josh Ravin. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Yoenis Cespedes. Gsellman slid in ahead of the throw from right fielder Nick Markakis. The Mets added an insurance run when Asdrubel Cabrera doubled to right to drive in Cespedes.

New York closer Jeurys Familia pitched a scoreless 12th, giving him 11 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, to earn his eighth save.

Nationals 5, Dodgers 2

Max Scherzer struck out nine in six innings and outdueled Clayton Kershaw in a matchup of three-time Cy Young Award winners as Washington defeated Los Angeles in the opener of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium.

The right-handed Scherzer (4-1) allowed one run and four hits and walked three as the Nationals improved to 3-1 on a nine-game road trip. Kershaw (1-3) gave up four runs and nine hits over seven innings. The left-hander struck out four and walked none.

Michael A. Taylor, Trea Turner and Ryan Zimmerman each had two hits and one RBI for Washington. Bryce Harper added a run-scoring single for his 19th RBI of the campaign.

Rays 8, Twins 7 (10 innings)

Pinch runner Johnny Field scored the decisive run from second base on an infield grounder with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning as Tampa Bay posted a victory over Minnesota at Tropicana Field.

The Rays had runners on first and second when Denard Span sent a bouncer to the right of Joe Mauer. The Minnesota first baseman gloved the ball and made the throw to left-hander Zach Duke (1-1) at first but Duke missed the bag and Span was ruled safe. Mauer pointed toward home, but Duke's throw was off the mark and Field easily scored the game-winning run. The play was reviewed and it was confirmed Duke missed the bag and he was charged with an error.

Alex Colome (1-2) pitched a perfect 10th for the Rays, who have won three of their past four games.

Blue Jays 8, Yankees 5

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. experienced a memorable major league debut when he drove in three runs as Toronto beat New York at Yankee Stadium.

Gurriel, Toronto's fifth-best prospect according to Baseball America, was recalled before the game and started at second base. The Cuban infielder produced a two-run single in the fourth off Sonny Gray and a two-strike single in the fifth off Domingo German (0-1) after batting .347 (17-for-49) in 12 games with Double-A New Hampshire. Gurriel is the younger brother of Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel.

Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run homer and Yangervis Solarte added a solo homer for Toronto, which won for the eighth time in 10 games.

Padres 4, Diamondbacks 1

San Diego third baseman Christian Villanueva singled in the tie-breaking run in a three-run ninth inning and Franchy Cordero hit the third-longest homer in Chase Field history in the team's Arizona.

Wil Myers singled to open the ninth off Brad Boxberger (0-2) and took second on a passed ball before Eric Hosmer beat out an infield single to put runners on the corners. Villanueva followed with a single to left off Boxberger, pitching for the third straight day, and the Padres added runs on infield errors by Nick Ahmed and Jorge De La Rosa, who replaced Boxberger after Villanueva's single.

San Diego starter Tyson Ross lost his no-hitter and his shutout with two outs in the eighth inning, when pinch hitter Christian Walker doubled over Cordero's head to tie the game at 1 after Ahmed opened the inning with a walk.

Astros 10, White Sox 0

George Springer drove in four runs, Carlos Correa belted two home runs and Justin Verlander logged his third scoreless appearance as Houston extended its winning streak to four games with a victory over Chicago at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Springer recorded a pair of two-run doubles, extending a five-run fourth inning with his first double off White Sox right-hander James Shields (1-2) before adding his second against Chicago reliever Danny Farquhar in the sixth. Springer scored on an error by White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson in the fourth after driving in Brian McCann and Marwin Gonzalez with a liner to right.

After scoring one run three times during a six-game stretch, the Astros (14-7) have totaled 30 runs during their winning streak. McCann and Springer scored twice each while Correa added a multi-hit game, finishing 3-for-5 with three RBIs and his third and fourth homers this season.

Cubs 16, Rockies 5

Javier Baez and Kyle Schwarber each homered and drove in four runs as visiting Chicago beat Colorado to open a three-game series.

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Baez and Albert Almora Jr. had four each hits and Schwarber had three for Chicago (9-8), which had a season-high 18 hits. Starter Kyle Hendricks lasted just five innings but picked up his first win of the season. Hendricks (1-1) didn't walk a batter and struck out six before leaving for a pinch hitter in the sixth inning.

Nolan Arenado homered and had three hits for Colorado in his return from a five-game suspension.

Mariners 6, Rangers 2

Jean Segura ripped a one-out, two-run double in the top of the ninth inning to break open a tie game as Seattle defeated Texas at Globe Life Park in the first game of a three-game set.

Segura battled Texas reliever Keone Kela in a seven-pitch at-bat before his ringing double to the gap in right-center field drove home Andrew Romine and Dee Gordon with the deciding runs.

Kyle Seager and Mitch Haniger then added insurance runs with RBI singles that plated Segura and Ben Gamel, respectively, to break open the game.

Phillies 2, Pirates 1

Odubel Herrera broke an eighth-inning tie with a run-scoring triple, sending host Philadelphia to a victory over Pittsburgh.

In a game that featured a strong pitchers' duel between Pirates right-hander Ivan Nova and Phillies righty Ben Lively, Philadelphia broke through for the game-winning run against the Pittsburgh bullpen.

Cesar Hernandez led off the last of the eighth with a double off the third Pirates pitcher, George Kontos (1-2). After Hernandez took third on an infield out, Herrera lashed his triple to right field, giving the Phillies their first lead of the game at 2-1.

Tigers 3, Royals 2 (10 innings) (Game 1)

JaCoby Jones hit a game-winning homer in the bottom of the 10th, and host Detroit captured its fourth straight victory by edging the slumping Kansas City in the first game of a doubleheader.

Jones ripped his first homer this season over the left-field wall off reliever Brad Keller (0-1). It was the Tigers' second walk-off homer in three games as Dixon Machado achieved the same feat against Baltimore on Wednesday.

Jones had two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs. James McCann contributed two hits and a run scored and Machado added an RBI for Detroit. Joe Jimenez (2-0) tossed an inning of scoreless relief to collect the win.

Royals 3, Tigers 2 (Game 2)

Kansas City rallied with two runs in the ninth and snapped a nine-game losing streak by topping host Detroit in the second game of a doubleheader.

Abraham Almonte had a pinch-hit RBI single during the comeback. Whit Merrifield homered earlier in the game, and winning pitcher Jakob Junis (3-1) gave up two runs on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts over eight innings. Kelvin Herrera pitched the ninth for his third save.

JaCoby Jones scored a run and knocked in the other for Detroit to complete a big day after hitting a walk-off homer in the 10th inning of the opener. He had three hits on the day, with three runs scored and three RBIs. Tigers starter Daniel Norris gave up one run on three hits and struck out five in 4 2/3 innings.

Giants 8, Angels 1

Home runs by Andrew McCutchen and Mac Williamson highlighted a six-run fifth inning and helped lift San Francisco over Los Angeles at Angel Stadium.

Nick Hundley also homered for the Giants, who scored more on Friday than they did in their previous four games combined (five runs).

San Francisco starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija (1-0), coming off the disabled list (strained pectoral muscle) to make his first start of the season, was not particularly sharp but managed to work his way through five scoreless innings to earn the victory.

Orioles 3, Indians 1

Manny Machado homered for the third time in two games and Trey Mancini added a tiebreaking two-run double in the fifth inning as Baltimore defeated visiting Cleveland.

The victory ended a six-game losing streak for the Orioles, who had fallen to last place in the American League East, 11 1/2 games behind first-place Boston.

Dylan Bundy (1-2) again gave the Orioles a strong start. The right-hander allowed one run on five hits in six innings, striking out nine while walking just two. Bundy now has a 1.42 ERA and has pitched well in all five of his starts, though Baltimore has lost in three of those games.

Cardinals 4, Reds 2

St. Louis scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, two of those on a double by Yadier Molina, and the offense was more than enough to back right-hander Michael Wacha in a victory over struggling Cincinnati at Busch Stadium.

Wacha (2-1) has been a perennial nemesis of the Reds, running his career record against them to 10-1, with an ERA of 2.88. He went 6 2/3 innings, giving up six hits and one run, with one walk and three strikeouts.

The defeat spoiled the debut of Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman, who was promoted after manager Bryan Price was fired on Thursday. The Reds have lost 16 of their first 19 games this season.

Brewers 8, Marlins 0

Ryan Braun and Travis Shaw homered on consecutive pitches in the fourth inning as host Milwaukee defeated Miami.

Shaw finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs, falling a triple short of the cycle. Needing that triple, Shaw grounded out to second in the eighth inning.

Braun went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and his fifth homer of the season as Milwaukee won its fourth straight game. Eric Thames went 1-for-3 with a double off the wall and two walks.

--Field Level Media

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