NEW YORK (AP) — Garrett Crochet struck out 11 in seven innings, Trevor Story homered and drove in three runs, and the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 12-1 on Saturday.
Star rookie Roman Anthony and Alex Bregman each drove in a run for Boston, which defeated New York for the eighth straight time after losing the rivals’ first meeting on June 6. The Red Sox, second in the NL East to Toronto, moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees in the division. Boston and New York are both in position for wild-card playoff spots.
Crochet (14-5) took over the major league lead in both innings (166 1/3) and strikeouts (207). The left-hander allowed five hits, including Giancarlo Stanton’s 16th homer.
Crochet became the first Boston pitcher since Eduardo Rodríguez in 2019 to surpass 200 strikeouts in a season. He also exceeded 500 K’s for his career.
Story had a two-run double in the third inning against rookie Will Warren (7-6) and hit his 20th homer on Warren’s first pitch of the fifth.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge went 1 for 4 with a double but struck out twice and is hitting .218 since being activated from the injured list on Aug. 5. New York has dropped three straight following a five-game winning streak.
Boston scored seven runs in the ninth, when Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe committed his major league-leading 17th error and Carlos Narváez homered.
BLUE JAYS 7, MARLINS 6, 12 INNINGS
MIAMI (AP) — Bo Bichette singled in automatic runner George Springer in the 12th inning to give Toronto a win over Miami.
Springer was 3 for 6 with a home run and two RBIs and Alejandro Kirk had an RBI double as the AL East-leading Blue Jays maintained their five-game lead over Boston, a 12-1 winner over the Yankees.
Toronto starter José Berríos gave up four hits and two runs while striking out eight in 6 1/3 innings, Tommy Nance (1-0) went 1 2/3 innings, and Brandon Little pitched a perfect 12th for his first save.
Calvin Faucher (3-4), who gave up Bichette’s single, took the loss.
TIGERS 4, ROYALS 2
DETROIT (AP) — Spencer Torkelson homered to help Detroit win its fifth straight game with a victory over Kansas City.
The teams entered the game with the best records in the American League in August. Detroit has won nine of its last 10 games.
Chris Paddack (5-11) picked up his second win as a Tiger, allowing one run in five innings.
Michael Wacha (8-10) had his four-start winning streak snapped, giving up three runs on eight hits in six innings.
The Tigers took the lead on Jake Rogers’ RBI double in the third, but Vinnie Pasquatino doubled home Bobby Witt Jr. in the fourth.
Torkelson hit his 27th homer to make it 2-1 in the fourth, and Rogers gave Detroit a two-run lead with an RBI single in the fifth.
Witt, though, homered off Tigers reliever Troy Melton in the sixth to pull the Royals to 3-2.
Witt singled with one out in the eighth, took second on Riley Greene’s error and moved to third on Pasquatino’s grounder back to the mound. A.J. Hinch brought in Will Vest, who struck out Maikel Garcia to end the inning.
Andy Ibáñez made it 4-2 with a pinch-hit homer in the eighth. Vest finished for his 19th save.
PHILLIES 6, NATIONALS 4
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Edmundo Sosa hit a three-run homer, Trea Turner also went deep and Aaron Nola earned his first win since early May as Philadelphia defeated Washington.
Nationals starter Mitchell Parker (7-14) held Philadelphia hitless through three innings, but Sosa’s seventh homer capped a five-run fourth for the NL East leaders. J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm each had an RBI double.
Turner made it 6-1 with a solo shot in the fifth, his second home run at home this week. Before that, he hadn’t hit one at Citizens Bank Park all season.
Nola (2-7) pitched six solid innings, allowing two earned runs and five hits while striking out six in his first start at home since May 14. His previous win came on May 3 against Arizona, before the right-hander missed three months with a sprained right ankle.
After blowing a save chance for the first time with the Phillies a night earlier, Jhoan Duran worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 23rd save of the year.
Luis Garcia Jr. had a homer and an RBI double and CJ Abrams also went deep for the last-place Nationals, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
RANGERS 10, GUARDIANS 0
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jack Leiter struck out a career-high 10 in seven innings, Adolis García, Josh Jung and Cody Freeman each connected on a two-run homer and Texas routed Cleveland.
Leiter (8-7) gave up just two singles — only one out of the infield — and neither runner advanced. The rookie right-hander didn’t allow a walk.
Leiter’s previous best for strikeouts was seven, and it was the first time the son of former major league pitcher Al Leiter took a scoreless outing past the sixth.
Freeman’s first major league homer opened the scoring in the second inning, Jung made it 5-0 in the third with his 12th home run and García’s 17th put Texas up 9-0 in the fifth.
All three two-run shots came off left-hander Logan Allen (7-10), who allowed a career-worst nine runs in five innings as the Guardians lost for the seventh time in eight games. It was their worst shutout loss since the Athletics beat them 17-0 on Aug. 12, 2021.
PIRATES 5, ROCKIES 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen and Jared Triolo hit two-run home runs an inning apart to lift Pittsburgh to a win over Colorado.
Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle spoiled the shutout with a ninth-inning home run.
McCutchen opened the scoring in the second with his 12th home run of the season, pulling it just inside the left-field foul pole.
Triolo hit his home run an inning later to make it 4-0. He added a triple in the fourth and scored on Bryan Reynolds’s double. The 2-for-4 game lifted his batting average above .200 for the first time this season, and he finished the day with a .205 average.
Doyle hit a two-out, solo home run. He entered with the third-highest OPS in baseball in August, behind Shohei Ohtani (1.221) and Brice Turang (1.190).
Rookie Mike Burrows led the Pirates pitching staff with four shutout innings of two-hit, five-strikeout ball. He was pulled after 57 pitches.
ASTROS 9, ORIOLES 8
BALTIMORE (AP) — Christian Walker homered for a third-straight game and Houston went deep four times in a victory over Baltimore.
Carlos Correa, Jesús Sánchez and Victor Caratini homered in a five-run first inning against Orioles starter Dean Kremer. Walker added a go-ahead two-run shot in the seventh inning, his 19th of the season, off Dietrich Enns (1-2).
The Astros banged out 11 hits and moved within a victory of their first four-game sweep since Aug. 29-Sept. 1 2024. Houston has scored 26 runs in the series after entering on a four-game skid in which they were outscored 30-2.
AJ Blubaugh (2-1) allowed two runs in four innings of relief for Houston, which began the night two games in front of Seattle atop the AL West. Bryan King allowed one run in the eighth, and Bryan Abreu worked a perfect ninth for his third save.
WHITE SOX 7, TWINS 3
CHICAGO (AP) — Colson Montgomery hit his first career grand slam and Luis Robert Jr. homered late as Chicago snapped a three-game skid with a victory over Minnesota.
Montgomery’s 12th homer of the season came in the second inning and was a 412-foot shot to right-center off starter Mick Abel, one of the Twins top prospects who was called up from Triple-A earlier in the day. The slam increased Chicago’s lead to six runs. Earlier in the inning, Chase Meidroth drove in Andrew Benintendi on a single.
The 24-year-old Abel (2-3), acquired from Philadelphia in the Jhoan Duran trade at the deadline, lasted three innings, allowing all six of his runs in the second, with two strikeouts and two walks.
Abel was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul on Saturday after posting a 1.76 ERA while holding opponents to a .140 batting average over his last three starts in the minors.
The Twins got solo homers from Cody Clemens, his 14th, Matt Wallner, his 17th, and Royce Lewis, his eighth. Thomas Hatch pitched four shutout innings in relief for Minnesota.
GIANTS 7, BREWERS 1
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Logan Webb pitched six stingy innings and Casey Schmitt belted a three-run homer to lead San Francisco to a victory over Milwaukee.
The victory snapped a four-game skid for San Francisco, which had lost 11 of 13 overall.
Webb (12-9) allowed one run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts. The only blemish on his line came in the second, when Jake Bauers was hit by a pitch and scored on Caleb Durbin’s double.
Brewers starter Freddy Peralta struck out six over five scoreless innings, but Milwaukee’s usually reliable bullpen couldn’t preserve a 1-0 lead as the Giants tagged right-hander Grant Anderson (2-5) for three unearned runs in the sixth. They added four more in the seventh against rookie Carlos Rodriguez on Schmitt’s homer and an RBI single by Patrick Bailey.
Schmitt hit a tying double in the sixth and finished with four RBIs. He also scored twice.
Christian Yelich had two hits for the major league-leading Brewers, who went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and are 3-5 since winning a franchise-record 14 straight games.
METS 9, BRAVES 2
ATLANTA (AP) — Jeff McNeil and Mark Vientos each hit two of New York’s six home runs to back a steady pitching performance by Clay Holmes as the Mets beat Atlanta.
The Mets strengthened their hold on the final National League wild-card spot with their second straight win after losing 16 of 21 entering the series.
Holmes (11-6) allowed three hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings to give New York consecutive starts of at least six innings. Rookie right-hander Nolan McLean allowed two runs in seven innings of Friday night’s 12-7 win to become the first Mets starter besides David Peterson to last at least six innings since Holmes on June 7.
McNeil hit a three-run homer off Braves newcomer Cal Quantrill in the third. Pete Alonso added a two-run shot off Dylan Lee in the seventh.
Vientos and Starling Marte also connected off Lee in the inning. Vientos and McNeil hit back-to-back homers in the ninth.
Quantrill (4-11) allowed three runs on five hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings before leaving with cramping in his calves.
DIAMONDBACKS 10, REDS 1
PHOENIX (AP) — Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Geraldo Perdomo each homered and drove in three runs, Blaze Alexander also hit a home run and Arizona routed Cincinnati.
A night after singling in the winning run in the 11th inning in Arizona’s 6-5 victory, Gurriel opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the first inning — his 18th of the season.
Perdomo made it 7-0 in the fourth with his 14th homer — a two-run shot — and added an RBI single in the eighth to help the Diamondbacks win their fourth straight game.
Alexander hit a solo home run in the fifth.
Arizona catcher Gabriel Moreno was 2 for 4 with an RBI in his second game back after missing more than two months because of a broken finger. He homered in his return Friday night.
Jalen Beeks pitched the first inning for Arizona, Nabil Crismatt (1-0) worked the next four and Jake Woodford threw the last four for his first save.
Cincinnati ace Andrew Abbott (8-4) allowed a season-high seven runs — six earned — in four innings.
PADRES 5, DODGERS 1
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Nestor Cortes took a perfect game into the sixth inning and combined with three relievers on a two-hitter as San Diego reclaimed the NL West lead with a victory over Los Angeles.
Ramón Laureano had a two-run single in the fourth and Xander Bogaerts added a two-run double in the eighth for the Padres (74-56), who have surged ahead of the Dodgers (73-57) during the archrivals’ final series of the regular season by allowing just five hits and two runs in back-to-back wins.
Alex Freeland hit his second career homer for the Dodgers, who have lost four of six. Los Angeles is in second place for only the second day since April 27.
Cortes (2-2) infamously gave up Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam while pitching for the Yankees in last year’s World Series, but the veteran left-hander thoroughly shut down the Dodgers this time around, matching Yu Darvish’s six innings of one-hit ball Friday for San Diego.
In his fourth start since joining the Padres at the July 31 trade deadline, Cortes retired the Dodgers’ first 16 batters before Miguel Rojas’ sixth-inning single.
Freeland connected off Jeremiah Estrada in the eighth to homer in his second straight game, but Bogaerts came through with only the Padres’ third hit of the night.
Adrian Morejon got four outs for his third save.
Tyler Glasnow (1-2) yielded two runs and three hits with four walks in four innings on his 32nd birthday.
CUBS 12, ANGELS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Kyle Tucker homered twice and drove in five runs as surging Chicago routed Los Angeles.
Reese McGuire added a grand slam and tied a career high with five RBIs to help the Cubs win for the seventh time in nine games. They hold the top National League wild-card spot and are six games behind first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
Cade Horton (8-4) gave up three hits over six scoreless innings and Ben Brown went the rest of the way for his first major league save.
Busting out of an extended slump, Tucker has three homers in two nights following a 25-game drought. The outburst has come after he was given three games off by manager Craig Counsell earlier in the week.
Jo Adell homered late for the Angels, who totaled eight hits while losing the first two games of the series.
ATHLETICS 2, MARINERS 1, 10 INNINGS
SEATTLE (AP) — Shea Langeliers hit a tiebreaking double with two outs in the 10th inning and the Athletics held off Seattle.
The Athletics, who mustered five hits, also scored in the fourth when Darell Hernaiz drove in Jacob Wilson with a single.
Randy Arozarena tied it for the Mariners in the sixth with his career-best 24th home run. His previous high was 23 in 2023 with Tampa Bay.
Seattle fell three games behind first-place Houston in the AL West but holds a three-game advantage over Kansas City for the final American League wild card.
Tyler Ferguson (3-2) pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings for the win. Hogan Harris entered with two runners aboard in the 10th and got two outs for his second save.
A total of five A’s pitchers combined to allow just three hits.
The Associated Press