NEW YORK: Pitcher Matt Albers doubled leading off the 13th inning for his first hit since 2007 and scored the tiebreaking run as the Chicago White Sox rallied past the New York Mets 2-1 on Wednesday, helped by Todd Frazier’s major league-leading 17th homer.
Albers relieved White Sox closer David Robertson to start the 12th and led off the 13th in his first at-bat since 2009. With the outfield playing shallow, he lined a 1-2 pitch from Logan Verrett to left-center, and the ball rolled to the fence on two hops. Unaccustomed to baserunning, Albers didn’t slide at second and steadied himself against second baseman Neil Walker to avoid coming off the base.
A 33-year-old right-hander who has spent most of his career in the American League, Albers had been 2 for 34 (.059) at the plate in his major league career and had not even batted since 2009. He chugged to third on a wild pitch that went to the backstop and scored standing up for his first major league run on Jose Abreu’s sacrifice fly.
“A lot of guys were laughing, saying like how funny that was,” Albers said. “They basically couldn’t believe that I did that.”
Then he caught his breath and got the three final outs.
At Chicago, Jon Lester pitched a four-hitter for his first complete game of the season, helping the major league-leading Cubs edge the Dodgers 2-1 for their seventh win in eight games.
The Athletics won their fifth straight game, with Danny Valencia having three hits including a pair of doubles in a 5-1 win over The Minnesota twins.
The Brewers averted a three-game sweep by St. Louis, helped by Zach Davies’ career-high nine strikeouts over eight shutout innings in a 3-1 win at Milwaukee.
Davies (3-3) allowed three hits and retired 13 in a row to finish the longest outing of his young career.
The Orioles beat the Red Sox 13-9 in a wild, back-and-forth slugfest at Baltimore that turned on a rare error by Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia.
Matt Wieters had three RBIs for the Orioles, who reached a season high in runs without benefit of a homer.
At Cleveland, Yan Gomes’ single scored Lonnie Chisenhall with the winning run in the 11th inning, giving the Indians a 5-4 edge over the AL-West leading Texas Rangers.
Gomes, who came into the game batting .171, fouled off a bunt attempt on the first pitch before bouncing his hit up the middle for Cleveland’s first walk-off win of the season.
Games at Houston and Atlanta also ended 5-4 in 11 innings.
George Springer homered with two outs in the 11th inning to lift the Houston Astros over the Arizona Diamondbacks for their fifth straight win.
At Atlanta, Freddie Freeman homered leading off the 11th inning to give the Braves a victory over San Francisco.
In other games, the Detroit Tigers beat the Angels 3-0, the Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep against the Yankees with a 7-0 win at Toronto, the Nationals had a 7-2 win in Philadelphia to finish a three-game sweep against the Phillies, the Reds beat the Rockies by the same margin in Denver, the Marlins edged the Pirates 3-2 and the Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 to complete a 6-0 homestand.
At San Diego, Alexei Ramirez homered twice and matched his career high with five RBIs, and Adam Rosales and Wil Myers also went deep as the Padres routed Seattle 14-6 to end a four-game losing streak and win for the second time in 10 games. It came hours after Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler strongly criticized the team’s poor play.
Fowler told the team’s radio station that the Padres’ recent performances have been “embarrassing” and “pathetic.”
Albers relieved White Sox closer David Robertson to start the 12th and led off the 13th in his first at-bat since 2009. With the outfield playing shallow, he lined a 1-2 pitch from Logan Verrett to left-center, and the ball rolled to the fence on two hops. Unaccustomed to baserunning, Albers didn’t slide at second and steadied himself against second baseman Neil Walker to avoid coming off the base.
A 33-year-old right-hander who has spent most of his career in the American League, Albers had been 2 for 34 (.059) at the plate in his major league career and had not even batted since 2009. He chugged to third on a wild pitch that went to the backstop and scored standing up for his first major league run on Jose Abreu’s sacrifice fly.
“A lot of guys were laughing, saying like how funny that was,” Albers said. “They basically couldn’t believe that I did that.”
Then he caught his breath and got the three final outs.
At Chicago, Jon Lester pitched a four-hitter for his first complete game of the season, helping the major league-leading Cubs edge the Dodgers 2-1 for their seventh win in eight games.
The Athletics won their fifth straight game, with Danny Valencia having three hits including a pair of doubles in a 5-1 win over The Minnesota twins.
The Brewers averted a three-game sweep by St. Louis, helped by Zach Davies’ career-high nine strikeouts over eight shutout innings in a 3-1 win at Milwaukee.
Davies (3-3) allowed three hits and retired 13 in a row to finish the longest outing of his young career.
The Orioles beat the Red Sox 13-9 in a wild, back-and-forth slugfest at Baltimore that turned on a rare error by Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia.
Matt Wieters had three RBIs for the Orioles, who reached a season high in runs without benefit of a homer.
At Cleveland, Yan Gomes’ single scored Lonnie Chisenhall with the winning run in the 11th inning, giving the Indians a 5-4 edge over the AL-West leading Texas Rangers.
Gomes, who came into the game batting .171, fouled off a bunt attempt on the first pitch before bouncing his hit up the middle for Cleveland’s first walk-off win of the season.
Games at Houston and Atlanta also ended 5-4 in 11 innings.
George Springer homered with two outs in the 11th inning to lift the Houston Astros over the Arizona Diamondbacks for their fifth straight win.
At Atlanta, Freddie Freeman homered leading off the 11th inning to give the Braves a victory over San Francisco.
In other games, the Detroit Tigers beat the Angels 3-0, the Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep against the Yankees with a 7-0 win at Toronto, the Nationals had a 7-2 win in Philadelphia to finish a three-game sweep against the Phillies, the Reds beat the Rockies by the same margin in Denver, the Marlins edged the Pirates 3-2 and the Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 to complete a 6-0 homestand.
At San Diego, Alexei Ramirez homered twice and matched his career high with five RBIs, and Adam Rosales and Wil Myers also went deep as the Padres routed Seattle 14-6 to end a four-game losing streak and win for the second time in 10 games. It came hours after Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler strongly criticized the team’s poor play.
Fowler told the team’s radio station that the Padres’ recent performances have been “embarrassing” and “pathetic.”
