WASHINGTON (AP) — Aaron Nola outdueled Max Scherzer in a meeting of All-Star aces, Odubel Herrera hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals 2-0 Thursday.Nola (15-3) was masterful in his matchup with the three-time Cy Young Award winner, allowing five hits and one walk. He escaped his biggest jam with his final pitch, striking out Bryce Harper with runners on first and second to end the eighth.Nola struck out nine and finished with a 2.13 ERA — the exact same ERA as Scherzer.Scherzer (16-6) was nearly as good in the first matchup of starters with at least 150 innings and a sub-2.25 ERA since St. Louis' John Tudor faced Mets ace Dwight Gooden on Sept. 11, 1985. Scherzer gave up two hits in seven innings and struck out 10, increasing his major league-leading total to 244.Pat Neshek pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.BRAVES 5, MARLINS 0MIAMI (AP) — Rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his 21st home run and got hit by another Miami... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Aaron Nola outdueled Max Scherzer in a meeting of All-Star aces, Odubel Herrera hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals 2-0 Thursday.Nola (15-3) was masterful in his matchup with the three-time Cy Young Award winner, allowing five hits and one walk. He escaped his biggest jam with his final pitch, striking out Bryce Harper with runners on first and second to end the eighth.Nola struck out nine and finished with a 2.13 ERA — the exact same ERA as Scherzer.Scherzer (16-6) was nearly as good in the first matchup of starters with at least 150 innings and a sub-2.25 ERA since St. Louis' John Tudor faced Mets ace Dwight Gooden on Sept. 11, 1985. Scherzer gave up two hits in seven innings and struck out 10, increasing his major league-leading total to 244.Pat Neshek pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.BRAVES 5, MARLINS 0MIAMI (AP) — Rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his 21st home run and got hit by another Miami... [More]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul DeJong hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-1 victory and a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night.The Cardinals' eighth straight road win helped them improve to 17-4 this month, the most wins in the majors. They've homered in 15 straight games, one off the current season mark of 16 in a row by Philadelphia.St. Louis remained 2½ games behind the NL Central-leading Cubs.For Jansen, it was a familiar ending.The All-Star closer, who became a father for the third time earlier in the day, gave up consecutive homers to Jedd Gyorko and Matt Carpenter in the series opener Monday. That was Jansen's first game back after missing time because of an irregular heartbeat.This time, Gyorko singled off Jansen (0-5) and DeJong followed with a drive to left-center to give the Cardinals their first lead.Jordan Hicks struck out Cody Bellinger, Brian Dozier and Chris Taylor to earn his fifth... [More]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Rookie Freddy Peralta tossed seven scoreless innings and drove in a run with his first career hit, combining with two relievers on a five-hitter to lead the Milwaukee Brewers past the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 on Wednesday.Christian Yelich homered and finished a triple shy of the cycle, reaching base five times and driving in two runs for Milwaukee. He opened the first with his 21st homer, doubled in the third, walked in the fourth and singled in the sixth and eighth.Peralta (6-4) allowed just three singles, striking out seven and walking two to win for the second time in seven starts. The 22-year-old right-hander did not allow a hit until Jose Peraza's single to open the fourth.Peralta was 0-for-22 with 11 strikeouts this season before he drove in the Brewers' second run with a fourth-inning single.Robert Stephenson (0-2) allowed four runs on nine hits in five innings, walking three and striking out four.The Reds loaded the bases in the eighth against Taylor Williams, but Jeremy... [More]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Rookie Freddy Peralta tossed seven scoreless innings and drove in a run with his first career hit, combining with two relievers on a five-hitter to lead the Milwaukee Brewers past the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 on Wednesday.Christian Yelich homered and finished a triple shy of the cycle, reaching base five times and driving in two runs for Milwaukee. He opened the first with his 21st homer, doubled in the third, walked in the fourth and singled in the sixth and eighth.Peralta (6-4) allowed just three singles, striking out seven and walking two to win for the second time in seven starts. The 22-year-old right-hander did not allow a hit until Jose Peraza's single to open the fourth.Peralta was 0-for-22 with 11 strikeouts this season before he drove in the Brewers' second run with a fourth-inning single.Robert Stephenson (0-2) allowed four runs on nine hits in five innings, walking three and striking out four.The Reds loaded the bases in the eighth against Taylor Williams, but Jeremy... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Slugging rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. was hit by a pitch before he could take the Marlins deep again, but Dansby Swanson filled the power void for Atlanta, hitting a two-run homer that led the Braves to a 5-2 win over Miami on Wednesday night.Acuna, who had hit leadoff homers in the last three games and homered in five straight overall, didn't get a chance to extend the streak. Jose Urena plunked him on the left elbow with a fastball on his first pitch of the day, triggering a melee. Benches and bullpens for both teams emptied onto the field twice after the pitch. No punches were thrown. Urena and Braves manager Brian Snitker were ejected.Acuna instead became the 11th batter to be hit by a pitch from Urena this season, tied for the most in the National League. Trainer George Poulis hovered over Acuna, who sat on the ground near the batter's box while players swarmed near the mound. Acuna left the game in the second inning. He took his position in left field and then walked off... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Slugging rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. was hit by a pitch before he could take the Marlins deep again, but Dansby Swanson filled the power void for Atlanta, hitting a two-run homer that led the Braves to a 5-2 win over Miami on Wednesday night.Acuna, who had hit leadoff homers in the last three games and homered in five straight overall, didn't get a chance to extend the streak. Jose Urena plunked him on the left elbow with a fastball on his first pitch of the day, triggering a melee. Benches and bullpens for both teams emptied onto the field twice after the pitch. No punches were thrown. Urena and Braves manager Brian Snitker were ejected.Acuna instead became the 11th batter to be hit by a pitch from Urena this season, tied for the most in the National League. Trainer George Poulis hovered over Acuna, who sat on the ground near the batter's box while players swarmed near the mound. Acuna left the game in the second inning. He took his position in left field and then walked off... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Slugging rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. was hit by a pitch before he could take the Marlins deep again, but Dansby Swanson filled the power void for Atlanta, hitting a two-run homer that led the Braves to a 5-2 win over Miami on Wednesday night.Acuna, who had hit leadoff homers in the last three games and homered in five straight overall, didn't get a chance to extend the streak. Jose Urena plunked him on the left elbow with a fastball on his first pitch of the day, triggering a melee. Benches and bullpens for both teams emptied onto the field twice after the pitch. No punches were thrown. Urena and Braves manager Brian Snitker were ejected.Acuna instead became the 11th batter to be hit by a pitch from Urena this season, tied for the most in the National League. Trainer George Poulis hovered over Acuna, who sat on the ground near the batter's box while players swarmed near the mound. Acuna left the game in the second inning. He took his position in left field and then walked off... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Slugging rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. was hit by a pitch before he could take the Marlins deep again, but Dansby Swanson filled the power void for Atlanta, hitting a two-run homer that led the Braves to a 5-2 win over Miami on Wednesday night.Acuna, who had hit leadoff homers in the last three games and homered in five straight overall, didn't get a chance to extend the streak. Jose Urena plunked him on the left elbow with a fastball on his first pitch of the day, triggering a melee. Benches and bullpens for both teams emptied onto the field twice after the pitch. No punches were thrown. Urena and Braves manager Brian Snitker were ejected.Acuna instead became the 11th batter to be hit by a pitch from Urena this season, tied for the most in the National League. Trainer George Poulis hovered over Acuna, who sat on the ground near the batter's box while players swarmed near the mound. Acuna left the game in the second inning. He took his position in left field and then walked off... [More]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Light-hitting Dee Gordon homered off Yusmeiro Petit in the 12th inning to break a scoreless tie and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 2-0 on Wednesday to avoid a three-game sweep.Jean Segura had four hits to help the Mariners closed within 2 1/2 games of the A's for the second AL wild-card spot.Seattle's Mike Leake pitched eight innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts and one walk. Oakland's Brett Anderson went 7 2/3 without allowing a run in his longest outing since June 16, 2015.Nick Martini had three hits for the A's and Matt Olson added two. Oakland entered the day one game behind first-place Houston.Both teams squandered numerous scoring opportunities before Seattle scraped together two runs on one hit. After Petit (5-3) got leadoff man Denard Span to ground out, Mike Zunino walked. Gordon hit the next pitch over the right-field wall. Gordon's only other home run was a solo shot against Cleveland on April 1 in Seattle's third game of the season.James... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Ben Zobrist figured plate umpire Phil Cuzzi was going to give him the boot regardless, so the Chicago Cubs veteran didn't hold back during his first career ejection.Zobrist told Cuzzi he would prefer an "electronic strike zone" before being ejected in the eighth inning of Chicago's 7-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night. That came two innings after Cubs manager Joe Maddon was tossed for the second time in four games after Cuzzi called Zobrist out on strikes.Zobrist was waiting on deck in the eighth when Javier Baez struck out to end the inning. Zobrist approached Cuzzi to say he didn't appreciate being told to "be quiet" after getting called out in the sixth on a pitch he thought was a ball. He wanted assurances that the umpire would look over the play and "make an adjustment.""He didn't want me to tell him that," Zobrist said. "I just basically said, 'Well, that's why we want an electronic strike zone.' And that's what obviously got me tossed."The slider that Zobrist took for strike three from starter Jhoulys Chacin has been called a strike 44.7 percent of the time, according to ESPN Stats & Info.Maddon's ejection was his third this season. He also was thrown out Friday against Washington for arguing an interference call against Willson Contreras running out a ground ball.___For more AP baseball coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball

NEW YORK (AP) — Ronald Guzman became the first rookie to hit three home runs in a game against the Yankees, powering the Texas Rangers past New York 12-7 on Friday night.Eight days after Boston's Steve Pearce connected three times off the Yankees, Guzman duplicated the feat in ending New York's four-game winning streak.Guzman grounded out his first time up, then hit solo home runs in three straight at-bats. The 23-year-old first baseman batted again in the eighth with a chance to tie the big league record for homers in a game — no rookie has ever hit four — but struck out swinging against Chad Green.Guzman's two homers off Masahiro Tanaka (9-3) and one off A.J. Cole made him the first Texas player to hit three home runs in a game since Adrian Beltre in 2012.Overall, Guzman has 12 home runs this season, six against the Yankees.Beltre also joined in the fun with his seventh homer of the season, tying recent Hall of Fame inductee Chipper Jones for the 33rd spot on baseball's career list with... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Ronald Guzman became the first rookie to hit three home runs in a game against the Yankees, powering the Texas Rangers past New York 12-7 on Friday night.Eight days after Boston's Steve Pearce connected three times off the Yankees, Guzman duplicated the feat in ending New York's four-game winning streak.Guzman grounded out his first time up, then hit solo home runs in three straight at-bats. The 23-year-old first baseman batted again in the eighth with a chance to tie the big league record for homers in a game — no rookie has ever hit four — but struck out swinging against Chad Green.Guzman's two homers off Masahiro Tanaka (9-3) and one off A.J. Cole made him the first Texas player to hit three home runs in a game since Adrian Beltre in 2012.Overall, Guzman has 12 home runs this season, six against the Yankees.Beltre also joined in the fun with his seventh homer of the season, tying recent Hall of Fame inductee Chipper Jones for the 33rd spot on baseball's career list with... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Ronald Guzman became the first rookie to hit three home runs in a game against the Yankees, powering the Texas Rangers past New York 12-7 on Friday night.Eight days after Boston's Steve Pearce connected three times off the Yankees, Guzman duplicated the feat in ending New York's four-game winning streak.Guzman grounded out his first time up, then hit solo home runs in three straight at-bats. The 23-year-old first baseman batted again in the eighth with a chance to tie the big league record for homers in a game — no rookie has ever hit four — but struck out swinging against Chad Green.Guzman's two homers off Masahiro Tanaka (9-3) and one off A.J. Cole made him the first Texas player to hit three home runs in a game since Adrian Beltre in 2012.Overall, Guzman has 12 home runs this season, six against the Yankees.Beltre also joined in the fun with his seventh homer of the season, tying recent Hall of Fame inductee Chipper Jones for the 33rd spot on baseball's career list with... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Jason Heyward broke up a no-hitter with a tying two-run single in the sixth inning, Anthony Rizzo drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh and the Chicago Cubs beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Friday.In the first meeting between the teams since Chicago beat Washington in the NL Division Series, the Cubs won even though they didn't get a hit against Nationals starter Jeremy Hellickson.Rizzo walked three times. Manager Joe Maddon got ejected, but the Cubs pulled out the victory.Hellickson was sailing along, retiring 17 in a row after issuing a leadoff walk to Rizzo in the first. But things took a wild turn with two out in the sixth.He walked Rizzo on 13 pitches and both Javier Baez and Ben Zobrist on four to load the bases. Heyward took two balls from Sammy Solis (1-2) before lining the tying single past second baseman Daniel Murphy.Chicago took a 3-2 lead in the seventh after Maddon got tossed for arguing an interference call against Willson Contreras on the bases.Kyle... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Lance Lynn pitched two-hit ball into the eighth inning in his first start with New York, and the Yankees rebounded from their tough weekend in Boston by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-0 on Monday night.Lynn provided a big boost for New York after it dropped a season-high five straight games, including a four-game sweep by the major league-leading Red Sox. The series concluded with Aroldis Chapman blowing a save opportunity in a 10-inning loss at Fenway Park late Sunday night.Enter Lynn (8-8), who was acquired in a trade with Minnesota on July 30 and tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in his Yankees debut Wednesday. The veteran right-hander, who replaced Sonny Gray in New York's rotation, retired 19 in a row before Nicky Delmonico led off the eighth with a single to right.After Tim Anderson flied out, A.J. Cole finished the three-hitter for the AL wild-card leaders.Dylan Covey (4-8) was charged with four runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander dropped... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Lance Lynn pitched two-hit ball into the eighth inning in his first start with New York, and the Yankees rebounded from their tough weekend in Boston by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-0 on Monday night.Lynn provided a big boost for New York after it dropped a season-high five straight games, including a four-game sweep by the major league-leading Red Sox. The series concluded with Aroldis Chapman blowing a save opportunity in a 10-inning loss at Fenway Park late Sunday night.Enter Lynn (8-8), who was acquired in a trade with Minnesota on July 30 and tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in his Yankees debut Wednesday. The veteran right-hander, who replaced Sonny Gray in New York's rotation, retired 19 in a row before Nicky Delmonico led off the eighth with a single to right.After Tim Anderson flied out, A.J. Cole finished the three-hitter for the AL wild-card leaders.Dylan Covey (4-8) was charged with four runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander dropped... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Lance Lynn pitched two-hit ball into the eighth inning in his first start with New York, and the Yankees rebounded from their tough weekend in Boston by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-0 on Monday night.Lynn provided a big boost for New York after it dropped a season-high five straight games, including a four-game sweep by the major league-leading Red Sox. The series concluded with Aroldis Chapman blowing a save opportunity in a 10-inning loss at Fenway Park late Sunday night.Enter Lynn (8-8), who was acquired in a trade with Minnesota on July 30 and tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in his Yankees debut Wednesday. The veteran right-hander, who replaced Sonny Gray in New York's rotation, retired 19 in a row before Nicky Delmonico led off the eighth with a single to right.After Tim Anderson flied out, A.J. Cole finished the three-hitter for the AL wild-card leaders.Dylan Covey (4-8) was charged with four runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander dropped... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs in a game for the first time in the major leagues, and the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Cleveland Indians 7-4 on Friday night.Ohtani, whose four hits were also the most of his big league career, singled in the eighth and scored the go-ahead run on David Fletcher's double.The Angels won at Progressive Field for the first time since June 17, 2014, breaking a 10-game skid.Ohtani hit a two-run homer in the first and a solo home run in the third off Mike Clevinger.Justin Anderson (3-2) pitched the seventh and the Angels' bullpen held the Indians to one run over the final four innings.Cleveland's bullpen allowed four runs in the eighth to break a 3-all tie. Ohtani started the rally with a one-out single off Oliver Perez (0-1). He stole second and Albert Pujols was intentionally walked with a 3-0 count.RED SOX 4, YANKEES 1BOSTON (AP) — Rick Porcello pitched a one-hitter, Steve Pearce homered for the fourth time in two nights and Boston beat New... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs in a game for the first time in the major leagues, and the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Cleveland Indians 7-4 on Friday night.Ohtani, whose four hits were also the most of his big league career, singled in the eighth and scored the go-ahead run on David Fletcher's double.The Angels won at Progressive Field for the first time since June 17, 2014, breaking a 10-game skid.Ohtani hit a two-run homer in the first and a solo home run in the third off Mike Clevinger.Justin Anderson (3-2) pitched the seventh and the Angels' bullpen held the Indians to one run over the final four innings.Cleveland's bullpen allowed four runs in the eighth to break a 3-all tie. Ohtani started the rally with a one-out single off Oliver Perez (0-1). He stole second and Albert Pujols was intentionally walked with a 3-0 count.RED SOX 4, YANKEES 1BOSTON (AP) — Rick Porcello pitched a one-hitter, Steve Pearce homered for the fourth time in two nights and Boston beat New... [More]