Thursday baseball recap for May 23, 2019 – Twins blast, Yanks walk, Marlins streak; Rays, Mets, Pirates, Phils, Braves, Red & White Sox win
TWINS 16, ANGELS 7
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Miguel Sano and Jonathan Schoop each hit two of Minnesota's franchise record-tying eight home runs and the Twins hammered Matt Harvey and the Los Angeles Angels 16-7 Thursday.
C.J. Cron homered, doubled twice and singled twice for the Twins. Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario also homered for Minnesota.
It was the third time in franchise history — dating to their days as the Washington Senators — and second time this season the Twins homered eight times. Before doing it April 20 against Baltimore, the last time it happened was in 1963 against Washington.
Schoop drove in four runs and Sano three as the Twins won six of seven on their trip that began in Seattle and wound up with their first sweep in Anaheim since 1996.
There were a total of 11 home runs in this game, which was originally set for Wednesday but postponed due to unplayable field conditions following a pregame storm.
The eight home runs also tied the Angels mark for most allowed. It previously happened in 2005 against Texas and 1996 vs. Oakland. Tommy La Stella hit his first grand slam in the ninth for the Angels, who have dropped four straight. David Fletcher and Brian Goodwin also homered for Los Angeles.
Four of the seven hits Matt Harvey (2-4) allowed in 2 2/3 innings went over the wall.
Twins starter Martín Pérez (7-1) went five innings and yielded two runs on five hits.
YANKEES 6, ORIOLES 5
BALTIMORE (AP) — Mychal Givens walked Aaron Hicks with the bases loaded to force in the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning, and New York completed a four-game sweep of Baltimore.
Clint Frazier and Luke Voit homered for the Yankees, who went deep 13 times in the series.
Down 4-1 in the eighth, the Orioles mounted a comeback. Two walks and an RBI single by Trey Mancini brought in Tommy Kahnle (2-0) from the bullpen, and Renato Nunez tied it with a three-run drive.
In the ninth, Gleyber Torres drew a walk and Gary Sanchez singled before Givens (0-2) walked DJ LeMahieu to load the bases. After going 3-0 on Hicks, Givens got two strikes before missing badly outside.
Zack Britton worked the ninth for his second save.
Baltimore has lost six straight. The Orioles own the worst record in the majors (15-35) and worst record at home (6-19).
RAYS 7, INDIANS 2
CLEVELAND (AP) — Ryan Yarbrough handled Cleveland's lineup into eighth inning in his first start this season and Kevin Kiermaier legged out a three-run, inside-the-park homer when two outfielders collided in the win for Tampa Bay.
Tommy Pham, Avisail García and Willy Adames hit solo homers off Adam Plutko (1-1) as the Rays improved baseball's best road record to 16-7.
Yarbrough (3-1) allowed two runs and four hits in a career-high 7 1/3 innings.
The Indians dropped their fourth straight and nearly lost two more players to injury on a freakish play in the sixth when rookie left fielder Oscar Mercado and center fielder Leonys Martin slammed into each other trying to catch the ball.
Mercado took the worst of the crash as Martin's left knee drove hard into his right hip. As the two Indians players lay helplessly in the grass, the ball ricocheted toward the left-field corner and Kiermaier easily circled the bases for the first inside-the-parker allowed by Cleveland since 2008.
METS 6, NATIONALS 4
NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Gómez hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the eighth inning that helped New York overcome a Washington comeback that started after Nationals manager Dave Martinez's heated ejection.
Gómez's first homer of the season came off Wander Suero (1-4) as the Mets completed a four-game sweep.
The Nationals came to life after Martinez's ejection in the eighth. Juan Soto walked against Robert Gsellman (1-0), Victor Robles singled, and Yan Gomes brought in Soto with a double. Gerardo Parra followed with a pinch-hit, two-run single for a 4-3 Washington lead.
The Nationals have lost five straight and six of seven.
Edwin Díaz picked up his 12th save. Mets starter Steven Matz allowed 10 hits over six innings of one-run ball.
Washington starter Stephen Strasburg allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings.
PIRATES 14, ROCKIES 6
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Josh Bell, Bryan Reynolds and Starling Marte homered in the seventh inning to lead Pittsburgh past Colorado.
The Pirates jumped on Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela (3-4) for eight runs over 3 1/3 innings, but Colorado stormed back in the sixth, plating six runs that were charged to Pittsburgh starter Jordan Lyles (5-1).
Pittsburgh quickly fought back with three homers. Gregory Polanco homered in the first for Pittsburgh.
The Pirates had scored just two runs while dropping their first two games of the series before setting a new season high with 14 on Thursday.
MARLINS 5, TIGERS 2
DETROIT (AP) — Garrett Cooper hit a grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning and Miami extended its winning streak to six gameS with the win over Detroit.
The Marlins, who had the worst record in the majors last week, extended the longest active winning streak in the big leagues.
The Tigers wrapped up an 0-9 stay at Comerica Park against Houston, Oakland and the Marlins. That record doesn't include a suspended game in which Detroit trails Oakland in the late innings.
Miami benefited from a couple of fielding lapses by the Tigers in the ninth to come back against Shane Greene (0-2), who had been 15 for 15 on save chances this season.
Marlins starter Trevor Richards struck out six over 5 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits and one run.
Tyler Kinley (1-0) gave up one run in the eighth and got the win. Sergio Romo earned his ninth save with a perfect ninth.
PHILLIES 9, CUBS 7
CHICAGO (AP) — Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto homered off Jon Lester, and Philadelphia beat Chicago for a split of the four-game series between division leaders.
Andrew McCutchen added two hits and two RBIs as Philadelphia won for the fifth time in seven games. Aaron Nola (5-0) pitched 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball in his second straight victory.
Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber hit homers for Chicago, which had won three of four. Rizzo finished with four hits and three RBIs, but the NL Central-leading Cubs were unable to overcome a second consecutive shaky performance by Lester (3-3).
Lester was charged with four earned runs and seven hits in his second straight loss. He had an 8-0 record and a 1.49 ERA in 10 career starts against the Phillies before Thursday.
Segura also doubled in the third to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
BRAVES 5, GIANTS 4, 13 INNINGS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Austin Riley hit a game-tying home run in the eighth inning and then drove in the go-ahead run in the 13th with a two-out single off Reyes Moronta, lifting Atlanta past San Francisco.
Riley and Ozzie Albies each had three hits for Atlanta and Tyler Flowers homered. The Braves have won 10 of 13.
Luke Jackson (3-1), who blew his fourth save on Tuesday, retired six batters to win.
Tyler Austin hit his first career pinch-hit home run, and Brandon Belt scored on a wild pitch for San Francisco.
Riley already had one hit before his two-run homer off Tony Watson with two outs in the eighth. It was the 22-year-old's third home run of the series and fifth overall.
Atlanta's win overshadowed a strong outing by Giants starter Madison Bumgarner, who allowed two runs on six hits, walked two and left with a 4-2 lead.
Braves starter Kevin Gausman allowed three runs in six innings.
RED SOX 8, BLUE JAYS 2
TORONTO (AP) — Ryan Weber pitched six innings to earn his first career win as a starter, Steve Pearce homered and had three RBIs and Boston beat Toronto.
Pearce went 3 for 5. He singled in the fourth and sixth innings and hit a two-run shot off Ryan Feierabend in the ninth, his first of the season.
Rafael Devers had two hits, two RBIs and scored twice as Boston improved to 11-3 in its past 14 road games.
The struggling Blue Jays lost for the third time in four games.
Weber (1-0) allowed one run on three hits, walked none and struck out four.
Toronto's Sam Gaviglio (3-1) allowed four hits, two earned runs and struck out one in the loss. Justin Smoak hit a solo homer in the ninth.
WHITE SOX 4, ASTROS 0
HOUSTON (AP) — Lucas Giolito pitched a four-hitter for his first major league shutout, rookie Eloy Jiménez hit his third homer in two games and Chicago beat Houston.
Yoán Moncada had an RBI double and Tim Anderson added a run-scoring single for the White Sox, who earned a four-game series split by handing Houston its first set of consecutive losses since May 1-2.
Giolito (6-1) struck out a season-best nine and walked one in winning his fourth start in a row and fifth straight decision. In his previous outing last Saturday, the 24-year-old right-hander was credited with his first career complete game when he beat Toronto 4-1 in a game called after 4½ innings because of rain.
After that one, Giolito said he didn't consider it a complete game until he went nine innings. He did that Thursday.
It was the first complete game shutout for a White Sox pitcher since Chris Sale threw a two-hitter at Tampa Bay on April 15, 2016.
Jimenez, who was 0 for 7 in the first two games of the series before hitting two homers in a win Wednesday night, connected off fellow rookie Corbin Martin (1-1) for a solo shot in the fourth inning that made it 4-0.
Martin gave up six hits and four runs over 3 1/3 innings in his third career start.