MLB roundup
Kevin Kiermaier drove in four runs, including a solo homer during a two-run ninth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays avoided a three-game sweep by beating the visiting Seattle Mariners 7-6 on Wednesday.
Kiermaier tied it at 6-6 on a leadoff homer against Matt Magill (3-1). The Rays then loaded the bases on Willy Adames’ single, a double by Mike Brosseau and an intentional walk to pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi with no outs before Magill’s wild pitch with Tommy Pham batting allowed Adames to score the winning run.
“We did enough to win today,” Kiermaier said. “You can call it an ugly win or whatever, we’ll take as many as we can.”
Daniel Vogelbach had a solo homer and Mallex Smith added a two-run triple off Emilio Pagan (3-2) as the Mariners went up 6-5 in the top of the ninth.
Tim Lopes had two RBIs for the Mariners, who head home after a 6-3 road trip.
Tampa Bay ace Charlie Morton was bidding for his 14th win but struggled in a five-inning, 99-pitch start, giving up three runs, four hits, two walks and striking out three. The righty had struck out 29 and walked none in his three previous outings.
White Sox 4, Twins 0: Lucas Giolito pitched a three-hit shutout of the second-highest scoring team in the major leagues, racking up 12 strikeouts for visiting Chicago.
Giolito (14-6) allowed only runner past first base, a double by Jonathan Schoop in the eighth. The 25-year-old fanned Jake Cave to finish that inning and reach double-digit strikeouts for the third straight time, the first White Sox starter to do so since Chris Sale did so in eight consecutive turns in 2015.
Giolito matched Cleveland’s Shane Bieber for the major league lead with his third complete game of the season. The White Sox and Indians have a baseball-best five apiece. Giolito got his with 115 pitches, without a walk.
Jose Abreu went 3 for 5 with two RBIs for the White Sox, with Leury Garcia and Tim Anderson each producing two hits. The trio scored all four runs against Twins starter Jake Odorizzi (13-6).
Reds 4, Padres 2: Luis Castillo shook off his worst career start to pitch six solid innings and Jose Iglesias hit a solo home run to pace host Cincinnati.
Castillo (12-5), who allowed nine hits and eight runs on Friday against St. Louis, bounced back to limit San Diego to five hits and one run with four strikeouts.
The Reds sent nine batters to the plate while scoring three runs in a third inning, started by Eric Yardley (0-1), who got the loss in his major league debut after being promoted from Triple-A El Paso before the game.
Nick Senzel led off with a line drive that left fielder Josh Naylor misplayed for a two-base error and scored one out later on Eugenio Suarez’s single.
Iglesias lofted his ninth homer of the season into the seats down the left-field line with one out in the fourth inning for a 4-1 lead.
Francisco Mejia led off the seventh inning for the Padres with his eighth homer of the season, a solo shot off Lucas Sims. Greg Garcia drove in Ty France with a third-inning, two-out double for San Diego’s other run.
Cincinnati’s Michael Lorenzen had two strikeouts in a perfect eighth. Raisel Iglesias had two strikeouts in the ninth on the way to his 26th save.
Rockies 7, D-backs 2: Tim Melville pitched seven innings of two-hit ball in his first major-league appearance in almost two years for visiting Colorado.
Melville, a 29-year-old righthander with just six previous big-league appearances who started this season with the Long Island Ducks, limited Arizona to a first-inning double and a sixth-inning home run to go with four strikeouts and two walks. He also picked up his first major-league hit — a two-out, fourth-inning single — and his first two career RBIs.
Melville was called up from Triple-A Albuquerque earlier Wednesday to start in place of Jon Gray, whom the Rockies before the game placed on the 60-day injured list with a left foot fracture.
Colorado won the season series with Arizona, 10 games to nine. Ketel Marte and Alex Avila homered for the Diamondbacks, who had their four-game win streak snapped.
The Rockies jumped on struggling Arizona starter Mike Leake (9-10) early with two runs on three straight singles and a fielder’s choice in the top of the first.
In the fourth, a hit batter, four singles and a sacrifice fly produced three more runs and a 5-0 lead for the Rockies. Leake got through five innings and was charged with five runs on eight hits. He’s allowed 17 earned runs on 26 hits in 16 innings over his last three starts.
Melville executed a squeeze bunt in the sixth to drive in Yonathan Daza, and Charlie Blackmon drove in his second run of the day with a single after Trevor Story led off the seventh inning with a walk and stolen base.
Marte hit his 27th home run of the season in the sixth inning, a solo shot to rightfield. Avila took Jesus Tinoco deep in the eighth for his ninth of the year.
