MAJOR LEAGUES
San Francisco avoided a rare four-game series sweep at home by beating the Washington Nationals 7-1 on Thursday, with veteran pitcher Tim Hudson continuing his impressive form for the majors-leading Giants.
The win opened an 8.5 game lead for the Giants at the top of the National League West, while National League Central leaders the Milwaukee Brewers pushed their lead out to 5.5 games with a 13-inning win over the New York Mets.
Photo: Kelley L. Cox-USA Today
Among the other games, the Baltimore Orioles closed the gap on Toronto with a home win over the Blue Jays and the New York Yankees completed their first three-game sweep of the season in Seattle, with Derek Jeter leading the way.
San Francisco’s Tim Hudson (7-2) allowed only one unearned run in seven innings, lowering his major league-best earned run average to a miserly 1.81. The Giants are 7-0 at home when Hudson starts.
Michael Morse got three hits and scored twice for San Franciso, who had won five straight before the Nationals came to town and took the first three games of the series.
Baltimore moved within 3.5 games of American League East leaders Toronto by downing the Blue Jays 4-2.
Kevin Gausman (2-1) gave up one run over six innings and Delmon Young homered for the Orioles.
Toronto have lost five of six to give up much of what had been a commanding lead at the top of the division.
Milwaukee’s Jonathan Lucroy hit a tiebreaking homer in a four-run 13th inning that lifted the Brewers over the Mets 5-1.
Ryan Braun opened the 13th with an infield single off Carlos Torres (2-4). Lucroy drove a pitch over left field and the margin was padded by Mark Reynolds’ RBI single and a hit batter when the bases were loaded.
The Mets stranded seven runners from the ninth through the 11th inning and blew a bases-loaded opportunity with a chance to win. They lost for the eighth time in nine games and fell a season-worst eight games under .500 at 29-37.
Their cross-town rivals, the Yankees, fared better, winning 6-3 against the Seattle Mariners.
Derek Jeter, making his final regular season appearance in Seattle, had three hits, two runs scored and two RBIs.
Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run homer in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 16 games and gave starter Chase Whitley (2-0) an early lead.
Detroit’s Max Scherzer pitched a shutout in his first career complete game, guiding the Tigers to a 4-0 win at the Chicago White Sox.
Scherzer (8-2) was back in form, striking out eight and allowing only three runners to reach second base.
Victor Martinez hit his 16th homer of the season, a solo shot to lead off the fifth.
Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier hit a two-run homer to power the Reds to a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, splitting their four-game series.
Frazier’s hit came off Zack Greinke (8-3) , whose record at Great American Ball Park going into the game was 4-0.
The Reds won the last two games to finish a 5-5 homestand that left them stuck closer to the bottom of the National League Central than the top.
The Colorado Rockies won 10-3 at home against the Atlanta Braves in a game of several ejections that followed an incident in which Corey Dickerson hit Braves catcher Gerald Laird in the facemask during his backswing.
Boston’s Jon Lester worked into the eighth inning to guide the Red Sox to a much-needed 5-2 win over the Cleveland Indians.
Houston’s Chris Carter homered leading off the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Astros a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen had two doubles and two RBIs to help the Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 4-0.
Philadelphia’s Reid Brignac lined a tiebreaking, two-run double in the sixth inning and John Mayberry Jr padded the lead with a three-run homer to give the Phillies a 7-3 win over the San Diego Padres.
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