Phillies Power Past Pirates
PHILADELPHIA -- Rhys Hoskins did more with less.
The slumping slugger doubled, tripled and drove in a run as the Philadelphia Phillies got 17 hits in a 12-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.
Hoskins has been struggling mightily at the plate this month and made a game-changing error in the ninth inning of Philadelphia's 5-4 loss Tuesday night. Phillies manager Gabe Kapler considered giving Hoskins a day off Wednesday before putting him in the cleanup spot -- and it paid off.
"It looked like Rhys had a lot of weight lifted off his shoulders," Kapler said.
Hoskins, who entered in a 2-for-20 slide, said he swung at "80 percent" effort in an attempt to control the barrel of his bat better.
"I throttled down even more than usual and it got me back to where I wanted to be," he said.
Every position player who started for the Phillies finished with at least one hit and RBI.
J.T. Realmuto had three hits and a home run, Cesar Hernandez added three hits and three RBIs, and Corey Dickerson also went deep. Philadelphia remained two games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second NL wild card.
"We attacked from the get-go and never let off the gas," Hoskins said.
Starling Marte homered and had three hits for Pittsburgh, and Josh Bell hit a two-run shot.
Pirates rookie Bryan Reynolds, who began the day leading the NL in batting, went 0 for 3 to snap his seven-game hitting streak and drop his average to .330.
Vince Velasquez (6-7) bounced back from a forgettable outing last time out, going five innings and allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Velasquez coughed up a 7-0 lead in the third inning of Philadelphia's 19-11 loss at Miami last Friday.
Kapler didn't give Velasquez the opportunity to blow a lead this time, lifting the right-hander for a pinch-hitter in the fifth even though he had thrown only 75 pitches.
"I knew I needed to make an impact," Velasquez said. "Today was a pretty important game for me and the team in general."
Mitch Keller (1-3), a 23-year-old rookie making his seventh career start, pitched into the fifth for Pittsburgh and gave up eight runs on 11 hits with eight strikeouts and a walk.
The Phillies did damage against the 2014 second-round pick in the fifth when Keller didn't get an out while facing six batters, five of whom scored. Dickerson started the inning with an opposite-field homer to left. Realmuto followed with a triple and scored on Bryce Harper's single. After a walk to Hoskins and an infield single by Jean Segura, Hernandez ended Keller's night with a two-run single.
"The overall effect of execution of pitches caught up to him," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "Mix wasn't sharp."
All told, Philadelphia tallied five runs on five hits in the inning to go up 8-2.
Marte led off the sixth by crushing a long homer to left, but Realmuto answered in the bottom half with a drive to left of his own.
Bell hit a two-run drive to the opposite field in left in the fourth, giving him 34 homers and 106 RBIs. Bell began the day second in the NL in RBIs, one behind Atlanta's Freddie Freeman.
BIG SERIES
Realmuto finished the three-game set 8 for 15 with a double, triple and homer.
PHILLY PHUN
Marte has reached base safely in all 19 career games in Philadelphia, batting .375 (27 for 72) with nine doubles, three homers and 10 RBIs.
UP NEXT
Pirates: Open a four-game set Thursday night at Colorado with RHP Trevor Williams (6-6, 5.35 ERA) facing Rockies RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez (0-5, 6.43).
Phillies: After an off day, begin a three-game home series Friday against the Mets with Philadelphia RHP Aaron Nola (12-4, 3.53 ERA) opposing RHP Zack Wheeler (9-7, 4.46).
YANKEES 7, MARINERS 3
SEATTLE (AP) -- Aaron Judge hit the 101st homer of his career, Gary Sanchez, DJ LeMahieu and Mike Ford also went deep, and New York completed a three-game sweep of Seattle.
Sanchez hit a towering two-run homer in the first. Ford snapped a 2-2 tie with his sixth home run in the past 14 games, and Judge broke the game open with a two-run shot as part of New York's four-run fifth inning. LeMahieu added his 23rd of the season in the ninth.
James Paxton (11-6) gave up just one hit but was done after five innings due to control problems. Paxton issued a season-high five walks.
Seattle had just one hit until Tom Murphy doubled in the ninth.
Justus Sheffield (0-1) allowed six hits and struck out five.
BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 1
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Keston Hiura homered and drove in three runs, Jordan Lyles turned in another strong start and Milwaukee snapped St. Louis' six-game winning streak.
The NL Central-leading Cardinals had won 15 of 18 and were trying for a three-game sweep. The Brewers ended a three-game skid.
Hiura hit a solo home run in the fourth, sending a 3-0 fastball from Flaherty into the left-field seats. Hiura added an RBI double in the eighth.
Lyles (9-8) struck out five of the first seven Cardinals he faced. He fanned nine in 5 1/3 innings. Josh Hader struck out three in two scoreless innings to earn his 26th save.
Jack Flaherty (8-7) allowed five hits and three runs, two earned, in six innings. He struck out seven, walked one and took the loss.
INDIANS 4, TIGERS 2
DETROIT (AP) -- Jason Kipnis homered twice and Francisco Lindor also went deep to lift Cleveland to another win over Detroit.
Cleveland is 14-1 against the last-place Tigers this year, and that's a big reason the Indians are firmly in the postseason hunt.
Aaron Civale (2-3) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, striking out five and walking none. Brad Hand finished for his 32nd save in 37 chances.
Detroit starter Jordan Zimmermann allowed two runs in six innings, but Buck Farmer (5-5) allowed Lindor's one-out solo shot in the eighth, which bounced of the top of the wall and over in center field. That gave the Indians a 3-2 lead.
Dawel Lugo homered for Detroit.
BRAVES 9, BLUE JAYS 4
TORONTO (AP) -- Freddie Freeman hit his 36th home run and drove in a pair of runs, Matt Joyce homered and had two RBIs and Atlanta beat Toronto.
Ronald Acuna Jr. added a two-run double as the NL East-leading Braves snapped a two-game losing streak and won for the ninth time in 11 games.
Atlanta reliever Luke Jackson (8-2) pitched 1 1/3 innings to win his fifth straight decision.
Toronto's Brandon Drury hit an RBI groundout off Braves right-hander Mike Foltynewicz in the fourth and a second run scored on a passed ball. Randal Grichuk hit an RBI double in the fifth and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made it a one-run game with a two-out RBI single off Jackson in the sixth.
Jacob Waguespack (4-2) lost for the first time since July 26 against Tampa Bay, ending a five-start unbeaten streak. The rookie allowed five runs, three earned, and six hits in three innings, his shortest start of the season.
CUBS 10, METS 7
NEW YORK (AP) -- Kyle Schwarber hit one of Chicago's three homers against a stunned Noah Syndergaard, and the Cubs built an early nine-run lead before closer Craig Kimbrel held off New York in the ninth.
Nicholas Castellanos and Ian Happ also took Syndergaard (9-7) deep in the worst start of the 2016 All-Star's career. Syndergaard allowed 10 runs and three homers -- both his most in the majors -- and was pulled after three miserable innings.
Kimbrel entered with a three-run lead and let his first two batters reach in the ninth. He escaped a dicey 3-0 count against red-hot Amed Rosario with a fielder's choice, struck out Juan Lagares and got Todd Frazier to fly out for his 12th save.
Chicago climbed within two games of the NL Central-leading Cardinals, who lost 4-1 to the Brewers.
New York has dropped five straight, all at home.
Kyle Ryan (4-2) got the win.
ROYALS 6, ATHLETICS 4
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Hunter Dozier homered before driving in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, Ryan O'Hearn also went deep and Kansas City held on to beat Oakland.
Tim Hill (2-0) tossed two perfect innings in relief of Jakob Junis for the Royals, and Ian Kennedy survived a harrowing ninth inning to pick up his 23rd save.
Blake Treinen (6-5) faced four batters in the seventh inning without recording an out for Oakland. He allowed three hits and a walk, and Jake Diekman allowed one of his inherited runners to score.
Marcus Semien and Mark Canha homered for the A's.
REDS 5, MARLINS 0
MIAMI (AP) -- Aristides Aquino tied a National League rookie mark with his 13th home run this month, powering Anthony DeSclafani and Cincinnati Reds over Miami.
Eugenio Suarez hit his 38th homer, connecting in the fourth straight game for the Reds.
Aquino hit a three-run shot in the first. The 24-year-old outfielder matched the NL homer mark for rookies in a month set by Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers in June 2017.
The major league rookie record for homers in a month is 18 by Rudy York of Detroit in August 1937. Aquino, who got one at-bat in the majors last year, also doubled as the Reds beat Miami for the third straight day.
DeSclafani (9-7) had his longest outing of the season, throwing seven innings of two-hit ball. He struck out eight and walked one.
Sandy Alcantara (4-12) gave up four runs and six hits, struck out eight and walked one in six innings.
NATIONALS 8, ORIOLES 4
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Max Scherzer struck out eight to reach the 200 mark for an eighth straight season, Kurt Suzuki homered and drove in four runs and Washington beat Baltimore.
Scherzer allowed two runs and six hits over 4 1/3 innings. Wander Suero (5-7) followed Scherzer as the National won for the sixth time in seven games.
The Nationals scored five runs on five hits in the first inning against Asher Wojciechowski (2-7).
Chance Sisco and Chris Davis homered for the Orioles, who settled for a split of the four-game season series.
ASTROS 8, RAYS 6
HOUSTON (AP) -- George Springer broke a tie with a bloop RBI single in Houston's three-run seventh inning and the Astros rallied for avictory over the Tampa Bay Rays to extend their winning streak to six.
The game was tied at 3-all in the seventh when Joey Wendle tripled off Gerrit Cole on a grounder to right field. There was one out in the inning when a grounder by Jesus Aguilar skipped just past a diving Aledmys Diaz and into left field for a single to send Wendle home and make it 4-3.
Cole dropped down into a squatting position and pounded his fist into his glove as he saw the ball roll into the outfield.