AMERICAN LEAGUE
Chris Dickerson hit a three-run, game-ending homer with two outs in the ninth inning, capping an four-run uprising against Jose Valverde that carried the Baltimore Orioles past the Detroit Tigers 7-5 on Friday night.
Valverde entered in the ninth inning with a 5-3 lead after starter Max Scherzer retired the final 16 batters he faced.
Photo: AFP
Nick Markakis led off with a homer, before Adam Jones singled and took third on a single by Chris Davis. Valverde (0-1) then retired Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy on popups before Dickerson hit a 2-1 pitch into the bleachers in right-center, much to the delight of the sellout crowd of 46,249.
Darren O’Day (3-0) got the final out in the ninth for the Orioles, who have won eight of 11.
RAYS 9, INDIANS 2
In Cleveland, Ohio, James Loney homered twice, while four Tampa Bay pitchers combined on a one-hitter as the Rays endured nearly five hours of rain delays before beating the Indians 9-2 for their sixth straight win in a game that began on Friday night last month ended early yesterday this month.
Scheduled to start at 7:05pm, the game was delayed three times before finally resuming at 12:13am — 2 hours, 39 minutes after the third and lengthiest delay. Before that there was uncertainty, confusion and, of course, rain.
It was the majors’ second marathon game in two days. On Thursday night, Kansas City and St Louis were delayed an hour before the first pitch and another 4 hours, 32 minutes by rain before the Royals beat Cardinals 4-2 well after 3am.
Matt Joyce and Loney connected for two-run homers in Tampa’s five-run third inning off Scott Barnes (0-1).
Jamey Wright (1-1) came in for unbeaten Tampa starter Matt Moore and pitched three innings for the Rays.
Cleveland’s only hit was Ryan Raburn’s RBI double in the fifth off Josh Lueke.
ATHLETICS 3, WHITE SOX 0
In Oakland, California, Bartolo Colon tossed a five-hitter a week after turning 40, as the Athletics beat the White Sox in a game that took only 2 hours, 14 minutes.
Colon (6-2) struck out and three and walked none for his 11th career shutout. He has 34 complete games, third-most among active pitchers behind Roy Halladay (67) and C.C. Sabathia (35).
John Jaso was the first baserunner for either team to reach second when he doubled against Dylan Axelrod (3-4) leading off the eighth inning.
Josh Reddick followed with an RBI double after coming off the disabled list before the game, and Coco Crisp added a two-run single to back Colon’s stellar start.
Axelrod gave up four hits and struck out seven in seven-plus innings.
In other AL action, it was:
‧ Yankees 4, Red Sox 1
‧ Mariners 3, Twins 0
‧ Rangers 7, Royals 2
‧ Astros 6, Angels 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ATLANTA, Georgia
Craig Stammen pitched four perfect innings after ace Stephen Strasburg left with a strained muscle on his right side, as the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 Friday night.
Strasburg lasted two innings before leaving the shortest outing of his career. He is headed back to Washington to be examined.
Denard Span tripled twice and scored two runs for Washington, who snapped a two-game skid and trimmed their second-place deficit in the NL East to 4.5 games behind the Braves.
Strasburg left with a 2-1 lead. He allowed two hits and one run — a homer by Freddie Freeman — with no walks and two strikeouts. Stammen (3-1) shut down the Braves from there.
Tyler Clippard escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and Drew Storen worked a scoreless eighth before Rafael Soriano converted his 15th save in 18 chances.
Bryce Harper missed his fifth straight game with bursitis in his left knee.
Julio Teheran (3-2) allowed seven hits and three runs with a career-high nine strikeouts in 6-2/3 innings.
REDS 6, PIRATES 0
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Johnny Cueto allowed one hit over eight dominant innings to pitch Cincinnati past Pittsburgh.
Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips hit solo home runs for the Reds, who cooled off the Pirates behind their ace. Cueto (3-0) struck out six and walked one to improve to 13-4 against Pittsburgh.
Wandy Rodriguez (6-3) gave up five hits and walked three in seven innings.
The Reds broke it open with four runs off reliever Mike Zagurski, a rare hiccup by baseball’s best bullpen through the first third of the season as the two rivals moved into a second-place tie behind St Louis in the NL Central.
BREWERS 8, PHILLIES 5
In Philadelphia, Jonathan Lucroy went five-for-five with two home runs and four RBIs as Milwaukee battered a struggling Cole Hamels to beat Philadelphia and snap their longest losing streak of the season at six games.
Yovani Gallardo (4-5) overcame a shaky first inning to stop a four-game skid, the worst of his career. Yuniesky Betancourt added three hits and an RBI for the Brewers, who finished 6-22 last month to tie the 1969 Seattle Pilots (August) for the worst month in franchise history.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Domonic Brown had two homers and four RBIs for the Phillies. Brown has six home runs in his past five games and finished last month with 12 homers.
Jimmy Rollins also went deep for Philadelphia.
Hamels (1-9), who signed a US$144 million, six-year contract last season, gave up seven runs (six earned) on a career-worst 12 hits in five-plus innings.
In other NL action, it was:
‧ Cubs 7, Diamondbacks 2
‧ Marlins 5, Mets 1
‧ Dodgers 7, Rockies 5, 10 Inns
‧ Giants-Cardinals was postponed
In interleague play, it was:
‧ Padres 4, Blue Jays 3, 17 Inns
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