Drew Smyly and the Rays bullpen held the Red Sox to one hit and Kevin Kiermaier hit a solo home run in the 10th as Tampa Bay beat Boston 3-0 on Tuesday night for their third straight win.
Smyly allowed one hit over eight innings and struck out 11 for the second straight start.
Smyly was in a pitching duel with Boston’s bullpen after starter Joe Kelly left in the first inning with stiffness in his right shoulder. The Red Sox used six relievers, and the first four preserved the shutout until Matt Barnes (1-1) faced Kiermaier to lead off the 10th.
Photo: AP
Jackie Bradley Jr had Boston’s hit, a single to center in the third. Erasmo Ramirez (3-0) threw a hitless ninth for Tampa Bay, and Alex Colome pitched the 10th for his second save.
REDS 4, ROCKIES 3
In Cincinnati, Jay Bruce had two of the Reds’ five steals in the second inning off Jorge de la Rosa — their biggest inning on the bases in about a century — as Cincinnati held on to beat Colorado.
Brandon Phillips had four hits, and Billy Hamilton doubled home a pair of runs during Cincinnati’s four-run second inning off De la Rosa (1-2). The inning included those record five steals off the left-hander’s slow move to the plate.
The Reds had not stolen so many bases during an inning since at least the 1920s, per information provided by the teams from the Elias Sports Bureau.
It was the most steals that the Rockies had ever allowed in an inning.
Rookie Robert Stephenson (2-0) got his second win as an injury fill-in, called up from Triple-A earlier in the day because scheduled starter Alfredo Simon has a strained biceps.
BREWERS 6, TWINS 5
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Scooter Gennett hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning as Milwaukee ended Minnesota’s four-game winning streak.
Moments after the Brewers gave up a three-run lead in the eighth, Yadiel Rivera led off the ninth with a double against Kevin Jepsen (0-3) and got to third on an error by center fielder Byron Buxton. Gennett followed with his second hit of the game to help the Brewers snap a three-game skid.
Jeremy Jeffress picked up his fifth save in five tries.
Park Byung-ho and Eddie Rosario hit home runs in the Twins’ eighth off Tyler Thornburg (2-0) to tie it at 5-5.
CUBS 2, CARDINALS 1
In St Louis, Missouri, Jason Hammel worked six sharp innings and had both RBIs for Chicago in a victory over St Louis.
The Cardinals stranded two runners against the Cubs bullpen in the seventh and eighth. Yadier Molina was at second base when Hector Rondon struck out pinch hitter Jedd Gyorko to earn his third save in three chances.
Chicago lead the majors at 11-3 and were aiming for a three-game sweep yesterday over the defending NL Central champions. They last swept St Louis in three games on the road Sept. 13 to Sept. 15, 2010.
In other MLB action, it was:
‧ Padres 5, Pirates 4
‧ Nationals 7, Marlins 0
‧ Athletics 3, Yankees 2, 11 inns
‧ Royals 8, Tigers 6
‧ Mets 11, Phillies 1
‧ Rangers 7, Astros 5
‧ Blue Jays 4, Orioles 3
‧ White Sox 5, Angels 0
‧ Indians 3, Mariners 2
‧ Braves 8, Dodgers 1
‧ Diamondbacks 3, Giants 0
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