Two key hits from highly touted rookie Wander Franco lifted the Tampa Bay Rays past the Boston Red Sox 9-5 on Saturday.
Tampa Bay's third consecutive win and Boston's third straight loss moved the Rays into first place in the American League (AL) East by half a game.
After the Rays' Francisco Mejia and Boston's Bobby Dalbec traded two-run homers in the fourth and fifth inning to leave the score tied 5-5, Franco's triple to right field in the sixth gave the Rays the lead.
Franco would add an RBI single in the eighth and come home on Mejia's two-run single later in the inning as the Rays sealed the win.
Baez homers in Mets debut
Javier Baez homered in his first game with the Mets as New York rallied past the Cincinnati Reds for a 5-4 victory. Baez's two-run shot in the sixth drew the Mets within one after Eugenio Suarez and Kyle Farmer home runs had given Cincinnati a 4-1 lead. Dominic Smith's ninth-inning single sent the game to extra innings, where Brandon Drury won it in the 10th. Joey Votto went one-for-five with a single for the Reds, ending his streak of games with a home run at seven straight.
Speaking of new New Yorkers, Anthony Rizzo continues to endear himself to Yankees fans. He reached base in all four plate appearances in a 4-2 win over the Miami Marlins, collecting two walks, a single and his second home run in as many days. According to Stats Perform, Rizzo is the first player in Yankees history to have at least two hits, including a home run, in each of his first two games with the team.
The San Francisco Giants hit five home runs to slug their way past the Houston Astros 8-6 in a matchup of division leaders. Donovan Solano, Wilmer Flores, LaMonte Wade, Darin Ruf and Mike Yastrzemski went deep for the Giants, while Houston got two homers from Aledmys Diaz and one from Martin Maldonado in a losing effort.
Kyle Hendricks is now the longest-tenured Chicago Cubs player after the team's sell-off this week, and he was his usual self in allowing one run in seven innings to beat the Washington Nationals 6-3 and win his 11th consecutive decision.
Colorado Rockies All-Star pitcher German Marquez allowed two runs in six innings and provided one of his one, homering off Yu Darvish in the fifth as the Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 5-3.
Rough Brewers debut for Curtiss
Making his Milwaukee Brewers debut after coming over from the Marlins in a trade this week, reliever John Curtiss allowed four hits and a walk to Atlanta, punctuated by a Dansby Swanson grand slam that would give the Braves an 8-1 win.
Zavala's first, second and third career homers
Entering Saturday, Chicago White Sox catcher Seby Zavala had played 17 major league games between 2019 and this season, collecting three singles, two doubles and one RBI. You could say he had a career game in Chicago's 12-11 loss to the Cleveland Indians, as the 27-year-old went four-for-four with three home runs, including a grand slam. Zavala is the first player in MLB history to collect his first three career home runs in the same game.
Saturday's results
Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 Philadelphia Phillies
Chicago Cubs 6-3 Washington Nationals
Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 Kansas City Royals
New York Mets 5-4 Cincinnati Reds
New York Yankees 4-2 Miami Marlins
Tampa Bay Rays 9-5 Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles 5-2 Detroit Tigers
Atlanta Braves 8-1 Milwaukee Brewers
Texas Rangers 5-4 Seattle Mariners
Cleveland Indians 12-11 Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins 8-1 St Louis Cardinals
Los Angeles Angels 1-0 Oakland Athletics
Los Angeles Dodgers 8-3 Arizona Diamondbacks
San Francisco Giants 8-6 Houston Astros
Colorado Rockies 5-3 San Diego Padres
Red Sox at Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays (63-42) will look to hold onto first place on Sunday with a sweep of the Boston Red Sox (63-43) at Tropicana Field.
Mariners reportedly acquire Arozarena from Rays
Randy Arozarena is on the move,
The Seattle Mariners are reportedly acquiring Arozarena in a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.
As part of the trade, which was reported late Thursday by multiple sources, the Mariners are sending the Rays outfielder Aidan Smith, right-hander Brody Hopkins and a player to be named later.
Arozarena was named to his first All-Star team last year, but is struggling a bit this season.
He is batting a career-low .213, but does have 15 home runs, 19 doubles and 16 stolen bases in 99 games.
His .717 OPS, however, is higher than any of Seattle's everyday players.
The Mariners are in need of a jolt with their offence suddenly struggling.
After leading the AL West by 10 games on June 18, Seattle has lost 20 of 29 and now trails the Houston Astros by one game for the division lead.
The offence has been the biggest culprit for the recent slide, as the Mariners have plated exactly one run in each of their last three games and have scored two or fewer in seven of their last eight.
Seattle is also in need of another outfielder with star centre fielder Julio Rodríguez sidelined until August with a high-ankle sprain sustained Sunday.
Cease tosses second no-hitter in Padres franchise history with gem against Nationals
Two years ago, Dylan Cease came within one out of throwing a no-hitter.
Against the Washington Nationals on Thursday, he finished the job, recording all 27 outs without allowing a hit.
Cease threw the second no-hitter in San Diego Padres franchise history, baffling the Nationals during a 3-0 win.
Cease improved to 10-8 and struck out nine in his nine sterling innings of work to win his third straight start.
Despite walking three batters, Cease faced only one over the minimum, with the Nationals caught stealing in the first inning and grounding into a double play in the fourth.
He threw 71 of his 114 pitches for strikes en route to joining Joe Musgrove as the only San Diego pitchers to throw a no-hitter. Musgrove's came against the Texas Rangers on April 9, 2021.
Baseball's latest no-no is the second of the season after the Houston Astros' Ronel Blanco threw one against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 1.
Cease's achievement also helps take away some of the sting from his near no-hitter from two years ago.
While pitching for the Chicago White Sox on September 3, 2022, he was one out away from no-hitting the Minnesota Twins, when current teammate Luis Arraez broke it up with a single to right-centre.
In this one, he got CJ Abrams to hit a flyout to right field for the final out.
Cease is in his first year with the Padres after beginning his career with the White Sox, and after a rocky June, has been pitching brilliantly lately.
In his last three outings, he has not allowed a run, while surrendering just two hits and seven walks over 22 innings while piling up 30 strikeouts.
His latest gem helped San Diego to its fifth consecutive win.
The Padres (55-50) didn’t need much offence against the Nationals (47-56) to back Cease, with Ha-Seong Kim plating all three runs on a first-inning single off Patrick Corbin.
Kershaw makes season debut in Dodgers' win over Giants
Clayton Kershaw permitted two runs over four innings in his first start of the season and the Los Angeles Dodgers went on to beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4.
The game was tied 4-4 until Nick Ahmed and Shohei Ohtani homered on consecutive pitches in the eighth inning to lead the NL West-leading Dodgers (62-42) to their sixth win in seven games since the All-Star break.
Ohtani's homer was his 31st of the season and his second in the last five games. He also doubled to give him four doubles since the All-Star break.
Kershaw allowed six hits and two walks with six strikeouts, while throwing 47 of his 72 pitches for strikes in his first start since Game 1 of last October's NL Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner had shoulder surgery four weeks later.
Ohtani signed with the Dodgers a month later and this was the first game the Japanese superstar and Kershaw played together.
Heliot Ramos led the Giants (49-55) with three hits and drove in a run while Jorge Soler singled twice.
Logan Webb yielded four runs and nine hits, and now has surrendered 15 runs and 25 hits with eight walks over 16 innings in his last three starts.
Mets beat Braves in 10 innings to stay hot
Jeff McNeil drove in the winning run with a 10th-inning hit on a ball Ramón Laureano misplayed in the New York Mets' 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.
McNeil's hit was just the third of the game for the Mets, and possibly could've been caught had Laureano not overrun it. The ball was hit hard down into the right-field corner and Laureano raced to track it down but ran too far and couldn't catch it as he reached his glove back across his body.
Jose Iglesias scored from second base, giving New York (54-48) its fourth straight win, and 10th victory in 13 games.
The Braves (54-47), meanwhile, lost their fifth straight game, as the Mets moved within one-half game of them for the NL's top wild-card spot.
McNeil and Francisco Lindor have been leading the charge for New York.
McNeil has driven in six runs in the last four games, and is hitting .417 with four home runs and nine RBIs in seven games since the All-Star break.
Lindor homered for the fifth time in four games, and is batting .359 with 14 RBIs during a 10-game hitting streak.
Atlanta squandered another stellar outing from Chris Sale.
The eight-time All-Star yielded two runs, two hits and a walk while striking out nine over 7 1/3 innings. It marked the eighth straight start in which he allowed two runs or fewer.
Padres’ Dylan Cease throws no-hitter against Nationals
San Diego Padres starter Dylan Cease threw MLB’s second complete-game no-hitter of the season, baffling the Washington Nationals during a 3-0 win on Thursday.
Cease improved to 10-8 and struck out nine in his nine sterling innings of work as the Padres won their fifth consecutive game.
The Houston Astros’ Ronel Blanco had the season’s first no-hitter on April 1 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Despite walking three batters, Cease faced only one over the minimum, with the Nationals caught stealing in the first inning and grounding into a double play in the fourth.
Cease threw 71 of his 114 pitches for strikes as he won his third straight start.
Cease has not allowed a run in his last three outings, surrendering just two hits and seven walks over 22 innings while piling up 30 strikeouts.
Cease is in his first year with San Diego after beginning his career with the Chicago White Sox. After a rough June, Cease’s ERA sat at 4.24 on July 2, but his recent hot streak – punctuated by Thursday’s no-hitter – brought that number down to 3.50.
In 2022, while with the White Sox, Cease had a no-hitter broken up with two outs in the ninth by current teammate Luis Arraez, who was then with the Minnesota Twins.
The Padres didn’t need much offence Thursday to back Cease, with Ha-Seong Kim plating all three runs on a first-inning single off Patrick Corbin.
San Diego (55-50) are seven games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West but are in the thick of a crowded NL wild-card race.
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