Francisco Lindor hit three home runs, including the game-winner in the eighth inning, as the New York Mets defeated slumping city rivals the New York Yankees 7-6 in a contentious finale to the Subway Series.
After the visiting Yankees scored twice in the first inning of the MLB showdown at Citi Field, Lindor's three-run homer while hitting left-handed off Clarke Schmidt gave the Mets the lead in the second on Sunday.
After a Gleyber Torres homer brought the Yankees within a run in the top of the sixth, Lindor answered in the bottom half with a solo shot from the right side and appeared to be having some words with the visitors as he rounded the bases.
That sparked a reaction from Giancarlo Stanton after he tied it up with a two-run homer in the seventh, as he all but stopped at Lindor's shortstop position while rounding the bases, prompting both dugouts and bullpens to clear before order was restored.
But Lindor had the last laugh with a left-handed drive to right in the eighth that had the shortstop pointing to his bicep as he rounded first base.
"Coming up to the box, I did want to hit a home run," he told reporters afterward.
It was the Mets' fourth win in six games against their cross-borough rivals, the first time since 2013 they have won the season series against the Yankees, who have lost 12 of their past 15 games to fall a game behind the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays for the two American League (AL) Wild Card spots.
Scherzer makes history as Dodgers dominate Padres
Max Scherzer and the Los Angeles Dodgers allowed only one San Diego Padres runner to reach base in an 8-0 rout, which completed a three-game series sweep. Scherzer retired the first 22 batters he faced before Eric Hosmer doubled with one out in the eighth inning to break up the perfect game. Three innings earlier, Scherzer got Hosmer to swing and miss on a 3-2 changeup for the 3,000th strikeout of his career, becoming the 19th pitcher in MLB history to reach that milestone.
After the Red Sox levelled their game with the Chicago White Sox on an Alex Verdugo sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth, the latter won it 2-1 on Leury Garcia's two-out walk-off homer in the bottom of the inning.
Home runs by Ozzie Albies and Freddie Freeman in the seventh inning gave the Atlanta Braves a 5-3 victory over the Miami Marlins. Atlanta gained a crucial game on the second-placed Philadelphia Phillies.
The San Francisco Giants improved their MLB-best record to 93-50 with a 6-5 defeat of the Chicago Cubs for their seventh win in a row.
The Milwaukee Brewers followed up Saturday's no-hitter by crushing the Cleveland Indians 11-1 as Kolten Wong and Avisail Garcia each hit a pair of homers.
Rays blow chances to beat Tigers
The Tampa Bay Rays blew two chances to beat the Tigers before losing 8-7 to drop two of three in the series at Detroit. After the Rays scored four in the top of the eighth to take a 5-2 lead, Detroit tied it with three in the bottom of the inning. The Rays scored two more in the top of the 10th to go up 7-5 before Jeimer Candelario's two-run homer extended the game to the 11th. There, J.P. Feyereisen walked three batters, including Robbie Grossman to force in the winning run for Detroit and drop Tampa Bay to 6-12 in extra-inning games.
Gurriel, Blue Jays destroy Orioles
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.'s fourth grand slam of the season jump-started a 22-7 Toronto demolition of the Baltimore Orioles. Gurriel became the first Blue Jays player to score five times and drive in seven in a single game. Among other Blue Jays highlights, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. tied Shohei Ohtani for the MLB lead with his 44th homer and Teoscar Hernandez hit the Jays' second grand slam of the day in a 10-run third inning. The 22 runs scored were the second most in franchise history. Between the seventh inning of Saturday's game two and the first three of Sunday's demolition, the Blue Jays set a new MLB record for runs scored across a four-inning span with 27.
Sunday's results
San Francisco Giants 6-5 Chicago Cubs
Texas Rangers 4-3 Oakland Athletics
Toronto Blue Jays 22-7 Baltimore Orioles
Colorado Rockies 5-4 Philadelphia Phillies
Detroit Tigers 8-7 Tampa Bay Rays
Milwaukee Brewers 11-1 Cleveland Indians
Washington Nationals 6-2 Pittsburgh Pirates
Chicago White Sox 2-1 Boston Red Sox
Kansas City Royals 5-3 Minnesota Twins
Houston Astros 3-1 Los Angeles Angels
St Louis Cardinals 2-0 Cincinnati Reds
Atlanta Braves 5-3 Miami Marlins
Toronto Blue Jays 11-2 Baltimore Orioles
Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4 Seattle Mariners
Los Angeles Dodgers 8-0 San Diego Padres
New York Mets 7-6 New York Yankees
Red Sox at Mariners
The Red Sox (81-64) and Mariners (77-66) open a series on Monday that could have significant implications in the AL Wild Card race.
MLB: Red-hot Mets lose Senga but beat reeling Braves
J. D. Martinez highlighted a seven-run third with a grand slam and Kodai Senga won his season debut before leaving with an injury as the New York Mets remained red hot with an 8-4 win over the
struggling Atlanta Braves on Friday night.
Senga allowed two runs – both on Adam Duvall’s second-inning home run – and two hits over 5 1/3 innings with one walk and nine strikeouts after spending the first four months of the season on the injured list with a right shoulder strain.
He left in the sixth when he strained his left calf after throwing 73 pitches. Senga will have an MRI on Saturday.
New York won its fifth straight and moved past the Braves for the NL’s top wild card. The Mets (55-48) are a season-high seven games over .500 following their 11th win in 14 games.
The Mets reached Charlie Morton for seven runs in the third.
After Tyrone Taylor reached on an error by third baseman Austin Riley, Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch and Brandon Nimmo walked. Martinez then belted his ninth career grand slam to give the Mets a 4-2 lead. Morton retired Pete Alonso, but Jeff McNeil doubled and Vientos followed with his 14th home run. One out later, Francisco Alvarez homered to make it 7-2.
Duvall hit his second home run of the game in the ninth and Marcell Ozuna added his 29th, but the Braves lost their season-high sixth straight. That is their longest slide since another six-game skid from Sept. 25-30, 2017.
Profar’s blasts power streaking Padres
Jurickson Profar hit his second two-run homer to snap a ninth-inning tie and the San Diego Padres won their sixth straight, 6-4 over the Baltimore Orioles.
Profar took struggling Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel deep in the ninth to score Luis Campusano, who singled with one out.
Kimbrel blew saves in two of his previous three appearances and has allowed eight runs in his last 3 2/3 innings.
Profar hit his first two-run shot of the game off Grayson Rodriguez in the sixth to erase a 2-0 deficit.
San Diego had 13 hits and used eight pitchers one day after Dylan Cease threw a no-hitter at Washington.
Anthony Santander and Jordan Westburg homered for the first-place Orioles, who have lost four of five and nine of 13.
Red Sox rally, overcome Judge’s long home run
Masataka Yoshida capped a three-run eighth with a two-run single and the Boston Red Sox overcame Aaron Judge’s major league-leading 36th home run in a come-from-behind 9-7 win over the reeling New York Yankees.
Judge’s three-run blast in the seventh gave the Yankees a 6-4 lead and was measured at 470 feet. It landed in a small section of stands above a back wall and below a videoboard.
Austin Wells followed with a solo shot to make it 7-4.
The Red Sox got two runs back in the bottom half on Ceddanne Rafaela’s two-run homer off Luke Weaver that went over the Green Monster and out of Fenway Park.
Weaver allowed Rob Refsnyder’s third hit of the game to lead off the eighth and walked Connor Wong.
Clay Holmes relieved with one out and allowed Wilyer Abreu’s tying double before Yoshida singled home two runs.
The Yankees have lost five of six and are 10-23 since a 50-22 start.
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.
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