DENVER: Hometown rookie Kyle Freeland came within two outs of the first no-hitter by a Rockies pitcher at Coors Field before surrendering a sharp single to Melky Cabrera in Colorado’s 10-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
Freeland, who is from Denver and grew up going to games at the hitter-friendly park, struck out the first batter of the ninth inning and then allowed Cabrera’s hit to left field on a 2-2 count.
The 24-year-old Freeland (9-7) threw 126 pitches. He was pulled immediately after the hit and left to a standing ovation. The lefty struck out a career-high nine, walked three and hit a batter.
Freeland was trying to throw the second no-hitter in Coors Field history. Hideo Nomo accomplished the feat in 1996 when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The only no-hitter in Rockies history was thrown by Ubaldo Jimenez in 2010 at Atlanta.
Edinson Volquez of the Miami Marlins pitched the lone no-hitter in the majors this season, doing it last month against Arizona.
Freeland even had an RBI single in the seventh for the Rockies’ last run.
Reliever Jordan Lyles got the last two outs to complete the one-hitter.
Pat Valaika drove in five runs, including a three-run homer as part of a five-run sixth that turned a 2-0 lead into a rout. Charlie Blackmon also hit a solo homer.
Carlos Rodon (1-2) was the loser.
Astros 19 Blue Jays 1: In Toronto, Carlos Correa homered twice and drove in a career-high five runs and Houston romped into the All-Star break, battering Toronto.
The runaway leaders in the AL West became just the fifth team in the last 40 years to reach 60 wins before the All-Star Game. The Astros joined the 1998 Yankees, 2001 Mariners, 2003 Braves and this year’s Los Angeles Dodgers, who got there Saturday. At 60-29, Houston heads into the break with a whopping lead in a division where no one else is over .500.
A day after his career-high 15-game hitting streak ended, Correa had four hits. The All-Star shortstop hit the 20-homer mark with his second of the day for his fifth career multihomer game and second this year.
Fellow All-Star Jose Altuve, Yuli Gurriel and Evan Gattis also homered for Houston. Altuve had three hits for the fifth consecutive game — he became the ninth major leaguer to do so in more than a century, and the first since George Brett’s record-tying six-game streak for Kansas City in 1976.
Gattis drove in four runs with two hits in Houston’s most-lopsided win of the season.
Pirates 14 Cubs 3: In Chicago, Francisco Cervelli and Andrew McCutchen capped Pittsburgh’s 10-run first inning with consecutive homers off Jon Lester, helping the Pirates pound Chicago.
Cervelli drove in five runs and Jordy Mercer had two hits and three RBIs as the Pirates closed out a 5-2 road trip with their fifth win in six games. All-Star Josh Harrison homered in the ninth and Chad Kuhl pitched three innings of one-run ball in an emergency start after Jameson Taillon was scratched due to flu-like symptoms.
Pittsburgh sent 15 batters to the plate in its highest-scoring inning since it got 10 in the seventh against Colorado on May 17, 2009. It was the first time it scored at least 10 in the first inning since June 8, 1989, against Philadelphia.
Cervelli hit his third career grand slam into the basket in left with two out. McCutchen followed with a drive to left-center for his 17th homer, chasing Lester and drawing a smattering of boos from a frustrated crowd of 41,604 at Wrigley Field.
Dodgers 5 Royals 2: In Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw tossed a six-hitter to become the majors’ first 14-game winner, Justin Turner homered twice, and NL West-leading Los Angeles beat defeated Kansas City to complete its major league-best 10th sweep and sixth straight victory.
The streaking Dodgers head into the All-Star break owning baseball’s best record of 61-29. They’ve won 18 of their last 19 at home, where they lead the majors with a 39-11 mark.
Kershaw (14-2) allowed two runs and six hits on 99 pitches, struck out 13 and walked none to set the Dodgers’ record for most wins at the break.
The All-Star left-hander, who won’t pitch in Tuesday’s showcase in Miami, is 10-0 over his last 13 starts, all Los Angeles victories. He allowed a run for the first time in four outings.
Brewers 5 Yankees 3: In New York, Travis Shaw and Stephen Vogt both homered and Milwaukee increased its surprising NL Central lead, topping New York.
The Brewers have won nine of 11. At 50-41, they go into the All-Star break in first place for the fifth time in franchise history, 5 1/2 games ahead of the reigning World Series champion Chicago Cubs and St. Louis.
The Yankees (45-41) have not won a series since June 9-11 and are 3 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East.
Shaw hit a three-run homer in the first off Masahiro Tanaka (7-8). Vogt added a solo shot in the second, his fourth since being plucked off waivers from Oakland two weeks ago.
Nationals 10 Braves 5: In Washington, Anthony Rendon reached base four times, the Washington bullpen allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings, and the Nationals beat Atlanta.
Rendon scored twice and drove in a pair as the Nationals salvaged a split of the four-game series with the Braves to enter the All-Star break with a 9 1/2-game lead over Atlanta in the NL East.
Washington starter Joe Ross left the game with an apparent injury with one out in the fourth.
Reliever Matt Grace (1-0) allowed two runs, one earned, over 2 2/3 innings. Joe Blanton, Enny Romero and Matt Albers each threw a scoreless inning.
With Washington leading by one, Rendon provided an insurance run in the seventh. He walked, stole second and went to third on a throwing error by catcher Tyler Flowers, and scored on a Matt Wieters’ sacrifice fly.
Tigers 5 Indians 3: In Cleveland, Michael Fulmer outpitched All-Star teammate Corey Kluber and Alex Presley hit a tiebreaking, two-run double and Detroit hung on late to salvage the series finale with Cleveland.
Fulmer (9-6) dominated Cleveland’s lineup until the seventh, when he gave up a two-run homer to Indians All-Star Jose Ramirez.
Detroit’s shaky bullpen barely held together over the last three innings. Shane Green worked out of a bases-loaded threat in the seventh and Justin Wilson did the same in the eighth while getting five outs for his 10th save in 11 tries.
Fulmer will not pitch for the AL in Miami on Tuesday night, so he made the most of a nationally televised matchup against Kluber by beating the Central-leading Indians. He held Cleveland to one run and three hits over the first six innings and won his third start in a row.
Presley ripped his double just inside the left-field chalk in the sixth off Dan Otero after the Tigers loaded the bases against reliever Nick Goody (1-1), who replaced Kluber to start the inning.
Freeland, who is from Denver and grew up going to games at the hitter-friendly park, struck out the first batter of the ninth inning and then allowed Cabrera’s hit to left field on a 2-2 count.
The 24-year-old Freeland (9-7) threw 126 pitches. He was pulled immediately after the hit and left to a standing ovation. The lefty struck out a career-high nine, walked three and hit a batter.
Freeland was trying to throw the second no-hitter in Coors Field history. Hideo Nomo accomplished the feat in 1996 when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The only no-hitter in Rockies history was thrown by Ubaldo Jimenez in 2010 at Atlanta.
Edinson Volquez of the Miami Marlins pitched the lone no-hitter in the majors this season, doing it last month against Arizona.
Freeland even had an RBI single in the seventh for the Rockies’ last run.
Reliever Jordan Lyles got the last two outs to complete the one-hitter.
Pat Valaika drove in five runs, including a three-run homer as part of a five-run sixth that turned a 2-0 lead into a rout. Charlie Blackmon also hit a solo homer.
Carlos Rodon (1-2) was the loser.
Astros 19 Blue Jays 1: In Toronto, Carlos Correa homered twice and drove in a career-high five runs and Houston romped into the All-Star break, battering Toronto.
The runaway leaders in the AL West became just the fifth team in the last 40 years to reach 60 wins before the All-Star Game. The Astros joined the 1998 Yankees, 2001 Mariners, 2003 Braves and this year’s Los Angeles Dodgers, who got there Saturday. At 60-29, Houston heads into the break with a whopping lead in a division where no one else is over .500.
A day after his career-high 15-game hitting streak ended, Correa had four hits. The All-Star shortstop hit the 20-homer mark with his second of the day for his fifth career multihomer game and second this year.
Fellow All-Star Jose Altuve, Yuli Gurriel and Evan Gattis also homered for Houston. Altuve had three hits for the fifth consecutive game — he became the ninth major leaguer to do so in more than a century, and the first since George Brett’s record-tying six-game streak for Kansas City in 1976.
Gattis drove in four runs with two hits in Houston’s most-lopsided win of the season.
Pirates 14 Cubs 3: In Chicago, Francisco Cervelli and Andrew McCutchen capped Pittsburgh’s 10-run first inning with consecutive homers off Jon Lester, helping the Pirates pound Chicago.
Cervelli drove in five runs and Jordy Mercer had two hits and three RBIs as the Pirates closed out a 5-2 road trip with their fifth win in six games. All-Star Josh Harrison homered in the ninth and Chad Kuhl pitched three innings of one-run ball in an emergency start after Jameson Taillon was scratched due to flu-like symptoms.
Pittsburgh sent 15 batters to the plate in its highest-scoring inning since it got 10 in the seventh against Colorado on May 17, 2009. It was the first time it scored at least 10 in the first inning since June 8, 1989, against Philadelphia.
Cervelli hit his third career grand slam into the basket in left with two out. McCutchen followed with a drive to left-center for his 17th homer, chasing Lester and drawing a smattering of boos from a frustrated crowd of 41,604 at Wrigley Field.
Dodgers 5 Royals 2: In Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw tossed a six-hitter to become the majors’ first 14-game winner, Justin Turner homered twice, and NL West-leading Los Angeles beat defeated Kansas City to complete its major league-best 10th sweep and sixth straight victory.
The streaking Dodgers head into the All-Star break owning baseball’s best record of 61-29. They’ve won 18 of their last 19 at home, where they lead the majors with a 39-11 mark.
Kershaw (14-2) allowed two runs and six hits on 99 pitches, struck out 13 and walked none to set the Dodgers’ record for most wins at the break.
The All-Star left-hander, who won’t pitch in Tuesday’s showcase in Miami, is 10-0 over his last 13 starts, all Los Angeles victories. He allowed a run for the first time in four outings.
Brewers 5 Yankees 3: In New York, Travis Shaw and Stephen Vogt both homered and Milwaukee increased its surprising NL Central lead, topping New York.
The Brewers have won nine of 11. At 50-41, they go into the All-Star break in first place for the fifth time in franchise history, 5 1/2 games ahead of the reigning World Series champion Chicago Cubs and St. Louis.
The Yankees (45-41) have not won a series since June 9-11 and are 3 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East.
Shaw hit a three-run homer in the first off Masahiro Tanaka (7-8). Vogt added a solo shot in the second, his fourth since being plucked off waivers from Oakland two weeks ago.
Nationals 10 Braves 5: In Washington, Anthony Rendon reached base four times, the Washington bullpen allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings, and the Nationals beat Atlanta.
Rendon scored twice and drove in a pair as the Nationals salvaged a split of the four-game series with the Braves to enter the All-Star break with a 9 1/2-game lead over Atlanta in the NL East.
Washington starter Joe Ross left the game with an apparent injury with one out in the fourth.
Reliever Matt Grace (1-0) allowed two runs, one earned, over 2 2/3 innings. Joe Blanton, Enny Romero and Matt Albers each threw a scoreless inning.
With Washington leading by one, Rendon provided an insurance run in the seventh. He walked, stole second and went to third on a throwing error by catcher Tyler Flowers, and scored on a Matt Wieters’ sacrifice fly.
Tigers 5 Indians 3: In Cleveland, Michael Fulmer outpitched All-Star teammate Corey Kluber and Alex Presley hit a tiebreaking, two-run double and Detroit hung on late to salvage the series finale with Cleveland.
Fulmer (9-6) dominated Cleveland’s lineup until the seventh, when he gave up a two-run homer to Indians All-Star Jose Ramirez.
Detroit’s shaky bullpen barely held together over the last three innings. Shane Green worked out of a bases-loaded threat in the seventh and Justin Wilson did the same in the eighth while getting five outs for his 10th save in 11 tries.
Fulmer will not pitch for the AL in Miami on Tuesday night, so he made the most of a nationally televised matchup against Kluber by beating the Central-leading Indians. He held Cleveland to one run and three hits over the first six innings and won his third start in a row.
Presley ripped his double just inside the left-field chalk in the sixth off Dan Otero after the Tigers loaded the bases against reliever Nick Goody (1-1), who replaced Kluber to start the inning.
