Baseball-Highlights of Friday's MLB games

April 29 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Friday's Major League Baseball games: Mets 13, Giants 1 Yoenis Cespedes provided the exclamation point on a 12-run third inning -- the biggest in New York Mets history -- by hitting a line drive grand slam into the left field seats Friday as the Mets went on to rout San Francisco at Citi Field. The third-inning outburst broke the previous record set July 16, 2006, when the Mets scored 11 runs in the sixth inning of a 13-7 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Cespedes had a two-run single earlier in the inning, during which the Mets sent 15 batters to the plate. His six RBIs also broke a team record for a single inning, held previously by Butch Huskey, who had five RBIs in an inning on May 26, 1998. Michael Conforto had an RBI double in the third while Neil Walker (RBI double), Asdrubal Cabrera (two-run double) and Curtis Granderson (RBI single) also had run-scoring hits in the inning for the Mets, who have won seven straight and 12 of their last 14. The 12 runs allowed by the Giants in the third were the most the franchise has surrendered in an inning since the Montreal Expos collected 13 runs in the sixth inning of a 19-3 victory May 7, 1997. Red Sox 4, Yankees 2 David Ortiz smashed a two-run homer with one out in the eighth inning to break a tie and lead Boston past New York. Ortiz's homer was his fourth of the season and landed in the first row beyond the Green Monster in left field. The decisive hit came off of Yankees' reliever Dellin Betances (0-2), and Ortiz had gone 0-for-7 against Betances with four strikeouts before Friday's late-game heroics. Jackie Bradley Jr. also had a pair of RBIs for the Red Sox, who have won five of their last six games. Koji Uehara (1-1) struck out one in a scoreless eighth inning and Craig Kimbrel shut the door in the ninth for his seventh save of the year. Alex Rodriguez hit a solo home run for New York. Phillies 4, Indians 3 (11) Ryan Howard led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a home run to lift Philadelphia past Cleveland. Howard's homer -- his fifth of the season -- came on a 3-2 fastball from reliever Cody Allen (0-3) and propelled Philadelphia to its seventh victory in eight games. It was Howard's sixth career walkoff homer. It was also the Phillies' third walkoff victory this season, all coming in the last two weeks. Jason Kipnis hit a two-run homer for Cleveland, which lost for the third time in four games. David Hernandez (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the victory, striking out four. In all five Philadelphia pitchers combined to strike out 18, equaling the team record. Marlins 6, Brewers 3 Justin Bour hit two home runs and Adam Conley no-hit Milwaukee through 7 2/3 innings before Miami held on for the victory. Neither player got to finish the contest, though, as Conley had thrown 116 pitches when he gave way to Jose Urena in the eighth. Bour, who finished with three hits and five RBIs, also left as part of a double-switch. Bour's three-run homer in the first inning got things started for Florida, which added a run in the third on Bour's RBI double. Nationals 5, Cardinals 4 Stephen Strasburg improved to 4-0 after striking out nine in seven innings as Washington defeated St. Louis. Strasburg gave up only four hits after the first inning and recorded seven outs in a row via strikeout from the fourth through the sixth as the Nationals upped their mark in St. Louis to 8-26 since moving from Montreal following the 2004 season. Mike Leake (0-3) was touched for five runs off five hits and a walk in seven innings, striking out two. Leake, who signed a five-year free agent deal for $80 million in December, permitted at least four runs in all five of his starts this year. Blue Jays 6, Rays 1 Michael Saunders hit two home runs and Aaron Sanchez pitched seven scoreless innings to lead Toronto over Tampa Bay. Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson and second baseman Ryan Goins hit solo home runs while first baseman Justin Smoak had a two-run single. Rays shortstop Brad Miller had a home run and starter Drew Smyly struck out eight over six innings to tie the team record for strikeouts in April of 33 previously set by David Price in 2014. Cubs 6, Braves 1 Anthony Rizzo's bases-loaded single drove in Dexter Fowler with a go-ahead run and Matt Szczur added a grand slam as Chicago scored five eighth-inning runs en route to victory over Atlanta. Szczur's grand slam -- the first of his career -- came off Braves reliever Chris Withrow and drove in Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and Rizzo as the Cubs (17-5) collected their fourth straight victory and sixth in seven games. The Braves (5-18) lost for the ninth time in 10 games. Tigers 9, Twins 2 Detroit pounded out 18 hits and got five solid innings from Michael Fulmer in his major league debut in a victory over Minnesota. Fulmer, one of the Tigers' top prospects, allowed two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out four. Every hitter in Detroit's lineup had at least one hit. Victor Martinez led the way with four hits, finishing a triple short of the cycle. Nick Castellanos and Justin Upton each had three hits and Castellanos knocked in three runs. The Tigers won their third consecutive game and have won four of their last five since a four-game losing streak. Orioles 6, White Sox 3 Nolan Reimold hit a tie-breaking three-run homer in the seventh inning and Jonathan Schoop had a two-run single to help Baltimore defeat Chicago. Manny Machado added two hits for the Orioles, who have won three straight. Zach Britton pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save on a night when the game-time temperature was 51 degrees. Chicago's Brett Lawrie had tied the game with a solo homer off reliever Brad Brach (3-0) leading off the seventh. Rangers 4, Angels 2 Prince Fielder recorded his 1,000th RBI and Colby Lewis turned in a rare solid performance against Los Angeles to lead Texas to victory. Lewis, who allowed two runs in seven innings, normally gets knocked around by the Angels in Arlington. In five starts the past two seasons, he was 0-4 with a 12.73 ERA. Fielder and his father, Cecil, joined Barry and Bobby Bonds as the only major league father-son combos with 1,000 RBIs apiece. Pirates 4, Reds 1 Juan Nicasio struck out eight in seven scoreless innings, Josh Harrison hit his first home run in nearly a year and Matt Joyce connected as a pinch-hitter to lead Pittsburgh to its fifth straight victory. Nicasio (3-2) allowed three hits and one walk in sending the Reds to their fifth straight loss. Nicasio, signed as a free agent in the offseason, has won all three home starts with a 1.89 ERA. Joey Votto had two hits for the Reds, who have gone 4-13 since taking two of three against the Pirates during the first week of the season April 8-10 in Cincinnati. Rockies 9, Diamondbacks 0 Trevor Story and Nolan Arenado hit their 10th homers of the season and Ryan Raburn and Nick Hundley added bases-empty homers in Colorado's victory over Arizona at Chase Field. Story tied Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu's major league record for homers by a rookie in April and also matched George Scott as the fastest to 10 homers in a major league season. Both had 10 in 21 games. Story has five homers in four games in Arizona. Mariners 1, Royals 0 Felix Hernandez and Seattle extended Kansas City's losing streak to four games. Hernandez threw 7 2/3 shutout innings and got all the offense he needed on a Seth Smith solo home run to lead off the sixth. The Mariners had just one hit on the night. Padres 5, Tigers 1 Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer in the top of the eighth inning to lead San Diego over Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium. Kemp added a double and scored a run to finish 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and threw out a runner trying to extend a single into a double, as the Padres broke a five-game losing streak. Wil Myers' 12-game hitting streak, matching a career best, ended. Athletics 7, Astros 4 Yonder Alfonso hit the winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off Pat Neshek to lift Oakland past Houston. The A's tied the score in the eighth. Marcus Semien homered off Ken Giles and Jed Lowrie followed with a sacrifice fly after Billy Burns singled, stole second and went to third on Erik Kratz's throwing error. Evan Gattis homered and drove in two runs and Mike Fiers pitched seven strong innings, but the Astros could not hold on and were denied their first back-to-back victories of the season. Tyler White and Marwin Gonzalez also drove in runs.