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MLB roundup: Braves rookie leads charge in sweep of Yanks

[August 27, 2020] Ronald Acuna Jr. led off with a long home run, one of three struck by Atlanta, and the Braves beat the New York Yankees 5-1 in the first game of a doubleheader, to end Gerrit Cole's 20-game winning streak on Wednesday.

Atlanta's Ian Anderson, the organization's top pitching prospect, made an impressive major league debut. Anderson (1-0) pitched six innings and allowed one run on one hit, two walks and six strikeouts. He became just the second starter to beat the Yankees in a major league debut since 2011.

Shane Greene pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close the game. The win came in the first game of a doubleheader.

Cole (4-1) lost for the first time since May 27, 2019 and fell four wins short of the record set by Carl Hubbell in 1936-37. It also ended a streak of 28 starts without a loss, leaving him two away from the record set by Roger Clemens in 1998-99.

Braves 2, Yankees 1 (Game 2)

Freddie Freeman hit a two-run, opposite-field home run in the sixth inning, powering Atlanta over New York for a doubleheader sweep.

Dansby Swanson started the winning rally with a two-out single against reliever Chad Green (2-1), and Freeman hit the second pitch he saw into the left-center-field bleachers to put the Braves in front.

The winning pitcher was Max Fried (5-0), who allowed only one run on four hits and one walk in six innings. He struck out five in his first career appearance against the Yankees. Mark Melancon pitched around a two-out hit in the seventh inning to earn his fifth save.

White Sox 10, Pirates 3

Chicago rode four home runs to an easy victory over visiting Pittsburgh and a sweep of their two-game series.

Eloy Jimenez hit a three-run shot, Danny Mendick and Jose Abreu each launched two-run homers and Edwin Encarnacion smacked a solo shot. Nomar Mazara added an RBI single for Chicago.

Erik Gonzalez hit a solo homer and Jacob Stallings had a two-run single for Pittsburgh. Chicago's Dallas Keuchel (5-2) struck out seven in six innings, giving up two runs, four hits and three walks. Pirates starter Trevor Williams (1-5) gave up eight runs in six innings.

Cardinal 6, Royals 5

Kolten Wong drew a bases-loaded walk to cap a ninth-inning rally and lift St. Louis to a victory over visiting Kansas City.

The Cardinals trailed 5-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth but scored four times with two outs to steal the game. Tyler O'Neill's game-tying, two-run single was the key hit in the comeback.

Cardinals reliever Alex Reyes (1-0) earned the victory and Randy Rosario (0-1), the eighth Royals pitcher, took the loss. Whit Merrifield had three hits for Kansas City.

Tigers 7, Cubs 6

Austin Romine had three hits, scored a run and drove in two more, and host Detroit pounded out 18 hits while holding off Chicago.

Miguel Cabrera and Jonathan Schoop each had three hits, a run and an RBI while Cameron Maybin also rapped three hits and scored a run. Niko Goodrum drove in two runs for Detroit, which took two games in the three-game series.

Nico Hoerner had three hits, two runs and an RBI and Kyle Schwarber hit a solo homer for the Cubs. Chicago scored three runs in the ninth but left a runner stranded at first as Buck Farmer recorded three outs after allowing four consecutive hits.

Mets 5, Marlins 4

The New York bullpen squandered another brilliant outing by Jacob deGrom before Wilson Ramos delivered the tie-breaking RBI single in the eighth inning to give the host Mets a victory over Miami.

The Mets won for the first time since Aug. 19 -- their last game before they were sidelined five days after a player and coach tested positive for COVID-19. The Marlins had their three-game winning streak snapped.

deGrom allowed a run on two hits and walked two while tying a career high with 14 strikeouts over seven innings. He exited with a 4-1 lead, but it took a trio of relievers just 31 pitches to fritter away the advantage.

Phillies 3, Nationals 2

Rhys Hoskins homered, Andrew McCutchen ripped three hits, and visiting Philadelphia defeated Washington.

Didi Gregorius and Phil Gosselin added two hits each for the Phillies, who won their third in a row. Philadelphia will look to complete a three-game series sweep on Thursday.

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Braves center fielder Ronald Acuna (13) reacts with third baseman Austin Riley (27) after defeating the New York Yankees at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The win was the 1,000th of manager Joe Girardi's career. Girardi became the 65th manager in history to record at least 1,000 victories.

Blue Jays 9, Red Sox 1

Rowdy Tellez hit two home runs and had four RBIs, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a three-run double in a five-run seventh and Toronto defeated visiting Boston at Buffalo.

Randal Grichuk added a solo homer and had two RBIs for the Blue Jays, who outhit the Red Sox 11-3 as the teams have split the first two games of the three-game series.

Mitch Moreland hit a solo home run for the Red Sox. Boston's Alex Verdugo was 0-for-4 to end a 14-game hit streak.

Rays 4, Orioles 3

Michael Perez stroked a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth inning, and American League East-leading Tampa Bay beat Baltimore at St. Petersburg, Fla.

With the game tied 3-3, Perez went after a 93.8 mph 2-0 fastball on the outside part of the plate from Mychal Givens (0-1), Baltimore's sixth pitcher, and lined a low drive that cleared the wall in center.

Making just his 19th career appearance and first since 2018, Ryan Sherriff (1-0) pitched a perfect eighth for the Rays. Diego Castillo notched his first save by striking out two in a perfect ninth.

Indians 6, Twins 3

Tyler Naquin ripped a go-ahead RBI double to ignite a three-run eighth inning and propel Cleveland to the victory over Minnesota.

Jose Ramirez belted a three-run homer in the third inning and Greg Allen and Cesar Hernandez each drove in a run in the eighth for the Indians.

Mike Clevinger surrendered Max Kepler's homer to lead off the contest before allowing just one more run while striking out six batters in six innings. The 29-year-old was making his first start with Cleveland since being removed from the roster when he and fellow right-hander Zach Plesac violated team safety and health policies by going out with friends in Chicago on Aug. 8.

Athletics 3, Rangers 1

Oakland's Stephen Piscotty continued his torrid run production with a game-tying RBI single, and the A's used a bases-loaded wild pitch to score the winning run over host Texas.

Piscotty ranks second in the major leagues with 26 RBIs in August and has knocked in 10 runs in six games against the Rangers this year. He had the first hit of the game off Texas starter Kolby Allard, in the sixth inning, driving home Marcus Semien, who had walked.

Allard (0-3) also walked Ramon Laureano before Piscotty's hit, and after Piscotty's hit, Mark Canha drew a walk. Luis Garcia then replaced Allard and uncorked a wild pitch to give the A's a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish. Mike Fiers (4-1) hurled six innings for the win.

Rockies 8, Diamondbacks 7

Charlie Blackmon hit a grand slam, Sam Hilliard homered, and Jon Gray allowed a run on three hits in six innings, leading visiting Colorado to a third straight win over Arizona.

Blackmon turned a 4-1 game into an 8-1 Colorado lead with his slam to right field off the Diamondbacks' Riley Smith, who was making his major league debut. The Rockies scored five runs in the eighth inning, but had to hang on for the win.

Christian Walker drove in four runs and just missed a walk-off home run in the ninth. The Diamondbacks scored two runs in the eighth and four in the ninth, and the bases were loaded with two outs. But Nick Ahmed took a called third strike from Colorado's Jeff Hoffman, and the Diamondbacks lost their eighth straight game overall.

--Field Level Media

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