WASHINGTON (AP) — Jake Irvin pitched six shutout innings, and the Washington Nationals dealt Atlanta ace Chris Sale his first loss in nearly two months on Friday night with a 2-1 victory over the Braves.
Washington snapped a four-game losing streak and won for only the second time in eight games since taking three of four at Atlanta late last month.
Sale (8-2) allowed two runs in seven innings in his first loss since April 13. The left-hander had won seven consecutive starts before giving up eight runs to Oakland in his previous outing on June 1.
The Braves were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, in part because of Irvin’s ability to escape jams.
Irvin (4-5) loaded the bases in the third inning before ending the threat, then prevented Orlando Arcia from scoring after he doubled to lead off the fifth. But his trickiest inning was the sixth, when Austin Riley singled and moved to third on Marcell Ozuna’s double.
Irvin induced Matt Olson’s foul out, then got Ozzie Albies to ground back to the mound before Adam Duvall’s flyout ended the threat.
The right-hander allowed four hits and two walks while striking out four.
Kyle Finnegan handled the ninth for his 17th save in 19 opportunities.
PIRATES 3, TWINS 0
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mitch Keller pitched six scoreless innings to win his sixth straight start, Oneil Cruz homered for a second consecutive game and Pittsburgh defeated Minnesota.
Keller (8-3) scattered seven hits while striking eight and walking two. He also pitched at least five innings for the 44th straight time, the longest active streak in the major leagues.
During his winning streak, Keller has allowed five runs in 39 2/3 innings for a 1.13 ERA.
Aroldis Chapman, Colin Holderman and David Bednar each pitched one scoreless inning of relief to finish the eight-hitter. Bednar notched his 13th save in 16 opportunities as the Pirates recorded their third shutout of the season and won for the third time in their last four games.
BREWERS 10, TIGERS 0
DETROIT (AP) — Tobias Myers allowed one hit in eight innings and Blake Perkins hit his first of two RBI triples in a five-run second, lifting Milwaukee to a win over Detroit.
Milwaukee had a breakout offensive performance after scoring a total of two runs while getting swept in a three-game series at Philadelphia.
Perkins was one of four Brewers with two RBIs.
The Tigers, meanwhile, went seven innings without a hit.
Myers (2-2) gave up a leadoff single to Matt Vierling, and the Tigers didn’t get another knock until the ninth. He walked three and struck out five.
Right-hander James Meeker made his major league debut in the ninth and completed the two-hitter.
REDS 3, CUBS 2
CINCINNATI (AP) — Nick Lodolo allowed one run through six innings, Tyler Stephenson hit a two-run double and surging Cincinnati beat the Chicago Cubs for their sixth straight victory.
The Reds have won 11 of 14 to pull even with the Cubs in second place in the NL Central standings, both at 31-33. Chicago, meanwhile, has lost 11 of 15. The Brewers lead the division.
Justin Steele, who made his eighth start for the Cubs since coming off the injured list, retired the first 10 batters he faced before walking Elly De La Cruz in the fourth.
Steele (0-3) pitched seven innings, allowing three runs and five hits with a walk and seven strikeouts.
ORIOLES 6, RAYS 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Ryan Mountcastle, Anthony Santander and Jordan Westburg homered, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 on Friday night.
Baltimore leads the majors with 98 home runs. The Orioles had lost the final two games of a four-game set at Toronto, but still won for the 11th time in 15 games.
Cole Irvin (6-2) allowed three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. Craig Kimbrel, the third Baltimore reliever, worked the ninth to get his 14th save in 17 chances.
Tampa Bay, which had won three in a row, got a solo homer from Jose Siri in the second.
MARLINS 3, GUARDIANS 2
MIAMI (AP) — Jazz Chisholm Jr. broke an eighth-inning tie with an RBI single, Bryan De La Cruz and Josh Bell hit back-to-back homers in the third and Miami beat Cleveland Guardians 3-2.
Jake Burger hit a two-out double off Cleveland reliever Cade Smith (3-1) and scored on Chisholm’s grounder to center field to end the Marlins’ four-game losing streak.
Tanner Scott (5-4) got the final five outs to complete Miami’s first June victory.
Rookie Brayan Rocchio hit his first career homer for the Guardians.
DODGERS 2, YANKEES 1, 11 INNINGS
NEW YORK (AP) — Teoscar Hernández broke up a scoreless game with a two-run double in the 11th inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Yankees to stop New York’s season-best eight-game winning streak.
In a matchup viewed as a possible World Series preview, Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball in his Yankee Stadium debut. Anthony Banda, Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson, Michael Grove (4-2) and Yohan Ramírez finished a five-hitter for the Dodgers.
Ramírez, pitching for his third big league team this season, got his first save in two years after allowing a one-out RBI single to Aaron Judge. Ramírez threw a called third strike past Giancarlo Stanton and retired Anthony Rizzo on a foul pop, dropping New York to 1-4 in extra innings this year.
WHITE SOX 7, RED SOX 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Luis Robert Jr., Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn homered, and the Chicago White Sox stopped a 14-game losing streak by topping Boston Red Sox.
Garrett Crochet struck out 10 in six innings as Chicago posted its first win since a victory at Toronto on May 21. The 14-game slide set a franchise record for a single season, and it was the longest losing streak in the majors since the Angels also dropped 14 straight in 2022.
Robert hit a 430-foot solo drive to center off Cooper Criswell with two out in the first. Sheets and Vaughn began the sixth with consecutive homers against Greg Weissert, lifting the White Sox to a 6-2 lead.
Boston had won four of six. Connor Wong had two of the team’s six hits.
GIANTS 5, RANGERS 2
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Michael Conforto hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh inning, Wilmer Flores went deep twice for his first multihomer game of the season and San Francisco beat the Texas.
Logan Webb (5-5) won for the first time in four starts after allowing two runs and five hits with six strikeouts and no walks over seven innings while throwing 94 pitches.
With the game tied at 2, Conforto launched a 3-2 cutter from David Robertson (2-3) over Texas’ bullpen in right-center with one out.
Heliot Ramos added an RBI single for San Francisco in the eighth. He has been on base nine times in the last two games with one homer, four singles and four walks.
Camilo Doval pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 12 opportunities for the Giants, who have won two in a row following a season-worst six-game losing streak.
The Rangers have lost three of their last four.
CARDINALS 8, ROCKIES 4
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dylan Carlson drove in his first three runs of the season to help the St. Louis rebound from relinquishing a four-run lead to beat Colorado.
Carlson stroked a two-run double down the right field line off Matt Carasiti (0-1) after Brendan Donovan put the Cardinals ahead with an RBI single up the middle in the eighth inning. Carlson, who went 2 for 4, also hit a run-scoring single in the sixth to tie it at 5 for his first RBI in 57 plate appearances this season.
John King, Andrew Kittredge and JoJo Romero (3-1) each tossed a scoreless inning of relief before Ryan Helsley pitched a perfect ninth for his major league-leading 21st save of the season.
Cardinals starter Lance Lynn allowed four runs and six hits with two walks and struck out six in four innings.
ROYALS 10, MARINERS 9
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. tied it with a two-run triple in the ninth inning and scored on Nelson Velázquez’s fielder’s choice to give the Kansas City a victory over Seattle.
After Maikel Garcia’s RBI grounder cut it to 9-7, Witt tripled into the corner in left. Velázquez followed with a grounder for the Royals’ third walk-off victory of the season. Kansas City had its largest comeback victory of the year and Seattle its largest blown lead.
Witt had three hits, extending his hitting streak to eight games.
Nick Anderson (3-1) struck out two in the ninth for the victory. Ryne Stanek (3-1) allowed two hits and walked three — two intentionally – in his second blown save.
Mitch Haniger’s bases-clearing double highlighted a seven-run first inning – the Mariners’ largest of the year — and Ryan Bliss hit his first career home run. Ty France had an RBI double in fourth to make it 8-0.
ATHLETICS 1, BLUE JAYS 1
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — JJ Bleday hit the first pitch of the ninth inning from Chad Green over the right-field wall to give Oakland a victory over Toronto.
Mason Miller (1-0) struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth for the win in a speedy game of 2 hours, 7 minutes.
Chris Bassitt’s wild pitch against his former club allowed Oakland’s Max Schuemann to score the first run of the game in the sixth. Bo Bichette tied it with an RBI single in the seventh.
The 35-year-old Bassitt, who pitched for the A’s from 2015 to 2021, established the second-lowest ERA ever at the Oakland Coliseum at 2.36 in likely his final start here — besting Catfish Hunter’s 2.39 and trailing only Paul Lindblad’s 2.29 done from 1968-’78.
In addition, Bassitt owns a 2.31 ERA in five outings against his former Oakland team.
ASTROS 7, ANGELS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Yainer Diaz homered in his fourth consecutive game and drove in three runs, and Framber Valdez pitched a four-hitter in Houston’s victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Yordan Alvarez hit a tiebreaking three-run double in the five-run seventh inning by the Astros, who opened a weekend series at the Big A with their fifth win in eight games.
Diaz connected for a two-run shot moments after Alvarez put Houston ahead, giving him nine RBIs in the past four games. Diaz homered in every game of the Astros’ series against St. Louis earlier this week, and his blast to left off the Angels’ Hunter Strickland was his seventh of the season.
Kevin Pillar homered for the Angels, whose three-game winning streak ended just short of matching their longest run of the season.
PADRES 10, DIAMONDBACKS 3
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jurickson Profar hit consecutive home runs in the first inning and Ha-Seong Kim hit a two-run shot in the sixth for San Diego, who beat Arizona to snap a five-game losing streak.
Profar came through big again in the five-run eighth to blow it open. After Tatis was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Profar cleared them with a double into the right-field corner. Luis Campusano hit an RBI single earlier in the inning to finish with three hits and two RBIs. Donovan Solano added an RBI single that inning.
The Padres got off to a fast start in this one against Brandon Pfaadt (2-5). Tatis extended his hitting streak to 13 games with his shot to straightaway center with one out in the first. It was his 11th. Profar followed with his ninth deep into the home run porch in right field.
It was the third time this season the Padres homered back-to-back.
The Diamondbacks hit consecutive homers off Wandy Peralta in the seventh to pull to 5-3. Ketel Marte hit a two-run shot, his 13th, and pinch-hitter Lourdes Gurriel Jr. followed with his ninth.
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