Dodgers’ walk-off HR, not Kershaw, beats Phillies

Rookie Will Smith hit a walk-off home run in his fourth career game as the Los Angeles Dodgers remained undefeated in Clayton Kershaw starts with a 4-3 victory on Saturday over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.Smith, who was called up this week when Austin Barnes went on the injured list, lifted a full-count split-finger pitch from Hector Neris (1-2) in the ninth inning into the left-field corner for his first career home run. The Dodgers won for the eighth time in their last nine games.The Phillies had just gotten back into the game in the eighth, one inning after Kershaw departed. Reliever Julio Urias hit Jean Segura with a pitch, and Bryce Harper followed with a two-run home run into the seats in left field, his 11th of the season, to tie the score 3-3.Kershaw gave up one run on six hits over seven innings with no walks and six strikeouts. The Dodgers are now a perfect 9-0 in Kershaw starts this season and have won each of his last 17 starts going back to August of last season.Despite giving up one more run than Kershaw over five fewer innings, Urias (3-2) ended up with the victory. Jose Alvarez started for the Phillies and went two scoreless innings as Philadelphia manager Gabe Kapler used an opener for the first time. After an out from Juan Nicasio, left-hander Cole Irvin followed with 3 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits.The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single by Enrique Hernandez. It was the seventh RBI in the past six games for Hernandez and his 29th of the season. His previous seven RBIs came over 19 games.The Phillies broke through against Kershaw in the fourth inning with some shaky Dodgers defence. Harper singled and went to second base on a wild pitch from Kershaw that got past rookie catcher Smith.A fielding error by Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy allowed Harper to move to third, and J.T. Realmuto followed with an RBI single to make it 1-1.The Dodgers’ David Freese, who started a game in the leadoff spot for just the fourth time in his career, hit a home run in the fifth inning. His drive off an Irvin slider was his fifth of the season. Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was not in the starting lineup for the third consecutive day because of a mild tightness in his right hamstring.Twins stay hot by dispatching RaysMarwin Gonzalez and Byron Buxton each homered and drove in two runs and Kyle Gibson allowed only an unearned run over five innings to pick up his fourth win in five starts to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Flodria.It marked the 25th consecutive game that Minnesota scored three or more runs in a game, breaking the single-season franchise record set in 2006. The Twins, who set a franchise record with 56 homers in May, clubbed two to increase the major league leading total to 108 and nearly had a third when Miguel Sano doubled off the top of the right-field fence in the seventh.Jason Castro also had three hits and scored a run, and Eddie Rosario, Gonzalez and Buxton each had two hits for Minnesota, which improved to 20-9 on the road, including 12-3 in its last 15 attempts. The Twins, who went 21-8 during the month of May, have won 14 of their last 17 games.Gibson (6-2) allowed six hits and a walk while striking out three. Four relievers combined to hold the Rays to three hits and a run over the final four inningsChristian Arroyo homered and Willy Adames and Austin Meadows each had two hits for Tampa Bay. Yonny Chirinos (6-2), who pitched five no-hit innings in his previous start against Toronto on Monday, gave up four runs on nine hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings while striking out seven to pick up the loss.The Rays have dropped two straight after winning their previous six games.Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the second when Nate Lowe singled and went to third on a throwing error by Jonathan Schoop on an infield single by Adames. Travis d’Arnaud then drove in Lowe with a single.The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the third on RBI doubles by Jorge Polanco and Gonzalez, the latter deflecting off of Kevin Kiermaier’s glove as he crashed into the fence in center.After Buxton’s RBI single in the fourth extended the lead to 3-1, Gonzalez led off the fifth by drilling his sixth home run of the season over the fence in centre.Buxton made it 5-1 in the sixth with his sixth homer of the season off reliever Hunter Wood, and Sano extended Minnesota’s lead to 6-1 in the seventh with his long RBI double just below the yellow line on the right-field fence.Arroyo ended the scoring with a solo home run in the eighth off reliever Ryne Harper. It was Arroyo’s first of the season.