Milestone for Ramirez, Guardians keep pace with wild card
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CLEVELAND (AP) -- José Ramírez homered, hit his 1,000th career single and drove in four while Parker Messick struck out five and gave up one run in six innings to lead the Cleveland Guardians past the Kansas City Royals 11-1 on Sunday.
Cleveland (69-68) holds the third American League wild card.
Ramírez’s RBI single in the sixth inning plated Jac Caglianone, helping him become the 11th player in Cleveland history to achieve the feat. His two-run home run in the fourth inning extended the Guardians’ lead to 9-1 and was his first at Progressive Field since May 17.
After a 30-minute weather delay, Ramírez opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly that tied the game at 1 before Nathaniel Lowe sent his 15th homer of the season over the left-center field wall for a 3-1 Cleveland lead.
Jo Adell hit a two-run double in the third, and Lowe added an RBI sacrifice fly.
Chase DeLauter finished 4 for 4, his third career four-hit game, which included an RBI double in the fourth inning, and Adell capped the scoring with a one-run single in the sixth to help the Guardians avoid a series sweep.
Messick (11-8) allowed five hits. Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith combined for two hits to close out the game.
Salvador Perez plated the Royals’ run with an RBI single in the first.
PIRATES 5, CARDINALS 4
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Esmerlyn Valdez and Jared Triolo homered, Brandon Lowe added an RBI single and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Sunday.
Braxton Ashcraft (14-5) held St. Louis without an extra-base hit over five innings to become the first Pirates pitcher since 2018 (Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams) to reach 14 wins. He allowed two runs on six hits, struck out three and walked one.
In the second inning, Valdez hit a two-run home run off Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore (5-13) that stayed just inside the right-field foul pole. Triolo drilled a 412-foot blast into the left-field stands in the fifth inning to put Pittsburgh ahead 4-0.
Thomas Saggese singled three times and scored twice. He moved into the St. Louis lineup after infielder JJ Wetherholt was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday with right wrist tendinitis.
Alec Burleson achieved his first 100 RBI season when he and Iván Herrera had back-to-back run-scoring singles with two outs in the fifth inning.
Herrera also had an RBI double in the seventh to pull St. Louis within 5-4. Yohan Ramirez got Nolan Gorman to fly out to end that threat with runners on second and third.
Mason Montgomery earned his seventh save with a spotless ninth.
YANKEES 16, RED SOX 1
NEW YORK (AP) -- Austin Wells homered twice in a nine-run eighth inning, Heliot Ramos hit a three-run homer in the fifth and the New York Yankees widened their lead in the AL wild-card race and clinched the season series against the Boston Red Sox with a 16-1 victory on Sunday.
Wells opened the eighth with a homer off Jovani Moran and then connected against infielder Andruw Monasterio’s 49.8 mph slider for a three-run shot.
Paul Goldschmidt also homered after starting New York’s five-run fifth with a two-run single off Ranger Suarez (5-4). Jose Caballero started at shortstop for rookie George Lombard Jr. (right knee discomfort) and launched a three-run drive off Monasterio’s 49 mph slider.
BRAVES 3, ROCKIES 2
ATLANTA (AP) -- Matt Olson’s single past first base drove in Brewer Hicklen with the winning run in the 10th inning and the Atlanta Braves recovered after losing an early lead to beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Sunday for their seventh straight win.
Sean Murphy homered for Atlanta.
Ronald Acuña Jr. opened the 10th with a single to left field off Ryan Feltner (5-9) that moved designated runner Brewer Hicklen to third base. Olson followed with a single down the right field line for his seventh career walk-off hit.
Braves players stormed out of the dugout to surround Olson near second base.
Victor Mederos (4-1) pitched a perfect 10th inning.
Connor Norby’s run-scoring single tied the game at 2-2 in the eighth.
Atlanta right-hander Tyler Mahle allowed five hits and one run with no walks while matching his season high with nine strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. He has allowed a combined five runs in four starts since he was traded to Atlanta by the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 2.
BLUE JAYS 7, MARINERS 0
TORONTO (AP) -- Max Scherzer and two relievers combined on a one-hitter, Alejandro Kirk and Kazuma Okamoto homered and the Toronto Blue Jays thumped the Seattle Mariners 7-0 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
The Mariners have lost four straight.
Scherzer (2-7) struck out a season-high 10, moving him past Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry and into ninth place on the career strikeouts list.
A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer reached the mark by striking out Cal Raleigh for the second out of the seventh inning. It was the 3,535th strikeout of Scherzer’s career.
Scherzer walked one and allowed one hit in a season-high seven innings to earn his first win since his season-opening start on March 31 against Colorado. He threw 97 pitches, 67 strikes.
Spencer Miles worked the eighth and Braydon Fisher finished Toronto’s 10th shutout.
The 42-year-old Scherzer struck out the side in the first, getting Randy Arozarena, Dominic Canzone and Julio Rodríguez swinging.
Josh Naylor struck out looking in the second and went down swinging after Seattle’s lone hit, Raleigh’s two-out double in the fourth.
Scherzer matched Perry by getting Cole Young swinging in the fifth.
Scherzer passed Hall of Famer Walter Johnson and moved into 10th place all-time by striking out former teammate Kyle Schwarber in a win at Philadelphia on Aug. 8.
TWINS 5, WHITE SOX 1
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Zebby Matthews took a perfect game into the sixth inning and pitched a career-high 8 1/3 innings as the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 5-1 on Sunday to avoid being swept by the American League Central leaders.
Josh Bell had a pair of RBI singles and Luke Keaschall homered for the Twins, who had lost four games in a row and sunk to 8 1/2 games behind Chicago and four games behind Cleveland in the Central and for the third wild card spot entering Sunday. The team also placed star center fielder Byron Buxton on the 10-day injured list before the game as he deals with a lingering hip impingement.
Trevor Larnach’s two-run double in the first inning supplied Matthews (9-8) with a 3-0 lead, and the 26-year-old took over from there.
He faced the minimum until Drew Romo broke up the perfect game and no-hitter with a soft single to right with two outs in the sixth.
Matthews allowed five hits and didn’t walk anyone, while throwing 103 pitches. He finished the month of August 5-0 in five starts, giving up just 10 earned runs over 31 innings (2.90 ERA). He struck out 24, including five more on Sunday.
MARLINS 6, NATIONALS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Otto Lopez’s two run homer capped a six-run ninth inning and the Miami Marlins rallied past the Washington Nationals 6-2 on Sunday.
Esteury Ruiz bunted for a hit leading off the ninth against Max Kranick (0-1), Griffin Conine and Leo Jiménez each walked, and Tom Cosgrove replaced Max Kranick and hit Jakob Marsee to force in a run.
Joe Mack hit a sac-fly to center, bringing Conine across to tie the game. As Andrew Pinckney threw wildly to third trying to get Jiménez, the ball went into the dugout and Jiménez advanced to make it 3-2.
Heriberto Hernández walked, Marsee stole home on a double steal and Lopez hit a 400-foot homer into the Marlins bullpen to push the lead to 6-2.
Marlins starter Janson Junk allowed a run on four hits in 4 2/3 innings of work, and Dax Fulton (1-0) picked up his first career win.
Jorbit Vivas had two hits and two walks for the Nationals. CJ Abrams, making his first start at second base with the Nats, had a leaping catch on a line drive in the sixth.
Miami second baseman Xavier Edwards left the game with left elbow and left thumb discomfort following a collision with Vivas on a tag play during a steal attempt in the fifth. Edwards said after the game he was feeling better but will have imaging done on his left thumb on Monday.