CHICAGO: Jon Jay connected for his third career pinch-hit homer and Ian Happ hit a tiebreaking, two-run single an inning later, helping the Chicago Cubs rally for a 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.
The Cubs appeared to be headed for their sixth loss in eight games before Jay drove a 1-2 pitch from Erasmo Ramirez (4-3) over the wall in left-center for a tying three-run shot with two outs in the sixth. Jay then popped out of the dugout for a curtain call, obliging the crowd of 39,855 on a picturesque day at Wrigley Field.
Happ got his big hit in the seventh, driving in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo with a bouncer up the middle against Tampa Bay’s drawn-in infield.
Pedro Strop (3-2) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win. Carl Edwards Jr. and Koji Uehara worked the eighth, and All-Star Wade Davis got three outs.
Rangers 8 Red Sox 2: In Arlington, Texas, Andrew Cashner held a hot Boston lineup hitless into the sixth inning, Rougned Odor hit an early two-run homer and Texas ended the longest winning streak in the majors at six games with a rain-delayed victory over the Red Sox.
Cashner (4-7) retired 10 straight batters before first baseman Pete Kozma’s error on a dropped throw kept the sixth going. The next batter, Xander Bogaerts, ended the no-hit bid with a two-run homer.
The right-hander allowed three hits, three walks and two unearned runs with four strikeouts in seven innings.
Boston, which had at least 10 hits and six runs in every game during the winning streak, missed a chance to be the first team to sweep a season series of more than three games against the Rangers since they moved to Texas in 1972. The Red Sox won the first five meetings this year.
After a delay of nearly 90 minutes to start the game, Odor’s 16th homer put Texas ahead 2-0 in the second. Carlos Gomez had a solo shot in the third.
Odor scored three times before leaving with a bruised left hand after the fifth inning, when he was hit by a pitch.
Dodgers 1 Diamondbaks 0: In Los Angeles, Alex Wood pitched three-hit ball over seven innings to start the season 10-0 and NL West-leading Los Angeles beat second-place Arizona.
Wood became the first Dodgers starter to reach 10-0 since Don Newcombe in 1955, when the Brooklyn Dodgers won the first of the franchise’s six World Series championships.
The 26-year-old left-hander has not lost since May 30, 2016 — a span of 13 starts. Wood struck out 10 and walked two.
Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 20th save in as many chances. He put the potential tying run on with a two-out single to Brandon Drury before striking out Chris Herrmann to end the game.
Arizona’s Zack Godley (3-3) gave up one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Yasmani Grandal’s RBI double to deep center field in the second scored Chris Taylor from first base.
Rockies 5 Reds 3: In Denver, Jon Gray hit his first career homer an estimated 467 feet — the farthest by any Rockies player this season — and pitched effectively into the sixth inning as Colorado beat Cincinnati on a sweltering night.
Pat Valaika had a career-high three hits, including a two-run homer and a run-scoring single with two outs in the eighth.
Gray’s two-run drive in the second was the longest among pitchers since MLB’s Statcast began tracking distances in 2015. Gray (2-0) also was solid on the mound, going 5 2/3 innings and allowing three runs, two earned, in his second start since a broken bone in his left foot sidelined him for two months. Greg Holland threw a shaky ninth for his 28th save to help the slumping Rockies win for the third time in 14 games.
Blue Jays 7 Yankees 6: In New York, Dellin Betances forced in the go-ahead run with four walks in the eighth inning, and Toronto beat New York after wasting a five-run lead.
Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales hit back-to-back home runs in the third off Michael Pineda, who also allowed Kevin Pillar’s leadoff homer in the fourth. Russell Martin tied the score at 6 with a seventh-inning homer against Chad Green, then walked to drive in the go-ahead run in the eighth against Betances (3-4).
Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 29th home run, tying Joe DiMaggio’s Yankees rookie record set in 1936, and Ji-Man Choi homered in his Yankees debut.
Toronto took two of three from New York, which is 0-6-1 in its last seven series. Leading the AL East by four games on June 13 with a 38-23 record, the Yankees have lost 16 of their last 22.
Brewers 4 Orioles 0: In Milwaukee, Matt Garza pitched into the seventh inning and Keon Broxton hit a two-run homer to lift Milwaukee to a three-game sweep of Baltimore.
Garza allowed five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings for his first scoreless outing of the season.
Oliver Drake, Jared Hughes and Corey Knebel completed the shutout with 2 2/3 innings.
Garza (4-4) ran into trouble in the second inning after the Orioles loaded the bases with no outs. The veteran right-hander escaped by striking out Ruben Tejada and pitcher Jayson Aquino (1-2) before getting Seth Smith to fly out to right field.
Astros 10 Braves 4: In Atlanta, George Springer drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, Josh Reddick and Marwin Gonzalez each had three RBIs and streaking Houston beat Atlanta.
Houston has won four straight and 12 of 15 to improve to 58-27 overall, best in the majors. The first three batters — Springer, Jose Altuve and Reddick — went 8 for 15 with six RBIs in this one and hit a combined .581 in the two-game series with 15 RBIs in 31 at-bats.
Norichika Aoki doubled to begin the three-run seventh and chase Braves starter Jaime Garcia (2-7). Springer followed with a single, Altuve with a double and Gonzalez with a single to make it 7-4.
Royals 9 Mariners 6, 10 innings: In Seattle, Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer in the 10th, Alex Gordon added a two-out RBI single later in the inning and Kansas City completed a three-game sweep with a win over Seattle.
Perez drove the second pitch from reliever James Pazos (2-2) out to right field for his 17th homer. It was the third home run of the game for Kansas City, adding to earlier two-run shots by Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain.
Mike Minor (5-1) pitched the ninth to get the victory and Kelvin Herrera threw the 10th for his 19th save. Minor had a scare when Mike Zunino led off the ninth with a flyball to deep left field that Gordon caught one step in front of the wall.
Kansas City won for the sixth time in seven games and handed Seattle its seventh straight loss at home.
The Cubs appeared to be headed for their sixth loss in eight games before Jay drove a 1-2 pitch from Erasmo Ramirez (4-3) over the wall in left-center for a tying three-run shot with two outs in the sixth. Jay then popped out of the dugout for a curtain call, obliging the crowd of 39,855 on a picturesque day at Wrigley Field.
Happ got his big hit in the seventh, driving in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo with a bouncer up the middle against Tampa Bay’s drawn-in infield.
Pedro Strop (3-2) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win. Carl Edwards Jr. and Koji Uehara worked the eighth, and All-Star Wade Davis got three outs.
Rangers 8 Red Sox 2: In Arlington, Texas, Andrew Cashner held a hot Boston lineup hitless into the sixth inning, Rougned Odor hit an early two-run homer and Texas ended the longest winning streak in the majors at six games with a rain-delayed victory over the Red Sox.
Cashner (4-7) retired 10 straight batters before first baseman Pete Kozma’s error on a dropped throw kept the sixth going. The next batter, Xander Bogaerts, ended the no-hit bid with a two-run homer.
The right-hander allowed three hits, three walks and two unearned runs with four strikeouts in seven innings.
Boston, which had at least 10 hits and six runs in every game during the winning streak, missed a chance to be the first team to sweep a season series of more than three games against the Rangers since they moved to Texas in 1972. The Red Sox won the first five meetings this year.
After a delay of nearly 90 minutes to start the game, Odor’s 16th homer put Texas ahead 2-0 in the second. Carlos Gomez had a solo shot in the third.
Odor scored three times before leaving with a bruised left hand after the fifth inning, when he was hit by a pitch.
Dodgers 1 Diamondbaks 0: In Los Angeles, Alex Wood pitched three-hit ball over seven innings to start the season 10-0 and NL West-leading Los Angeles beat second-place Arizona.
Wood became the first Dodgers starter to reach 10-0 since Don Newcombe in 1955, when the Brooklyn Dodgers won the first of the franchise’s six World Series championships.
The 26-year-old left-hander has not lost since May 30, 2016 — a span of 13 starts. Wood struck out 10 and walked two.
Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 20th save in as many chances. He put the potential tying run on with a two-out single to Brandon Drury before striking out Chris Herrmann to end the game.
Arizona’s Zack Godley (3-3) gave up one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Yasmani Grandal’s RBI double to deep center field in the second scored Chris Taylor from first base.
Rockies 5 Reds 3: In Denver, Jon Gray hit his first career homer an estimated 467 feet — the farthest by any Rockies player this season — and pitched effectively into the sixth inning as Colorado beat Cincinnati on a sweltering night.
Pat Valaika had a career-high three hits, including a two-run homer and a run-scoring single with two outs in the eighth.
Gray’s two-run drive in the second was the longest among pitchers since MLB’s Statcast began tracking distances in 2015. Gray (2-0) also was solid on the mound, going 5 2/3 innings and allowing three runs, two earned, in his second start since a broken bone in his left foot sidelined him for two months. Greg Holland threw a shaky ninth for his 28th save to help the slumping Rockies win for the third time in 14 games.
Blue Jays 7 Yankees 6: In New York, Dellin Betances forced in the go-ahead run with four walks in the eighth inning, and Toronto beat New York after wasting a five-run lead.
Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales hit back-to-back home runs in the third off Michael Pineda, who also allowed Kevin Pillar’s leadoff homer in the fourth. Russell Martin tied the score at 6 with a seventh-inning homer against Chad Green, then walked to drive in the go-ahead run in the eighth against Betances (3-4).
Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 29th home run, tying Joe DiMaggio’s Yankees rookie record set in 1936, and Ji-Man Choi homered in his Yankees debut.
Toronto took two of three from New York, which is 0-6-1 in its last seven series. Leading the AL East by four games on June 13 with a 38-23 record, the Yankees have lost 16 of their last 22.
Brewers 4 Orioles 0: In Milwaukee, Matt Garza pitched into the seventh inning and Keon Broxton hit a two-run homer to lift Milwaukee to a three-game sweep of Baltimore.
Garza allowed five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings for his first scoreless outing of the season.
Oliver Drake, Jared Hughes and Corey Knebel completed the shutout with 2 2/3 innings.
Garza (4-4) ran into trouble in the second inning after the Orioles loaded the bases with no outs. The veteran right-hander escaped by striking out Ruben Tejada and pitcher Jayson Aquino (1-2) before getting Seth Smith to fly out to right field.
Astros 10 Braves 4: In Atlanta, George Springer drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, Josh Reddick and Marwin Gonzalez each had three RBIs and streaking Houston beat Atlanta.
Houston has won four straight and 12 of 15 to improve to 58-27 overall, best in the majors. The first three batters — Springer, Jose Altuve and Reddick — went 8 for 15 with six RBIs in this one and hit a combined .581 in the two-game series with 15 RBIs in 31 at-bats.
Norichika Aoki doubled to begin the three-run seventh and chase Braves starter Jaime Garcia (2-7). Springer followed with a single, Altuve with a double and Gonzalez with a single to make it 7-4.
Royals 9 Mariners 6, 10 innings: In Seattle, Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer in the 10th, Alex Gordon added a two-out RBI single later in the inning and Kansas City completed a three-game sweep with a win over Seattle.
Perez drove the second pitch from reliever James Pazos (2-2) out to right field for his 17th homer. It was the third home run of the game for Kansas City, adding to earlier two-run shots by Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain.
Mike Minor (5-1) pitched the ninth to get the victory and Kelvin Herrera threw the 10th for his 19th save. Minor had a scare when Mike Zunino led off the ninth with a flyball to deep left field that Gordon caught one step in front of the wall.
Kansas City won for the sixth time in seven games and handed Seattle its seventh straight loss at home.
