Injury fill-in Alvarez scores winning run and Braves hit 3 HRs to edge Cardinals
Nacho Alvarez Jr., filling in for injured third baseman Austin Riley, singled twice and scored the winning run on Jurickson Profar's ninth-inning groundout against closer Ryan Helsley (3-1).
Murphy, who hit the two longest home runs of this season at Busch Stadium on Friday night, put the Braves ahead 6-5 with a high drive that cleared the glove of José Fermín as he leaped at the left-field wall in the eighth. The three-run shot was Murphy's 16th homer of the season and the first allowed by reliever Phil Maton in 37 appearances this season.
St. Louis tied it when pinch-runner Garrett Hampson scored on a wild pitch by Daysbel Hernández (4-1) in the eighth.
Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save.
Yohel Pozo and Nolan Gorman homered, and Brendan Donovan had two hits, including an RBI single in the eighth, for the Cardinals.
St. Louis, which had been shut out in each of Erick Fedde's previous three starts, broke through with three runs against Atlanta opener Aaron Bummer in the second inning to draw even after early home runs Acuña and Ozuna.
Pozo led off the bottom of the second with a double into the left-field corner and scored on Thomas Saggese's RBI single. Gorman followed with a 423-foot blast to tie it at 3. Pozo added a go-ahead solo homer in the sixth.
Acuña, who pulled himself out of the home run derby in Atlanta next Tuesday, hit a 379-foot drive into the Braves' bullpen in the first.
Ozuna clobbered a 422-foot solo shot in the second, and Alvarez made it 3-0 with a single for his first big-league RBI in nine career games.
Key moment
After the St. Louis bullpen had retired seven in a row, Profar doubled to lead off the eighth and Acuña drew a one-out walk to set the table for Murphy's 372-foot drive.
Key stat
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Murphy has seven home runs in his last 11 games. He had hit just two in his prior 33 games.
Up next
RHP Sonny Gray (9-3, 3.51 ERA), whose last turn in the rotation was moved up a day to allow him to squeeze in an extra start before the All-Star break takes the mound Sunday for St. Louis. Atlanta had not announced a starter.
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Canada Standard
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- Canada Standard
MLB roundup: Garrett Crochet tosses first shutout in Red Sox win
(Photo credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images) In his 51st career start, Garrett Crochet accomplished two feats in one dominant outing: his first career complete game and first career shutout. And that was all the Boston Red Sox needed to walk away with a 1-0 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. Crochet threw 100 pitches, allowed just three hits and struck out nine while walking none to lead the Red Sox to their ninth straight win. It also marked the ninth straight appearance in which he fanned at least seven batters. Roman Anthony supplied Boston with the only run of the game, a one-out double that scored Carlos Narvaez in the fourth inning. Trevor Story and Jarren Duran also doubled for the Red Sox. Yandy Diaz, Curtis Mead and Taylor Walls recorded the lone hits for the Rays, who dropped their fifth game in six tries. Padres 5, Phillies 4 Manny Machado's sacrifice fly snapped a tie in the bottom of the seventh inning as San Diego clinched a series win over visiting Philadelphia. Machado's drive to deep right field scored Fernando Tatis Jr., who started the rally with a one-out single off Tanner Banks (2-1) and raced to third on Luis Arraez's single to center. Jackso Merrill provided much of the firepower for the Padres, hitting a pair of home runs and driving in three. He entered the game on a 5-for-53 skid that dropped his average to .258. Rookie David Morgan (1-1) pitched an inning of scoreless relief for his first career win. Jeremiah Estrada, pitching for the third straight night, got the last three outs for his third save of the year. Cubs 5, Yankees 2 Matthew Boyd allowed four hits in eight scoreless innings to reach double-digit victories for the first time in his career as Chicago won in New York. 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He survived a 21-pitch first inning without yielding a run. For the game, he gave up four hits and struck out five; his only earned run came on Jonathan India's RBI double in the sixth. Kansas City won four straight entering this series, but is 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position the last two days. India's two doubles accounted for half of the Royals' hits Saturday. Brewers 6, Nationals 5 Caleb Durbin's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth capped a three-run rally that lifted host Milwaukee past Washington. Andrew Vaughn tied the game by lacing a two-run double to the wall in right-center, giving him 10 RBI in his first five games with the team, before Durbin fisted an inside fastball over first to cap Milwaukee's sixth straight win. The Nationals outhit the Brewers 11-9, with rookie third baseman Brady House starring in defeat, belting his first two MLB homers. 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Canada News.Net
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Canada News.Net
3 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
MLB roundup: Garrett Crochet tosses first shutout in Red Sox win
(Photo credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images) In his 51st career start, Garrett Crochet accomplished two feats in one dominant outing: his first career complete game and first career shutout. And that was all the Boston Red Sox needed to walk away with a 1-0 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. Crochet threw 100 pitches, allowed just three hits and struck out nine while walking none to lead the Red Sox to their ninth straight win. It also marked the ninth straight appearance in which he fanned at least seven batters. Roman Anthony supplied Boston with the only run of the game, a one-out double that scored Carlos Narvaez in the fourth inning. Trevor Story and Jarren Duran also doubled for the Red Sox. Yandy Diaz, Curtis Mead and Taylor Walls recorded the lone hits for the Rays, who dropped their fifth game in six tries. 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Astros 5, Rangers 4 (11 inn.) Zack Short hit an opposite-field, walk-off single in the 11th inning and Houston snapped a four-game skid with a victory over visiting Texas. Short plated Cam Smith from second base with his single to right field off Rangers reliever Hoby Milner. Robert Garcia (1-5) walked Smitha and Kenedy Corona and ultimately took the loss after being charged with both 11-inning runs. Texas pulled ahead 4-3 when Adolis Garcia ripped a single to left in the top of the 11th that scored Marcus Semien. Bennett Sousa (3-0) allowed the Adolis Garcia single but held the line there. The Astros got three solo home runs with two outs in the game. Guardians 6, White Sox 2 Kyle Manzardo put Cleveland in front for good with a solo homer in the sixth inning and the Guardians added three more to run away from host Chicago. Tanner Bibee held the White Sox to two runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings to record his first win since May 22. Carlos Santana was 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Guardians, who have won five of six, while Steven Kwan added a single and two RBIs. Kyle Teel drove in both runs on a fourth-inning single for Chicago, which has dropped five of seven. Reds 4, Rockies 3 Will Benson smacked a triple to left field to plate the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth, then scored the winning run on a fielding error two batters later to help Cincinnati escape with the win over visiting Colorado. Noelvi Marte homered and Gavin Lux added a single and a double for the Reds, who rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the seventh inning. Austin Hays contributed two hits and an RBI. Ryan Ritter blasted a two-run home run for the Rockies, who narrowly missed out on their third series win of the season, and Yanquiel Fernandez added an RBI double. Twins 12, Pirates 4 Byron Buxton became the first player to hit for the cycle at Target Field -- and the 12th in Minnesota history -- to lead the host Twins to a victory over Pittsburgh in Minneapolis. Buston went 5-for-5 with two RBIs for his first career cycle and accomplished the feat on his own bobblehead promotional giveaway. Willi Castro was 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs for the Twins, while Kody Clemens added a home run and three RBIs. Jack Suwinski homered for the Pirates, and Joey Bart doubled and singled while driving in a run. Braves 7, Cardinals 6 Sean Murphy's three-run homer in the eighth inning helped visiting Atlanta grab a one-run lead, then Jurickson Profar drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth as the Braves edged St. Louis. Ronald Acuna Jr. and Marcell Ozuna each had a home run for Atlanta, which won for the third time in four games, while Profar added a double. Nolan Gorman paced the Cardinals with two hits, including a two-run home run, while Yohel Pozo homered and doubled. Brendan Donavan also had two hits for the Cards, who suffered their third loss in four games. Marlins 6, Orioles 0 Miami starter Janson Junk held Baltimore scoreless on five hits through seven innings as Miami ended a three-game losing streak with an impressive road win. Miami's Derek Hill drove in two runs, and Xavier Edwards hit a two-run homer as the Marlins scored all their runs across the final three innings. Dane Myers matched Hill and Edwards with two hits. Gunnar Henderson had two doubles for the Orioles, who lost for the second time in their last eight games. Trevor Rogers (2-1), who was traded from the Marlins to Baltimore last summer, allowed only a lead-off single to Myers in the fifth and a two-out single to Myers in the seventh. Dodgers 2, Giants 1 Shohei Ohtani pitched three scoreless innings, Alex Vesia emerged from a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and visiting Los Angeles snapped a seven-game losing streak with a victory over San Francisco. Michael Conforto had three hits and scored both Dodgers runs, helping the defending champions end their longest losing skid since 2017. Conforto singled then scored on a Tommy Edman infield out in the second and also came home on a Hyeseong Kim single in the sixth to produce the only scoring against Giants starter Landen Roupp and three relievers. The loss was just San Francisco's third in its past 10 games. Mets 3, Royals 1 Frankie Montas allowed one run while pitching into the sixth inning, and Juan Soto clubbed a two-run homer, securing New York its first road series win in more than a month with a victory over Kansas City. Making his fourth start of the season after missing roughly the first three months with a lat strain, Montas (2-1) was quite solid. He survived a 21-pitch first inning without yielding a run. For the game, he gave up four hits and struck out five; his only earned run came on Jonathan India's RBI double in the sixth. Kansas City won four straight entering this series, but is 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position the last two days. India's two doubles accounted for half of the Royals' hits Saturday. Brewers 6, Nationals 5 Caleb Durbin's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth capped a three-run rally that lifted host Milwaukee past Washington. Andrew Vaughn tied the game by lacing a two-run double to the wall in right-center, giving him 10 RBI in his first five games with the team, before Durbin fisted an inside fastball over first to cap Milwaukee's sixth straight win. The Nationals outhit the Brewers 11-9, with rookie third baseman Brady House starring in defeat, belting his first two MLB homers. Angels 10, Diamondbacks 5 Mike Trout had two hits, including the 395th home run of his career, and drove in four runs to lead Los Angeles over slumping Arizona in Anaheim, Calif. Nolan Schanuel went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI the Angels, who finished with a season-high 15 hits. All-Star Yusei Kikuchi (4-6) picked up the win, allowing three runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five and left one batter after taking a 105-mph comebacker by Josh Naylor off his left shoulder. Eugenio Suarez hit two home runs and James McCann had two hits for the Diamondbacks, who lost their third straight game and for the eighth time in 11 contests. Zac Gallen (7-10) suffered the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits over five innings. It was the seventh time this season that Gallen has allowed at least five runs in a game. Athletics 4, Blue Jays 3 Brent Rooker hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the fifth and drove in three runs to lead the Athletics past Toronto in West Sacramento, Calif., evening the series at one game apiece. Lawrence Butler also drove and Mason Miller registered his 18th save for the Athletics. Leo Jimenez homered and Ernie Clement and Bo Bichette had two hits apiece for Toronto, which lost for just the second time in 13 games. Jacob Lopez (3-5) gave up two runs and four hits over five innings for the A's. He struck out five and walked two. It was a big turnaround for Lopez, who was pounded while lasting just 1 2/3 innings against the Blue Jays in Toronto on May 29. He allowed seven runs and six hits in the 12-0 loss.
