Yonny Chirinos pitches Tampa Bay past Red Sox 5-1
BOSTON (AP) — Yonny Chirinos pitched two-hit ball for eight scoreless innings and the Tampa Bay Rays stopped Boston’s four-game winning streak, beating the Red Sox 5-1 on Friday night.
Kevin Kiermaier homered and drove in four runs and Ji-Man Choi also homered for the Rays, who didn’t need much offense to front Chirinos in the longest outing of his career.
Chirinos (7-2) had never gone more than 7 1-3 innings before stifling the Red Sox. He cruised through the first five innings on just 50 pitches and didn’t allow a baserunner or hit until the sixth.
Chirinos struck out six and walked two before Emilio Pagan took over in the ninth. Boston broke up the shutout with doubles by Andrew Benintendi and Xander Bogaerts.
The Rays tagged Rick Porcello (4-6) for four runs on eight hits in six innings in the opener of a four-game series at Fenway Park.
Chirinos didn’t allow a baserunner until he walked Brock Holt to start the sixth. Jackie Bradley Jr. followed with a single and Boston loaded the bases with one out, but Chirinos got out of the jam by striking out Benintendi and Rafael Devers.
Kiermaier hit his seventh home run in the ninth.
DIAMONDBACKS 8, BLUE JAYS 2
TORONTO (AP) — Kevin Cron hit his first major league home run, David Peralta had a solo shot among his three hits and Arizona topped Toronto.
Merrill Kelly (6-6) allowed one run and three hits in seven innings for his second straight victory, and the Diamondbacks used a five-run fourth inning to win for the fourth time in six games.
Archie Bradley worked the eighth and T.J. McFarland finished.
Arizona catcher Carson Kelly hit a solo home run in the ninth, his sixth of the season.
Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (3-8) gave up eight hits and matched his season-worst by allowing six runs in 5 2/3 innings, losing his second straight outing.
Toronto’s Teoscar Hernández got the Blue Jays on the board with a two-out homer in the fifth, his fourth.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jay Bruce hit a two-run homer, Zach Eflin threw 6 1/3 sharp innings and Philadelphia beat Cincinnati.
Bruce has four homers in four games with the NL East-leading Phillies after hitting 14 for Seattle before he was acquired in a trade last week.
Joey Votto hit a solo shot for the Reds, who have dropped four of five.
Eflin (6-5) gave up two runs — one earned — and four hits. An injury-depleted bullpen missing seven relievers got eight outs, with Hector Neris finishing for his 13th save in 13 tries.
Reds starter Tyler Mahle (2-6) cruised through the first four innings. But J.T. Realmuto led off the fifth with a single and Bruce followed with an opposite-field shot to left-center to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. Scott Kingery then singled and later scored when catcher Tucker Barnhart tried to pick him off third and made a wild throw for an error.
The Phillies got an insurance run in the eighth on a throwing error.
Mahle allowed three runs — two earned — and four hits in five innings.
MIAMI (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a score-settling homer off Jose Ureña and Atlanta rode starter Mike Soroka to a win over Miami.
Ureña was suspended for six games for intentionally hitting Acuña on the arm with a pitch last August, triggering a melee. That may explain why Acuña showboated a bit when he homered in the fourth.
It was Acuña’s 13th homer. He also had a one-hop RBI single off the fence against Ureña in the second, and a run-scoring single off Wei-Yin Chen in the fifth.
Soroka (7-1) pitched one-run ball into the ninth inning. He gave up three hits, struck out six and won his seventh consecutive decision. He retired 10 in a row before allowing a leadoff walk — his second — in the ninth and then departed. Dan Winkler got the final three outs to complete a five-hitter.
Freddie Freeman hit his 17th home run and contributed three RBIs, and Ozzie Albies added three hits.
Ureña (4-7) gave up 11 hits and six runs in three-plus innings, his shortest outing this year.
Starlin Castro led off the second with a double for his 1,500th career hit.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ian Desmond got plunked in the back by a pitch from New York rookie Drew Gagnon immediately after two colossal Colorado homers, leading to a bench-clearing scrum late in the Rockies’ victory.
The bullpens emptied and players from both sides milled together during two separate dustups, but there did not appear to be any serious pushing or shoving and no punches were thrown.
Antonio Senzatela (5-4) outpitched Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, and Colorado got homers from David Dahl and Daniel Murphy in a three-run eighth inning. That made it 5-1, and the Rockies went on to their 10th win in 12 games. Senzatela gave up one run and four hits in six innings without a strikeout. Rockies closer Wade Davis, just off the injured list, worked a scoreless ninth.
Two batters before Murphy connected, Dahl hit a titanic two-run homer off Gagnon deep into the second deck in right to make it 4-1.
Michael Conforto homered for the Mets, and deGrom (3-6) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings. He struck out 10.
Raimel Tapia hit an RBI double off deGrom in the third, and Desmond added a run-scoring single in the fourth.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Carlos Santana’s two-run homer in the sixth inning helped rookie Zach Plesac get his first major league win and sent Cleveland past New York.
Santana broke a 2-all tie by connecting on a change-up from Domingo Germán (9-2), trying to become baseball’s first 10-game winner.
Making just his third start, Plesac (1-1) settled down after a few anxious innings and stifled the AL East’s top team. The Yankees managed just six hits — and only two after the third — in seven innings against the right-hander and nephew of former major leaguer Dan Plesac.
Nick Wittgren worked a perfect eighth and Brad Hand struck out the side in the ninth for his 19th save in 19 tries.
Tyler Naquin also homered for the Indians. Jason Kipnis had two RBIs for Cleveland.
The Yankees welcomed back shortstop Didi Gregorius, who got two hits playing for the first time since Game 4 of last year’s AL Division series against Boston when he injured his elbow making a throw. He underwent Tommy John surgery.
CHICAGO (AP) — Cole Hamels threw eight innings of three-hit shutout ball, Javier Báez hit a two-run homer and Chicago topped St. Louis.
The Cubs have won four of five since being swept in a three-game series at St. Louis last weekend.
Before starting up at Wrigley Field, the Cubs finalized a three-year contract with Craig Kimbrel that guarantees the closer $43 million.
Hamels (5-2) struck out a season-high 10 and walked one. Harrison Bader, who doubled in the second, was the only Cardinal to reach second base off the left-hander.
Hamels struck out the side in the eighth to finish strong. Pedro Strop gave up a home run in the ninth to Paul DeJong before finishing for his sixth save in eight chances.
Báez’s 16th homer was his third in five games. Victor Caratini had two hits, including an RBI double.
Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (4-6) exited after four innings with a bruised right forearm. He was struck by David Bote’s hard comebacker, knocked the ball down and tossed to first for the final out in the bottom of the fourth. Giovanny Gallegos pitched two scoreless innings as three Cardinals relievers shut out the Cubs the rest of the way.
DETROIT (AP) — Mitch Garver homered and had three hits, Marwin Gonzalez matched his career high with four hits and Minnesota defeated Detroit.
C.J. Cron and Nelson Cruz also homered for Minnesota, which is 6-1 against the Tigers this season.
Ryne Harper (1-0) got his first career win after striking out the side in the seventh inning. Blake Parker pitched the ninth for his ninth save.
Joe Jimenez (2-4) took the loss, allowing two runs in the eighth inning.
Michael Pineda, activated from the injured list before the game, pitched five innings and allowed three runs and eight hits.
Detroit starter Matthew Boyd allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings. He struck out eight with no walks but allowed two homers.
Detroit has lost 12 of 13 at home.
