Giants trip Rockies, end losing streak
Associated Press
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DENVER — Madison Bumgarner scattered four hits over seven innings, Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer and the San Francisco Giants ended their longest losing streak in three years with a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
San Francisco had lost six straight, its longest skid since dropping seven in a row from June 26-July 1, 2010. The World Series champions had dropped seven straight road games.
Bumgarner (8-5) struck out five and walked three, improving to 4-1 with a 2.18 ERA in his last five starts. Sergio Romo pitched a one-hit ninth for his 19th save in 21 chances.
Buster Posey put the Giants ahead with a solo homer in the third.
Colorado’s Michael Cuddyer singled in the eighth off Sandy Rosario, extending his hitting streak to 27 games. The streak is the longest in Rockies history and in the majors this season. He has reached base safely in a franchise-record 45 straight games.
Drew Pomeranz (0-1), making his 2013 big league debut after being recalled from Triple A Colorado Springs, allowed four runs, seven hits and four walks in 4 1-3 innings.
San Francisco extended its lead to 4-0 in the fifth on a run-scoring throwing error by first baseman Jordan Pacheco on Posey’s grounder and Pence’s 13th homer.
Carlos Gonzalez hit his 22nd homer of the season in the sixth.
DODGERS 6, PHILLIES 1
LOS ANGELES — Yasiel Puig capped his sensational first month in the major leagues with his first four-hit game, Stephen Fife scattered four hits over seven scoreless innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1.
Puig finished June with 44 hits, surpassing the 42 by Pittsburgh’s Bob Elliott in September 1939 for the second-most in a player’s first full calendar month in the major leagues. Joe DiMaggio had 48 in May 1936.
Puig also eclipsed the Los Angeles Dodgers’ record for most hits in a month by a rookie, set by Steve Sax in August 1982. The Cuban-born right fielder got his first major league triple in the fifth inning and scored on Adrian Gonzalez’s double for a 4-0 lead.
A.J. Ellis had three hits, including an RBI double, and threw out two baserunners to help the Dodgers to their eighth victory in nine games.
Fife (3-2) had five strikeouts in his second straight win.
Kyle Kendrick (7-5) gave up four runs and 10 hits in six innings for the Phillies.
BRAVES 6, D-BACKS 2
ATLANTA — Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla and Brian McCann homered, powering Atlanta past Arizona for a three-game sweep in the matchup of division leaders.
Paul Maholm (9-6) gave up two runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings for the Braves, who improved to a big league-best 28-11 at home.
Trevor Cahill (3-10) allowed six runs and seven hits in 4 1-3 innings as the NL West-leading Diamondbacks lost for the fifth time in six games. Cahill is 0-6 with a 7.91 ERA in eight starts since a May 17 win at Miami.
Arizona has gone 22 straight games without a win from its rotation, the longest streak in the majors since San Diego went 25 in row from April 17-May 14, 2009, according to STATS.
NATIONALS 13, METS 2
NEW YORK — Gio Gonzalez pitched seven shutout innings, Ian Desmond homered off a backup catcher and Washington roughed up rookie Zack Wheeler and the Mets.
Adam LaRoche homered and Desmond and Denard Span had RBI doubles in a four-run second to spoil Wheeler’s home debut, which became such a laugher that catcher Anthony Recker pitched the ninth inning.
Jayson Werth also homered against the Mets’ touted rookie as Washington finally gave Gonzalez (5-3) some run support — and then some.
The Nationals set a season-high for runs and improved to 4-8-2 in road series by taking two of three.
Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run homer and Anthony Rendon had a two-run double when Washington batted around in a six-run eighth. Suzuki also had an RBI single in the second against Wheeler (1-1).
MARLINS 6, PADRES 2
MIAMI — Jeff Mathis hit a grand slam with one out in the ninth inning, lifting Miami past San Diego.
The Padres deployed a five-infielder, two-outfielder defense for Mathis, and he hit a 1-0 pitch past everyone and into the Padres bullpen.
Logan Morrison walked against Tyson Ross (0-4) to start the ninth, took second on a single by Marcell Ozuna, then advanced to third on a flyout. Pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Mathis followed with his second home run.
Steve Cishek (2-4) pitched a hitless ninth for the win.
INDIANS 4, WHITE SOX 0CHICAGO — Justin Masterson pitched his major league-leading third shutout of the season and the Cleveland Indians completed their first four-game sweep in Chicago since 1948, beating the White Sox 4-0.
Masterson (10-6) gave up six hits, struck out eight and walked one. He blanked the White Sox for the second time this year.
The Indians turned four double plays. The win moved Cleveland into a virtual tie with Detroit atop the AL Central.
The White Sox have lost 23 of 31 and fallen a season-high 15 games under .500.
Chris Sale (5-7) struck out 10 while allowing three runs in eight innings.
RAYS 3, TIGERS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jeremy Hellickson earned his fifth June win and the Tampa Bay Rays beat Detroit in a game that included an early warning by the umpires.
Hellickson (7-3) allowed one run over six-plus innings. He tied the team record for victories in one month held by Matt Moore, David Price and Scott Kazmir.
Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his 17th save.
Miguel Cabrera hit his 25th homer this season for the Tigers, sending a shot into a fish tank beyond the wall.
Both benches were warned by plate umpire Vic Carapazza after Rick Porcello (4-6) hit Ben Zobrist with a pitch in the first. Both dugouts stayed calm and nothing further developed.
A day earlier, Cabrera yelled at the Tampa Bay dugout after he struck out in the 10th inning. Rodney had thrown a high-and-tight fastball before fanning the Tigers star.
ROYALS 9, TWINS 8
MINNEAPOLIS — David Lough hit three doubles, then launched a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning that led the Kansas City Royals over Minnesota.
Lough hit his second homer of the season, sending a solo drive off Jared Burton (1-5) into the right-field seats for an 8-7 lead.
Eric Hosmer added a solo homer in the ninth for the Royals. Johnny Giavotella had three hits.
Aaron Crow (5-3) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings. Greg Holland got his 17th save in 19 chances despite giving up a home run to Trevor Plouffe in the ninth.
RED SOX 5, BLUE JAYS 4
BOSTON — Shane Victorino’s hard grounder eluded first baseman Josh Thole for an error as pinch-runner Jonathan Diaz raced home with the winning run in the ninth inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat Toronto.
Jose Bautista tied it in the ninth against Koji Uehara (1-0) with a solo homer, his 19th of the season and third in two games.
Brandon Snyder singled with one out in the bottom half against Juan Perez (1-1), Jacoby Ellsbury walked and Casey Janssen relieved. Diaz ran for Snyder and Thole, who had entered in the third when Adam Lind left with back tightness, couldn’t handle Victorino’s shot.
Boston won for the fifth time in six games and improved to an AL-best 50-34. Toronto has lost five of seven. Jose Reyes homered for the Blue Jays.
ANGELS 3, ASTROS 1
HOUSTON — Josh Hamilton doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and scored on shortstop Jake Elmore’s overthrow, helping the Los Angeles Angels beat Houston and extend their winning streak to six.
C.J. Wilson (8-5) won his fourth straight start and Mark Trumbo hit his 18th homer for the Angels, who swept three-game series at Detroit and Houston for their first undefeated road trip of at least six games since 2002.
Wilson allowed an unearned run and three hits and struck out 10 in seven innings. Ernesto Frieri got his 21st save.
Jose Cisnero (2-1) took the loss.
RANGERS 3, REDS 2
ARLINGTON, Texas — Yu Darvish struck out eight in 6 2-3 scoreless innings for his first victory in eight starts and the Texas Rangers scored twice on a squeeze bunt to beat Cincinnati.
Darvish (8-3) won for the first time since May 16, ending his longest professional winless drought — in his two years with the Rangers or seven in Japan before that. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 2.93 ERA in those seven games, when Texas scored only 12 runs while he was on the mound.
The Rangers scored off Mat Latos (7-2) when Elvis Andrus bunted in the fifth.
Latos made a barehanded grab and scoop in one motion. The toss home hit the earflap of Engel Beltre, who was still down on the ground when Leonys Martin also scored as the ball rolled away.
The AL West-leading Rangers have won 10 of 13. Cincinnati has lost seven of nine.
A’S 7, CARDINALS 5
OAKLAND, Calif. — Jed Lowrie and Josh Donaldson homered and Tommy Milone overcame a rocky start to win for the first time in nearly four weeks as the Oakland Athletics held off St. Louis.
Donaldson reached base four times for the A’s, who padded their AL-best home record by taking two of three in this interleague series. Oakland has won 16 of its last 19 games at the Coliseum.
Milone (7-7) gave up three home runs and pitched with runners in scoring position in four of his six innings. Grant Balfour worked the ninth for his 19th save.
Carlos Beltran, Allen Craig and Matt Carpenter all homered for the Cardinals.
Oakland had seven extra-base hits — five off St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook (4-3).
CUBS 7, MARINERS 6
SEATTLE — Alfonso Soriano and Darwin Barney each doubled twice and the Chicago Cubs built a six-run lead before topping Seattle.
Anthony Rizzo drove in two runs and the Cubs tied a season high by hitting six doubles.
Chicago led 7-1 after four innings. The Cubs’ bullpen, which has blown 16 save chances this season, gave up three runs in the eighth.
Kevin Gregg pitched a hitless ninth for his 13th save.
Edwin Jackson (4-10) pitched into the seventh inning, allowing three runs and seven hits and striking out six.
Jason Bay homered for the Mariners and Brad Miller doubled twice for his first major league hits .
Jeremy Bonderman (1-2) was chased after giving up six runs — four earned — and six hits in 3 1-3 innings. It was his shortest start since going 2 1-3 innings on July 29, 2007 with Detroit.