MLB Roundup: White Sox's losing streak reaches 19 after Kepler lifts Twins to victory

MINNEAPOLIS — The Chicago White Sox extended their team-record losing streak to 19, giving up Max Kepler’s tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning that lifted the Minnesota Twins to a 6-2 win on Saturday night.

Chicago’s losing streak is the longest since Baltimore dropped 19 in a row in August 2021.

Kepler, who entered in the fifth inning as a pinch hitter, hit his seventh home run of the season. The drive to right off Touki Toussaint (0-1) sent the Twins to their 11th win in 12 games against the White Sox this season.

Willi Castro hit a two-run single in a three-run eighth on the 13th pitch of his at-bat against John Brebbia and Brooks Lee added an RBI single.

Chicago has been outscored 118-41 during its skid and has scored three or fewer runs in 14 of 15 games since the All-Star break. At 27-86, the White Sox are on pace to finish 39-123, which would be the most losses since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League went 20-134.

Chicago has not won since July 10. The White Sox have been outscored 81-38 in the eighth inning this year.

YANKEES 8, BLUE JAYS 3

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge launched his 41st home run, adding to his major league-leading total, and New York beat Toronto.

Anthony Volpe and No. 9 batter Trent Grisham also hit two-run shots off José Berríos to help Carlos Rodón (12-7) win his third consecutive start after going 0-5 in his previous six.

Volpe and Austin Wells each had an RBI single for the Yankees, who began the day tied with Baltimore atop the AL East after their five-game winning streak was snapped in the series opener Friday night. The Orioles were scheduled to play later in Cleveland.

New York entered having lost 16 of 22 home games for the first time since 1917.

Benched for not running hard out of the batter’s box on a single off the wall Friday, Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres was back in the starting lineup as manager Aaron Boone promised. Torres went 1 for 4 with a single and a walk. He hustled into second base to beat a tag with a headfirst slide, and scored on Volpe’s home run that made it 6-1 in the fifth inning.

CARDINALS 5, CUBS 4

CHICAGO — A Chicago fielding mix-up allowed Nolan Arenado’s short fly to drop for a tying, two-run single in a three-run eighth inning, Tommy Pham tripled and scored in the ninth and St. Louis won.

St. Louis trailed 4-1 in the eighth before newly acquired third baseman Isaac Paredes threw wildly past first on Brendan Donovan’s grounder off Porter Hodge, allowing Alec Burleson to score from second on the error.

Arenado hit a fly to short center that second baseman Nico Hoerner called for and was readying to catch when center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong called him off. Crow-Armstrong couldn’t get to the ball, which dropped 213 feet from the plate as two runs scored.

Pham led off the ninth with a drive against Héctor Neris (8-4) that hit off the glove of leaping Ian Happ and the ivy on the left-field wall as Pham slid into third. He scored on Lar Nootbar’s fly to center.

Pham also doubled and is hitting .471 (8 for 17) since returning to the Cardinals, who acquired him from the Chicago White Sox.

NATIONALS 6, BREWERS 4

WASHINGTON — Luis García Jr. was a triple shy of the cycle in his second straight three-hit game, Kyle Finnegan got a four-out save in his first outing since blowing a four-run lead and Washington beat Milwaukee to stop a five-game losing streak.

Travis Blankenhorn hit a two-run double on a ball that left fielder Jackson Chourio allowed to drop behind him at the base of the wall during a two-out rally as Washington took a 4-0, first-inning lead.

Aaron Civale (2-8) allowed five runs and seven hits in four innings, dropping to 0-2 in five starts since Milwaukee acquired him from Tampa Bay on on June 3.

DJ Herz (2-4) got his second big league win, the first for the 23-year-old rookie left-hander after going 0-3 in a six-start winless stretch since he beat Miami on June 14. Herz gave up an unearned run and two hits over five innings with six strikeouts and a walk.

Finnegan had not pitched since allowing five runs in a 9-8 loss at Arizona on Monday. He replaced Joan Adon with a 6-1 lead with two on and two outs in the eighth.

RAYS 6, ASTROS 1

HOUSTON — Josh Lowe homered twice to help Tampa Bay beat Houston.

Lowe hit his sixth and seventh homers of the season for his second career multi-homer game. His first came off Ronel Blanco, who was a pitch away from escaping the fifth inning with a shutout intact until Lowe turned a 91-mph fastball down the middle 373 feet to right.

Rays starter Zack Littell (5-7) allowed one run and four hits in 5 2/3 innings. He had one walk and one strikeout.

Blanco (9-6) was pulled after the fifth. He allowed two runs, six hits and two walks and struck out seven.

In the seventh, Lowe hit an opposite-field shot that sailed 339 feet into the left-field Crawford Boxes to make it 4-1.

Lowe added a double in the third and a single in the ninth to go 4 for 5 for the first four-hit game of his career.

TIGERS 6, ROYALS 5, 11 INNINGS

DETROIT — Wenceel Pérez singled with two out in the 11th inning and Detroit rallied three times to beat Kansas City.

The Tigers trailed in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings, and ended a five-game losing streak. Kansas City had won five straight.

Parker Meadows led off the 11th with an RBI triple and the Royals intentionally walked Javier Báez. Jake Rogers hit into a double play, but Pérez lined a ball off the wall in right center field off James McArthur (4-5).

The Royals led 3-1 going into the ninth, but Bligh Madris led off the ninth inning with a home run off Hunter Harvey. Zach McKinstry followed with a pinch-hit double.

McKinstry took third on Parker Meadows’ groundout and scored on Báez’s double. Báez stole third without a throw, but Pérez grounded out to end the inning.

The Royals took a 4-3 lead in the 10th on Bobby Witt Jr.’s sacrifice fly off Jason Foley (3-3), but Justyn-Henry Malloy tied the game with a two-out double.

REDS 6, GIANTS 4

CINCINNATI — Tyler Stephenson hit two of Cincinnati’s four home runs to lead them to a win over San Francisco, one day after they were no-hit by Blake Snell.

Hunter Greene (8-4) stretched his scoreless innings streak to 21 with six shutout innings and has now gone six consecutive starts allowing one or zero runs, tying him for the team single-season record with Johnny Vander Meer, who did it in 1938. Vander Meer pitched back-to-back no-hit games that season.

Greene struck out a season-high 11 and lowered his ERA to 2.83. He allowed a single to Michael Conforto in the fourth, hit a batter and walked one.

Stephenson got the Reds’ first hit since Wednesday with his 12th home run of the season in the second inning. He added a three-run blast to straightaway center in the fourth inning for his second multi-homer game in 22 days. His first was against the Colorado Rockies on July 11.

Jonathan India hit his ninth home run of the season into the upper deck in left field in the third frame and Stuart Fairchild lined his seventh off the foul pole in left in the fourth.

ORIOLES 7, GUARDIANS 4

CLEVELAND — Zach Eflin won his second straight start since joining Baltimore’s rotation and Gunnar Henderson had three hits and an RBI as they stopped Cleveland’s five-game winning streak.

Eflin (7-7) cooled off the AL Central-leading Guardians, holding them to two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander was acquired from Tampa Bay on July 26 for three minor leaguers.

Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman had a pinch-hit, two-run triple in the eighth inning when the Orioles scored four times to take a 7-2 lead.

Henderson snapped a 2-2 tie with an RBI single in the fifth as Baltimore stayed tied with the New York Yankees atop the AL East.

José Ramírez and rookie Angel Martínez hit two-run homers for the Guardians, who still have the majors’ best record at 67-43.

MARLINS 4, BRAVES 3

ATLANTA — Jesús Sánchez hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning and Miami beat red-hot Atlanta, halting their four-game winning streak.

The Braves had won four straight and six of seven entering the game and were 5-0 against the Marlins at Truist Park this season.

Jake Burger was 2 for 5 with a home run and two RBIs. It was the fourth home run in five games for Burger and his 17th of the season. Sánchez was 3 for 5 with two doubles and two RBIs and a steal while Nick Fortes was 2 for 4 with two runs scored. Xavier Edwards extended his on-base streak to 20 games by going 1 for 3 with two walks in the win.

Declan Cronin (3-3) picked up the win with two scoreless innings. Calvin Faucher earned his first save of the season and second of his career by striking out two in the ninth.

Atlanta’s Matt Olson went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Marcell Ozuna hit his 32nd home run and Eddie Rosario was 1 for 3 with an RBI for the Braves. The Braves have homered in nine straight games.

RANGERS 7, RED SOX 4

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jonah Heim and Leody Taveras homered back-to-back from the bottom of the order to erase a three-run deficit in the fourth inning, and Texas beat Boston.

Rob Refsnyder, who tied a career with four hits and had three RBIs, hit solo home runs his first two times up — his sixth and seventh of the season — to help the Red Sox build a 3-0 lead before Heim’s tying three-run shot.

Two pitches after Heim’s 10th homer on a high drive down the line in right field, Taveras pulled a liner into the first row in right for his ninth in the second win over the past eight games for the defending World Series champions.

Texas reliever José Leclerc (5-4) struck out Ceddanne Rafaela on a checked swing on a full-count pitch in the dirt with the bases loaded when the Rangers trailed 3-0 in the top of the fourth.

Kirby Yates, the sixth Texas pitcher and only reliever in the majors without a blown save in at least eight opportunities, got the last four outs for his 20th save.

PIRATES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 2

PITTSBURGH — Bryan Reynolds and Joey Bart homered and Pittsburgh beat Arizona.

Reynolds’ two-run shot to center off Slade Cecconi in the sixth inning broke a 1-1. Bart opened the scoring with a solo shot in the second inning off starter Jordan Montgomery.

Bart also knocked in the Pirates’ other run in the sixth, singling home Connor Joe, who had doubled. Second base umpire Adrian Johnson originally ruled Joe was out at second base on a throw by left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. but the play was overturned on video review.

Kyle Nicolas (2-2), the fourth of six Pittsburgh pitchers, worked two scoreless innings for the win. Cecconi (2-7) allowed three runs in 2 1/3 innings.

David Bednar gave up a run in the ninth, but held for his 19th consecutive save and 20 in 23 opportunities this season. Ketel Marte hit an RBI single with two outs to draw the Diamondbacks within two runs, but pinch-hitter Alek Thomas flied out with runners on the corners to end it.

PADRES 3, ROCKIES 2

SAN DIEGO — Xander Bogaerts hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning and Martín Pérez pitched six strong innings in his debut for San Diego to snap a five-game losing streak to last-place Colorado.

The Padres have won 10 of 13 since the All-Star break. They followed up a two-game home sweep of the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers by losing 5-2 to the Rockies on Friday night.

After being held to one run and one hit in six innings by rookie Tanner Gordon, the Padres broke through against reliever Peter Lambert (2-5) in the seventh.

Jake Cronenworth hit a leadoff single, Manny Machado doubled and Bogaerts singled to left to give the Padres a 2-1 lead. Rookie Jackson Merrill followed with a sacrifice fly.

Rockies pinch hitter Jacob Stallings homered with one out in the eighth off All-Star Tanner Scott, who was making his Padres debut after being obtained from Miami on Tuesday. That snapped Scott’s scoreless streak of 17 2/3 innings since June 17.

Pérez held the Rockies to one run and three hits, struck out seven and walked none.

DODGERS 10, ATHLETICS 0

OAKLAND, Calif. — Jack Flaherty pitched six sharp innings in his Los Angeles debut as they snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Oakland.

Shohei Ohtani stole three bases for Los Angeles to give him 31 on the season to go with his 33 homers. This is just the fourth time a Dodgers player reached the 30-30 club in a season and only three players in the majors doing it faster than Ohtani, who accomplished it in the 111th game of the season. Eric Davis was the fastest to do it in 1987 when he reached it in Cincinnati’s 105th game.

Flaherty (8-5) had the biggest night in his first game since being acquired on Tuesday in a deadline deal from Detroit. He paid immediate dividends for a struggling Dodgers team that had lost five of six games before he took the mound in Oakland.

He allowed five hits, one walk and struck out five in an impressive performance. He ended his night by escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth by inducing two groundouts and a strikeout.

The Dodgers starters had combined for a 5.88 ERA over the previous 28 games — second worst in the majors in that span, contributing to the move to acquire Flaherty.

ANGELS 5, METS 4

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Zach Neto drove in a career-high four runs, including three with a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning, and Los Angeles rallied for a victory over New York despite J.D. Martinez’s second grand slam in eight games.

Neto connected on a cutter from Huascar Brazobán (1-3) and put it in the Mets’ bullpen in left field to put the Halos back on top.

Michael Stefanic started the rally with a two-out base hit and Nolan Schanuel drew a walk to set the table for Neto’s team-leading 17th homer of the season. Neto also had an RBI single in the fifth inning as the Angels snapped a three-game losing streak.

Matt Moore (5-2) got the win and Ben Joyce retired all four hitters he faced in 1 1/3 innings for his first big league save. The hard-throwing right-hander struck out Martinez for the final out on a 104.7 mile per hour fastball, the fastest pitch in the majors this season.

Joyce has a 23 inning scoreless streak and has not allowed a run in 18 straight outings since June 14.

MARINERS 6, PHILLIES 5, 10 INNINGS

SEATTLE — Mitch Haniger walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning to score Randy Arozarena with the winning run, and Seattle rallied from a 5-0 deficit for a win over Philadelphia.

Seattle handed Philadelphia its sixth straight loss, the longest losing streak for the Phillies since early in the 2023 season when they also dropped six consecutive games.

After Cal Raleigh was intentionally walked to start the inning, Carlos Estévez got Justin Turner and Jason Vosler for the first two outs, before hitting Dylan Moore to load the bases. After falling behind in the count 0-2, Haniger laid off a couple of close pitches and got the benefit of a check-swing that was called a ball. But Estévez (1-4) wasn’t close as the 3-2 pitch missed high and Seattle celebrated its sixth win in the past eight games.

It was Haniger’s seventh career walk-off, all with Seattle, tying him with Jim Presley for the most in franchise history.

Collin Snider (2-1) allowed a leadoff walk, but struck out a pair in the top of the 10th to earn the victory.