MLB Roundup: Sale sparkles as Braves down Phillies

ATLANTA — Chris Sale shut down the Phillies for the second time in nine days and won his 150th career game as the Atlanta Braves built an early lead and beat Philadelphia 6-2 on Sunday.

Sale (5-1) threw six shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out a season-high nine. In his previous start on against the slumping Phillies on April 18, Sale gave up one run in seven innings.

The Phillies, who snapped a 10-game losing streak Saturday, dropped to 0-10 against left-handed non-opener starters and fell to 9-19 overall.

Matt Olson hit a three-run home run in the first inning and Eli White added a two-run homer in the second for the Braves, who won for the 10th time in 12 games. Olson’s homer was his eighth of the season and fourth in his career off Phillies starer Aaron Nola (1-3).

Ronald Acuña Jr. was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and a steal. Drake Baldwin was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored, and Ozzie Albies extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single in the seventh inning.

Nola gave up a season-high six runs on seven hits and has now allowed 11 earned runs in his last two starts. Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run homer run in the eighth inning as the Phillies avoided the shutout.

BALTIMORE — Willson Contreras hit his sixth home run of the season and second in as many games, and Boston responded to the firing of manager Alex Cora with a victory over Baltimore.

Connelly Early (2-1) allowed two runs in 6.2 innings in the rubber game victory for Boston, less than 24 hours after the club parted with Cora and five assistants following a 10-17 start to the season.

Ceddanne Rafaela, Marcelo Mayer and Andruw Monasterio also had RBI hits to help Red Sox interim skipper Chad Tracy get a win in his MLB managerial debut.

Zach Kelly retired the last batter of the seventh inning and Garrett Whitlock allowed a run in the eighth. Aroldis Chapman worked a perfect ninth for his fifth save.

Gunnar Henderson hit his ninth home run of the season and drove in two for Baltimore. Samuel Basallo added his fifth homer as the Orioles lost their third series out of four.

Kyle Bradish (1-3) allowed all three of his runs — including Contreras’ two-run shot — in his fifth and final inning. Grant Wolfram gave up two more without retiring a batter in the sixth.

TORONTO — Jesús Sánchez hit a two-run home run to take the lead, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had three hits, and Toronto beat Cleveland.

Guerrero led off the sixth inning with a double and Sánchez followed with his 355-foot blast to right field. It was Sánchez’s fourth homer of the season and second of the series, which the Blue Jays won two games to one.

It was Toronto’s second straight series victory after dropping its previous six.

Blue Jays left-hander Patrick Corbin allowed two runs and six hits in 4.2 innings. He walked two and struck out four.

Braydon Fisher (1-0) worked out of a bases-loaded jam to finish the fifth and completed 1.1 scoreless innings. Tyler Rogers handled the seventh. Jeff Hoffman, who was recently moved out of the closer role, pitched a scoreless eighth. Louis Varland earned his third save after working around a leadoff single in the ninth.

CINCINNATI — Pinch hitter Hao-Yu Lee hit his first MLB home run and Spencer Torkelson homered for the fifth straight game as Detroit avoided a series sweep with a win over Cincinnati.

Torkelson tied a Tigers record by homering in five consecutive games, joining Rudy York, Hank Greenberg, Vic Wertz, Willie Horton and Marcus Thames.

The Tigers led 2-0 after Kerry Carpenter’s bases-loaded double in the first before Cincinnati rallied.

Reds designated hitter Nathaniel Lowe homered in the second inning, going deep for the fourth time in nine plate appearances.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Yandy Diaz homered as part of a four-run third inning and Tampa Bay beat Minnesota to complete a three-game series sweep.

Tampa Bay has won four straight and is five games above .500. The Twins’ slide continued with their fifth consecutive loss and ninth defeat in their last 10 games.

Hunter Feduccia had an infield single, and then took second when Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson rushed a throw after fielding the grounder and sent it careening into first-base foul territory and into the Rays’ bullpen. Feduccia reached third on Chandler Simpson’s single. Simpson stole his ninth base of the season to set the table. Jonathan Aranda drove in both runners with a high fly-ball single.

Diaz then followed with his fourth homer of the year to give the Rays a 4-0 lead.

Jesse Scholtens (2-1) allowed two runs, both on Brooks Lee’s seventh-inning home run, over 4.1 innings as the bulk pitcher. Griffin Jax pitched 2.1 scoreless innings as the opener.

CHICAGO — CJ Abrams’ sacrifice fly scored automatic runner Daylen Lile from third in the 10th inning, pinch-hitter José Tena followed with a solo homer and Washington beat Chicago for its second straight extra-innings win.

After the teams played nine scoreless innings, Lile advanced to third on Jorbit Vivas’ groundout and scored when left fielder Tanner Murray injured himself making a diving catch on Abrams’ sinking liner.

Tena followed with his first homer of the season off Chicago closer Seranthony Dominguez.

The White Sox closed within 2-1 in the bottom half of the 10th when Tristan Peters singled in automatic runner Derek Hill from second with one out. But, Paxton Schultz, called up from Triple-A before the game, struck out Chase Meidroth and Miguel Vargas to earn his first career save.

HOUSTON — Spencer Arrighetti allowed one run over seven innings, and Christian Walker homered and drove home a season-high four runs, and Houston beat New York to snap the Yankees’ eight-game win streak.

Arrighetti (3-0) struck out eight while allowing three hits and one walk. He is the first Astros starter to pitch seven innings since Lance McCullers Jr. on March 30.

Aaron Judge, celebrating his 34th birthday, supplied the only blemish on Arrighetti’s line when he hit a solo homer in the sixth. Judge’s three birthday homers tied Yogi Berra and Graig Nettles for second-most among Yankees, trailing only Lou Gehrig’s four.

Walker gave the Astros a 2-0 lead when he sent a 3-2 changeup from Luis Gil 432 feet over the wall in left-centre field for his seventh homer of the season and second in as many days.

MILWAUKEE — Kyle Harrison collected a career-high 12 strikeouts and allowed just one hit and one walk in six scoreless innings as Milwaukee avoided a sweep by beating Pittsburgh.

The Pirates were attempting to complete a sweep in Milwaukee for the first time since winning four straight games here in August 2016. The Pirates’ last sweep of the Brewers came August 2022 at Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh’s only hits were Marcell Ozuna’s single against Harrison (2-1) in the second and Nick Gonzales’ double off Trevor Megill in the seventh. The Pirates struck out 18 times.

Jake Bauers hit two doubles for the Brewers, who snapped a four-game skid.

Milwaukee scored all its runs off Carmen Mlodzinski (1-2) in the fourth inning.

ST. LOUIS — Rob Refsnyder successfully challenged a third strike, and then hit a go-ahead solo home run in the ninth inning to lift Seattle to a win over St. Louis.

Refsnyder was initially called out by plate umpire John Bacon on an 0-2 pitch that the replay showed was outside. After two more balls, he hit a 412-foot blast into the left-field bullpen off JoJo Romero (0-1) to give the Mariners their first lead.

Jose Ferrer retired the Cardinals in order in the ninth for his first save of the season.

Each team successfully challenged four ball-strike calls by Bacon during the game, all during Mariners plate appearances, before JJ Wetherholt had an unsuccessful bid in the ninth.

During J.P Crawford’s eighth-inning plate appearance, each team had a successful challenge. Crawford had a strike overturned early in the at-bat, and then had ball four changed to the third strike on a challenge by catcher Iván Herrera. Herrera also secured a strikeout against Randy Arozarena in the second inning with a challenge.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Carlos Cortes had a two-run triple in the first inning, reliever Justin Sterner escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam to preserve a one-run lead in the sixth and Oakland beat Texas in the rubber game of their series.

Cortes’ 106.3 mph liner off the glove of Evan Carter on the warning track in centre field scored Tyler Soderstrom and Brent Rooker, who drew consecutive two-out walks off Kumar Rocker.

Athletics starter J.T. Ginn exited due to right arm soreness with one out in the fourth and a 2-0 lead. Rooker was back in the lineup in the cleanup spot as the designated hitter after missing 14 games with a right oblique strain. The two-time All-Star went 0 for 4.

Cortes had three of the Athletics’ 10 hits as each team stranded 11 runners and went a combined 2 of 22 with runners in scoring position.

DIAMONDBACKS 12, PADRES 7

MEXICO CITY — Tim Tawa hit a grand slam to highlight Arizona’s six-run seventh inning, Ildemaro Vargas homered to extend his hitting streak to 23 games and the Diamondbacks rallied Sunday to defeat San Diego and split the two-game series at Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium.

With Arizona trailing 7-2 in the seventh, José Fernández, Nolan Arenado and Alek Thomas hit consecutive one-out singles against David Morgan to load the bases. Tawa followed with a liner over the left field wall for his first homer of the season to get the Diamondbacks within a run.

Bradgley Rodríguez (0-1) came in and gave up a double to Vargas, who finished a single shy of hitting for the cycle. One out later, Rodriguez walked Corbin Carroll and then allowed a go-ahead two-run double to Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Vargas, who went 3 for 5, added a three-run triple off Ron Marinaccio in the eighth for the Diamondbacks. His solo homer in the sixth inning against Michael King gave him a 23-game hitting streak, dating to last season. It’s the longest in the majors since the start of the 2024 season behind only Bryan Reynolds’ 25-game streak in June 2024.

Vargas has also hit safely in all 20 games he has played this season, tied for the longest to begin a season since Pablo Sandoval also hit in 20 straight for San Francisco in 2012.

Ryan Thompson (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief for the win. Fernández also hit a home run for Arizona.

Manny Machado hit two home runs and drove in five runs and Luis Campusano also homered for the Padres.

SAN FRANCISCO — Landen Roupp held Miami to two hits in 7.2 innings and Casey Schmitt hit a go-ahead home run for the second straight game as San Francisco beat the Marlins.

The Giants have won three consecutive series and seven of their past 10 games.

Roupp (5-1) gave up a three-run homer to Graham Pauley on an 0-2 pitch with two outs in the second inning. Roupp then set down the next 18 hitters before walking Heriberto Hernandez with two outs in the eighth.

Hernandez was the last batter Roupp faced. The right-hander struck out six, walked two and won his fourth consecutive decision.

Left-hander Erik Miller retired all four batters he faced to pick up his second save.

LOS ANGELES — Justin Wrobleski tossed six scoreless innings to become the first Dodgers pitcher since 2009 to win his first four starts, and Los Angeles defeated Chicago in the series finale.

Wrobleski (4-0) allowed four hits, struck out six and walked a season-high four on a career-high 109 pitches while facing the Cubs for the first time in his career. The left-hander matched Chad Billingsley, who won his first four starts 17 years ago.

Wrobleski and Cubs starter Shota Imanaga both struggled with command and control early. They threw a combined 100 pitches through the first two innings.

Shohei Ohtani hit an opposite-field home run on Hoby Milner’s first pitch in the seventh, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 6-0. The 382-foot shot to left-centre cut against a gusty wind and snapped Ohtani’s 12-game homerless streak. He was 3 for 4 with a walk and scored twice.

The Dodgers led 5-0 in the sixth. Dalton Rushing had an RBI single and Kyle Tucker walked and scored on a pickoff error by catcher Carson Kelly after Santiago Espinal whiffed on a bunt.

The Dodgers pitched around a lot of traffic, with the Cubs getting leadoff runners on in six of nine innings. Chicago was 0-for-20 with runners on base and left 12 stranded, a season-high on the road.

ROCKIES 3, METS 1, 1ST GAME

ROCKIES 3, CUBS 0, 2ND GAME

NEW YORK — Chase Dollander held the Mets to five hits over seven innings in his first start this year, and Colorado beat New York in a doubleheader nightcap to complete a three-game sweep that sent the spiraling Mets to their 15th loss in 17 games.

Hunter Goodman hit a two-run homer that helped chase Kodai Senga in the third.

Colorado, which won Sunday’s opener 3-1, swept a series from the Mets for the first time since 2018. The Rockies have two sweeps in their first nine series this season, also taking three games against Houston from April 6-8. They swept one of 52 series last year, three games at Miami from June 2-4.

New York, which has the major leagues’ highest payroll, dropped to 9-19 and is 47-74 dating to mid-June last year. The Mets had just 10 hits in the doubleheader, were shut out for the fifth time and were dealt their fourth series sweep this season.

Many fans in the announced crowd of 38,155 left after the Rockies took a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

Dollander (3-2), who had pitched mostly in bulk relief following an opener, set career highs for innings and pitches (105) while striking out seven and walking two. Zach Agnos pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.

ROYALS 11, ANGELS 9, 10 INNINGS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With runners on second and third, Lane Thomas delivered a three-run homer in the 10th inning to lift Kansas City over Los Angeles and sweep the series.

It was Thomas’ first home run of the season and the first walk-off RBI of his career.

Joey Lucchesi (0-1) took the loss, facing four batters in the final frame. Lucas Erceg (2-1) earned the win.

The Angels held a 7-4 lead when the game was delayed in the bottom of the seventh for severe weather. The Royals had two on and no outs with Bobby Witt Jr. at bat. It resumed after one hour and 29 minutes, and the Royals tacked on one run with a sacrifice fly to centre by Vinnie Pasquantino.

Salvador Perez pushed another run across in the top of the ninth, and Jac Caglianone, who entered the game as a reserve in the eighth inning, tied the score with a two-out, two-run homer that landed just inside the right-field foul pole.