Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a tiebreaking, pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning off Jonathan Papelbon as the resilient New York Mets rallied from a six-run deficit to beat the Washington Nationals 8-7 on Tuesday night after Matt Harvey struggled on the mound.
The Mets’ second straight comeback win over Washington extended their lead in the NL East to six games.
Perhaps making one of his final starts of the regular season, Harvey gave up a career high seven runs on eight hits in 5-1/3 innings and left with New York trailing 7-1.
The Mets erased the deficit with a six-run seventh inning fueled by six walks and a wild pitch. The big blow was a three-run double by Yoenis Cespedes, who one inning earlier committed an error in center field that allowed three runs to score.
Nieuwenhuis gave New York their first lead with a drive to right off Papelbon (3-2). It was Nieuwenhuis’ fourth home run; the other three came in one game against Arizona on July 12.
Addison Reed (3-2) worked the seventh and Jeurys Familia got three outs for his 38th save. With two runners on, Familia got Yunel Escobar to ground into a game-ending double play.
CUBS 8, CARDINALS 5
In St Louis, Missouri, Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo homered and combined for seven RBIs as Chicago earned their fifth straight win, beating St Louis 8-5 in the middle game of a three-game series.
The Cardinals have the best record in the majors at 87-51, but have dropped five of six. Their lead over Pittsburgh in the NL Central slipped to 4.5 games. The Cubs are 6.5 back and are second in the NL wild-card race behind the Pirates.
St Louis was down 8-0 before pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk sparked a five-run seventh with a two-run homer estimated at 138m in the seventh.
In other MLB action, it was:
‧ Pirates 7, Reds 3
‧ Royals 4, Twins 2
‧ Orioles 2, Yankees 1
‧ Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 1
‧ Phillies 5, Braves 0
‧ Marlins 6, Brewers 4
‧ Tigers 8, Rays 7, 13 inns
‧ White Sox 7, Indians 4
‧ Giants 6, Diamondbacks 2
‧ Athletics 4, Astros 0
‧ Dodgers 6, Angels 4
‧ Padres 2, Rockies 1
‧ Rangers 9, Mariners 6
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
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