MLB Roundup: Chris Sale notches 16th win, reaches 200 strikeouts as Braves beat Rockies

ATLANTA — Chris Sale reached 200 strikeouts for the first time since 2019 and earned the 16th win of his comeback season, pitching seven strong innings to lead Atlanta past Colorado.

Sale (16-3) earned his sixth straight win. He has gone 15 straight starts allowing no more than three earned runs — looking very much like the pitcher who made the All-Star Game and finished near the top of AL Cy Young Award balloting for seven consecutive seasons.

Sale allowed six hits and fanned nine to push his season total to 206, his most since he had 219 with the Red Sox before a series of injuries derailed his career. He became the first left-hander in Braves franchise history to post 200 Ks.

Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth for his 29th save in 31 chances, extending his scoreless streak to 22 1/3 innings.

ORIOLES 9, WHITE SOX 0

BALTIMORE — Cade Povich struck out 10 while pitching into the eighth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles took a big early lead on their way to a 9-0 victory over the White Sox on Tuesday night, sending Chicago to its 12th consecutive loss.

The White Sox dropped to 31-109 and became the first team since 1900 with at least three losing streaks of 12 games in the same season, according to Sportradar. The 1889 Louisville Colonels and 1899 Cleveland Spiders also did it.

Chicago was shut out of the 16th time, is 11 defeats shy of tying the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses since 1900 and is on pace to finish 36-126.

NATIONALS 6, MARLINS 2

MIAMI — Keibert Ruiz was a triple shy of the cycle, Jacob Young also had three hits and Washington beat Miami.

Patrick Corbin continued his recent stretch of solid starts with 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball and Joey Gallo hit a three-run homer for the Nationals, who are 8-0 against the Marlins this season after going 6-26 against their NL East opponent the previous two seasons.

Corbin (5-12) allowed seven hits and matched a season-high with eight strikeouts. The left-hander won his third consecutive start after going 2-12 in his previous 25 outings.

METS 7, RED SOX 2

NEW YORK — David Peterson struck out a career-high 11 on his 29th birthday and Francisco Lindor drove in three runs as the New York Mets beat slumping Boston for their sixth straight victory.

Lindor launched his 30th homer and added a pivotal RBI double, drawing another chorus of “MVP! MVP!” chants from the Citi Field crowd. Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos also went deep for the Mets, who remained a half-game behind Atlanta for the final NL wild card. New York has won 13 of 18 overall.

Vientos greeted Justin Slaten with a leadoff homer in the seventh after Lindor’s two-run shot in the third was the lone Mets hit off starter Kutter Crawford (8-13), who whiffed eight in six innings.

After reliever Reed Garrett worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth to preserve a one-run lead, Lindor laced an RBI double to make it 4-2 in the bottom half. Brandon Nimmo followed with a sacrifice fly and Alonso connected for a two-run homer, his 31st longball of the season.

Peterson (9-1) pitched six splendid innings, allowing one run while lowering his ERA to 2.75 and winning his fourth consecutive decision. All six hits off the left-hander were singles — many of them coming on soft contact.

RAYS 2, TWINS 1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jeffrey Springs pitched a season-high six innings, Logan Driscoll hit a run-scoring single in his big league debut, and Tampa Bay Rays beat Minnesota.

Springs (2-2) permitted one run and four hits in his seventh start since returning from elbow surgery. He struck out four and walked two.

Edwin Uceta struck two in a row after allowing consecutive singles to start the ninth. He was replaced by Garrett Cleavinger, who earned his fifth save in six chances when he retired pinch-hitter Christian Vázquez on a grounder to shortstop.

Driscoll put the Rays up 2-1 with his hit during a two-run fourth against David Festa (2-5), coming on his second at-bat.

Carlos Santana homered for the Twins, who hold the second AL wild card.

PIRATES 5, CUBS 0

CHICAGO — Paul Skenes pitched five effective innings while struggling with his location, and Pittsburgh handed the Chicago Cubs another tough loss.

Skenes worked out of bases-loaded jams in the first two innings. The rookie right-hander allowed four hits and walked four, but he struck out six.

After Skenes (9-2) departed, Colin Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski and David Bednar combined for four innings of one-hit ball.

PHILLIES 10, BLUE JAYS 9

TORONTO — Kyle Schwarber’s third homer of the game was a go-ahead, three-run drive in the ninth inning, and Philadelphia rallied past Toronto after allowing six runs in the first.

Schwarber hit his 12th leadoff homer of the season and went deep again in the fourth before his blast with no outs in the ninth on the ninth pitch he saw from Chad Green (4-5), a 96 mph fastball. Right fielder George Springer barely moved in reaction to Schwarber’s 426-foot line drive that reached the second deck for his 31st homer of the season.

Schwarber became the first Phillies player to have two three-homer games in a season and has three such games in his career. He finished 5 for 6 with six RBIs and came within a triple of the cycle, adding a double in the third and an RBI single in the seventh.

Vladimir Guerrero went 4 for 5 with a two-run homer for Toronto, which led 6-1 after one and knocked Phillies starter Tyler Phillips out of the game after two-thirds of an inning. Phillips gave up six runs on eight hits, including two-run homers by Daulton Varsho and Addison Barger.

Orion Kerkering (4-2) pitched a scoreless eighth. Matt Strahm, the seventh Phillies pitcher, gave up Leo Jiménez’s homer in the ninth but closed it out for his second save in eight chances.

GUARDIANS 7, ROYALS 1

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio drove in four runs and Cleveland beat Kansas City extending the Royals’ losing streak to a season-high seven.

Since tying Cleveland for the AL Central lead on Aug. 27, the Royals (76-65) have dropped 5 1/2 games behind the Guardians (80-59), who have won five of six. Kansas City maintained a 4 1/2-game lead for the final AL wild card.

Cleveland first baseman Josh Naylor left for a pinch runner after singling in the eighth inning because of lower back tightness.

Steven Kwan had a two-run single for the Guardians and Kyle Manzardo had three hits.

Tanner Bibee (11-6) allowed one run and two hits in six innings — just the 39th time a Cleveland starter pitched six or more innings. He is 7-3 with a 2.71 ERA in 14 road starts, and the Guardians are 20-7 in his outings this year.

CARDINALS 7, BREWERS 4, 12 INNINGS

MILWAUKEE — Michael Siani hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the 12th inning, and St. Louis beat Milwaukee.

Siani came to the plate after a wild pitch by Elvis Peguero (7-4) put runners on second and third. He lined an opposite-field single into left field to give the Cardinals a 6-4 lead.

Siani then stole second and advanced to third on catcher William Contreras’ throwing error, setting up a sacrifice fly by Alec Burleson.

Ryan Helsley (7-4) pitched two innings for the win, striking out four. The All-Star closer was going for his 43rd save before Willy Adames hit a two-out RBI double in the 11th for Milwaukee.

Siani nearly made an outstanding diving catch on Adames’ liner to center, but the ball squirted out of his glove as his right arm got twisted in the outfield grass. The Cardinals challenged the call and the ruling was upheld.

RANGERS 7, YANKEES 4

ARLINGTON, Texas — Wyatt Langford hit a game-ending grand slam off All-Star closer Clay Holmes to give Texas a win over the Yankees and drop New York out of the AL East lead.

Langford hit the first walk-off slam by a Rangers rookie, sending Holmes (2-5) to his major league-high 11th blown save in 40 chances. Texas overcame a 4-1, eighth-inning deficit.

Carson Kelly had a one-out single in the ninth, and Josh Smith and Marcus Semien followed with walks as Holmes threw just 12 of 25 pitches for strikes. Langford then pulled a full-count slider 407 feet to left for his 10th homer this season.

New York (80-59) fell a half-game behind Baltimore (81-59) for the division lead and the best record in the American League.

ATHLETICS 3, MARINERS 2

OAKLAND, Calif. — Seth Brown homered in the fourth inning and hit a game-ending single in the ninth that led Oakland over Seattle for their second straight walk-off win.

With the score 2-2, JJ Bleday walked with one out in the ninth against Trent Thorton (3-3). Shea Langeliers singled and Brown capped a seven-pitch at-bat by grounding a single past the outstretched glove of second baseman Jorge Polanco and into center.

Seattle has lost four straight and is 5 1/2 games back for the last AL wild card.

DODGERS 6, ANGELS 2, 10 INNINGS

Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI triple in his first regular-season game back at Angel Stadium, and he scored on Mookie Betts’ three-run homer in the 10th inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

Ohtani went 1 for 4 with his tying triple in the third inning after the two-way superstar received a warm welcome back to the stadium where he excelled for the Angels over the past six years.

The Dodgers already led 3-2 in the 10th on Miguel Rojas’ RBI single before the Angels intentionally walked their former superstar slugger to get to Betts, who blasted the next pitch from Roansy Contreras (2-4) over the fence in left.

Ohtani and Betts, who drove in four runs, celebrated at home plate before the major league-leading Dodgers finished off their 12th win in 15 games.

Michael Kopech (5-8) pitched the ninth for the Dodgers.

DIAMONDBACKS 8, GIANTS 7

SAN FRANCISCO — Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer in the first and a solo drive in the fifth to move within one of 300 for his career, and Arizona held off San Francisco for their seventh straight road win.

Matt Chapman homered in the sixth and Mike Yastrzemski connected to spark a four-run eighth for the Giants. San Francisco threatened against Ryan Thompson, who gave up RBI singles to Jerar Encarnacion and Patrick Bailey.

Justin Martinez relieved and surrendered a run-scoring single to Marco Luciano, freshly up from the minors, before retiring Luis Matos on a called third strike. Martinez allowed Yastrzemski’s leadoff single in the ninth then a one-out RBI double to Heliot Ramos before striking out Encarnacion to close it out for his eighth save — with the tying and go-ahead runs aboard.