Strasburg wins 7th straight start, Nats beat Dodgers 11-4
WASHINGTON (AP) — Stephen Strasburg tossed seven masterful innings to win his seventh consecutive start, leading the Washington Nationals to an 11-4 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.
Brian Dozier and Juan Soto homered, while Anthony Rendon had three hits and four RBIs that helped the Nationals (56-49) prevent a three-game sweep by the top team in the majors.
Corey Seager hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth off Nationals reliever Michael Blazek to help the Dodgers avoid their largest loss of the season.
Adam Eaton and Washington manager Dave Martinez were ejected in the first inning for arguing a called strike.
Strasburg (14-4) took over the major league lead in wins after striking out nine, walking none and limiting a potent Dodgers lineup to one run and two hits.
Walker Buehler (9-2) lost for the first time since May 18. He allowed seven runs (four earned) and eight hits over 5 1/3 innings on his 25th birthday.
BOSTON (AP) — Didi Gregorius and Austin Romine each hit a two-run homer off Chris Sale, and Domingo Germán struck out nine to help New York avoid a four-game sweep.
After trimming New York's lead in the AL East from 11 games to eight — winning the first three games of the series by a combined 38-13 — the Red Sox committed three errors to fall into third place, nine games behind the Yankees in the division.
Germán (13-2) took a no-hitter into the fourth and allowed four hits and a walk through 5 1/3 innings.
Sale (5-10) allowed six runs on five hits and three walks, striking out seven in 5 1/3 innings.
Andrew Benintendi hit a two-run homer in the fourth and two-run single in the ninth — his third hit of the game. Xander Bogaerts also had three hits.
NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Conforto hit a two-run homer in a six-run first inning against Chris Archer, and New York matched its longest win streak of the season at four with a win over Pittsburgh.
Jason Vargas (6-5) won a third straight start, and the Mets completed a three-game sweep.
Given a 6-0 lead, Vargas allowed three runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Bryan Reynolds and José Osuna hit two-run homers, and Jacob Stallings hit a solo shot for the Pirates.
Edwin Díaz got his 23rd save in 27 chances.
Chris Archer (3-8) allowed five hits and four walks in five innings.
MARLINS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 1
MIAMI (AP) — Rookie outfielder Harold Ramirez homered, hit a line drive that scored the tiebreaking run and made consecutive catches against the fence to help Miami beat Arizona.
Miguel Rojas led off the first inning with a home run for the second game in a row, and Miami teammate Brian Anderson added his 14th homer. Five pitchers combined on a four-hitter for the Marlins.
Diamondbacks left-hander Robbie Ray (9-7) allowed two earned runs in six innings. His streak of wins in four consecutive starts ended even though he struck out 11 and walked none.
Miami's Elieser Hernandez, making his first start since July 4, allowed one run in four innings. Jose Quijada (2-3) faced only six batters in two innings.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Tucker Barnhart hit a tiebreaking single in the sixth inning and Cincinnati beat Colorado.
Barnhart improved to 4 for 5 in two games since returning on Friday after missing 22 games with a right oblique strain. He drove in Josh VanMeter from second base with a grounder up the middle off Jake McGee (0-2).
Lucas Sims (2-1) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the win. Amir Garrett and Michael Lorenzen each pitched an inning and Raisel Iglesias gave up a pair of two-out singles in the ninth before getting Ian Desmond to ground out for his second save in two days and 19th of the season.
The Reds bullpen pitched a combined 8 1-3 scoreless innings while Cincinnati was winning the last two games of the three-game series.
TORONTO (AP) — Joey Wendle drove in the tiebreaking run with a bases-loaded groundout in the ninth inning and Tampa Bay rallied from a seven-run deficit to beat Toronto.
Ji-Man Choi and Guillermo Heredia each hit two-run home runs and Willy Adames added a game-tying solo shot in the eighth for the Rays.
Chaz Roe (1-3) pitched one inning for the win, Oliver Drake got one out in the ninth and Diego Castillo finished for his eighth save in nine opportunities.
Righty Daniel Hudson (6-3) took the loss.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — J.T. Realmuto hit a grand slam, three other Phillies went deep and Philadelphia avoided a three-game sweep against Atlanta.
Aaron Nola (9-2) cruised through six scoreless innings before faltering in the seventh. He left after surrendering seven hits with eight strikeouts and three walks in 6 2/3 innings.
Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins and Adam Haseley also homered for Philadelphia, which pulled within 6½ games of the NL-East leading Braves.
Ender Inciarte and Johan Camargo homered for Atlanta. Kevin Gausman (3-6) allowed six runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts and a walk, falling to 0-4 with a 6.45 ERA in four career starts against Philadelphia.
CHICAGO (AP) — Miguel Sanó hit a three-run homer in a five-run first inning, and Minnesota pounded Dylan Covey and Chicago to strengthen its hold on the AL Central.
Jorge Polanco, Jonathan Schoop and Max Kepler also homered as Minnesota ran its major league-leading total to 205 home runs.
Covey (1-7) threw 14 pitches and failed to get an out in his 10th start of the season.
Kyle Gibson (10-4) struck out nine in six effective innings.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Kyle Schwarber hit a grand slam and a three-run homer to power Chicago past Milwaukee, averting a three-game sweep.
Schwarber crushed a first-pitch slam deep into the second deck in right field off starter Zach Davies (8-4) with one out in the second inning for his 23rd home run of the season. The slugger took Davies deep again in the fourth with an opposite-field shot to make it 7-0.
Christian Yelich hit a run-scoring double in fifth, extending his hitting streak to 16 games.
Brad Brach (4-3) retired the only batter he faced for the victory.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — George Springer led off the game with a home run, Jose Altuve and rookie Yordan Alvarez also connected and Houston beat St. Louis.
The Astros have won nine of 11.
Paul Goldschmidt's team record-tying streak of six straight games with a home run ended for St. Louis. He singled in five at-bats.
Dexter Fowler had a pinch-hit homer in the ninth for St. Louis, which lost for the third time in 11 games.
Wade Miley (9-4) gave up five hits in five shutout innings. He struck out six and walked two.
Dakota Hudson (10-5) gave up eight hits and five earned runs in four-plus innings.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) —Cleveland pitcher Trevor Bauer heaved the ball from just past the mound over the center field wall while being taken out of the game in a loss to Kansas City.
It was not clear whether Bauer was upset with his performance or that manager Terry Francona was pulling him. Bauer (9-8) had just allowed a two-run single to Nicky Lopez that gave the Royals a 7-5 lead with one out in the fifth inning.
Danny Duffy (5-5) picked up the win. He allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits in six innings.
In addition to Lopez's hit, Ryan O'Hearn, Cheslor Cuthbert and Meibrys Viloria also had RBIs.
ANGELS 5, ORIOLES 4
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Matt Thaiss hit his second home run of the game in the bottom of the ninth and Los Angeles avoided being swept by Baltimore.
Albert Pujols hit his 650th homer. Taylor Cole (1-1) threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for the win.
Trey Mancini and Jonathan Villar each drove in two runs, but the last-place Orioles could not complete their first four-game sweep in more than two years.
Mychal Givens (1-5) took the loss.
Pujols is the sixth major leaguer to hit 650 homers, and he needs 11 more to pass Willie Mays (660) for fifth place.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Marcus Semien homered and scored the game-winning run on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth as Oakland beat Texas.
Texas led 5-4 in the ninth with José Leclerc (1-3) seeking his sixth save. His blown save was his third.
Leclerc walked Khris Davis with the bases loaded and one out after Matt Olson singled in Chris Hermann with the tying run.
Hermann singled leading off the ninth and Semien followed with a walk.
Danny Santana was 3 for 4 with a homer and a double for Texas. Nomar Mazara also went deep for the Rangers, winless in eight straight series.
Blake Treinen (4-3) worked a scoreless ninth for the win.
MARINERS 3, TIGERS 2, 10 INNINGS
SEATTLE (AP) — J.P. Crawford hit a walkoff single with one out in the 10th inning and Seattle extended its winning streak to five games.
Dylan Moore led off the 10th inning with a double against José Cisnero (0-2).
Roenis Elías (4-2) picked up the victory for Seattle. Domingo Santana hit his 20th homer of the season.
Niko Goodrum hit his 10th home run of the season for Detroit.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Madison Bumgarner won his final start before the trade deadline and rookie Mike Yastrzemski had four hits, two RBIs and scored the go-ahead run to lead San Francisco over San Diego.
Bumgarner (6-7) allowed only four hits in seven innings, including a three-run homer by Hunter Renfroe two batters after he hit prized rookie Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch, drawing the ire of Padres fans. MadBum struck out six and walked two.
Will Smith pitched the ninth for his 26th save, allowing Wil Myers' two-run homer, his 13th.
It was Giants manager Bruce Bochy's last game in San Diego. He's retiring at the end of this season, his 13th with the Giants. Before that, he managed the Padres for 12 seasons.
Renfroe drove in all four runs for San Diego, which has lost 11 of 15 games since the All-Star break.
Luis Perdomo (1-3) took the loss.