MLB Roundup: Rays snap seven-game skid with win over Braves; Orioles crush Twins

RAYS 10, BRAVES 4

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Isaac Paredes and Yandy Diaz homered as the Tampa Bay Rays snapped a season-high, seven-game skid with a 10-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday in a matchup of teams with the best records in baseball.

Zach Eflin (10-4) gave up two runs and four hits over five innings in a 77-pitch outing as Tampa Bay avoided the three-game series sweep.

Travis d'Arnaud homered for the MLB-best Braves, who are 20-3 since June 14 and head into the All-Star break at 60-29. Atlanta has homered in 26 consecutive games, the longest streak in modern-era franchise history.

Atlanta All-Star Bryce Elder (7-2) allowed seven runs, six hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings, his shortest outing this season.

Braves slugger Matt Olson drove in a run with a single in the sixth inning for his 72nd RBI. He wound up three short of tying Eddie Mathews (1953) and Andruw Jones (2005) for the most in franchise history at the All-Star break.

ORIOLES 15, TWINS 2

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Anthony Santander hit two of Baltimore's six homers and the Orioles completed a sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 15-2 victory on Sunday.

Aaron Hicks added a three-run homer against his former team in the Orioles' seven-run fifth. Austin Hays, Ramon Urias and Adley Rutschman also went deep for Baltimore.

Baltimore closes the first half of the season on a five-game winning streak after losing four straight.

After scoring seven runs in the fifth, the Orioles' offence continued to roll in the sixth with six more runs. Rutschman -- who will compete in the home run derby on Monday in Seattle -- launched a 461-foot two-run blast in the top of the sixth off Twins reliever Cole Sands.

Santander followed with a solo shot, the first time this season the Orioles hit back-to-back home runs. He homered again in the seventh for his team-leading 16th of the year.

ROYALS 4, GUARDIANS 1

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ryan Yarbrough won his first game back after being hit in the face by a line drive two months ago and Kansas City snapped a six-game losing streak.

Yarbrough (2-4) suffered several facial fractures when he was hit on May 7 against Oakland by a line drive clocked at 106.2 mph. The left-hander limited the Guardians to one run and six hits over six innings. Scott Barlow earned his 11th save.

Bieber (5-6) came in 6-0 in 14 career starts against the Royals. The right-hander allowed four runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Isbel homered for Kansas City, which staggered into the All-Star break at 26-65 -- the second-most losses before the break in franchise history.

Cleveland reached the season's unofficial midpoint in first place in the AL Central and at .500 (45-45) or better for the seventh year in a row.

MARLINS 7, PHILLIES 3

MIAMI, Fla. — Bryan De La Cruz had a solo homer among his four hits as Miami took the three-game series from Philadelphia.

Jesus Sanchez and rookie Dane Myers also went deep for the Marlins, who reached the All-Star break with their best record in franchise history at 53-39.

Marlins starter Jesus Luzardo (8-5) struck out nine and allowed four hits over 6 1/3 innings.

Miami's Luis Arraez went 0 for 4 and his major league-leading batting average dropped to .383.

Edmundo Sosa had a two-run homer for the Phillies. Starter Aaron Nola (8-6) allowed eight hits and five runs with six strikeouts in six innings.

Phillies' star slugger Bryce Harper was kept out of the lineup as a precaution because of right elbow soreness, a day after getting hit by a pitch.

NATIONALS 7, RANGERS 2

WASHINGTON — Joey Meneses homered for the third consecutive day, Patrick Corbin earned his first home victory since May 20, and Washington sent AL West-leading Texas to its eighth loss in 11 games.

Stone Garrett and Dominic Smith also homered for last-place Washington, which won the final two games of the series after dropping 15 of its previous 16 at Nationals Park.

Corbin (6-10) matched his victory total from all of last year, when he led the majors with 19 losses. He retired the first 10 men he faced and allowed one run and five hits while striking out six over seven innings.

Dane Dunning (8-2), one of Washington's first-round picks in 2016, pitched for the first time at Nationals Park and allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed seven hits while striking out four.

BLUE JAYS 4, TIGERS 3 (10)

DETROIT, Mich. — Nathan Lukes' RBI double in the 10th inning gave Toronto a comeback win over Detroit.

The Blue Jays trailed 3-1 with two outs in the ninth before Matt Chapman walked and Danny Jansen hit a homer over the Toronto bullpen in left-centerfield.

Daulton Varsho started the top of the 10th with a grounder to second and Zack Short threw out automatic Alejandro Kirk at third. Lukes followed with an RBI double off Jose Cisnero (2-2).

Yimi Garcia (3-3) pitched an inning of relief and earned the victory, while Jordan Romano picked up his 26th save.

Miguel Cabrera gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with an RBI single - his 3,128th career hit - in the second and Riley Greene added a solo homer in the third.

RED SOX 4, ATHLETICS 3

BOSTON, Mass. — Masataka Yoshida scored the tying run with good baserunning and hit a go-ahead homer two innings later as Boston rallied and extended its winning streak to five games.

J.P. Sears took a no-hitter into the fifth for Oakland despite allowing an unearned run in the first thanks to one of three A's errors.

Boston trailed 3-1 in the middle of the sixth before Adam Duvall hit a solo homer to lead off the bottom half, then Yoshida singled, stole second, took third on a bad throw from catcher Manny Pina and scored on Christian Arroyo's double to tie it. Yoshida bounced one off the top of the Green Monster to make it 4-3 in the eighth.

Brent Rooker had three hits for Oakland, including a 443-foot home run high off of the Green Monster light stanchion. Ken Waldichuk (2-6) took the loss.

Chris Martin (3-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win, and Kenley Jansen earned his 19th save.

CUBS 7, YANKEES 4

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Yan Gomes hit a tying pinch-hit two-run single in the seventh inning following a fielding error by second baseman Gleyber Torres, and Seiya Suzuki homered and hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth in Chicago's win over New York.

The Cubs (42-47) won for the fifth time in 14 games since getting to within a game of .500 following a 9-1 win over St. Louis on June 24 in London.

Chicago’s Julian Merryweather (2-0) earned the win. Ron Marinaccio (4-4) took the loss.

Rookie Anthony Volpe hit a two-run homer and Kyle Higashioka added a solo shot for the Yankees.

BREWERS 1, REDS 0

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) — Wade Miley pitched six strong innings and Milwaukee made a first-inning run stand-up in a win over Cincinnati.

The victory pulled the Brewers to within a game of the NL Central-leading Reds heading into the All-Star break. Milwaukee took two of three in the series.

A trio of Brewers relievers - Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps and Devin Williams - combined to complete the shutout. Williams retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his 20th save in 22 tries.

Christian Yelich led off the Brewers' half of the first with a ground-rule double off Ben Lively (4-5) and scored on Jess Winker’s two-out single.

Miley (6-2) gave up four hits and tied a season-high with eight strikeouts.

CARDINALS 4, WHITE SOX 3 (10)

CHICAGO, Ill. (AP) — Paul DeJong had an RBI double in the 10th inning to give St. Louis a win over Chicago.

DeJong lined a pitch from Keynon Middleton (2-1) down the left field line, scoring automatic runner Nolan Gorman.

St. Louis catcher Willson Contreras hit a two-run homer and reached base four times with two hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.

JoJo Romero (1-0), the fourth Cardinals reliever, pitched two innings for his first career win.

MARINERS 3, ASTROS 1

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) — Jarred Kelenic hit a two-run double to back up a strong start by Logan Gilbert, lifting Seattle past Houston.

Gilbert (7-5) allowed just three hits in seven innings, with his only mistake coming when Martín Maldonado connected on a solo homer in the sixth. Matt Brash threw a scoreless eighth and Paul Seawald struck out two in the ninth for his 17th save.

The Mariners won three of four games in this series to head into the All-Star break having won seven of their past nine games.

Houston starter Brandon Bielak (4-5) allowed four hits and three runs — two earned — in five innings for the loss.

PADRES 6, METS 2

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (AP) — Manny Machado homered twice off Max Scherzer and drove in five runs for San Diego, which got six strong innings from Joe Musgrove to beat New York and take two of three in a series between high-priced, yet underwhelming, teams.

The Padres got to Scherzer (8-3) right away and handed him his first loss since May 3 at Detroit. Kim Ha-Seong hit a leadoff single to left, Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled off the center field wall with one out and then Machado drove a 2-2 pitch into the middle balcony of the four-story brick warehouse in the left field corner. Machado homered into the home run porch in right, his 15th, in the fifth for his third multi-homer game this season.

Scherzer, who had six wins in his previous 10 starts, allowed five runs and six hits in five innings, struck out seven and walked three.

Musgrove (8-2) blanked the Mets on three hits while striking out seven and walking none. He hit a career-high four batters.

GIANTS 1, ROCKIES 0

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (AP) — Logan Webb overcame a shaky start for a 10-strikeout, complete-game victory and San Francisco made J.D. Davis’ solo homer in the fourth inning stand up in a win over Colorado as Rockies starter Kyle Freeland left the game with an apparent right shoulder injury.

Webb (8-7) laboured through a 19-pitch first inning against the Rockies before settling in. The 26-year-old right-hander, who was winless in his previous two starts after allowing seven runs over 11 2/3 innings, allowed seven hits in his first career shutout and reached double-figure Ks for the fourth time this season.

Freeland (4-10) left the game in the seventh inning with an apparent injury to non-throwing shoulder. The 30-year-old left-hander was trying to field a bunt by Brett Wisely and dove to get the ball. He then rolled over and screamed in pain as teammates rushed to him. Colorado manager Bud Black and a team trainer also came out to examine the pitcher, who slowly walked off the field cradling his right arm.

Davis’s 11th homer of the season sent the Giants into the All-Star break with a record of 49-41, good enough for third place in the NL West behind Arizona and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

PIRATES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 2

PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP) — Ji-Man Choi hit a two-run homer, seven pitchers combined on a four-hitter and Pittsburgh ended a four-game losing streak with a win over Arizona.

Choi homered off Zach Davies (1-5) in the second inning and the Pirates bullpen took turns shutting down the Diamondbacks.

Osvaldo Bido (1-1) allowed a hit in 1 1/3 innings and All-Star closer David Bednar worked around a walk in the ninth inning for his 17th save in 18 chances after Jared Triolo hit a run-scoring single in the top half.

Alek Thomas homered for the second straight game for the Diamondbacks, who head into the All-Star break tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers atop the NL West at 52-39.