MLB roundup: Mets post 8-run inning, whip Nats in Max Scherzer's return

 

[May 15, 2023]  Mark Canha had two run-producing hits in the Mets' eight-run fifth inning as New York won 8-2 to forge a split of Sunday's results against the host Washington Nationals.

Mets starter Max Scherzer (3-2), who hadn't pitched since May 3 because of neck spasms, held the Nationals to one run in five innings. He allowed two hits, walked two and struck out six.

In the fifth, Canha's double and Brandon Nimmo's single accounted for the first two runs. The other six runs came after Washington got the second out. Canha's second hit of the inning, a single, produced the eighth run. He finished 3-for-4 as the Mets won for just the fifth time in their last 15 games.

The Nationals scored in the second inning on CJ Abrams' double and added a run in the eighth on Abrams' single.

Nationals 3, Mets 2 (Game 1)

CJ Abrams hit a solo home run to break a seventh-inning tie and lift Washington to a victory against visiting New York in the resumption of a suspended game from Saturday.

It was the third homer of the season for Abrams, who put Washington ahead earlier with a run-scoring single in the fourth inning. Jeff McNeil's sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh had tied the score at 2.

Hunter Harvey (2-0) was the winning pitcher. Kyle Finnegan posted his eighth save despite giving up two singles in the ninth. Dominic Leone (0-1) took the loss while Michael Perez went 4-for-4 for New York.

Guardians 4, Angels 3

Josh Naylor crushed a three-run tiebreaking homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead host Cleveland to victory and a series win against Los Angeles.

Naylor homered in all three games of the series, giving him six for the season for the Guardians, who rank last in the major leagues in homers with just 23.

For seven innings, the game was a pitchers' duel between Cleveland rookie Tanner Bibee and the Angels' Patrick Sandoval. The two were high school teammates in 2015. Both starting pitchers lasted 7 2/3 innings and 98 pitches. Bibee gave up just two hits and struck out seven with no walks while allowing one run, while Sandoval (3-2) scattered three runs (two earned) and five hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

Pirates 4, Orioles 0

Mitch Keller had a career-high 13 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings to lead Pittsburgh past host Baltimore.

Keller (5-1) scattered four singles and didn't walk a batter as an encore to his last start, when the right-hander threw a complete-game, four-hit shutout against the Colorado Rockies in a 2-0 win. Those two outings represent the Pirates' only two victories in their past 13 games.

The 13 strikeouts were six more than the Orioles had at the plate combined in the first two games of the series. The Orioles, whose winning streak ended at four, were held to six singles, including two by Cedric Mullins, and a double by Gunnar Henderson.

Rays 8, Yankees 7

Taylor Walls hit a go-ahead grand slam in the fifth inning as Tampa Bay beat host New York to gain a split of their four-game series.

Zach Elfin (5-1) got the win after allowing four runs on seven hits in his six innings, striking out nine and walking one. He allowed two third-inning homers after he took a comebacker from Anthony Volpe off his leg.

Tampa Bay loaded the bases with one out in the fifth and Randy Arozarena's sacrifice fly tied the score, and Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt (1-4) walked Josh Lowe to reload the bases. Reliever Albert Abreu was one strike away from getting out of the jam when Walls hit a changeup into the first row of the right-center-field seats near the Yankee bullpen, giving the Rays an 8-4 lead.

Blue Jays 6, Braves 5

Danny Jansen hit a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to lift Toronto over visiting Atlanta.

George Springer hit a solo homer for the Blue Jays, who completed a three-game sweep in the series. The Braves' losing streak reached four despite a two-run homer by Ozzie Albies and solo shots by Ronald Acuna Jr. and Kevin Pillar.

Toronto left-hander Yusei Kikuchi allowed five runs (four earned) in four-plus innings as Nate Pearson (1-0) earned his first win of the season, pitching the ninth. Atlanta righty Collin McHugh served as the opener and allowed three unearned runs and six hits in 1 2/3 innings. Raisel Iglesias (0-1) took the loss and a blown save for the Braves.

Tigers 5, Mariners 3

Javier Baez drove in two runs as host Detroit salvaged the finale of a three-game series with a win over Seattle.

Riley Greene had three hits and scored a run for Detroit, which was outscored 14-2 in the first two games of the series. Jason Foley (1-1) picked up the win with an inning of scoreless relief. Alex Lange walked two batters in the ninth but survived for his seventh save. Detroit starter Joey Wentz lasted just 2 2/3 innings, allowing three runs and six hits.

Julio Rodriguez scored a run and knocked in another for the Mariners. Seattle starter Logan Gilbert gave up three runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Marlins 3, Reds 1

Garrett Cooper came off the injured list and lined a go-ahead, opposite-field RBI double in the seventh inning to lead host Miami to a win over Cincinnati.

Miami was also led by Bryan De La Cruz, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles, one run and one RBI. The Marlins got four scoreless innings of relief as Tanner Scott (3-1) earned the victory, and Dylan Floro picked up his second save. The Reds had their three-game winning streak snapped as they failed to earn their first road sweep of 2023.

Cooper, who hadn't played since April 30 due to an ear infection, took the roster spot of outfielder Jesus Sanchez, who strained his right hamstring on Saturday.

Brewers 9, Royals 6

Brice Turang's three-run homer capped a seven-run third inning as Milwaukee erased an early deficit for a victory over visiting Kansas City to complete a three-game sweep.

The Brewers capitalized on three walks and two errors in the decisive third. Mike Brosseau put Milwaukee up 9-4 in the seventh with a two-out, pinch-hit home run, his fourth. The Royals got solo homers in the ninth from Hunter Dozier, his second, and Bobby Witt Jr., his seventh, to make it 9-6.

Eric Lauer (4-4), skipped in the rotation after three ineffective starts, got the victory in relief, allowing the two solo homers over the final 5 1/3 innings. Royals starter Jordan Lyles (0-7) was tagged for seven runs in 2 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and three walks.

Twins 16, Cubs 3

Trevor Larnach and Joey Gallo both homered to highlight a seven-run third inning and Minnesota pounded out a season-high 18 hits in a win over Chicago in a rubber match in Minneapolis.

Michael A. Taylor homered, Kyle Farmer went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs and Nick Gordon had two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored for Minnesota, which won its sixth home series in seven tries this season. Louie Varland (1-0) earned his second career major league win, allowing three runs on four hits over 6 1/3 innings.

Christopher Morel and Seiya Suzuki homered for Chicago, which lost for the fifth time in the last seven games. Marcus Stroman (2-4), who had gone at least five innings in each of his eight previous starts, took the loss by allowing six runs on a season-high seven hits over 2 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out three.

Astros 4, White Sox 3

Yordan Alvarez had two hits and two RBIs and Yainer Diaz hit his first career home run to lift visiting Houston over Chicago.

Four Astros combined for 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Ryan Pressly pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in seven chances.

The White Sox surrendered the first four runs but trimmed the deficit to one on Jake Burger's two-run homer in the sixth inning. Chicago scored its first run on a Luis Robert Jr. solo shot in the fourth.

Rockies 4, Phillies 0

Kyle Freeland pitched six scoreless innings to boost Colorado over Philadelphia in Denver.

Freeland struck out eight Phillies and allowed four hits and one walk. Charlie Blackmon scored half the Rockies' runs with a 2-for-4 day at the plate. Kris Bryant also went 2-for-4 with an RBI, Brenton Doyle hit a solo home run and CJ Cron tallied the other RBI for Colorado.

Aaron Nola battled to give the Phillies seven innings of work, allowing four runs on six hits. Bryson Stott, Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto all posted two hits for Philadelphia.

Rangers 11, Athletics 3

Adolis Garcia scored the go-ahead run on an error and added a grand slam to cap an eight-run eighth inning and lift visiting Texas to a victory over Oakland.

Robbie Grossman launched a homer to highlight his three-hit, three-RBI performance and Garcia and Marcus Semien each added an RBI single to fuel the Rangers to their seventh win in their last nine games. Semien scored three times and Nathaniel Lowe went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

Shea Langeliers belted a two-run homer and had an RBI single for the Athletics, who committed four errors en route to losing for the seventh time in the last eight games.

Dodgers 4, Padres 0

Mookie Betts hit a two-run home run and Tony Gonsolin pitched five scoreless innings as Los Angeles continued its dominance over visiting San Diego.

Rookie Miguel Vargas had a two-run double for the Dodgers to finish off a three-game sweep that was their 11th consecutive regular-season series victory over the Padres. Los Angeles has gone 28-6 against San Diego in that stretch.

Gonsolin (1-1) gave up two hits with one walk and six strikeouts over 85 pitches in his fourth start of the season while lowering his ERA to 1.42. Padres left-hander Ryan Weathers (1-2) gave up four runs over 5 2/3 innings in his return to the major leagues as San Diego saw its losing streak reach five games.

Diamondbacks 2, Giants 1

Christian Walker scored from first base on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.'s walk-off double as Arizona beat San Francisco in Phoenix.

Walker drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth from Tyler Rogers (0-3) and Gurriel followed with a double into the left field corner to easily score the winning run. Miguel Castro (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for Arizona, which has won three straight after losing the series opener on Thursday.

Thairo Estrada had two of San Francisco's three hits. The loss overshadowed another strong outing by Giants starter Logan Webb, who allowed one run on three hits over seven innings. Michael Conforto hit his third homer in his last five games.

Cardinals 9, Red Sox 1

Paul DeJong, Andrew Knizner and Nolan Arenado each homered as visiting St. Louis beat Boston to complete a three-game sweep.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (2-1) pitched six strong innings to earn the win. He limited Boston to a run on four hits. Lars Nootbaar had three hits (two doubles, single) and Arenado finished with four RBIs for the Cardinals, who have won six of their last seven games.

Boston's Corey Kluber (2-5) surrendered four runs on seven hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked three. The Red Sox received two hits from Rafael Devers, who drove in their only run.

--Field Level Media

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