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Major League Baseball roundup: Kluber notches 11th win in rout

[June 21, 2018] Corey Kluber allowed just one hit in seven innings to become the major leagues' first 11-game winner this season as the Cleveland Indians rolled past the visiting Chicago White Sox 12-0 on Wednesday at Progressive Field.

The victory gave the Indians the three-game series sweep and pushed their winning streak to four. The loss was the White Sox's seventh in a row.

Jose Ramirez's three-run home run in the first inning was plenty for Kluber (11-3). He bounced back from his worst outing of the season in his prior appearance (four runs in five innings in a 6-3 loss to Minnesota) by dominating the White Sox.

Omar Narvaez's two-out single in the second inning was the only hit off Kluber, who struck out seven, walked just one and did not allow a Chicago runner to reach second base. He retired the final 14 batters he faced after walking Charlie Tilson in the third inning. George Kontos and Josh Tomlin completed the Indians' two-hitter.

Cubs 4, Dodgers 0

Jon Lester went seven scoreless innings and Kyle Schwarber hit a home run for the second consecutive game as Chicago closed out a National League Championship Series rematch with a shutout of visiting Los Angeles.

The Cubs took two of three against the defending NL champions, with a four-game rematch set to start Monday at Los Angeles.

Dodgers starter Ross Stripling (6-2) saw his six-start win streak come to an end after giving up three runs on eight hits over six innings. Meanwhile, Lester (9-2) has won five consecutive starts and seven of his last eight. He threw a season-high 119 pitches while holding the Dodgers to five hits with three walks and a strikeout.

Phillies 4, Cardinals 3

Odubel Herrera's one-out solo homer in the seventh inning lifted host Philadelphia over St. Louis.

Homering in his fourth straight game, Herrera tagged reliever Sam Tuivailala (1-3) with the loss on a difficult day for St. Louis. The Cardinals lost starting pitcher Michael Wacha to an oblique injury in the bottom of the fourth, one batter after he served up a two-run homer to Cesar Hernandez that gave the Phillies a 3-1 edge.

Reliever Edubray Ramos (2-0) worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win. Adam Morgan got the last two outs to garner his first big league save, retiring Tommy Pham on a grounder to short with the tying run at second to end the game.

Blue Jays 5, Braves 4

J.A. Happ struck out eight in a season-best 8 1/3 innings, Kendrys Morales hit a two-run home run, and Toronto held on to defeat visiting Atlanta.

Happ (9-3) held the Braves to four runs, six hits, including two solo homers, and no walks as the Blue Jays gained a split of the two-game interleague series.

Happ was sent out for the ninth to try for his first complete game of the season but was replaced by Ryan Tepera after allowing one-out singles to Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis. Tepera allowed an RBI single to Kurt Suzuki before striking out Charlie Culberson. Ender Inciarte hit an RBI infield single before Johan Camargo flied out to center to give Tepera his fifth save of the season.

Giants 6, Marlins 5

Hunter Pence drove in two runs in a rare start, and Gorkys Hernandez capped a five-run sixth inning with a two-run single, allowing host San Francisco to outlast Miami and win a tense three-game series.

After the clubs split games Monday and Tuesday in which there were four hit batsmen and two ejections, both teams were on their best behavior in the series finale, the seventh time the clubs have met in the last 10 days.

Derek Holland (5-7) got the win, allowing three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Reyes Moronta came on with two aboard in the ninth and struck out J.B. Shuck for his first career save.

Athletics 12, Padres 4

Oakland hit back-to-back homers in back-to-back innings for the first time in 21 seasons to rout host San Diego and complete a two-game sweep.

Franklin Barreto and Josh Phegley hit back-to-back homers -- the first round-tripper of the season for each -- in the second off Padres starter Joey Lucchesi (3-3) to give the A's a quick 4-0 lead.

Mark Canha and Matt Olson went back-to-back in the third off Padres reliever Robbie Erlin. Jed Lowrie hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Phil Hughes, giving the A's five homers for the game totaling 2,018 feet.

Reds 5, Tigers 3

Scooter Gennett and Eugenio Suarez hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning, and Cincinnati held on to beat visiting Detroit.

Gennett's two-run shot was his 13th this season, while Suarez has 15 homers. Adam Duvall added a solo blast -- his 12th -- and Scott Schebler contributed two hits and a run. Tucker Barnhart had two hits and an RBI as Cincinnati took both games of the series.

Jeimer Candelario and Niko Goodrum homered for Detroit, and Jose Iglesias added three hits and an RBI. Tigers starter Michael Fulmer (3-6) allowed three runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings and tied his season high with nine strikeouts.

Yankees 7, Mariners 5

Giancarlo Stanton hit the game-winning, two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as New York staged a five-run comeback against Seattle at Yankee Stadium.

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Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber (28) delivers a pitch in the second inning against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

In the eighth inning, Gary Sanchez blasted a 1-1 cutter from Alex Colome off an advertisement in the back of the Seattle bullpen in left-center field, a two-run home run that tied the score at 5-5. An inning later, the Yankees recorded their sixth walk-off win.

Stanton hadn't ended a game with a homer since April 18, 2014, also against Seattle. The Mariners lost a third consecutive game for the second time this season and fell to the Yankees for the ninth time in the past 11 meetings.

Astros 5, Rays 1

George Springer, Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve clubbed back-to-back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning, and Houston claimed its fourth consecutive series victory with a win over visiting Tampa Bay.

The Astros used the power surge to become the first team in the majors to reach 50 wins. Springer snapped a 1-all tie with his leadoff homer against Rays right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (1-3), drilling an 0-2 fastball 437 feet to left field for his 15th home run on the season.

Two pitches later, Bregman cranked his 11th homer, also to left. Altuve, who belted a homer off Eovaldi with one out in the fourth to pull the Astros even, followed with a titanic 443-foot shot, his seventh, that extended the lead to 4-1.

Twins 4, Red Sox 1

Max Kepler and Robbie Grossman both homered off David Price to supplement five innings of one-run ball from Minnesota starter Lance Lynn in a victory over visiting Boston.

Kepler's two-run blast in the fourth broke a 1-all tie after Grossman's solo shot led off the bottom of the first. Lynn (5-5) walked five batters but allowed only an unearned run on three hits with two strikeouts for the Twins, who have won four of five.

Price (8-5) was on the hook despite his quality start, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out three in six innings. The Boston southpaw had won four consecutive starts and six of his past seven coming in.

Rangers 3, Royals 2

Rougned Odor homered and Austin Bibens-Dirkx picked up his first win of the season as visiting Texas completed a three-game sweep of Kansas City.

It was the fifth consecutive victory for the Rangers, who have won 17 of their past 20 meetings with the Royals dating back to July 23, 2016. Kansas City dropped its ninth straight game, its longest losing streak of the season.

Bibens-Dirkx (1-1) allowed just five hits and a run over 6 2/3 innings. He also made history by combining with catcher Isiah Kiner-Falefa to form the first battery in major league history of players with hyphenated surnames. Kiner-Falefa, making his big league catching debut, threw out Hunter Dozier trying to steal second to end the game.

Rockies 10, Mets 8

Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon and Ryan McMahon homered, and Colorado survived a throwback game at Coors Field for a slugfest win over New York in Denver.

Colorado trailed 8-6 heading into the bottom of the fifth but rallied to take the lead. Ian Desmond drew a two-out walk, Tom Murphy singled and McMahon smacked a pinch-hit home run off Robert Gsellman (5-2) to make it 9-8. The long ball was McMahon's second of the year.

Dominic Smith had a single, a double and a triple, and Asdrubal Cabrera and Devin Mesoraco each had two hits and two RBIs for New York.

Orioles 3, Nationals 0

Baltimore scored early and added on later in defeating host Washington in a soggy game that included a rain delay of 2 hours, 43 minutes.

Mark Trumbo launched a 427-foot home run in the second inning off loser Gio Gonzalez (6-4) to stake Orioles starter Andrew Cashner to a 2-0 lead. Danny Valencia added a sacrifice fly in the sixth, after the rain delay.

The Orioles began the night having lost 10 of 11 games, including Tuesday night's defeat against the Nationals to open the series. Baltimore earned its first win in five games against Washington this season, with one more game remaining on Thursday. The Nationals lost for the eighth time in 11 games.

Brewers-Pirates, ppd.

Milwaukee's series finale against host Pittsburgh was rained out after the teams waited through a two-plus-hour delay. The contest never got underway. No makeup date was immediately announced.

--Field Level Media

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