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    Thursday, May 02, 2024

    Major League Baseball roundup

    Minnesota's Mitch Garver takes a curtain call after his three-run home run off Cleveland's Nick Goody in the seventh inning of Saturday's game in Minneapolis. Minnesota won, 5-3. (Jim Mone/AP Photo)

    American League

    Twins 5, Indians 3

    Mitch Garver boosted Minnesota's spirts and playoff hopes on the same day the Twins found out pitcher Michael Pineada was suspended for violating MLB's drug policy.

    Garver hit his second homer of the game, a three-run shot, in the seventh inning, helping the Twins rally past Cleveland on Saturday night.

    "It was a challenging day," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "There's been a lot going day. It has been emotional, as well. We came, were focused and ready to play despite everything going on around us."

    Pineda was suspended for 60 games on Saturday after testing positive for a banned diuretic. He won't be allowed to pitch for the Twins if they reach the playoffs.

    Minnesota has a 5½-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central after the teams split the first two games of the series. The Twins' magic number is 14; they've won 11 of 14.

    Garver set a Minnesota single-season record for home runs by a catcher with a solo shot that opened the scoring in the first inning. He capped the Twins' comeback with his 28th of the season, sending the pitch from Nick Goody into the first row of flowers in the right field overhang in front of a sellout crowd.

    Zack Littell (4-0) pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Jake Odorizzi, who struck out 10 in 5 1/3 innings for the Twins. Taylor Rogers earned his 25th save.

    "He was very emotional," Odorizzi said of Pineda's pregame talk with the team. "It stinks for us moving forward, obviously, missing a big, key contributor, but there's a lot of compassion, especially from me. It's a tough thing. It was one of those things we wanted to get out there and kind of get a game going to put that behind us, for all of our sakes."

    Indians reliever Adam Cimber (5-3) gave up hits to Willians Astudillo and Jonathan Schoop to open the seventh. Schoop tied the game with an RBI triple high off the right-center field wall. Oliver Perez walked Max Kepler ahead of Garver's homer.

    "I kind of stepped in that box and I felt like something cool was going to happen," Garver said. "I was going to get that run in one way or another. I was totally committed to getting that run in, whether I had to put a ball in play or beat out a double play or somehow get the ball in the air."

    Earl Battey previously held the Twins single-season record for home runs by a catcher with 26, set in 1963.

    Yasiel Puig doubled twice for Cleveland after he failed to run out a ground ball in the fourth inning. The Indians have lost six of eight and had been 31-2 when leading after six innings, entering the day with the best bullpen ERA in the majors.

    "These guys have picked me up plenty of times and I had the opportunity to do the same for them and I didn't come through," Goody said.

    Cleveland had won five of the previous six games against Minnesota and started the day a half-game behind Oakland for the second wild-card spot.

    Puig hit a one-hop ground ball in the fourth inning back to Odorizzi and didn't run toward first base. Puig took a quick step out of the box before turning around and heading back to the dugout as Odorizzi walked the ball to first.

    In the dugout, Puig was approached by Carlos Santana and manager Terry Francona. Santana sat with Puig, talking to the mercurial outfielder for several minutes.

    "Santana was giving me advice that I need to run out every play," Puig said. "I am 100% with him and said sorry to him and sorry to Tito. I'm suppose to run on that play and I don't know what happened in my mind when I stay at the plate and not running. Tomorrow is a new day and I need to run every play. That's not going to happen again."

    Astros 2, Mariners 1

    Justin Verlander pitched seven strong innings to get his MLB-leading 18th win in his first start since throwing his third no-hitter to lead Houston to a victory over Seattle.

    Verlander (18-5) allowed four hits with one run and fanned seven in his 30th start of the season. He leads the American League with a 2.52 ERA and his 264 strikeouts are second in the majors behind teammate Gerrit Cole. Will Harris struck out one in a scoreless ninth for his second save.

    With the game tied at one, Josh Reddick drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. Alex Bregman tied it up with a solo home run in the sixth inning to help the Astros improve to 15-1 against the Mariners this season with their 10th straight win over their AL West foes.

    Seattle starter Yusei Kikuchi had retired 11 of the last 13 batters he'd faced when Bregman connected off of him on a shot to the seats in left field with no outs in the sixth to tie it at 1-all.

    Rookie pinch-hitter Kyle Tucker doubled to start Houston's seventh and reached third on a wild pitch by Austin Adams (1-2). Houston took the lead when Tucker scored on the sacrifice fly by Reddick for the first out of the inning.

    Verlander has started at least 30 games in 13 seasons and he reached 200 innings on Saturday night for his 12th season with at least 200 innings.

    Rays 5, Blue Jays 3

    Travis d'Arnaud and Daniel Robertson drove in runs with two outs in the eighth inning, helping Tampa Bay beat Toronto.

    In the eighth, Jordan Romano (0-2) walked pinch-hitter J-Man Choi and Kevin Kiermaier hit a double. D'Arnoud lofted a pinch-hit sacrifice fly that scored pinch-runner Michael Brosseau and broke a 3-3 tie. Robertson, who had tied the game with an RBI double in the seventh, hit a single off Ryan Tepera that drove in Kiermaier with an insurance run.

    Nick Anderson (5-4) got the win and Oliver Drake struck out three straight for his second save in three tries.

    The Rays won for the ninth time in 10 games as they battle Oakland and Cleveland for one of the two American League wild-card spots.

    The Blue Jays lost their six straight despite a strong outing by Anthony Kay in his major league debut. He gave up four hits and three walks while striking out eight in 5 2/3 innings.

    Athletics 10, Tigers 2

    Chris Bassitt struck out a career-high 11 in six innings and was part of a bizarre double play to help Oakland beat Detroit.

    Matt Chapman hit his 32nd home run, Matt Olson had four hits including his 29th homer, and Jurickson Profar hit his 20th for Oakland, which remained one game behind Tampa Bay for the top AL wild card. The A's moved 1½ games ahead of Cleveland for the second spot.

    Bassitt (10-5) allowed two runs and eight hits and didn't walk a batter.

    After giving up hits to two of Detroit's first three batters, Bassitt induced a strange double play.

    Christin Stewart hit a high pop-up into foul territory that A's third baseman Matt Chapman chased before the ball came back fair and dropped on the infield dirt. Shortstop Marcus Semien grabbed the ball and threw to Bassitt who alertly covered third for the force out. The pitcher then threw to second to get Miguel Cabrera, who had stopped running while the ball was in the air.

    Harold Castro matched his career high with four hits and had two RBIs for Detroit. Jordan Zimmermann (1-10) took the loss.

    Rangers 9, Orioles 4

    Rougned Odor homered during a six-run first inning and Texas cruised to its third straight victory over Baltimore.

    Texas won its first road series since June 25-27, having gone 0-9-2 over that stretch.

    Reliever Yohander Méndez (1-0) picked up the win after entering in the third and allowing one run with six strikeouts over 21/3 innings.

    Anthony Santander went 1 for 5 with an RBI, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, and Rio Ruiz homered for the Orioles, who have lost seven of eight.

    Baltimore starter Aaron Brooks (4-8) took the loss.

    Odor finished with three hits.

    Angels 8, White Sox 7

    Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run home run and drove in a career-high five runs to help Los Angeles beat Chicago.

    Ohtani finished with three hits and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Albert Pujols and Kevan Smith added two hits apiece for the Angels, who have won 10 of 11 against Chicago.

    José Abreu homered and drove in four runs, and Yoán Moncada had three hits for the White Sox, who have dropped 10 of 12. Tim Anderson went 2 for 5 to raise his AL-leading average to .334, six points ahead of the DJ LeMahieu of the New York Yankees.

    Hansel Robles pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save in 23 opportunities.

    Dylan Covey (1-8) took the loss.

    Andrew Heaney (4-4) struck out eight and allowed four runs in six innings for the Angels.

    National League

    Giants 1, Dodgers 0

    Kevin Pillar knocked in the game's only run with a ground out in the first inning and Tyler Beede struck out five in five innings as San Francisco beat Los Angeles.

    The Dodgers entered the three-game series against their rivals with a magic number of four to clinch their seventh consecutive National League West title. While already eliminated from playoff contention, the Giants made sure a Dodgers party will not happen this weekend.

    The earliest the Dodgers can now clinch is Tuesday, at the start of an interleague series at Baltimore.

    The Giants loaded the bases in the first inning against Dodgers rookie starter Tony Gonsolin. Pillar's slow roller to Justin Turner at third base was able to bring home Mike Yastrzemski with what proved to be the game's only run.

    Beede (4-9) pitched five scoreless innings.

    Gonsolin (2-2) recovered from his shaky start to allow one run on two hits over four innings. He did give up four walks, while recording five strikeouts.

    Brewers 3, Cubs 2

    Christian Yelich sliced an opposite-field double off Brandon Kintzler to score the winning run in the ninth inning for Milwaukee.

    Pinch-hitter Tyler Austin reached on shortstop Addison Russell's throwing error and before Yelich batted, Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy came out to talk with Kintzler (3-3). Whatever was said didn't work as Yelich had his 500th career RBI.

    Yelich walked three times and swiped second each time, extending his career-best to 30 steals. He became the 10th player in major league history with 40 home runs and 30 stolen bases, a feat that's been accomplished 12 times, the last by Ryan Braun in 2012. Yelich, who has 44 homers, was on in the first, sixth and eighth, getting the record-setting swipe off Rowan Wick.

    Brewers reliever Josh Hader (3-5) earned the win.

    Braves 5, Nationals 4

    Josh Donaldson and Ozzie Albies each homered for the second straight day and Atlanta won its ninth straight.

    Brian McCann and Matt Joyce hit back-to-back homers in a three-run sixth inning, helping the NL East leaders to their longest winning streak in five-plus years.

    Julio Teheran (10-8) made his 30th start for the seventh straight season, allowing one run and three hits in five innings.

    Asdrubal Cabrera hit his 16th homer in the fifth. Nationals starter Austin Voth (1-1) allowed two runs and three hits in four innings.

    Diamondbacks 2, Reds 0

    Rookie Alex Young struck out 12 in eight innings, Ketel Marte drove in a run and scored another and Arizona won its fifth straight and extended its playoff surge.

    Jimmie Sherfy fanned slugger Eugenio Suarez and rookie sensation Aristides Aquino with runners on first and second to end it.

    The Diamondbacks have won 11 of 12 and moved a season-high eight games over .500.

    Luis Castillo (14-6) took the loss.

    Young (7-3) limited the Reds to infield singles by Jose Iglesias and Curt Casali in his longest appearance. The left-hander walked one and set a career high in strikeouts in his 12th start since he was called up in June.

    Sherfy completed the combined three-hitter and got his second major league save.

    Cardinals 10, Pirates 1

    Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer and Adam Wainwright pitched seven strong innings, helping St. Louis maintain its lead atop the NL Central.

    After Dexter Fowler opened the scoring with an RBI single earlier in the third inning, Ozuna connected against Steven Brault (4-4) for his 26th home run of the season and a 4-0 lead. The cleanup hitter also walked twice after having two hits in his 35 at-bats.

    Wainwright (11-9) helped himself with a double and single while lasting seven innings for the second straight start. He gave up one run and six hits.

    Starling Marte drove in the Pirates' run with a single in the third.

    Padres 3, Rockies 0

    Manny Machado hit a two-run home run, Wil Myers also connected and left-hander Joey Lucchesi and three relievers combined on a three-hitter to lead San Diego.

    Machado hit a two-run opposite-field shot to right off Jeff Hoffman with one out in the sixth and Greg Garcia aboard on a leadoff walk. It was Machado's 29th overall and just his third since Aug. 1.

    Myers homered leading off the fifth, his 17th.

    Lucchesi (10-7) allowed only two hits and struck out eight in six innings but walked five.

    All-Star Kirby Yates gave up a hit in the ninth while striking out two for his MLB-best 40th save in 43 chances.

    Hoffman (1-6) also struck out eight while allowing three runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings, with three walks.

    Interleague

    Royals 7, Marlins 2

    Ryan McBroom doubled twice and had three RBI to help Kansas City beat Miami.

    McBroom's bases-clearing double off Miami reliever Ryne Stanek in the seventh capped a six-run inning.

    Jorge Soler hit his 41st homer, a solo blast in the ninth, and Hunter Dozier had two hits for the Royals, who have won six of seven.

    Adam Conley (2-8) took the loss.

    Danny Duffy (6-6) allowed one run and two hits in six innings. Duffy struck out five and walked two.

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