Francisco Lindor broke up Bowden Francis’ no-hitter with a tying homer leading off the ninth and ignited a six-run inning to lift the New York Mets to a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
With the crowd of 29,399 on their feet to start the ninth, Francis got ahead of Lindor 0-2 before the four-time All-Star drilled a 92 mph fastball 398 feet to right field for his 31st home run and a 1-1 tie.
It was the second time in four starts Francis lost a no-hitter on a leadoff homer in the ninth - Taylor Ward connected off the right-hander for the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 24.
Francis became the first pitcher to lose two no-hit bids in the ninth inning during one season since Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan with Texas in 1989.
With the crowd of 29,399 on their feet to start the ninth, Francis got ahead of Lindor 0-2 before the four-time All-Star drilled a 92 mph fastball 398 feet to right field for his 31st home run.
Lindor's drive was New York’s first home run in the last four games, and the first by either team in the series.
Chad Green relieved Francis and gave up Jose Iglesias’ infield single and walked Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo before Pete Alonso lifted a sacrifice fly. After J.D. Martinez walked, Starling Marte delivered another sacrifice fly.
Genesis Cabrera replaced Green and was greeted by Francisco Alvarez’s three-run homer that gave New York a 6-1 lead.
Dodgers hit 4 home runs in 1st in win over Cubs
Tommy Edman hit one of the Dodgers’ four home runs in the 1st inning and went deep again in the eighth as Los Angeles avoided a sweep with a 10-8 win over the Chicago Cubs.
Gavin Lux singled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the seventh after the Cubs scored four runs in the fifth to erase a 7-3 deficit.
Shohei Ohtani hit his 47th home run and stole his 48th base, while Edman, Will Smith and Max Muncy also went deep in the first for the Dodgers, whose magic number to clinch the division dropped to 11 after San Diego lost at Seattle.
Edman’s two-out, two-run shot off Trey Wingenter in the eighth extended the Dodgers' lead to 10-7. The switch-hitter went deep in the first from the right side and then from the left.
Trailing by three, the Cubs threatened in the ninth. Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech loaded the bases on consecutive walks to Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki and former Dodger Cody Bellinger.
Kopech was called for a pitch-clock violation, giving an automatic ball to Isaac Paredes, whose sacrifice fly cut Chicago's deficit to 10-8. Suzuki was thrown out trying to steal third and former Dodger Michael Busch struck out swinging to end the game as Kopech eked out his 13th save.
Tigers continue surge
Kerry Carpenter matched a career-high with four hits and the Detroit Tigers kept their improbable wild-card hopes alive with a 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies.
Carpenter came up in the seventh needing a homer for the cycle - the first for a Tiger since Carlos Guillen in 2006 - but hit an infield single.
Riley Greene and Trey Sweeney homered for Detroit, which won its fourth straight and improved to 20-8 since Aug. 11. They are three games behind the Minnesota Twins for the last American League wild-card spot after both teams won on Tuesday.
The 2023 Tigers finished second in the AL Central - they are currently fourth - but their 78-84 record left them out of the wildcard race.
One night after beating the Rockies 11-0, the Tigers got off to another flying start with six runs in the first. Greene hit his 21st homer, Carpenter had an RBI triple and scored, and Sweeney hit a three-run homer.
MLB: Tigers lose combined no-hitter with two outs in 9th of 1-0 win over Orioles
Gunnar Henderson tripled with two outs in the ninth inning to break up the Tigers’ combined no-hit bid and Detroit held on for a 1-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.
Beau Brieske and Brant Hurter combined to retire Baltimore’s first 21 batters before Adley Rutschman’s eight-pitch walk leading off the eighth.
Brenan Hanifee retired the next three batters and Tyler Holton relieved to start the ninth.
Emmanuel Rivera flied out and pinch-hitter Coby Mayo took a called third strike before Henderson pulled a first-pitch sweeper into the right-field corner for the Orioles’ second baserunner.
Henderson became just the second batter to end a no-hit bid with a two-out triple in the ninth, joining the St. Louis Cardinals' Bernard Gilkey against the Chicago Cubs' Frank Castillo on Sept. 25, 1995.
Holton then struck out Anthony Santander to remain perfect in eight save chances.
Kerry Carpenter homered on the third pitch of the game from Zach Eflin, who allowed five hits in 6 2/3 innings.
The Tigers have won five of six to pull within 2 ½ games of Minnesota for the final AL wild card.
Brieske was planned to start as an opener and retired four batters while throwing 11 of 16 pitches for strikes.
Hurter struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings while throwing 53 of 71 pitches for strikes. He started 17 of 18 batters with strikes, including his first 14.
Hanifee relieved after Rutschman’s walk and got a pair of strikeouts around a forceout.
Judge ends homer drought with slam
Aaron Judge ended the longest home run drought of his career with a go-ahead grand slam to lift the New York Yankees to a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox.
The star slugger had gone 16 games and 75 plate appearances without a longball before launching a clutch drive into the lower left-field seats off reliever Cam Booser in the seventh inning to give the AL East leaders a 5-4 advantage.
Judge's eighth career slam and second this season sent the Yankee Stadium crowd of 45,292 into a frenzy, and he came out of the dugout for a curtain call.
It was the 52nd homer of the season for Judge, who also leads the majors with 130 RBIs. He hadn't gone deep since Aug. 25, when he homered twice against Colorado.
New York moved three games ahead of Baltimore for the AL East lead, its largest cushion since it led by 3 ½ games before a June 15 defeat at Boston that started a 4-14 slide.
Mark Leiter Jr. got four outs in relief of starter Clarke Schmidt for the win. Luke Weaver struck out five in two scoreless innings for his second career save.
Mets use homers to rout Phillies
Francisco Alvarez, Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader hit three-run homers, Jose Quintana allowed three hits in seven shutout innings and the New York Mets routed the Philadelphia Phillies 11-3 for their 12th win in 14 games.
Alvarez and Nimmo homered in a three-run fifth inning off Aaron Nola, Alvarez's second three-run homer in a span of three at-bats.
Bader homered in the eighth against Tyler Gilbert and Pete Alonso went deep in the ninth off infielder Kody Clemens. It was the first big league homer allowed in 12 career pitching appearances by Clemens. His father, seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, gave up 363 in 24 seasons.
New York All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor had an RBI double and left in the middle of the seventh because of lower back soreness. Manager Carlos Mendoza said it was precautionary and Lindor likely would've stayed in the game had the score been closer.
Philadelphia leads the NL East by seven games over New York, which remained one game ahead of Atlanta for the last wild card. The series opener began a stretch of seven games in 10 days between the rivals.
MLB: Soto's walk-off hit in 10th lifts Yankees over Red Sox
Juan Soto hit a game-ending single leading off the 10th inning to lift the New York Yankees over the Boston Red Sox 2-1 Thursday night as Aaron Judge’s homerless streak stretched to a career-high 16 games.
With pinch-runner Jon Berti on second as the automatic runner, Soto grounded a single against Josh Winckowski just past the glove of diving shortstop Trevor Story, and Berti slid home ahead of center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela’s throw to give the Yankees back-to-back walk-off wins for the first time in three years.
Judge, who leads the major leagues with 51 homers and 126 RBIs, went 1 for 4 with a single and is batting .207 (12 for 58) with 21 strikeouts since Aug. 26.
Gleyber Torres homered off Cooper Criswell leading off the first and Danny Jansen went deep against Nestor Cortes starting the fifth.
New York (85-62) won for the fifth time in seven games and opened a two-game AL East lead over Baltimore (83-64), the Yankees’ largest since before play on Aug. 27. The Yankees have won seven straight series openers.
Boston (74-73) dropped 4 1/2 games back of Minnesota (78-68) for the final AL wild card.
Rangers rally past Mariners in Rocker’s debut
Nathaniel Lowe drove in the go-ahead run for Texas with an infield single during a three-run eighth inning, hit a solo homer in the seventh, and the Rangers erased a three-run deficit for a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on in top prospect Kumar Rocker’s major league debut.
After Lowe made it a 4-2 game with his seventh-inning homer, Marcus Semien brought Texas within one with a solo homer off Collin Snider in the eighth.
Josh Smith reached on an error, Wyatt Langford doubled, and Adolis García drove in Smith on a groundout to shortstop to tie the game at 4-4. Lowe then hit an infield single to second base to score Langford from third.
Rocker struck out seven while allowing one run on three hits over four innings. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer from Justin Turner in the fourth.
Rocker allowed back to back singles to lead off the first inning, but retired the next six batters.
Kirby Yates pitched the ninth for his 30th save.
Heyward, Singleton lead Astros over Athletics
Jason Heyward hit a two-run homer early and Jon Singleton had three hits, capped by a tiebreaking RBI single in Houston’s four-run eighth inning, and the Astros got a 6-3 win over the Oakland Athletics.
After Brent Rooker homered off Ryan Pressly with one out in the eighth to tie it at 2, Yainer Diaz and Kyle Tucker hit consecutive singles with one out in the bottom of the inning to chase T.J. McFarland and bring on Grant Holman. There were two outs in the inning when Singleton’s single to center field scored Diaz to put the Astros on top.
Jake Meyers followed with a run-scoring double before the Athletics intentionally walked Heyward to load the bases. Mauricio Dubón singled on a ground ball to left field to score two more, pushing the lead to 6-2.
Houston’s Framber Valdez allowed five hits and a run with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings to help the Astros avoid a three-game sweep and snap a three-game skid.
MLB: Machado becomes Padres' all-time home run leader in win
Manny Machado hit his 164th home run to set the Padres’ franchise record and drove in four runs to lift San Diego to a 7-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.
Machado’s 164th homer in a Padres uniform was a line drive to center field off George Kirby in the sixth inning and gave San Diego a 5-2 lead. Machado watched from home plate as the ball left the bat at nearly 109 mph.
Machado’s homer was his 26th this season and snapped a tie with Nate Colbert atop the Padres list. Machado has 339 career homers among Baltimore, the Dodgers and San Diego.
While Machado’s homer set a mark, Fernando Tatis put San Diego ahead with a three-run shot in the third inning. It was his first home run since June 20 - prior to a lengthy stint on the injured list due a stress reaction in his right thighbone.
Machado added a two-run single in the seventh inning that clipped the back of pitcher Austin Voth and bounced into center field.
Yu Darvish threw five innings in his second start since rejoining the Padres. Darvish allowed solo home runs to Cal Raleigh and Luke Raley but pitched out of a jam in the third after Seattle put the first two runners on. Darvish struck out Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena both looking sandwiched around fly out from Raleigh.
Lugo baffles Yankees in Royals’ win
Seth Lugo struck out 10 in seven stellar innings and Salvador Perez had a pair of run-scoring singles to reach 100 RBIs as the Kansas City Royals blanked the New York Yankees, 5-0.
Tommy Pham homered and Bobby Witt Jr. had an RBI single for the Royals, who remained 3 ½ games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. They also stayed 2 ½ games ahead of Minnesota for the second AL wild card.
New York, which matched a season low with three hits, had its lead in the AL East cut to one-half game over Baltimore.
Lugo carved up a full-strength Yankees lineup that entered leading the majors in homers and ranked second in runs. The right-hander allowed only three singles and walked none, retiring 17 straight batters after Gleyber Torres' bloop hit to begin the bottom of the first.
Torres snapped the string on another soft single with two outs in the sixth.
With his 16th win, Lugo tied Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Atlanta’s Chris Sale for the major league lead.
Kyle Isbel scored twice after leadoff singles for the Royals, who had dropped six consecutive road games. They won for the fifth time in 13 games overall and improved to 2-4 against the Yankees this season.
Yamamoto returns as Cubs rally past Dodgers
Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched four strong innings in his return but the Chicago Cubs rallied for the tying and go-ahead runs in a five-run eighth inning in a game that featured a matchup of Japanese pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga.
The NL West-leading Dodgers blew a 3-1 lead and lost to the Cubs for the second straight night, assuring their first series loss since Aug. 5-7 against visiting Philadelphia. Los Angeles' division lead was cut to 4 1/2 games over San Diego.
Chicago is four games back of Atlanta and the New York Mets, who are tied for the last NL wild card.
Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong robbed Max Muncy of a potential two-run homer with two outs in the ninth. He made a terrific sliding catch in the dirt of Kiké Hernández to end the seventh.
A leadoff walk by Alex Vesia, a throwing error by catcher Austin Barnes, center fielder Tommy Edman’s errant throw that went into the camera well near the Dodgers dugout and a fielding error by second baseman Hernández helped the Cubs take a 6-3 lead.
Yamamoto struck out his first four batters of his first start in nearly three months, facing off against Chicago’s Imanaga in a matchup of former Japanese big league rivals pitching against each other for the first time in Major League Baseball.
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