Bobby Witt Jr. homered on a pitch outside the strike zone for the fourth time this season and Paul DeJong finished a triple short of the cycle, helping the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1 Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.
Witt homered into the left-center bullpen on a shoulder-high, full-count fastball from Louie Varland (0-5) in the third inning, putting the Royals ahead 2-0 with his 24th home run this season. The pitch was 4.07 feet above the ground, the highest hit by a Kansas City player for a home run since pitch tracking started in 2008, according to MLB Statcast.
Witt leads the major leagues with a .349 average.
DeJong doubled in the second inning and scored on Kyle Isbel’s groundout, singled in the fourth and homered in the sixth. DeJong reached 20 homers for the first time since hitting a career-high 30 for St. Louis in 2019, when he was an All-Star.
Cole Ragans (10-7) struck out eight and walked none in seven innings, allowing one run and five hits. He has won three straight starts for the first time as a major leaguer.
PADRES 8, PIRATES 2
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Martín Pérez beat his old team in his first victory since San Diego acquired him at the trade deadline, and the Padres defeated Pittsburgh for their 19th win in 22 games.
Jake Cronenworth and David Peralta homered for the Padres, who swept six games from the Pirates this season. San Diego (69-53) improved to a season-high 16 games over .500, sweeping the three-game series and winning eight series in a row for the first time since 2007.
Pittsburgh has lost 10 consecutive games for the first time since June 13-22 last year. The Pirates are 1-12 since July 31, the day after the trade deadline.
DIAMONDBACKS 11, ROCKIES 4
PHOENIX (AP) — Eugenio Suárez hit a grand slam and finished with five RBIs, Joc Pederson drove in two early runs and Arizona won their sixth straight game by beating Colorado.
Arizona swept the three-game series and has won 18 of 21, rocketing into postseason contention with its longest winning streak since last August. Following a 6-1 homestand, the NL champions go on a nine-game trip to Tampa Bay, Miami and Boston.
Suárez had three hits, driving the first pitch he saw from Riley Pint into the left-center seats for a 10-3 lead in the sixth and his fourth career slam.
Arizona took a 4-0 lead in the first, partly thanks to shoddy Rockies defense, and dropped Colorado to an NL-worst 17-46 on the road.
ORIOLES 4, NATIONALS 1
BALTIMORE (AP) — Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer in the first, Dean Kremer stopped a four-start losing streak and Baltimore salvaged a split of their two-game series against Washington.
Kremer (5-9) outdueled DJ Herz (2-5) in a sharply pitched game, allowing a run and five hits over six innings. Yennier Cano and Cionel Pérez each worked a perfect inning of relief, and Seranthony Domínguez followed with a hitless ninth for his second save since joining the Orioles before the trade deadline.
Herz permitted two runs and four hits in six innings.
GUARDIANS 6, CUBS 1
CLEVELAND (AP) — Alex Cobb got his first win in nearly a year and Andrés Giménez drove in three runs, sending the American League-leading Cleveland to a victory over the Chicago Cubs.
José Ramírez, Josh Naylor and Will Brennan also had RBIs for Cleveland, which swept the three-game series and extended its winning streak to five. The Guardians are 72-49 and have the best home record in the majors at 38-20.
Cobb (1-1) allowed one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and two walks for his first win since a one-hitter for San Francisco against Cincinnati last Aug. 29. The 36-year-old right-hander had hip surgery last Oct. 31, was traded to Cleveland on July 30 and lost his Guardians debut at Minnesota on Aug. 9.
Jameson Taillon (8-7) allowed four runs in six innings as the Cubs lost their third straight after winning four in a row. He gave up two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.
REDS 9, CARDINALS 2
CINCINNATI (AP) — Jonathan India homered twice and drove in four runs, TJ Friedl had two solo shots on his 29th birthday and Cincinnati completed a three-game sweep of St. Louis.
Tyler Stephenson also homered to help the Reds sweep a three-game series for the first time since July 2-4 at the New York Yankees.
The Reds have won their fourth straight — the first time that’s happened since they strung together seven in a row in early June — and moved into a tie with St. Louis for second place in the NL Central.
On a bullpen night for Cincinnati, six pitchers combined to allow two runs on 10 hits. Sam Moll (3-1) pitched a scoreless third for the victory.
PHILLIES 9, MARLINS 5
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber quieted the boo birds with his seventh career grand slam, shaking Philadelphia out of their mid-summer malaise and leading them to a victory over Miami.
Trying to fight their way out of a rut, the Phillies got a needed win, a night after they suffered a four-hit shutout loss to one of the worst teams in baseball. Once the winningest team in baseball, the Phillies needed Schwarber’s go-ahead slam to help snap a four-game losing streak and they won for just the eighth time in 24 games since the All-Star break.
ASTROS 2, RAYS 1, 10 INNINGS
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Mauricio Dubón drove in the go-ahead run with a 10th-inning single, closer Josh Hader worked two scoreless innings and Houston won their season-high eighth straight game by beating Tampa Bay.
Pedro León advanced from second to third on Jeremy Peña’s fly to deep center off Garrett Cleavinger (7-3) starting the 10th. Zach Dezenzo struck out, Jake Meyers and Dubón got Houston’s second hit of the game. The Rays also had two hits.
Hader (5-6) struck out three as Houston ended an 8-1 trip.
Tampa Bay has lost seven of nine and dropped to 59-61.
RANGERS 9, RED SOX 7, 10 INNINGS
BOSTON (AP) — Wyatt Langford hit a tying three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning and Jonah Heim had a two-run homer in the 10th to lead Texas to a win over Boston.
Heim’s homer came on the first pitch from Boston reliever Zach Kelly (4-2), scoring automatic runner Ezequiel Duran.
Langford’s seventh homer of the season came off Josh Winckowski, who opened the ninth inning by allowing consecutive singles to Corey Seager and Josh Smith, who scored on Langford’s blast.
Matt Festa (1-1) earned the win, with Kirby Yates recording his 21st save of the season with a scoreless 10th.
TIGERS 3, MARINERS 2, 10 INNINGS
DETROIT (AP) — Akil Baddoo’s pinch-hit double in the 10th inning gave Detroit a come-from-behind win over Seattle.
The teams were playing for the fifth time in eight days. The Tigers won two of three in Seattle and beat the Mariners 15-1 on Tuesday night.
Detroit trailed 2-0 with two out in the bottom of the eighth, but Matt Vierling doubled off Yimi Garcia and Kerry Carpenter hit his third homer in two games to tie the score. Carpenter, who came off the injured list before Tuesday’s game, had struck out in his first three at-bats.
Tyler Holton (5-1) held Seattle scoreless in the top of the 10th and Collin Snider (2-2) walked Justyn-Henry Malloy to start the bottom of the inning. Zach McKinstry struck out trying to bunt, but Baddoo hit for Jake Rogers and hit a deep fly ball over the head of Victor Robles to win the game.
