PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Skenes struck out nine over six solid innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Miami Marlins 3-2 on Monday night.
The 22-year-old Skenes (10-2) allowed one run on six hits, lowering his ERA to 2.10. Skenes also boosted his season strikeout total to 151, a Pirates rookie record, while winning his fourth straight decision.
The 6-foot-6 right-hander’s fastball hit 100 mph six times while becoming just the fourth rookie ever to reach 150 strikeouts in 20 starts or less, joining Kerry Wood, Dwight Gooden and Mark Prior.
While Skenes wasn’t particularly efficient — he needed 98 pitches to record 18 outs and retired Miami in order just once — he was able to avoid major trouble to bolster his bid for National League Rookie of the Year.
Oneil Cruz hit his 19th home of the season for the Pirates. Bryan Reynolds added a two-run double off Valente Bellozo (2-3) as Pittsburgh won its second straight game. Aroldis Chapman worked around a Cristian Pache RBI-double in the ninth to earn his seventh save.
REDS 1, BRAVES 0
ATLANTA (AP) — Nick Martinez pitched seven innings of two-hit ball, Ty France had an RBI double and Cincinnati defeated Atlanta in the makeup of a July rainout.
Atlanta began the night tied with the New York Mets for the last National League wild card. New York was playing at Toronto.
Martinez (8-6) struck out five and held the Braves hitless from the second through the seventh, retiring 17 straight batters in the process. It was the fourth time this season he allowed just two hits in an outing.
Fernando Cruz struck out two in the eighth and Alexis Díaz pitched a flawless ninth for his 27th save in 30 opportunities, completing the two-hitter.
The game was scheduled to make up a July 23 rainout. The Reds won the first two games of that series on July 22 and 24.
A win would have pushed Atlanta to a season-high 14 games over .500. Instead, the Braves dropped to 4-4 in September.
PHILLIES 2, RAYS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kody Clemens singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth after Tampa Bay had tied the score in the top of the inning, and Philadelphia won.
Kyle Schwarber homered and Cristopher Sánchez pitched six shutout innings to help NL East-leading Philadelphia begin a six-game homestand with its 48th home victory of the season. The Phillies entered tied with the Dodgers for the most home wins in baseball.
Brandon Lowe hit the tying homer for the Rays, who began play five games out of a wild-card spot in the American League.
Manuel Rodríguez got the first out in the bottom of the ninth before being relieved by Garrett Cleavinger (3-5), who loaded the bases with two outs on a pair of singles and a walk. Clemens lined a 1-0, 95-mph sinker into right field to draw loud “KO-DY! KO-DY!” cheers from the crowd of 39,511.
Carlos Estévez (4-4) blew his fifth save and second in six chances with the Phillies since being acquired prior to the July trade deadline in the top of the inning. Lowe led off the ninth with a drive to deep center. Johan Rojas appeared to make a stellar, leaping catch against the wall in left-center in the deepest part of the park, but the ball popped out of Rojas’ glove and over the fence for a home run after his glove hit the top of the outfield wall.
YANKEES 10, ROYALS 4
NEW YORK (AP) — Austin Wells hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh inning and added an RBI double in the eighth as New York pulled away for a victory over Kansas City and widened their lead in the AL East.
The Yankees surpassed last season’s win total and moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Orioles, who were handed a 12-3 loss in Boston.
Aaron Judge hit a tying single off James McArthur and four pitches later, Wells lifted a 2-1 fastball into the lower rows of the right field bleachers to push New York’s lead to 7-4.
The 404-foot drive was Wells’ seventh in his last 36 games since July 21 and sixth as New York’s cleanup hitter behind Judge.
Hunter Renfroe led off the sixth with a homer to give the Royals a 4-3 lead before the Yankees mounted a rally against McArthur (5-7) and scored the final seven runs of the game.
ANGELS 6, TWINS 2
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Reid Detmers worked six solid innings and Brandon Drury and Niko Kavadas homered to lead Los Angeles to a victory over struggling Minnesota.
Detmers (4-6) was making his second straight quality start after spending three months at Triple-A Salt Lake. The 25-year-old left-hander allowed five hits and struck out eight — including the last three batters he face — for his first win since May 20 against Houston after starting the season 3-0. He allowed three hits and struck out 10 in six innings in a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Tuesday in his first appearance since June 1 after being demoted to the minors after months of inconsistency.
Drury hit his fourth homer of the season, a two-run shot, in the the third inning and Kavadas added another two-run homer, his third, in the sixth.
Kyle Farmer homered for the Twins, who struck out 12 times and lost their fourth straight game. Minnesota has scored just 13 runs in losing six of its last seven games. The Twins are 6-15 in their last 21 games, yet remain third in the American League wild-card standings, three games ahead of idle Detroit and Seattle.
David Festa (2-6) allowed a two-run single to Nolan Schanuel in the first and a 459-foot home run to Drury in the third inning as the Angels took a 4-0 lead. Festa was lifted after four innings.
METS 3, BLUE JAYS 2
TORONTO (AP) — Tyrone Taylor scored the tying run on a wild pitch in the eighth inning before fellow pinch-runner Eddy Alvarez dashed home on a passed ball as New York rallied past Toronto for their 10th victory in 11 games.
The surging Mets got six shutout innings of one-hit ball from fill-in starter Tylor Megill, who retired his last 16 batters and matched a season high with nine strikeouts.
New York bounced back after its nine-game winning streak was snapped Sunday by Cincinnati, moving a game ahead of Atlanta for the final National League wild card. The rival Braves lost 1-0 at home to the Reds in the makeup of a July rainout.
With the Mets trailing 2-1 to begin the eighth against reliever Tommy Nance (0-1), pinch-hitter Jesse Winker drew a walk and was replaced by Taylor.
RED SOX 12, ORIOLES 3
BOSTON (AP) — Rob Refsnyder homered twice among his four hits and had a career-high five RBIs, Tyler O’Neill also had two homers and Boston beat Baltimore.
Ceddanne Rafaela had two hits and four RBIs as the Red Sox finished with 15 hits.
Refsnyder and O’Neill hit back-to-back homers in both the third and eighth innings. It was Refsnyder’s second career multi-homer game and O’Neil’s 12th — including his seventh this season to tie Jordan Alvarez for most in the majors. It was the ninth time Boston batters have hit back-to-back homers this season.
Boston starter Brayan Bello (13-7) gave up two runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked five, struck out five and hit a batter. Josh Winckowski gave up a run in the final three innings to get his second save of the season.
Orioles left-hander Cade Povich (2-8) allowed four runs and five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
GUARDIANS 5, WHITE SOX 3
CHICAGO (AP) — Joey Cantillo pitched seven sparkling innings for his first major league win, and Cleveland beat Chicago.
Cantillo was working on a perfect game before Andrew Benintendi grounded a single into right field with two outs in the seventh. Benintendi advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Andrew Vaughn’s single, but Korey Lee bounced to third for the final out of the inning.
Cantillo (1-3) struck out a career-high 10 in his fifth start and sixth major league appearance overall. The 24-year-old left-hander, recalled from Triple-A Columbus earlier in the day, stepped into the rotation after Alex Cobb was scratched Saturday because of a blister.
David Fry and Bo Naylor homered for the AL Central-leading Guardians, who had dropped three of four. Steven Kwan reached three times from the leadoff spot and scored two runs.
It was a franchise-record 13th consecutive home loss and No. 15 in 17 games overall for the lowly White Sox. At 33-112, they are approaching the majors’ modern record for most losses — 120 by the 1962 New York Mets in their inaugural season.
CUBS 10, DODGERS 4
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Busch went 4 for 5 with a homer and scored three runs, Cody Bellinger had three RBIs including a two-run homer, and Chicago beat NL West-leading Los Angeles.
The Cubs’ offence broke out for 16 hits — with every player getting at least one — coming off a series loss to the AL East-leading New York Yankees in which they had a combined seven hits and two runs in three games.
Bellinger and Busch gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead with two outs in the first inning against their old team.
Bellinger slugged a first-pitch, two-run homer off Walker Buehler (1-5) that also scored Ian Happ, who singled leading off. The ball traveled 430 feet — halfway up the right-field pavilion — and drew cheers from Chicago fans in the crowd of 50,495. Busch added an RBI single.
Busch went deep down the left-field line with two strikes in the fourth, extending Chicago’s lead to 4-0.