MLB Roundup: Royals beat Rays for seventh straight win

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Seth Lugo became the American League’s first eight-game winner, Michael Massey and Bobby Witt Jr, homered and the Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-1 on Friday night for their seventh consecutive victory.

Lugo (8-1) allowed one run and four hits, lowering his AL-best ERA from 1.79 to to 1.74. Only Philadelphia’s Ranger Suárez has more victories in the majors with nine.

The Royals are a season-best 14-game over .500 at 33-19. Kansas City was 15-37 after 52 games last season and did not get to 33 wins until Aug. 1.

Massey put Kansas City ahead 5-1 in the fifth with a three-run homer off Tyler Alexander (2-3). Massey, who has 21 RBIs in his last 21 games, left in the sixth due to lower back tightness.

Witt extended his hitting streak to seven games with a solo homer against Alexander in a two-run seventh that made it 8-1. Both dugouts were warned by the umpires after Alexander hit the next batter after Witt, Vinnie Pasquantino, with a 90.3 mph fastball.

Tampa Bay has lost a season-high five in a row to fall to 25-27.

NATIONALS 6, MARINERS 1

WASHINGTON (AP) — Luis García Jr. hit a three-run homer, MacKenzie Gore pitched a season-high seven innings and Washington beat Seattle.

Keibert Ruiz added a two-run homer and a single, and Eddie Rosario hit a solo shot for the Nationals, who had lost seven of eight.

Gore (3-4) allowed one run and four hits, struck out eight and walked one, throwing 98 pitches.

J.P. Crawford homered leading off a game for the 10th time in his big league career and singled for the Mariners, who tied their longest losing streak this season at three.

Seattle was held to one run for the third time in five games and was limited to five hits or fewer for the 13th time in 52 games this season. The Mariners struck out 10 times, their 34th time in double digits, and lead the major leagues with 529.

TIGERS 6, BLUE JAYS 2

DETROIT (AP) — Colt Keith hit his first major league home run and Kenta Maeda threw five scoreless innings in his return to help Detroit beat Toronto and snap a season-high, five-game losing streak.

Keith turned on a full-count, two-out pitch off Alek Manoah (1-2) in the second inning and sent it 400 feet to right.

The 22-year-old second baseman flashed some of the promise the Tigers were banking on when they gave him a contract with $28 million guaranteed in January even though he had only minor league experience.

Maeda (2-1) gave up four hits without a walk, coming back strong from an illness that had him on the injured list since May 7.

Beau Brieske had 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief and Will Vest retired one batter in the eighth.

PIRATES 11, BRAVES 5

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Nick Gonzales drove in a career-high four runs and Bailey Falter carried a shutout into the eighth inning as Pittsburgh beat Atlanta.

Falter (3-2) had a 20-inning scoreless streak over three starts halted in the eighth when Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a three-run home, helping the Braves avoid their first shutout of the season. The 24-year-old left-hander allowed six hits, striking out four and walking one in his first victory since April 23.

Gonzales opened the scoring by lining a two-out, two-run single to center field in the first inning. He also drove in two runs with a double in the sixth that extended the Pirates’ lead to 10-0.

Edward Olivares had three of the Pirates’ 14 hits and Andrew McCutchen, Connor Joe and Gonzales had two apiece.

Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run double in the third inning to make it 5-0 and Jared Triolo’s two-run home run to left-center increased the lead to 7-0. Olivares had RBI singles in the third and sixth innings.

Ray Kerr (1-1) gave up five runs and seven hits in four innings in his first major league start following 33 career relief appearances.

TWINS 3, RANGERS 2

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alex Kirilloff hit a go-ahead home run in the fourth inning and Minnesota retired 15 of the last 16 hitters as they edged slumping Texas.

Carlos Correa, Christian Vázquez and Jose Miranda each had two hits for the Twins, who won their third straight since snapping a seven-game losing streak.

Corey Seager hit a two-run homer in the first, but the Rangers were blanked the rest of the way. Texas has lost 11 of its last 13 and has failed to score more than four runs in a game during the skid.

Bailey Ober (5-2) worked around early trouble to pick up the win. He gave up two runs and four hits, walked three, hit two batters and struck out five in five innings.

Steven Okert, Caleb Thielbar, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran each pitched a scoreless inning for the Twins, with Duran earning his fifth save.

BREWERS 7, RED SOX 2

BOSTON (AP) — William Contreras hit a two-run home run, Christian Yelich had three hits and Bryce Wilson tossed 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball as Milwaukee beat Boston.

Blake Perkins had two hits and two stolen bases for the NL Central-leading Brewers. Wilson (3-1) came in with two down in the first inning and struck out seven. Willy Adames and Yelich also drove in runs for Milwaukee, which played the seventh game of a nine-game road trip.

Jarren Duran and David Hamilton each had three hits for Boston, which had a four-game winning streak snapped. Dominic Smith homered for the second time since signing with the Red Sox on May 1.

Contreras jumped on a 1-0 pitch from Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford (2-3) and sent it into the second row of Green Monster seats for his eighth homer of the season in the third inning. The two-run shot came one batter after Brice Turang lifted a sacrifice fly that delivered the game’s first run.

The Brewers chased Crawford in the fifth inning, as Yelich doubled in a run that made it 4-1 and Adames connected for a two-run double. Crawford’s ERA jumped from 2.17 to 2.89 after he allowed six runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.

GIANTS 8, METS 7

NEW YORK (AP) — Patrick Bailey hit a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning, Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman saved the game with a defensive gem and San Francisco came back from another big deficit to beat staggering New York.

After squandering a four-run lead in the eighth, the Mets mounted a late rally of their own. They scored once in the ninth and loaded the bases with one out before Camilo Doval struck out slugger J.D. Martinez on three pitches.

Doval fell behind 3-0 on Mark Vientos but got back to a full count and induced a slow bouncer to third. Chapman charged, barehanded the ball on a do-or-die play and fired off balance across the diamond to first, where LaMonte Wade Jr. made a difficult pick of an in-between hop for the final out.

Jorge Soler and Mike Yastrzemski also homered for the Giants, who won their seventh in eight games to reach .500 for the first time since they were 2-2 on March 31.

San Francisco trailed 6-2 with two outs in the eighth before Thairo Estrada laced an RBI double, Chapman walked to load the bases and Bailey launched a 2-0 fastball from reliever Reed Garrett (5-2) to right-center for his first career slam.

REDS 9, DODGERS 6

CINCINNATI — Jonathan India hit a grand slam, Spencer Steer had a three-run homer and Cincinnati took advantage of some sloppy pitching to beat Los Angeles.

Stuart Fairchild also homered for the Reds, and the center fielder robbed Will Smith of a home run with a leaping catch in the deepest part of the park in the seventh inning. In the sixth, Fairchild ran down a long ball from Mookie Betts at the wall that certainly would have been extra bases.

Cincinnati was outhit by the Dodgers 11-6, but capitalized on walks and being hit by pitches to set the table both for Steer’s three-run homer in the first and India’s fifth-inning slam.

India broke out of a 0-for-16 slump with three hits.

Reds starter Graham Ashcraft (4-3) went 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs and eight hits and striking out three.

Chris Taylor and Betts had RBI doubles in a four-run Los Angeles second. Will Smith added a solo homer to right in the fifth.

ORIOLES 6, WHITE SOX 4

CHICAGO (AP) — Pinch-hitter Adley Rutschman lined a tiebreaking, two-run single in the eighth inning, Gunnar Henderson hit his 17th homer and Baltimore beat Chicago.

Center fielder Colton Cowser robbed Tommy Pham of a solo homer for the final out and the Orioles hung on for another tight win a day after beating Chicago 8-6 in a game that ended on an infield fly and an interference call.

Ryan O’Hearn doubled leading off the eighth against John Brebbia and Anthony Santander walked with one out. After Cowser lined out, Rutschman lined a tiebreaking single to left that a diving Andrew Benintendi trapped. Santander hustled all the way from first, barely beating the relay, to make it 6-4 and the Orioles won their second straight following a three-game sweep at St. Louis.

Henderson doubled and scored in the third. He hit a two-run homer against White Sox starter Chris Flexen in a three-run fifth to make it 4-0.

The White Sox scored three in the bottom half against Corbin Burnes on an RBI double by Andrew Vaughn and two-run single by Paul DeJong. Vaughn tied it at 4-all with one out in the seventh when he smacked a solo homer against Yennier Cano.

MARLINS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 0

PHOENIX — Braxton Garrett outdueled Zac Gallen for his first career shutout, Otto Lopez hit a two-run single and Miami beat Arizona.

The Marlins have won eight of their past 11 games after starting the season 10-31.

Garrett (1-0) had easily his best outing since his return from a shoulder injury, which caused him to miss the first 1 1/2 months of the season. The lefty cruised through the majority of his outing, giving up just four hits while striking out six.

Not only was it Garrett’s first MLB shutout, but his first complete game. He threw 95 pitches, retiring Christian Walker on a long fly ball to center for the final out. After Jazz Chisholm Jr. made the catch, Garrett had a broad grin as he gave catcher Nick Fortes a hearty handshake.

The Marlins have leaned on their pitching during their recent surge, throwing five shutouts over the past nine games.