The New York Mets matched a franchise record with their 11th straight win on Thursday, beating Atlanta 6-3, thanks chiefly to Daniel Murphy, who drove in four runs.
It is the fifth time the Mets have won 11 on the run — with the most recent being in 1990 — and has overshadowed the efforts of their bigger neighbor, the New York Yankees, who moved equal to the top of the American League East division with another win against Detroit.
Elsewhere, Colorado edged big-spending San Diego and Kansas City prevailed in a feisty 13-inning clash with the Chicago White Sox.
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The Mets have the best record in the majors despite injuries to several critical players and finished their first homestand 10-0 after sweeping a trio of National League East division rivals.
Starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (4-0) allowed three runs over six innings to win his first four starts of a season for the first time in his big league career.
The Yankees won 2-1 at Detroit, with Jacoby Ellsbury hitting a leadoff double in the eighth off Tom Gorzelanny (0-1), taking third on a sacrifice bunt and scoring the tiebreaking run on a groundout.
Photo: AFP
On a cold afternoon, the Yankees bullpen retained that lead. Dellin Betances (3-0) pitched 1-2/3 scoreless innings and Andrew Miller had a perfect ninth.
Colorado’s Corey Dickerson hit a go-ahead homer against Tyson Ross (1-1) leading off the fifth inning — his third solo shot in two days despite playing with plantar fasciitis — as the Rockies held on to beat San Diego 2-1.
The Rockies said it was just the 25th game with a 2-1 score at Coors Field, which opened in 1995.
In Chicago, a benches-clearing fight led to five ejections several innings before Eric Hosmer hit the go-ahead double in the 13th inning to lead Kansas City to a 3-2 win over the White Sox.
Players from both dugouts and bullpens ran onto the field and punches were thrown during a fight that lasted a couple of minutes.
With two outs in the top of the 13th, Hosmer’s hit off Chicago’s Jake Petricka (0-1) drove in Jarrod Dyson for the go-ahead run. Wade Davis then pitched a scoreless 13th to close out the game.
St Louis’ Michael Wacha (3-0) allowed just one run in seven innings to steer the Cardinals to a 4-1 victory over Washington and lower his season ERA to 1.33.
Wacha outdueled Nationals boom recruit Max Scherzer (1-2), who gave up two runs in seven innings.
St Louis won their fourth straight series.
Tampa Bay’s Rene Rivera had a run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Rays a 2-1 win against Boston.
Allan Dykstra opened the ninth with a single off Anthony Varvaro (0-1). Pinch-runner Tim Beckham went to second on a one-out single by Kevin Kiermaier and and scored the winning run on Rivera’s hit down the third-base line.
Pittsburgh’s Gregory Polanco got three hits, including a go-ahead single in the seventh off Phil Coke, which gave the Pirates a 5-4 win against the Chicago Cubs.
San Francisco’s Justin Maxwell singled home the winning run with one out in the 10th inning off Juan Nicasio (0-1) as the World Series champions won 3-2 and completed a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Toronto’s Josh Donaldson hit a two-run homer and Drew Hutchison pitched eight strong innings as the Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep of Baltimore, beating the Orioles 7-6.
The Los Angeles Angels won 2-0 against Oakland, with Nick Tropeano starring in his team debut as he held the Athletics scoreless into the seventh inning.
Milwaukee snapped an eight-game losing skid by defeating Cincinnati 4-2, with Kyle Lohse (1-3) ending his struggles on the mound and limiting the Reds to two runs in his seven innings.
Miami’s David Phelps pitched seven scoreless innings for his first win since joining Miami after three seasons with the Yankees and guided the Marlins to a 9-1 win against Philadelphia.
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