Washington’s Lucas Giolito briefly showed the promise that has him regarded as baseball’s top pitching prospect, as he got through four scoreless innings in a rain-shortened MLB debut to help the Nationals beat the New York Mets 5-0 on Tuesday and stretch their lead in the National League West division.
The Nationals opened a 4-1/2 game break on Miami and five on the Mets, while NL West leaders San Francisco had their lead trimmed back to six games after a high-scoring loss to Bay rivals Oakland.
Texas continued to set the pace in the American League and won comfortably at the New York Yankees, while the reigning World Series champions lost to near neighbors St Louis in an interleague clash.
Photo: AP
Giolito only allowed one hit in his four innings before the rain came, while Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer that proved more than enough.
Mets ace Matt Harvey suffered his 10th loss of the season, balanced against just four wins.
Oakland’s Jake Smolinski hit a three-run homer during a five-run eighth inning, which put the Athletics ahead to stay in a 13-11 victory over San Francisco.
The A’s overcame a pair of three-run deficits to win and finish their road trip with a 5-1 record; their best away sequence in nearly three years.
Texas’ Cole Hamels breezed through seven scoreless innings to win his fourth consecutive start and steer the Rangers to a 7-1 win at the Yankees.
Hamels (9-1) struck out seven and helped the Rangers extend their run of road wins to eight straight.
Adrian Beltre homered and drove in three runs for Texas.
St Louis’ Matt Carpenter homered to help the Cardinals win 8-4 at Kansas City, splitting the games at the home of the Royals before the series goes to Busch Stadium for a further two games.
Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain injured his left hamstring while running on an infield hit in the seventh, but the extent of the injury was not immediately known.
Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run homer, which highlighted a seven-run fifth inning that boosted the Tigers to a 7-5 win against Seattle.
Jose Iglesias and Nick Castellanos also homered during the big inning.
Chicago’s Kris Bryant singled home the tiebreaking run in the 15th inning to give the Cubs a 7-2 victory over Cincinnati.
A day after hitting three home runs and two doubles, Bryant had the key hit. Javier Baez added a grand slam later in the inning.
Chicago coach Joe Maddon was forced to use three pitchers in left field over the final two innings as the Cubs had used up all their position players.
Baltimore stretched their winning streak to six games with an 11-7 victory at San Diego, who began with Adam Jones hitting a leadoff homer against his hometown team.
Kim Hyun-soo and Chris Davis also homered for the Orioles, who have hit 54 homers this month, giving them a majors-leading 123.
Toronto’s Troy Tulowitzki homered to ignite a go-ahead, six-run fourth inning against his old team and lead the Blue Jays to their first-ever win at Colorado, beating the Rockies 14-9 in a game that began with a lengthy delay because of severe weather.
Los Angeles teenager Julio Urias posted his first big league win as the Dodgers edged Milwaukee 6-5.
Seattle’s Nelson Cruz hit his 20th home run of the season to help the Mariners defeat Pittsburgh 5-2.
Boston’s Travis Shaw homered, doubled, singled and drove in five runs as the Red Sox beat Tampa Bay 8-2.
Houston’s Carlos Correa hit a three-run homer in the first inning to set up a 7-1 win for the Astros against the Los Angeles Angels, making it nine wins from 10.
Cleveland extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 5-3 victory at Atlanta, going ahead through Carlos Santana’s tiebreaking single in a three-run ninth inning.
Philadelphia rallied with two runs in the ninth inning to defeat Arizona 4-3.
Minnesota’s Brian Dozier homered twice and drove in four runs to power the Twins to a 4-0 win against the Chicago White Sox.
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