Jose Quintana pitched into the seventh inning for his 100th career victory and J.D. Martinez capped a four-run seventh with a two-run double as the New York Mets won their ninth straight game, 4-0 over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
Quintana allowed five hits over 6 2/3 innings with two walks and six strikeouts. He became the 19th active pitcher with 100 wins.
Adam Ottavino, Danny Young and Edwin Díaz completed the six-hitter for New York's seventh shutout this season - all since July 11.
A slumping Harrison Bader homered to spark the big sixth for the Mets, who have won nine straight games for the first time since April 2018. New York hasn’t trailed in its last 72 innings since Aug. 30 - the longest streak in the majors this season.
Bader was mired in skids of 0 for 15 and 2 for 43 before connecting off Sam Moll in the sixth. It was Bader's 11th home run of the year, and first to the opposite field.
Pete Alonso hit a one-out RBI single before Martinez’s double capped the outburst.
Francisco Lindor’s career-high 16-game hitting streak ended as he went 0 for 3, but his sixth-inning walk pushed his on-base streak to 35 games, the longest active run in the majors and the longest single-season streak in Mets history.
Royals rally past Twins
Bobby Witt Jr. highlighted a four-run eighth inning with a tiebreaking single, and the Kansas City Royals defeated Minnesota 4-2 to open a 1 1/2-game lead over the Twins for the second AL wild card.
Held to one hit over seven innings by Bailey Ober, the Royals rallied against Jhoan Durán and Griffin Jax, winning their third straight following a season-high, seven-game losing streak.
Kansas City is second behind Cleveland in the AL Central and Minnesota is third after losing four of five.
Duran entered with a 2-0 lead and gave up a one-out single to Freddy Fermin, then hit Robbie Grossman with a pitch. Kyle Isbel hit an RBI single and Jax relieved, trying for a five-out save.
Tommy Pham hit a slow four-hopper to Brooks Lee and reached on an infield hit as the shortstop barehanded the ball and bounced his throw past first. Pinch-runner Dairon Blanco, who had been on second, scored on the error.
Witt looped a single into short center as Isbel scored for a 3-2 lead. MJ Melendez drove in Pham with a two-out single off Jax, who blew a save for the fifth time in 13 chances.
Yankees shut out Cubs again
Clarke Schmidt and Nestor Cortes combined on a four-hitter, and the New York Yankees clinched their 32nd straight winning season by blanking the Chicago Cubs 2-0.
Schmidt pitched 4 2/3 innings of four-hit ball in his first big league game since May 26 and Cortes closed it out in his first relief appearance since 2021.
Coupled with Baltimore's 7-1 loss to Tampa Bay, New York moved back into first in the AL East. The Yankees lead the Orioles by a half-game.
New York posted its second straight shutout to secure its first series win since it took two of three against Colorado from Aug. 23-25. The 32 straight seasons with a winning record is the second-longest such period in major league history, trailing a run of 39 consecutive seasons for the Yankees from 1926-64.
Chicago has lost four of five on a crucial homestand as it tries to rally in the race for the third NL wild card. It beat Pittsburgh 12-0 on Wednesday, but has managed a total of three other runs in its last five games, getting shut out three times.