Miami pitcher Chen Wei-yin of Taiwan held the Pittsburgh Pirates hitless through six innings to help the Marlins to a 4-3 win on Thursday.
Kang Jung-ho doubled leading off the seventh inning for Pittsburgh’s first hit of the night.
The left-hander had retired 13 straight batters before Kang doubled to center field. Chen then walked Chris Stewart and was pulled from the game with Miami leading 3-0.
Photo: AP
Chen threw 64 of his 100 pitches for strikes. He walked three and struck out five.
Chen hit a batter with a pitch and walked two in the second inning.
He became the second consecutive Marlins lefty to hold the Pirates hitless into the sixth inning; Adam Conley did it on Wednesday night before Andrew McCutchen singled in the sixth.
Miami center fielder Ichiro Suzuki of Japan turned in two impressive defensive plays to prevent hits off Chen. Suzuki made a diving catch on pitcher Juan Nicasio’s fly-ball in the second and a leaping catch against the wall on Kang’s drive in the fourth.
Chen delivered one of his best starts of the season.
“It was a similar ballgame that the guy before him pitched,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle told MLB.com. “He had a pretty good prototype to follow, a model to follow, and he did. I don’t even remember being involved in a game where we were no-hit through five then no-hit through six on back-to-back nights. The stuff was legit.”
In Chicago, Kyle Hendricks dominated over eight innings as the MLB-leading Chicago Cubs backed him with four home runs, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-2 for their eighth win in nine games.
Javier Baez, Jason Heyward and Kris Bryant connected against 19-year-old Julio Urias (0-1). Anthony Rizzo hit a leadoff homer against J.P. Howell in the eighth as the Cubs took three of four from the Dodgers.
Hendricks (4-4) allowed two runs and three hits, struck out six and walked one. He pitched a complete game in his previous outing to beat Philadelphia.
Urias was simply overpowered in his second career start. The top prospect gave up six runs and eight hits in five innings.
Elsewhere, the Seattle Mariners scored 14 times in two innings to erase a 10-run deficit and stun San Diego 16-13, the latest pratfall for a Padres team who were ripped in a radio interview by their executive chairman a day earlier.
Trailing 12-2 after five, the Mariners benefited from a bullpen meltdown by the Padres and rallied for the biggest comeback in team history. Seager hit a two-run single in the sixth to chase starter Colin Rea, followed by Lee’s pinch-hit, a three-run homer off Brad Hand.
The Mariners then sent 13 batters to the plate in their nine-run seventh, getting seven straight hits with two outs.
In Atlanta, Madson Bumgarner won his sixth straight decision to match a career best and hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to lead San Francisco past the Braves 6-0.
Arizona’s Zack Greinke struck out a season-high 11 as the Diamondbacks used a three-run seventh inning to beat Houston 3-0.
In Detroit, the Yankees’ Aroldis Chapman pitched out of his own bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning as New York held off Detroit 5-4.
Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo and Adam Jones each homered twice, while Manny Machado delivered a tiebreaking drive in the seventh inning as the Orioles hit a season-high seven long balls in a 12-7 win over Boston.
In Cleveland, Mike Napoli’s sacrifice fly scored Francisco Lindor with the winning run to cap a two-run ninth inning and lift the Indians past Kansas City 5-4.
In other games, Chris Carter and Jonathan Villar homered as Milwaukee beat reeling Philadelphia 4-1, while Eugenio Suarez homered twice in a game for the first time in his career as Cincinnati defeated Colorado 11-4.
Minnesota topped Tampa Bay 6-4.
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