M’s muscle Rays
Tom Murphy hit a tiebreaking homer, his sixth in the last four games, in the sixth inning to lift the Seattle Mariners to a 7-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays last night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Murphy’s 16th homer of the season came off Jalen Beeks (5-3) after a walk to Kyle Seager. Murphy became the first Mariners catcher to homer in four straight games.
Tommy Milone (3-7) got the win after giving up four runs in five innings of relief, helping Seattle to its sixth victory in eight games. Matt Magill pitched the ninth for his second save in two tries.
The Rays began the day one game ahead of Oakland for the AL’s second wild card.
Twins 14, White Sox 4 — Nelson Cruz homered and drove in three runs on four hits in his second game back from a wrist injury and Minnesota routed Chicago in Minneapolis.
Max Kepler hit a two-run homer to stay one ahead of Cruz for the team lead, starting pitcher Michael Pineda (9-5) stayed strong for seven innings, and the Twins raised their lead on Cleveland in the AL Central race to three games. That’s the biggest it’s been in two weeks.
Angels 5, Rangers 1 — In Arlington, Texas, Mike Trout matched the MLB lead with his career-best 42nd homer, Andrew Heaney (3-3) had a careerhigh 14 strikeouts without a walk over eight innings and Los Angeles beat Texas in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
Trout lined a two-run shot into the left field seats immediately after David Fletcher led off the game with a single off Joe Palumbo (0-2). It was Trout’s 10th homer this year against the Rangers, matching the most ever by an opponent against them in the same season.
Orioles 4, Royals 1 — Hanser Alberto hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning, and host Baltimore ended an eightgame losing streak by beating Kansas City.
Royals reliever Jacob Barnes (1-2) sandwiched a pair of walks around two outs before Alberto hit a 1-1 pitch into the Baltimore bullpen for his eighth home run. As the ball cleared the wall, Alberto raised his right arm in the air and smiled broadly approaching second base.
Interleague
Mets 9, Indians 2 — Michael Conforto hit a tiebreaking homer moments after an embarrassing error by left fielder Oscar Mercado, and resurgent New York rolled from there to a victory over visiting Cleveland.
J.D. Davis also went deep and Steven Matz (8-7) permitted only one earned run in6 ⅓ innings as the Mets opened a critical homestand against a trio of playoff contenders with a resounding performance. New York (6560), which began the day two games out of a wild card spot, improved to 25-10 since the All-Star break and matched a season best at five games over .500.
Pete Alonso hit a two-run double to cap a four-run seventh that broke it open.
Indians ace Corey Kluber will be shut down for two weeks with an abdominal strain, an injury he sustained as he was rehabbing from a broken arm.
National League
Braves 5, Marlins 1 — Freddie Freeman homered twice and drove in four runs, Dallas Keuchel kept working out of trouble and host Atlanta defeated Miami.
Freeman sent one went the opposite way into the Marlins bullpen against Elieser Hernandez in the fourth. The next inning, the Braves slugger went deep again with two outs to break a 1-1 tie, launching a pitch from Tyler Kinley (1-1) into the right-field seats for his 33rd homer of the season and second multi-homer game of the homestand.
The third Miami pitcher, Austin Brice, didn’t fare any better against Freeman, giving up a two-run single in the seventh.
Pirates 4, Nationals 1 — Starling Marte hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in eighth inning, and host Pittsburgh beat Washington.
After struggling against Stephen Strasburg through seven innings, Pittsburgh loaded the bases against Wander Suero (3-7) with no outs in the eighth when Adam Frazier bunted a single past the mound. Bryan Reynolds tied it 1-1 with a sacrifice fly before Marte drove a fastball from Daniel Hudson 397 feet to rightcenter for his 22nd homer.
Reds 3, Padres 2 — Freddy Galvis hit a tiebreaking tworun homer in the sixth inning, and Aristides Aquino added an RBI single as host Cincinnati beat San Diego.
Galvis, claimed off waivers from Toronto on Aug. 12, followed Josh VanMeter’s second hit of the game with an opposite-field drive to left. It was his second home run in two nights.