Jack Flaherty took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and the Detroit Tigers hit three home runs in a 5-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.
Flaherty held the Red Sox without a hit until Rob Refsnyder singled to left with one out in the seventh. The right-hander was replaced one out later after throwing 104 pitches. He walked one and struck out nine for the third straight start.
Alex Faedo pitched one inning and Tyler Holton got the final four outs to complete the two-hitter.
The game remained scoreless until Akil Baddoo homered with one out in the fifth off Nick Pivetta. Mark Canha had an RBI single in the sixth and the Tigers scored three more runs in the eighth on Riley Greene’s two-run homer and Gio Urshela’s solo shot.
Detroit (28-28) has won five of six to get back to .500, while Boston (28-29) lost for the fifth time in seven games to drop under the break-even mark.
After walking the leadoff batter, Pivetta tied Roger Clemens for the Red Sox record with eight consecutive strikeouts. His bid for nine straight was snapped on a groundball to second that led off the fourth inning.
Pivetta allowed two runs and three hits over 5 1/3 innings with two walks and nine strikeouts.
Brewers keep Counsell, Cubs reeling
Gary Sanchez’s two-run home run snapped an eighth-inning tie and the Milwaukee Brewers took three of four games from former manager Craig Counsell and the Chicago Cubs with a 6-4 victory.
The NL Central-leading Brewers have won five of seven games to drop the struggling Cubs into third place in the division.
Chicago (28-29) got home runs from Cody Bellinger, Seiya Suzuki and Christopher Morel but the Cubs lost their seventh in eight games to drop below .500 for the first time since the end of March.
Counsell, the winningest manager in Brewers history who left to take over the Cubs, was booed every time he left the dugout this series.
Sanchez’s shot off Tyson Miller put Milwaukee back in front for good after Morel’s home run – his team-leading 10th - in the top of the eighth forged a 4-4 tie.
Jeffers leads Twins past Royals
Ryan Jeffers hit a pair of home runs and Carlos Correa had a bases-clearing triple as the Minnesota Twins rallied from a four-run deficit for a 7-6 win over the Kansas City Royals.
Jeffers’ first homer of the game was a two-run shot in the fourth inning and cut Minnesota’s deficit to 4-2. He went deep again in the fifth to make it 4-3 and the Twins scored four times in the sixth on Correa’s three-run triple and Max Kepler’s RBI single.
The Twins won three of four in the series and are an American League-best 24-12 since a 7-13 start.
Vinnie Pasquantino and MJ Melendez homered for the Royals, who have dropped four of five following eight consecutive wins.