Blake Snell struck out a career-high 15 over six scoreless innings and Patrick Bailey snapped a tie with a two-run double to give the San Francisco Giants a 4-1 win over the Colorado Rockies in a doubleheader opener on Saturday.
Snell struck out 15 of 18 batters and induced 30 swings and misses, one shy of Tim Lincecum in the 2010 NL Division Series opener against Atlanta for the Giants’ most since pitch tracking started in 2008.
He walked two and his 15 strikeouts were the most for a pitcher this season and the most for any pitcher in an outing of six innings or fewer since at least 1901.
Bailey broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh with a two-out, opposite-field double to the left-center field gap.
Matt Chapman homered in the second for the Giants and Michael Toglia hit a tying homer in the seventh for the Rockies.
In the second game, rookie Hayden Birdsong and four relievers combined on a four-hitter in the Giants’ 5-0 victory.
Streaking Padres roll over Orioles
Michael King pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning and Manny Machado hit a three-run homer against his former team to lead the San Diego Padres to their seventh straight win, 9-4 over the reeling Baltimore Orioles.
King gave up two runs over 6 1/3 innings with two walks and nine strikeouts to win for the fourth time in five starts.
The Padres scored twice in the second on a two-run error by Ramon Urias and went up 3-0 an inning later on Xander Bogaerts’ RBI double.
Gunnar Henderson’s throwing error in the fourth allowed another run to score and Machado broke open the game with his 14th home run in the seventh off Cole Irvin.
Machado, who spent his first seven seasons with the Orioles, picked up his 1,000th career RBI on the homer.
Jackson Merrill drove in two runs and Machado and Bogaerts each had three hits for the Padres, who have outscored opponents 43-12 during their longest winning streak of the season.
Cedric Mullins had a two-run double and a two-run homer for the Orioles, who have lost five of six and 10 of their last 14 games but remain atop the AL East.
Yankees rally, outslug Red Sox
Austin Wells had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the 10th inning and Gleyber Torres added a two-run double as the New York Yankees rallied for a wild 11-8 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Aaron Judge reached base a career-high six times, going 4 for 4 with his major league-leading 37th home run, three RBIs and two walks. Juan Soto and Oswaldo Cabrera also went deep as the Yankees snapped a three-game skid with their second win in seven games.
The game was tied five times, matching the most in the majors this season. New York led 3-0 and 4-3, and Boston went ahead 5-4, 6-5 and 8-6.
Tyler O’Neill hit a pair of homers and Wilyer Abreu also cleared the fence for the Red Sox, who have lost six of eight since the All-Star break.
The Red Sox were one strike away from an 8-7 win with closer Kenley Jansen on the mound, but O’Neill couldn’t catch Trent Grisham’s deep fly to left-center and the tying run scored.
After Wells’ sacrifice fly off Chase Anderson snapped a tie, Torres, who had been 0 for 5, doubled off the base of the Green Monster to score two.
Clay Holmes – the seventh pitcher used by New York – worked two hitless innings for the win.