Kerry Carpenter leads Tigers to win over Mets

DETROIT (AP) – Kerry Carpenter hit a three-run homer and scored twice to help the Detroit Tigers beat the New York Mets 6-2 on Wednesday.

Riley Greene gave Detroit a 3-1 lead with a two-run single in the fifth inning. The AL Central leaders had lost seven of nine, including the first two games of the series.

Pete Alonso had three hits for the Mets, including an RBI double. They finished a stretch of 16 games in 16 days with a 9-7 record.

New York began the day with a five-game lead over Cincinnati and San Francisco for the final National League wild card.

Carpenter walked and scored in the fifth, then homered off struggling reliever Ryan Helsley to give the Tigers a 6-2 lead in the seventh.

Casey Mize (13-5) got the win, allowing one run and five hits in five innings.

NATIONALS 10, MARLINS 5

WASHINGTON (AP) – Nasim Nuñez hit his first two career homers, and Washington beat Miami to complete its first three-game sweep at home this season.

It was only the second three-game sweep this season for Washington, which took three at Baltimore from May 15-17. The Nationals’ last three-game sweep at home was July 19-21, 2024, against Cincinnati.

Brady House also went deep for Washington, and Luis García Jr. had two RBIs. Jackson Rutledge (3-2) pitched a scoreless inning for the win.

Joey Wiemer homered for Miami, which was swept for the fourth time this season and the first time since June 2-4 against Colorado.

Nuñez, who spent all of last season on Washington’s roster as a Rule 5 pick, had three hits and four RBIs in his 75th career game.

He hit a one-out drive off Eury Pérez (6-5) into Washington’s bullpen in right in the second. He also singled home a run in the sixth and connected for a two-run shot in the eighth off Luarbert Arias.

House hit a two-run shot in the fourth to make it 7-0. It was the rookie’s first homer since July 12.

Wiemer hit a two-run homer in the fifth, and Heriberto Hernández chased Washington starter Mitchell Parker with a two-run single. Parker allowed four runs – two earned – in 4 2/3 innings.

DIAMONDBACKS 2, RANGERS 0

PHOENIX (AP) – Zac Gallen pitched six scoreless innings in his latest quality start and Arizona beat Texas.

Gallen (11-13) allowed four hits and struck out five with no walks.

The Diamondbacks scraped together two early runs against Rangers starter Jack Leiter (9-8) and their bullpen did the rest. Jake Woodford, the last of Arizona’s five pitchers, worked around a walk in the ninth for his third save.

The Diamondbacks have won six of eight. Texas dropped two games back of the final AL wild card spot.

ORIOLES 7, SAN DIEGO 5

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Jackson Holliday hit a leadoff homer and Colton Cowser, Coby Mayo and Alex Jackson hit consecutive shots in the third inning – all off Nestor Cortes – and Baltimore beat San Diego for their first three-game sweep of the Padres.

The Orioles, last in the AL East, took a 7-0 lead in the third, when Cortes allowed three homers on four pitches. The Padres closed the deficit when Manny Machado hit a two-run homer against his original team in a four-run sixth and Fernando Tatis Jr. homered leading off the seventh.

Mason Miller had the second immaculate inning in Padres history when he struck out Jeremiah Jackson, Ryan Mountcastle and Emmanuel Rivera on nine pitches in the eighth.

PIRATES 3, DODGERS 0

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Andrew McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds homered off last-minute spot starter Emmett Sheehan and Pittsburgh beat Los Angeles.

Sheehan (5-3) got the nod when the Dodgers opted to let Shohei Ohtani skip his scheduled start while dealing with an illness. Ohtani remained in the lineup, however, and had two of Los Angeles’ five hits. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the hope is Ohtani can return to the mound this weekend in Baltimore.

Five Pirate pitchers combined for the club’s major-league leading 17th shutout of the season. Mike Burrows (2-4) got the win with three innings in relief of starter Braxton Ashcraft. Dennis Santana finished off a perfect ninth by striking out Ohtani for his 13th save.

Reynolds hit his 15th homer of the season, a shot over the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field. McCutchen added his 13th of the year and 332nd of his career in the second inning, tying him with Moises Alou and Bobby Bonds for 121st on the career list. Joey Bart had three hits and drove in an insurance run for the Pirates.

GUARDIANS 8, RED SOX 1

BOSTON (AP) – Gabriel Arias hit a two-run homer that sparked a six-run second inning, and Cleveland routed Boston to avoid a three-game sweep.

Steven Kwan had three hits and scored twice for the Guardians, and José Ramírez drove in two runs. Rookie left-hander Joey Cantillo (4-3) pitched six impressive innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.

Boston threw a pair of wild pitches in the first two innings and committed two costly errors in the second. The Red Sox began the day leading the majors with 103 errors this season.

BLUE JAYS 13, REDS 9

CINCINNATI (AP) – George Springer had one of Toronto’s five home runs as the Blue Jays rallied from five runs down to beat Cincinnati.

Daulton Varsho and Alejandro Kirk hit consecutive homers in the fourth inning, and Addison Barger and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went back to back in the fifth. The Blue Jays tied a season-high with five home runs.

AL-East leading Toronto went deep 11 times and scored 29 runs in the three-game series, setting up a big weekend matchup with the second-place Yankees beginning Friday.

Cincinnati remained five games behind of the New York Mets for the third NL wild-card spot. The Reds and Mets begin a three-game series on Friday.

RAYS 9, MARINERS 4

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Yandy Diaz had a career-high five hits to lead Tampa Bay to a win over Seattle, completing a three-game series sweep.

The Rays (70-69) matched a season high by winning their sixth straight game. Tampa Bay added the Seattle sweep to its three wins over the Washington Nationals for its first consecutive series sweeps since opening 2023 with four straight.

With the win, Tampa Bay moved within 2½ games of the last American League wild-card spot.

Diaz had four singles and a double for the 11th five-hit game in franchise history. The Rays had a season-high 19 hits and six players had multi-hit games.

Adrian Houser (8-4) allowed four runs in seven innings and finished with eight strikeouts and a walk.

Seattle (73-67) has lost five of six and 14 of 20.

BRAVES 5, CUBS 1

CHICAGO (AP) – Ha-Seong Kim hit a three-run homer, Bryce Elder pitched seven innings of four-hit ball and Atlanta rallied for a win over Chicago.

Ozzie Albies added a solo shot the eighth and hit a single in the seventh that broke up a combined no-hit bid by Chicago.

Elder (6-9) allowed one unearned run while striking out six and walking none. The right-hander retired 15 of the last 17 hitters he faced.

Tyler Kinley pitched a perfect eighth, then Raisel Iglesias worked around two walks in the ninth to complete a four-hitter.

CARDINALS 5, ATHLETICS 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Willson Contreras had three hits and four RBIs, Nolan Gorman homered and Matthew Liberatore pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings in St. Louis’ victory over the Athletics.

Liberatore (7-11) struck out seven. JoJo Romero got the final four outs for his seventh save.

Gorman hit a solo home run in the seventh inning, his 14th of the season. He also had two singles.

Contreras provided the first runs in the third inning with a two-run single to right off Jeffrey Springs (10-10). In the eighth, Contreras added a two-run triple to left.

Nick Kurtz hit an opposite-field home run for the A’s in the eighth, his 28th of the year. It was his 14th home run of the year to the opposite field, second in baseball behind Aaron Judge (16).