Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a pair of home runs to reach 39 and stole his 67th base as the Atlanta Braves ended a four-game losing streak with a 9-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.
Acuna is one home run shy of becoming the first player with 40 homers and 60 steals in a season, much less 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases.
The Braves' superstar is batting .386 with 11 home runs, 26 RBIs, 23 runs and eight steals in his last 20 games.
Acuna’s first home run was his seventh leadoff blast this season and 33rd of his career. Of his 205 hits this season, 51 have come in the first inning.
His performance overshadowed Spencer Strider’s major league-leading 18th win.
The right-hander allowed three runs and four hits over seven innings with 11 strikeouts to raise his MLB-best total to 270.
Marcell Ozuna drove in three runs with three hits, including a two-run double in the fifth, as Atlanta avoided its first five-game skid since September 2017.
Bryce Harper hit a three-run home run for the Phillies, who hold the top wild-card spot in the NL.
Padres lose combined no-hitter in 9th, walk-off Rockies
Blake Snell threw seven no-hit innings, and the San Diego Padres lost a combined no-hitter in the 9th before Xander Bogaerts hit a walk-off two-run homer in a 2-0 win over the Colorado Rockies.
Snell struck out 10 with four walks over the first seven innings and threw 104 pitches but was replaced by Robert Suarez, who worked a perfect eighth.
Closer Josh Hader gave up a leadoff single to Brendan Rodgers in the ninth before getting three outs.
Bogaerts homered off Tyler Kinley with two outs in the ninth to give San Diego its season-high sixth straight win.
Hays hits 2 homers as Orioles defeat Astros
Austin Hays went deep twice and Ryan O’Hearn added a two-run shot to lift the Baltimore Orioles to their fourth straight win, 9-5 over the slumping Houston Astros.
Hays hit a three-run shot off starter Hunter Brown in the third inning to snap a 2-2 tie and put Baltimore ahead for good.
O’Hearn’s two-run homer in the first opened the scoring and rookie Heston Kjerstad connected for his second career home run in the seventh, one batter after Hays’ second of the game gave the Orioles an 8-5 lead.
Baltimore maintained a 2 ½-game lead over Tampa in the race for the AL East title, while Houston’s lead in the West was trimmed to one-half game over Texas and Seattle.
Diamondbacks acquire slugger Suarez from Mariners
The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired third baseman Eugenio Suarez from the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday in an attempt to bolster a position that lacked power during the team’s run to the World Series last season.
Arizona finished tied for 28th in Major League Baseball in 2023 with only 10 total home runs by its third baseman. Suarez, meanwhile, hit 22 homers of his own for Seattle.
“It adds a little bit of stability at that spot,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said. “He’s a guy we’ve liked for a long time.”
Suarez, 32, was a 2018 All-Star for the Cincinnati Reds, who traded him to the Mariners in March 2022.
He’s hit .248 with 246 home runs and 730 RBIs in 1,313 career games for Detroit, Cincinnati and Seattle.
The Mariners acquired reliever Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala from Arizona, which lost in five games to the Texas Rangers in the World Series after going 84-78 during the regular season.
Aaron Nola staying with Phillies on 7-year contract
Starting pitcher Aaron Nola has agreed to a seven-year contract to remain with the Philadelphia Phillies, multiple media outlets reported Sunday.
The deal is worth a reported $172million, as the Phillies keep a cornerstone piece in their rotation.
Nola, 30, is the first major free agent to come off the board in a class that is headlined by two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and includes fellow hurlers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery.
Nola has spent his entire MLB career in Philadelphia and has finished in the top five of Cy Young award voting twice.
The right-hander saw his numbers slip a bit in 2023 with a 4.46 ERA but rebounded in the post-season with three quality starts and an ERA of 2.35 over 23 innings.
Nola and Zack Wheeler make up one of the best and most reliable rotation duos in baseball.
Since 2018, Nola has thrown 1,065 1/3 innings, the second most in the majors over that span. Wheeler is fourth on that list with 1,007 innings pitched.
Nola is one of five pitchers with at least 200 strikeouts in each of the last three seasons.
Nola was the priority in a vital offseason for the Phillies after making it to the World Series in 2022 and the NLCS last season but falling short of a title.
In 235 career starts, Nola has a 3.72 ERA and has 1,582 strikeouts in 1,422 innings pitched.
Athletics’ move from Oakland to Las Vegas approved by MLB owners
The Athletics’ move from Oakland to Las Vegas has been approved by Major League Baseball owners.
The 30 franchise owners voted unanimously in support of the team’s move from California to Nevada, with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledging that it was a “terrible day” for fans in Oakland.
The Athletics executives reached an agreement to build a new stadium in Las Vegas in May after the state’s legislature approved public financing towards the construction.
The Athletics have been based in Oakland since 1968, having previously been in Kansas City and Philadelphia.
MLB commissioner Manfred told a press conference: “I know this is a terrible day for fans in Oakland. I understand that, and that’s why we’ve always had a policy of doing everything humanly possible to avoid a relocation.
“I truly believe we did that in this case. I think it’s beyond debate that the status quo in Oakland was untenable.
“I absolutely am convinced that there was not a viable path forward in Oakland. We look forward to being in Las Vegas; there’s tremendous support locally for having the A’s there. We do believe over the long haul that Las Vegas will be a great asset to Major League Baseball.”
The Athletics’ owners had been unable to find a solution to keep the team in Oakland, with their existing Coliseum home in need of redevelopment.
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