MAJOR LEAGUES
The St Louis Cardinals opened a four-game lead over Cincinnati atop the National League Central division by beating the Reds 9-2 on Friday, with pitcher Adam Wainwright notching his ninth win of the season.
Elsewhere on Friday, Tampa Bay edged Baltimore to close the gap between them to half a game, while Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt again proved the match-winner against San Francisco.
Photo: AFP
A wild pitch in the tenth inning gave the Los Angeles Dodgers victory over Atlanta, Detroit stretched their lead over division rival Cleveland and Oakland pulled off a come-from-behind win over the Chicago White Sox.
St Louis’ Adam Wainwright (9-3) gave up two runs over seven innings to guide the Cardinals to a league-best 40th win of the season.
Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer pitched seven strong innings in just his second start of the season to guide the Rays to a 2-1 win over Baltimore.
Desmond Jennings hit a two-run homer to the deepest part of the ball park in the seventh inning, and that was enough for the Rays.
Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt continued his hot streak by hitting a three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning, lifting the Diamondbacks to a 3-1 win over San Francisco.
The Giants looked poised for victory before Goldschmidt lined a 2-0 pitch from Jeremy Affeldt over the right field fence for his 15th home run of the season.
Los Angeles’ pinch-runner Skip Schumaker scored on the second wild pitch by Anthony Varvaro in the 10th inning, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 victory over the Braves.
Ramon Hernandez started the rally with a one-out single, took second on the first wild pitch and advanced to third on a single by Luis Cruz.
Varvaro (3-1) then bounced another wild pitch to the catcher, allowing Schumaker to score.
Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig was on-deck, but he was not needed after homering for the fourth time in five career games.
Detroit’s Justin Verlander pitched seven solid innings to steer the Tigers to a 7-5 win over Cleveland, opening a 3-1/2 game lead over the Indians atop the American League Central.
Verlander (8-4) allowed seven hits and struck out six.
Victor Martinez homered among his three hits for the Tigers in this opener of a three-game series.
Oakland’s Josh Donaldson hit his first career grand slam to rally the Athletics from a three-run deficit and beat the Chicago White Sox 4-1.
Donaldson’s sixth-inning homer was one of two key moments, with the other being Josh Reddick making a homer-saving catch in the bottom of the ninth.
Toronto’s Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run double and pitcher Neil Wagner earned his first major league win as the Blue Jays beat Texas 6-1.
Seattle’s Brendan Ryan and Jason Bay both hit two-out, two-run singles in a four-run fourth inning, while Jeremy Bonderman won for the first time since 2010 as the Mariners beat the New York Yankees 4-1.
Colorado’s Nolan Arenado hit a game-ending homer leading off the ninth inning, completing a giant comeback from a six-run deficit, and giving the Rockies a 10-9 win over San Diego.
Pittsburgh’s Francisco Liriano pitched seven scoreless innings as the Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 2-0 for their major league-leading 10th shutout.
Milwaukee’s Aramis Ramirez hit an RBI single with one out in the ninth inning, rallying Milwaukee from four runs down to beat Philadelphia 5-4 and end Philadelphia’s five-game winning streak.
Kansas City’s Billy Butler drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the Royals beat Houston 4-2 for their third straight win.
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