MLB roundup: Cubs' Arrieta ends losing streak
By The Sports Xchange
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Right-hander Jake Arrieta pitched eight shutout innings and ended his three-game losing streak as the Chicago Cubs defeated the Oakland A's 4-0 on Saturday afternoon at Oakland Coliseum.
Arrieta (13-5) allowed three hits, struck out four and walked one, winning for the first time since June 27 against Cincinnati. Arrieta, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, was 0-3 with a 4.88 ERA in his previous five starts after going 12-2 with a 2.10 ERA in his first 16.
The Cubs won their sixth straight game and improved to 68-41, the best record in baseball.
Ben Zobrist went 2-for-5 and drove in two runs for the Cubs.
Oakland right-hander Sonny Gray (5-11) allowed two runs and five hits but was taken out after just five innings and 72 pitches because of what the A's called right extensor muscle soreness. He struck out two, walked none and retired the final seven batters he faced.
The A's lost for the seventh time in their past eight games.
Dodgers 4, Red Sox 0
LOS ANGELES -- Ross Stripling worked five shutout innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers' bullpen did the rest in Los Angeles' win.
A.J. Ellis, Corey Seager and Adrian Gonzalez each drove in a run for the Dodgers, who bounced back from a 9-0 shellacking on Friday night.
Stripling (3-3) struck out four and walked one while allowing four hits. He threw 75 pitches (49 strikes) before manager Dave Roberts lifted him in the bottom of the fifth for pinch hitter Chris Taylor.
Relievers Grant Dayton and Joe Blanton combined for three scoreless frames before Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth for his 33rd save.
Indians 5, Yankees 2
NEW YORK -- Corey Kluber threw eight strong innings for Cleveland, and Andrew Miller earned his 10th save -- his first since the Indians acquired him from the Yankees last Sunday -- with a one-hit ninth.
Kluber (11-8) allowed two runs -- both in the second inning -- on five hits and one walk while striking out eight. The Indians had gone 1-4 in their previous five games, a stretch in which Cleveland starting pitchers produced a 15.58 ERA (30 earned runs in 17 1/3 innings).
An RBI double by Gary Sanchez and wild pitch that produced another run gave the Yankees an early 2-0 lead.
Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia held Cleveland hitless until Jason Kipnis' leadoff homer in the fourth. Rajai Davis tied the game with an RBI single in the fifth before Mike Napoli's one-out homer in the sixth put the Indians ahead.
Rays 7, Twins 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Rays pitcher Chris Archer, with one win in his past 10 starts, looked like his old self, holding the Twins to three hits in six innings.
Archer (6-15) had zero runs of support in his previous two starts, but the Rays helped him out Saturday, with three solo home runs -- by Evan Longoria, Logan Forsythe and Bobby Wilson.
Archer struck out seven batters to give him 168 for the season, moving back ahead of Detroit's Justin Verlander for the American League lead.
Reliever Danny Floro pitched badly enough to turn a 7-1 game into a save situation for Alex Colome, who got the final two outs for his 27th save with the tying run on deck.
Royals 4, Blue Jays 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Danny Duffy won his seventh straight decision and Eric Hosmer delivered a clutch two-run single in the fifth inning to pace Kansas City's win.
Duffy (8-1) limited the Blue Jays to two runs and five hits over 6 2/3 innings, while striking out six and walking two.
Aaron Sanchez (11-2) absorbed the defeat, snapping his personal 10-game winning streak. Sanchez was replaced by Danny Barnes to start the seventh, after giving up four runs on nine hits.
Toronto's Devon Travis opened the game with a home run for the second straight day. The Blue Jays made it 2-0 in the top of the fifth on Travis' RBI single.
The Royals forged ahead in the bottom of the inning with three runs, the big hit being Hosmer's two-run single.
White Sox 4, Orioles 2
CHICAGO -- The White Sox broke a tie with runs in the seventh and eighth innings and made them stand up.
After scoring a run on Omar Narvaez's RBI single in the seventh to lead 3-2, Adam Eaton led off the eighth with his ninth home run to give closer David Robertson a two-run lead in the ninth. Robertson picked up his 27th save to reward Nate Jones with a win for pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.
Eaton and Melky Cabrera each went 2-for-4 and drove in a run, while Tyler Saladino hit a solo home run.
Chris Tillman (14-4), who started for Baltimore, went seven innings and took the loss.
Pirates 5, Reds 3
PITTSBURGH -- Ivan Nova was impressive in his Pittsburgh debut, surrendering three runs through seven innings in his first start since being acquired from the New York Yankees at the trade deadline.
Starling Marte led Pittsburgh's offense by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Andrew McCutchen, John Jaso and Francisco Cervelli each added an RBI.
Brandon Phillips hit two home runs off Nova, his first homers since May 7.
Homer Bailey had a rough outing in only his second start of the season for the Reds. He gave up eight hits, five runs and a walk in three innings, while striking out four.
Rangers 3, Astros 2
HOUSTON -- Jonathan Lucroy belted two home runs to support a relief corps that produced 5 1/3 strong innings in the Rangers' victory.
Lucroy smacked his 15th and 16th homers on the season in consecutive at-bats in the sixth and eighth innings. It marked his seventh career multi-homer game and first this season.
Before departing with a left quad contusion in the seventh inning, Carlos Beltran produced an RBI single that scored Shin-Soo Choo and gave the Rangers the lead for good. Beltran and Lucroy were both acquired at the non-waiver trade deadline on Monday along with right-hander Jeremy Jeffress, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Rangers starter Lucas Harrell yielded just one run but gave up five hits and five walks in his 3 2/3 innings of work.
Braves 13, Cardinals 5
ST. LOUIS - Emergency Braves starter Roberto Hernandez won his first major-league game in more than a year with the help of four homers by his teammates.
Ender Inciarte and Matt Kemp had two-run homers, and Freddie Freeman and Adonis Garcia had three-run shots for Atlanta, which used a six-run ninth to put the game away.
Hernandez, a former American League All-Star and 19-game winner while pitching as Fausto Carmona with the Cleveland Indians from 2006 to 2012, last won on July 3, 2015, as a member of the Houston Astros. Hernandez lasted five-plus innings, giving up six hits and three runs with a walk and four strikeouts.
Tigers 6, Mets 5
DETROIT -- Miguel Cabrera drove in three runs with a double and a single to reach 74 RBIs and the streaking Tigers won for the 10th time in their last 11 games.
New York, which has lost eight of 11, took advantage of two Detroit errors to cut a thee-run deficit to 6-5 in the seventh.
Francisco Rodriguez posted his 32nd save of the season with a run-free ninth -- with right fielder J.D. Martinez throwing Jay Bruce out at the plate trying to score from second on a two-out single to right.
Giants 7, Nationals 1
WASHINGTON -- Eduardo Nunez went 4-for-5 with two triples and a double and scored three times and Brandon Belt had three hits and drove in two runs as the Giants beat Stephen Strasburg.
Nunez, acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Twins on July 28, entered the game hitless in his previous 16 at-bats. He tripled and scored in the fourth and fifth and tied a career high for hits in a game.
Giants starter Matt Cain (4-6) went five innings plus one batter and gave up zero runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Strasburg (15-2) lost for the second time in his last four starts after allowing four runs and eight hits while striking out eight in 4 2/3 innings -- his shortest outing of the season.
Rockies 12, Marlins 6
DENVER -- Charlie Blackmon had four hits, including a homer, and four RBIs as the Rockies parlayed a seven-run sixth inning into a tory.
Blackmon, hitless in 10 at-bats entering the game, Blackmon finished a double shy of the cycle.
Miami's Ichiro Suzuki, pinch-hitting in the eighth, chopped a bouncer and beat the throw of third baseman Nolan Arenado for his 2,999th career hit, ending an 0-for-11 drought with his single.
Ichiro batted in the ninth against Scott Oberg, and he hit a high bouncer that Oberg jumped and grabbed. The ball slipped out of his glove and Oberg slipped as he retrieved and threw with a knee on the ground just in time.
The Rockies trailed 3-2 when they zeroed in on Andrew Cashner (4-8) in the sixth, driving him from the game after he gave up four straight hits and a walk to start the inning.
Brewers 15, Diamondbacks 5
PHOENIX - Milwaukee's Ryan Braun hit two homers and tied a franchise record with seven RBIs and Keon Broxton had five hits in the Brewers' victory.
Braun hit three-run homers in the sixth and seventh innings to give the Brewers a 9-0 lead. He had a sacrifice fly in the first inning and a single in a six-run ninth.
Broxton had four singles and a double and had two RBIs, and Jonathan Villar had four hits and two RBIs for the Brewers, who have won six of nine.
Milwaukee right-hander Matt Garza (3-4) gave up three runs (two earned) and won his second straight start while pitching into the seventh inning for the first time this season.
Padres 9, Phillies 7
SAN DIEGO -- Christian Bethancourt hit a three-run double in the first inning and Yangervis Solarte drove in another three runs on a pair of singles to lead San Diego.
The Padres scored four runs in the first off Phillies right-hander Jake Thompson, who was making his major-league debut. Thompson allowed six runs in 4 1/3 innings to take the loss.
Left-handed Padres reliever Buddy Baumann retired all five hitters he faced, with three via strikeouts, to get his first major-league win.
Leadoff man Travis Jankowski paced the Padres' offense, reaching base four times in five plate appearances and scoring four runs.
Mariners 8, Angels 6
SEATTLE -- Former Angel Shawn O'Malley delivered the big blow with a three-run homer that gave Seattle its first lead as the Mariners rallied from another big early deficit to beat Los Angeles.
O'Malley, who made his major league debut with the Angels in 2014 but was released after the season, hit his second home run of the season to put the Mariners ahead 8-6 on a night when Mike Trout belted a first-inning homer that gave Los Angeles a 3-0 lead for the second straight game.
The Angels led 5-1 in the third inning and were clinging to a 6-4 lead when reliever Jose Valdez, promoted from Triple-A earlier in the day, came on in the seventh and promptly walked three of the four batters he faced. After Seattle's Leonys Martin cut the Los Angeles lead to 6-5 with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly, O'Malley took Angels reliever Deolis Guerra deep to right field.
