Guardians rally past Royals

Rookie Jhonkensy Noel singled home Josh Naylor with the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and Cleveland rallied for a win over Kansas City, reclaiming sole possession of first place in the AL Central.

The Guardians trailed 5-2 entering the seventh, but scored four times to take their first lead of the afternoon. Bo Naylor homered off starter Michael Wacha, while Josh Naylor, Will Brennan and Noel had RBI singles against Lucas Erceg (2-4).

Erceg was charged with one run allowed, his first in 12 appearances and 13 1/3 innings since joining the Royals in a July 30 trade with Oakland.

Andrés Giménez tacked on a sacrifice fly in the eighth as Cleveland avoided a four-game sweep in the series. The Guardians and rookie manager Stephen Vogt had been alone atop the Central for 154 days until Kansas City pulled into a tie Tuesday.

Eli Morgan (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the victory. Emmanuel Clase earned his AL-best 39th save — with his career-high 26th straight conversion — and matched Cody Allen’s franchise record with 149.

CUBS 14, PIRATES 10

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Christian Bethancourt drove in seven runs, including a go-ahead two-run single in the ninth, as Chicago rallied past Pittsburgh to sweep a three-game series.

The Cubs trailed by seven through six innings before taking advantage of another shaky performance by Pittsburgh’s bullpen.

Bethancourt hit a two-run homer in the seventh to start Chicago’s surge. The catcher added a two-run double in the eighth and laced a sharp bases-loaded single to left against Pirates closer David Bednar (3-7) to complete the comeback.

Pete Crow-Armstrong had a career-high four hits to boost his batting average over his last 21 games to .341 (26 of 76). Ian Happ chipped in three hits for the Cubs, who scored 41 runs across three games at PNC Park to improve to 17-8 over their last 25 games.

Porter Hodge (3-1) pitched two scoreless innings to become the unlikely winner.

ASTROS 10, PHILLIES 0

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Houston pitcher Spencer Arrighetti lost his no-hit bid against the NL East-leading Phildelphia when Austin Hays led off the eighth inning with an infield single.

The 24-year-old rookie right-hander struck out nine and walked four without a hit through seven innings. He had thrown 53 of his 86 pitches for strikes. A sixth-round pick in the amateur draft, Arrighetti entered the game 6-11 with a 4.94 ERA and having allowed 112 hits in 116 2/3 innings.

Houston left fielder Mauricio Dubón kept the no-hit bid alive with a leaping catch of Brandon Marsh’s fly ball against the wall for the final out of the seventh inning.

Arrighetti was going for the second no-hitter by the Astros this season after Ronal Blanco no-hit Toronto on April 1. Houston has 17 no-hitters in franchise history.

MARINERS 6, RAYS 2

SEATTLE (AP) — Victor Robles and Julio Rodríguez each hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning as Seattle beat Tampa Bay.

Randy Arozarena went deep against his former team again and Luis Castillo pitched 5 2/3 solid innings to help the Mariners win two of three in the series. Seattle stayed 3 1/2 games back of first-place Houston in the AL West.

It’s the first time the Mariners have won consecutive series since mid-June, when they took three of four from the Chicago White Sox and followed that with a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers.

Robles and Rodríguez both connected with two outs against lefty reliever Tyler Alexander (5-4), giving the struggling Mariners offense a much-needed boost.

RED SOX 3, BLUE JAYS 0

BOSTON (AP) — Brayan Bello delivered the longest outing of his career, pitching eight innings of two-hit ball on Wednesday night to lead Boston to a victory over Toronto.

Bello (12-6) struck out nine and walked one to pick up just his second win in eight starts since the All-Star break. The 25-year-old righty had only pitched into the eighth inning once in his career previously, and he had never recorded more than 24 outs.

Tyler O’Neill homered, Masataka Yoshida had a three hits, and Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth for his 25th save.

ATHLETICS 9, REDS 6

CINCINNATI (AP) — Seth Brown hit a pair of home runs, including a go-ahead three-run shot in the eighth, and Oakland beat Cincinnati.

The A’s hit four home runs in the game and have homered 166 times this season, seventh-most in the major leagues. Oakland has scored 50.3% of its runs on homers, the highest percentage in the majors.

The Reds had one hit and were trailing 5-0 after six, but scored six runs in the seventh to take the lead on Will Benson’s three-run home run.

But Brown’s second home run — off Emilio Pagán (3-4) — put the A’s ahead to stay 8-6 in the eighth.

NATIONALS 5, YANKEES 2

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dylan Crews led off the game for the Nationals with his first career homer and later hit an RBI double, and Washington beat the New York Yankees.

Crews, the third-ranked prospect in baseball who debuted on Monday, lifted a high drive to the bullpen in left-center on Carlos Rodón’s second pitch. In the fourth inning, Crews hit a 105.8 mph liner for a double to put Washington ahead 5-1 as his family celebrated in the stands.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his career-best 22nd homer and ninth for the Yankees, lofting a 97 mph fastball down the middle from MacKenzie Gore over the wall in center in the second.

Gore (8-11) worked six solid innings, allowing two runs and six hits. Jose A. Ferrer and Jacob Barnes each pitched a scoreless inning and Kyle Finnegan got out of trouble in the ninth for his 34th save in 38 chances.

BRAVES 5, TWINS 1

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Chris Sale won his major league-leading 15th game with six crisp innings, Jorge Soler homered early and threw out a runner at the plate late, and the resurgent Atlanta beat struggling Minnesota.

Sale (15-3) continued his comeback season by stretching his streak of allowing two earned runs or fewer to 14 straight starts. Sale had six strikeouts to match San Diego’s Dylan Cease for the major league lead with 197 this year and set a single-season Braves franchise record for a left-hander.

Matt Olson hit an RBI double and Luke Williams added a two-run double in a four-run seventh that broke the game open against Minnesota’s beleaguered bullpen and propelled the Braves (73-60) to their ninth win in their last 11 games. They moved within five games of NL East leader Philadelphia, where they conveniently start a four-game series on Thursday night.

BREWERS 5, GIANTS 3

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Freddy Peralta pitched six scoreless innings, William Contreras capped a five-run fifth inning with a two-run homer and Milwaukee hung on to beat San Francisco.

Peralta (9-7) allowed two walks and Thairo Estrada’s base hit through five innings as the Brewers built a 5-0 lead. The Giants threatened in the sixth with a two-out single by Tyler Fitzgerald and a walk before Peralta struck out Heliot Ramos and let out a scream as he walked from the mound.

Peralta struck out eight, allowed only two hits and walked three.

CARDINLAS 4, PADRES 3

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nolan Arenado drove in Masyn Winn with two outs in the ninth inning lifting St. Louis to a walk-off victory over San Diego.

Winn reached on a single off Robert Suarez (8-2), who came in to pitch the ninth. Rookie Victor Scott II kept the inning alive when he singled Winn to second, before Arenado — who is 13 for 43 in the past 11 games — singled to center.

Ryan Helsley (6-4) pitched one inning for the win.

San Diego’s Luis Arraez, who had three hits Tuesday, hit two doubles and two singles in five at-bats. It was his major league-leading sixth four-hit game this season. Manny Machado added two hits and an RBI.

Paul Goldschmidt hit three singles and drove in a run for St. Louis and now has seven hits in 11 at-bats in the series.

TIGERS 3, ANGELS 2

DETROIT (AP) — Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run home run in the 2nd inning and Kerry Carpenter added an RBI single in the third as Detroit extended their winning streak to six games with a victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

The teams were forced to wait out a lengthy rain delay at the outset for the second straight night. This time, after a delay of 1 hour, 50 minutes, first pitch took place at 8:30 p.m.

The Tigers moved two games over .500 at 68-66 for the first time since May 7, when they were 19-17.

Los Angeles (54-79) lost its fifth straight game and has dropped 13 of 15.

RANGERS 3, WHITE SOX 1, 1st game

RANGERS 4, WHITE SOX 2, 2nd game

CHICAGO (AP) — Travis Jankowski robbed Andrew Vaughn of a game-winning homer with a leaping catch in the ninth inning, and Texas beat the Chicago White Sox for their second victory of the day against the majors’ worst team.

Corey Seager had four hits, including a tiebreaking single in the ninth, as Texas improved to 6-0 against Chicago this season. Seager also had an RBI single as the Rangers beat the White Sox 3-1 hours earlier in the resumption of a game suspended Tuesday after just four pitches.

The White Sox (31-103) have lost six in a row and 10 of 11 overall. They are 4-32 since the All-Star break, moving closer to the franchise record of 106 losses in 1970.

Wyatt Langford hit a three-run homer in the second game for Texas (62-71). José Ureña (5-8) pitched four scoreless innings for the win in relief of Jack Leiter, and Grant Anderson got one out for his first career save.

ROCKIES 8, MARLINS 2

DENVER (AP) — Kyle Freeland went six innings, Aaron Schunk hit his first major league home run and the Colorado took advantage of four errors to beat Miami.

Nolan Jones hit a pair of RBI singles and Drew Romo added two hits and an RBI for Colorado. Ezequiel Tovar added a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth.

Derek Hill homered for Miami, which fell to 6-15 in its last 21 games.

Freeland (4-6) allowed two runs on six hits and he struck out five with a walk in his 200th career appearance. After surrendering a homer to Hill in the second, he fanned Hill in the fourth for his third of the night and 800th of his career, ranking fourth in franchise history.

Freeland also earned his 59th career win, snapping a tie with Jason Jennings for fifth most in club history

DIAMONDBACKS 9, METS 5

PHOENIX (AP) — Corbin Carroll hit a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning off Edwin Díaz, part of a two-homer night that lifted Arizona over the New York Mets.

The Diamondbacks trailed 5-4 heading into the eighth, but pulled off a two-out rally against the Mets’ closer. Díaz (5-3) entered with a runner on first and promptly walked Pavin Smith and Geraldo Perdomo before Carroll smacked his second homer of the game into the right-field seats.

It was Díaz’s sixth blown save of the season.

New York fell four games behind the Atlanta Braves for the final NL wild card. The D-backs — defending National League champions — have won 21 of 27 to keep pace in a torrid NL West race that includes the Dodgers and Padres.

DODGERS 6, ORIOLES 4

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Teoscar Hernández hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the third inning, Shohei Ohtani went deep leading off the game on his second bobblehead night and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Baltimore.

Ohtani singled and scored in the third and scored again in the fifth, giving the Japanese superstar a career-high 104 runs this season, bettering his mark of 103 set in 2021 with the Los Angeles Angels.

Ohtani blasted his 42nd homer off Corbin Burnes (12-7) and stole his 41st and 42nd bases in pursuit of becoming the first major leaguer in history with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season.

The Associated Press