CLEVELAND (AP) — José Ramírez homered for the first time in July and drove in two runs as the Cleveland Guardians ended their three-game losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.
Ramírez connected in the fifth inning off Joey Wentz (0-2) to help the AL Central-leading Guardians get just their third win in 10 games. Ramírez added an RBI single in the sixth.
Steven Kwan and rookie Jhonkensy Noel also hit homers for Cleveland, which has been in an offensive rut for weeks. The Guardians came in having scored two or fewer runs in six of their past eight games.
Wenceel Perez hit a two-run homer for the Tigers.
CARDINALS 2, PIRATES 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Rookie Paul Skenes lost for the first time in 12 career major league starts, giving up Alec Burleson’s tiebreaking single in the ninth inning that lifted St. Louis over Pittsburgh.
Pitching for the first time since starting for the National League in last week’s All-Star Game, the 22-year-old right-hander pitched past the seventh inning for the first time in the major leagues.
Nolan Arenado put St. Louis ahead with a fifth-inning home run on a first-pitch curveball, and Nick Gonzalez tied the score with an RBI single in the eighth off JoJo Romero.
Skenes (6-1) threw 91 pitches through eight innings, and Pirates manager Derek Shelton allowed him to remain on the mound for the ninth.
PADRES 4, NATIONALS 0
WASHINGTON (AP) — Luis Arraez and Jurickson Profar homered on consecutive pitches in the fifth inning, and San Diego blanked Washington.
Randy Vásquez pitched six innings to earn his first victory since June 22 for San Diego, which has won three in a row.
Washington, which had won five of six, is 0-4 against the Padres this season. The Nationals were shut out for the 11th time.
Nationals starter DJ Herz (1-4), recalled from Triple-A Rochester earlier in the day, breezed through three innings, then escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth. He retired the first two batters in the fifth before facing the top of the lineup for the third time.
MARLINS 6, ORIOLES 3
MIAMI (AP) — Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Nick Gordon each drove in two runs, Jesús Sánchez homered and Kyle Tyler and four relievers held Baltimore without a run after the third inning as Miami beat the Orioles.
Baltimore, which slipped into a tie with Cleveland for the best record in the American League at 60-40, was slowed after losing second baseman Jorge Mateo and starting pitcher Albert Suárez due to injuries in the third inning.
Mateo collided with shortstop Gunnar Henderson as they dove to catch a grounder off the bat of Jesús Sánchez behind the second base bag and left because of left elbow pain.
Suárez’s outing ended when Miami’s next hitter, Otto López, hit a comebacker that deflected the pitcher’s right foot and rolled near the Marlins’ dugout on the third-base side for a single that loaded the bases.
RAYS 4, BLUE JAYS 2
TORONTO (AP) — Brandon Lowe hit a two-run home run and Tampa Bay Rays won for the fourth time in five games by beating Toronto.
Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 17th home run and outfielder Daulton Varsho made an impressive leaping catch for the second game in a row, but Toronto lost for the fifth time in seven games.
Right-hander Shawn Armstrong opened for the Rays — who climbed back over .500 at 51-50 — in place of righty Ryan Pepiot, who was hospitalized in New York City on Sunday because of a knee infection.
Armstrong exited after striking out four in two scoreless innings. Left-hander Tyler Alexander (3-3) followed and struck out four over three shutout innings.
METS 3, YANKEES 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Jeff McNeil kept up his sudden power surge with a two-run homer that snapped a sixth-inning tie, and the New York Mets held off the New York Yankees in their Subway Series opener.
Jose Quintana (5-6) and five relievers combined on a five-hitter at Yankee Stadium as the Mets (52-48) matched their season high of four games over .500. They are 3-0 against their crosstown rivals, including a two-game sweep at Citi Field last month.
With closer Edwin Díaz unavailable, Jake Diekman worked a hitless ninth for his fourth save. After walking Juan Soto with one out, the veteran lefty froze Aaron Judge with a 96 mph fastball on the inside corner for a called third strike, then retired rookie Ben Rice on a grounder to end it.
The Mets had walked Judge his first four times up, once intentionally, but the Yankees couldn’t capitalize.
RANGERS 3, WHITE SOX 2
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas right-hander Jon Gray allowed one run pitching into the eighth inning and retired the last 15 batters he faced as the Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox.
After Andrew Vaughn’s RBI single with two outs in the third inning, the White Sox didn’t get another batter on base against Gray (5-4). The last was pinch-hitter Tommy Pham for the second out of the eighth, when shortstop Jonathan Ornelas made a backhanded stop and was falling away from first base when he made a incredible throw.
Gray struck out five and walked none while throwing 63 of his 80 pitches for strikes.
The White Sox (27-76) have lost nine games in a row and 15 of 18. They are only the 12th team in MLB history with 76 losses in their first 103 games, and the first since the 1979 Oakland Athletics.
