MLB roundup: Price, Ortiz carry Red Sox past Rays
By The Sports Xchange
BOSTON -- David Price shut down his former team, striking out 10 over eight scoreless innings, to lead the Boston Red Sox past the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 on Sunday.
Price, who is in the first year of a seven-year, $217 million contract with the Red Sox, gave up just four hits and a walk. It was the first scoreless outing in a Boston uniform for Price (9-6).
David Ortiz slugged a two-run homer, his 22nd of the season, and Mookie Betts added a pair of RBIs as the Red Sox picked up a fourth straight win and its seventh in nine July games.
New reliever Brad Ziegler, acquired from Arizona the day before following Craig Kimbrel's injury, struck out two in a scoreless ninth in his Red Sox debut.
Orioles 4, Angels 2
BALTIMORE -- Chris Tillman allowed one run over seven innings and Chris Davis and J.J. Hardy each homered to lead Baltimore over Los Angeles.
The Orioles have won four out of five and lead the American League East by two games over Toronto and Boston heading into the All-Star break.
Tillman (12-2) struggled early with his command but managed to work his way out of a couple jams. He eventually settled down and held the Angels to three hits with five strikeouts and five walks.
Cubs 6, Pirates 5
PITTSBURGH -- Riding a season-long five-game losing streak and a 1-9 skid in its last 10 games, Chicago defeated Pittsburgh to avoid a series sweep and reboot for the season's final two months.
The Cubs head into the All-Star break leading second-place St. Louis by seven games and the Pirates by 7 1/2. Pittsburgh is 12-4 in its past 16 games.
Kris Bryant's RBI single in the eighth inning lifted the Cubs to the win. Pinch hitter Matt Szczur doubled to left field with one out against Pirates reliever Tony Watson (1-3). Bryant had three hits and reached base four times.
Nationals 3, Mets 2
NEW YORK -- Daniel Murphy remained a thorn in the side of his former club when he hit a two-run homer in the first inning of Washington's win over New York.
The Nationals won the final three contests of the four-game series to extend their National League East lead over the Mets to six games.
The homer was the only hit in four at-bats for Murphy, who was 7-for-17 with three homers and 10 RBIs in the series. Murphy, who won National League Championship Series MVP honors with the Mets last season before signing a three-year deal with the Nationals in December, is batting .423 (22-for-52) with seven homers and 21 RBIs in 13 games against the Mets.
Cardinals 5, Brewers 1
MILWAUKEE -- Home runs from Matt Adams and Randal Grichuk and a 10-strikeout performance from Mike Leake helped St. Louis beat Milwaukee.
Leake (6-7) had lost his last three decisions and hadn't won since June 12 but pitched one of his best games of the season, holding Milwaukee to just one run on six hits over seven innings.
Junior Guerra (6-2) failed to record a quality start for the first time since June 16 after allowing three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.
Blue Jays 6, Tigers 1
TORONTO -- Josh Donaldson hit a three-run homer, Josh Thole had two RBIs, R.A. Dickey allowed one run in seven innings and Toronto defeated Detroit.
The Blue Jays finished an 11-game homestand that led to the All-Star break with an 8-3 record, and the Tigers finished their 11-game road trip 6-5.
Dickey (7-9) allowed five hits and two walks and struck out five before Jesse Chavez replaced him to start the eighth.
Yankees 11, Indians 7
CLEVELAND -- New York rode a six-run fifth inning and some sloppy defense by the Cleveland.
The Indians committed three errors which led to seven of the 11 runs to be unearned. Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits, including a home run and three RBIs for the Yankees, who won three of four games in their series with the Central Division-leading Indians.
Nathan Eovaldi (7-6) pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, on one hit, to get the win.
Marlins 7, Reds 3
MIAMI -- Giancarlo Stanton hammered a go-head, two-run homer in the fifth inning to lead Miami over Cincinnati.
Stanton, who has slumped for most of this season and had a batting average of .192 late last month, has still managed to close the first half with impressive power numbers: 20 homers and 50 RBIs. He is hitting .235.
The Marlins swept the Reds for the first time since 2003. Miami's Mike Dunn (1-1), who set a franchise reliever record with his 369th appearance, earned the win.
Braves 2, White Sox 0
CHICAGO -- Mike Foltynewicz struck out a career-high 10 batters in seven innings as Atlanta blanked Chicago to win the three-game series.
Foltynewicz (3-3) allowed five singles and no walks in his first appearance against the White Sox.
Jeff Francoeur and Jace Peterson homered for the last-place Braves, who won three of four before the All-Star break.
Mariners 8, Royals 5
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Mike Montgomery picked up his second career win against Kansas City with 6 1/3 strong innings for Seattle.
Montgomery (3-3), who was the Royals' first-round draft pick in 2008, threw 74 pitches, 51 of them for strikes. He backed up his first career win against the Royals -- a shutout in 2015 -- with his third stingy outing.
Montgomery gave up a solo home run to Brett Eibner with one out in the seventh, the first earned run he has allowed against Kansas City in his career over 16 1/3 innings.
Astros 2, Athletics 1 (10 innings)
HOUSTON -- Jake Marisnick scored the winning run in the 10th inning on a two-out throwing error that allowed Carlos Correa to reach base safely and enabled the Houston Astros to salvage a four-game series split with a 2-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday at Minute Maid Park.
With runners on the corners, Correa hit a sharp grounder to Athletics third baseman Danny Valencia, whose throw across the diamond pulled first baseman Yonder Alonso off the bag.
Marisnick, who singled off A's right-hander Liam Hendriks (0-2) leading off the inning, scored after stealing second base and advancing to third on a groundout.
Dodgers 3, Padres 1
LOS ANGELES -- Kenta Maeda amassed a season-high 13 strikeouts and allowed just two hits in his seven innings to lead the Dodgers to their third straight win.
Maeda (8-6) struck out six consecutive batters at one point, retired 13 of the first 14 he faced, permitted no walks and conceded just one run -- on Derek Norris's 12th home run of the season. The right-hander pitched seven innings for the first time since April 17.
Howie Kendrick had three of the Dodgers' 10 hits, and Adrian Gonzalez contributed his seventh home run of the season.
Phillies 10, Rockies 3
DENVER -- Cameron Rupp went 4-for-5 with a homer an a career-high-tying four RBIs to help the Phillies gain a split of the four-game series.
Rupp's homer came in the seventh off beleaguered reliever Jake McGee that gave the Phillies a four-run lead. Rupp singled home runs in the third, when the Phillies scored three two-out runs, and in the fifth for his third four-RBI game and first since Aug. 28, 2015, against San Diego.
Maikel Franco hit a massive three-run homer in the eighth off Jason Motte.
Zach Eflin, who threw a complete game Tuesday against Atlanta for his first career win, held the Rockies to two runs and seven hits in six innings. Eflin threw 12 balls in the first inning when he issued his only two walks and just 15 balls over his final five innings.
Twins 15, Rangers 5
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Rookie Max Kepler hit his first career grand slam during a five-run fifth inning off Texas starter A.J. Griffin, leading to a Minnesota rout.
Texas heads to the break with a 5 1/2-game lead, their smallest since June 14, and losers of seven of the last nine games.
The Twins have won seven of their last nine games and have scored more runs than any team in baseball since June 18.
Minnesota scored seven runs off the Texas bullpen in the seventh inning, highlighted by back-to-back homers from Eduardo Escobar and Brian Dozier.
Lefty Tommy Milone (2-2) allowed two runs on five hits in five innings to pick up his second consecutive win.
