New York Mets third baseman Juan Uribe hits a walk single to deep left centre allowing right fielder Curtis Granderson (not pictured) to score during the tenth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers  PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

 

AFP/Los Angeles


Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke saw his impressive streak of scoreless innings pitched ended at 45 and 2/3 innings on Sunday against the New York Mets.
The streak was the fourth-longest in baseball since 1961 and 13 1/3 innings shy of Orel Hershiser’s record of 59 scoreless innings pitched from August 30 to September 28, 1988. It also was behind scoreless streaks of 58 innings by Hall of Famers Don Drysdale and 47 by Bob Gibson in 1968 — a sparkling year for pitching in the Major Leagues.
Greinke’s run ended in the third inning when Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom hit a ground ball to Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez charged in and tried get the first out of the inning at home, but Mets centre fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis—walked earlier by Greinke—scored ahead of catcher Yasmani Grandal’s tag.
Greinke led the major leagues with a 1.30 earned run average going into the game, which was his first since a flying trip home to Los Angeles, where his wife Emily gave birth to the couple’s first child on Thursday.
“Surprisingly, it wasn’t as distracting as you would think,” he said of the trip, noting that he retired the first six batters he faced in the game. “If it would have affected me, I would have started off bad and got better,” he said. “But I started off good and got worse.”
Greinke hadn’t allowed a run since June 13 against San Diego. He ended up surrendering two runs in seven innings in the Dodgers’ 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Mets.
Greinke wasn’t too upset to see the streak end. “If anything, I feel negative about it,” he said. “Having to deal with answering questions about it all the time.”
But his run has made him reconsider the possibility that Hershiser’s record could be broken. He once thought the mark was all but untouchable—just like Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. “It looks like people are getting closer to the Hershiser one now, so maybe eventually it might happen,” Greinke said.

Pirates 3, Nationals 1
Gerrit Cole pitched into the eighth inning to become the first 14-game winner in the Major Leagues and Neil Walker homered as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals 3-1.  Cole allowed one run and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts and no walks against the National League East-leading Nationals as he became the first Pirates pitcher with 14 wins by the end of July since Dock Ellis was 15-4 in 1971.
Cole kept his record perfect against the NL East this season as he is 6-0 with a 1.26 ERA in six starts.

Orioles 5, Rays 2
Baltimore jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Tampa Bay had its first hit and went on to close out a series win. The Orioles took two of three games from the Rays, who are 9-21 since being a season-high 10 games over .500 on June 20.
The Orioles tagged Rays starter Matt Moore for three runs in the first and completed their scoring in the third after a two-run homer by Caleb Joseph.

White Sox 2, Indians 1
Carlos Rodon became the latest Chicago starter to baffle Cleveland as the White Sox completed a four-game series sweep. Rodon pitched a career-high 6 2/3 scoreless innings on five hits, with nine strikeouts and no walks. David Robertson pitched the ninth to pick up his 21st save.
The White Sox out-scored Cleveland 26-5 in the series and never trailed at any point in the four games. The four starters in the series—Jeff Samardzija, Jose Quintana, Chris Sale and Rodon—were a combined 4-0 with a 0.88 ERA.

Royals 5, Astros 1
Yordano Ventura outdueled Dallas Keuchel as Kansas City beat Houston 5-1. Ventura (5-7) threw 97 pitches in seven innings, giving up a run on six hits. He walked none, hit a batter and struck out five.

Yankees 7, Twins 2
New York used a six-run sixth inning to ease past Minnesota as the Yankees took two of three in the series. Chase Headley drove in two runs in the sixth inning and Stephen Drew added a two-run homer as the Yankees won their second straight game after losing the series opener.
Yankees right-hander Nathan Eovaldi notched his 10th win of the season after allowing two runs on eight hits in eight-plus innings.

Braves 3, Cardinals 2
Adonis Garcia led off the top of the sixth by belting his first Major League home run to snap a tie and lift the Braves over the Cardinals.
The 30-year old Cuban belted a 1-0 offering from Michael Wacha 386 feet into the St Louis bullpen in right-centre field, making a winner of rookie right-hander Matt Wisler (5-1), who scattered seven hits and allowed two runs over seven innings.

Phillies 11, Cubs 5
Domonic Brown went 3-for-5 with a double, triple and three RBIs to lead a 17-hit attack as Philadelphia completed a three-game sweep. The victory was the fourth straight for the Phillies, eighth in nine games since the All-Star Break and their first sweep away from home. The Cubs dropped their third straight and four of their last five.

Padres 3, Marlins 2
Odrisamer Despaigne allowed one run on two hits over six straight innings and relievers Joaquin Benoit and Craig Kimbrel blanked Miami over the final two innings as San Diego defeated the Marlins at Petco Park. Justin Upton hit his 16th homer for the Padres while Matt Kemp drove in the decisive run with a grounder.

Giants 4, Athletics 3
Right-hander Tim Hudson became the 15th active pitcher to record a win over all 30 Major League teams, beating Oakland for the first time in his career. San Francisco’s ninth win in 12 interleague games completed a three-game sweep of the rival A’s, who have not won since Thursday’s trade of left-hander Scott Kazmir.

Angels 13, Rangers 7
Mike Trout hit two home runs and drove in five runs to lead Los Angeles to a win over Texas in front of 38,539 at Angel Stadium. The Angels used their eighth win in 11 games to regain a one-game lead over the second-place Houston Astros in the American League West.

Mariners 6, Blue Jays 5 (10 innings)
Franklin Gutierrez finished off the game with a one-out, solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning as Seattle beat Toronto. Seattle (46-53) won a three-game series for the first time since June 19-21 when Gutierrez took Toronto reliever Aaron Loup (2-5) deep for his third home run of the season.

Diamondbacks 3, Brewers 0
Arizona right-hander Jeremy Hellickson pitched six scoreless innings and pinch hitter Chris Owings hit a two-run double in the Diamondbacks’ shutout victory over Milwaukee at Chase Field. Hellickson (7-6) gave up four hits and struck out six while dropping his ERA to 4.60, the lowest it has been since April 19. He walked three.

Rockies 17, Reds 7
Colorado hit five home runs, three of them during a 10-run third inning, and walloped Cincinnati. Ben Paulsen, who finished a double shy of the cycle when he struck out on his final at-bat in the seventh, and Carlos Gonzalez each homered twice in the thumping win.

Red Sox 11, Tigers 1
David Ortiz drove in a career-high seven runs with two three-run homers and an RBI single in a four-hit night as Boston routed struggling Detroit. Red Sox rookie Eduardo Rodriguez pitched seven innings of three-hit ball as the last-place Red Sox stroked a season-high 20 hits to take the deciding game of the three-game series.