NEW YORK (AP) — Taj Bradley pitched one-hit ball over seven innings to remain unbeaten in eight straight starts, Randy Arozarena hit two of Tampa Bay’s four home runs and the Rays routed the New York Yankees 9-1 on Saturday.
Alex Jackson, Isaac Paredes and Arozarena homered off Nestor Cortes, and Arozarena added another against Josh Maciejewski for his seventh multihomer game. Arozarena tied a career high with four hits and Curtis Mead, back in the majors for the first time since May 3, had three hits including a go-ahead double in the third.
Bradley (5-4) allowed his only hit when Ben Rice singled leading off the first, and the 23-year-old right-hander improved to 4-0 with a 0.92 ERA in his last eight starts. He leads the major leagues in ERA since June 8 among pitchers with at least 30 innings, bettering even the 1.14 of Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes. Bradley has held hitters to a .129 average (13 for 101) over that span.
TIGERS 7, BLUE JAYS 3
TORONTO (AP) — Jake Rogers hit his third career grand slam during a six-run sixth inning, and Detroit beat Toronto for their 10th win in 12 games.
Andy Ibáñez had two hits and two RBIs for the Tigers. Rogers hit his seventh home run off Trevor Richards, who entered after the Tigers knocked Yusei Kikuchi (4-9) out of the game during their big inning.
Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 3 for 4 with a two-run homer, his 16th, but the slumping Blue Jays lost for the fourth time in five and matched a season worst by falling 10 games below .500.
Guerrero homered for the third straight game for the second time this season. He also did it June 27-29.
ATHLETICS 8, ANGELS 2
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Brent Rooker hit a three-run homer, Lawrence Butler had a bases-clearing double and Oakland beat the Los Angeles Angels.
The A’s have won five of seven and are on a franchise-long eight-game home winning streak against the Angels, with an announced crowd of 14,574 in attendance at the Coliseum.
Athletics starter Mitch Spence (6-6) pitched into the sixth and held the Angels to two runs.
Rooker hit his 22nd homer of the season to give the A’s a 3-0 lead four batters into the game. Rooker is batting nearly .480 in July.
METS 1, MARLINS 0
MIAMI (AP) — Luis Severino and three relievers combined on a four-hitter as the New York Mets beat Miami.
Pete Alonso doubled with one out in the fourth inning and scored when Francisco Alvarez grounded into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded.
José Iglesias had two hits for the Mets (50-47), who improved to 4-4 against NL-worst Miami this year. They are 26-12 since falling a season-low 11 games under .500 on June 2.
It was New York’s second shutout this season — both in the past six games. Miami was blanked for the 11th time.
PIRATES 4, PHILLIES 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Luis Ortiz pitched seven shutout innings, Oneil Cruz had a home run and three RBIs, and Pittsburgh stretched their winning streak to six games with a victory over Philadelphia.
Ortiz (5-2), who had not gone more than six innings this season, gave up three hits and two walks with two strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.57.
Andrew McCutchen led off the sixth inning by hitting a 3-1 sinker from Cristopher Sánchez (7-5) 431 feet into the bullpen in left-center field. Nick Gonzales, who hit the winning RBI single in the ninth inning of an 8-7 win Friday night, got on with a two-out single and scored on Cruz’s double off the wall in right.
Cruz hit a two-out, two-run home run 422 feet off a fastball from Matt Strahm to make it 4-0 in the eighth. He also had three RBIs on Friday.
NATIONALS 5, REDS 4
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jacob Young hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning, Lane Thomas bolstered his trade stock with a run-scoring double and Washington rallied past Cincinnati.
Derek Law (6-2) pitched two scoreless innings on an outstanding night for the Nationals’ bullpen after MacKenzie Gore’s shortest start of the season. Washington has taken two straight from Cincinnati, damaging the Reds’ hopes of remaining relevant in the NL playoff race.
Ildemaro Vargas doubled leading off the eighth against Justin Wilson (1-2). With two outs, Young lined Wilson’s first pitch through the left side to score Vargas from third.
In the seventh, Thomas fought off a low-and-away fastball from Fernando Cruz and lined it to right to drive in Young and tie the game at 4-all. Young finished 2-for-3 with two stolen bases.
BRAVES 3, CARDINALS 2, 10 INNINGS, 1ST GAME
CARDINALS 9, BRAVES 5, 2ND GAME
ATLANTA (AP) — Nolan Gorman hit a two-run homer in a four-run second inning and the St. Louis Cardinals overcame two homers by Marcell Ozuna to beat the Atlanta Braves 9-5 and avoid being swept in Saturday’s split doubleheader.
The Braves won the first game 3-2 when Ozzie Albies hit a sacrifice fly with one out in the 10th inning.
Sonny Gray (10-6) gave up five runs and a career-high four homers, including two by Ozuna, in the second game. Gray had 10 strikeouts.
Ozuna hit his 28th in the sixth, when Austin Riley and Eddie Rosario also homered. Rosario hit a two-run shot in the first game.
ROYALS 6, WHITE SOX 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brady Singer threw seven shutout innings to lead Kansas City Royals to a victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Singer faced the minimum through three before running into fourth-inning trouble, walking two to load the bases. He escaped with a strikeout and retired 10 of the final 13 hitters.
Singer (6-6) allowed five singles with two walks and seven strikeouts to earn his second win in his last 10 starts.
The Royals built a 3-0 lead in the first inning with five straight hits, highlighted by Michael Massey’s RBI triple. Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. doubled in the second, adding another run.
DIAMONDBACKS 3, CUBS 0
CHICAGO (AP) — Corbin Carroll hit a two-run homer and Alek Thomas had a solo shot in Arizona’s three-run fifth inning to help the Diamondbacks beat the Chicago Cubs for their sixth win in seven games.
Zac Gallen gave up three hits in five scoreless innings, tying his career high with six walks, as defending National League champion Arizona moved three games over .500 for the first time this season.
The next three relievers — Kevin Ginkel, Justin Martinez and Ryan Thompson — each pitched a perfect inning — and Paul Sewald worked around Miles Mastrobuoni’s pinch-hit double in the ninth for his 15th save to complete the four-hitter.
Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (2-8) allowed three runs and two hits, while walking three in five innings. The 34-year-old right-hander was cruising until the fifth when Carroll and Thomas went deep.
PADRES 7, GUARDIANS 0
CLEVELAND (AP) — Dylan Cease allowed one hit and struck out 10 in seven innings, Jake Cronenworth homered and drove in three runs and San Diego beat AL Central-leading Cleveland.
Jeremiah Estrada worked a 1-2-3 eighth and Yuki Matsui a spotless ninth, completing the combined one-hitter as San Diego moved back above .500 at 51-50.
Cease (9-8) only allowed two baserunners — Tyler Freeman tripled in the third and Andrés Giménez walked in the fifth — in extending his scoreless inning streak to 13. The right-hander’s 10 strikeouts raised his major league-best total to 159.
It was Cease’s fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season and the 21st of his career. He was acquired from the White Sox in a five-player trade on March 13.
ORIOLES 8, RANGERS 4
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Grayson Rodriguez struck out eight over six innings for his AL-best 12th win, and Cedric Mullins became the eighth Baltimore batter with 10 home runs this season as the Orioles beat Texas.
Jordan Westburg and Ryan O’Hearn also went deep to increase Baltimore’s major league-best total to 156 home runs, 16 more than the New York Yankees.
The AL East-leading Orioles, the first American League team to reach 60 wins, went ahead to stay with a four-run second against Max Scherzer (1-3). The three-time Cy Young Award winner didn’t return at the start of the next inning.
Rodriguez (12-4) struck out the side in the sixth to end his night. The right-hander allowed his only three hits and two runs in a four-batter span in the second inning before retiring 13 of the last 14 he faced. He is the first Orioles pitcher since Sidney Ponson in 2003 to win 12 of his first 18 appearances in a season.
ROCKIES 4, GIANTS 3
DENVER (AP) — Ezequiel Tovar homered for a third straight game, hitting a tie-breaking two-run drive in the fifth inning, and Colorado Rockies beat San Francisco.
Kyle Freeland (2-3) went six innings and allowed three runs — two earned — on five hits in a fifth consecutive quality start since being reinstated from the injured list June 23 after missing two months due to a left elbow strain. He struck out four and walked one to win back-to-back decisions for the first time this season.
Tyler Fitzgerald, batting ninth in the order, doubled and homered to drive in two runs for the Giants. Wilmer Flores had a run-scoring double after Matt Chapman reached with two outs in the top of the sixth on shortstop Tovar’s fielding error.
Logan Webb was coming off his worst start of the season. He had matched a career-high when he allowed seven runs in five innings in a 10-6 loss to Toronto on July 10.
