Advertisement

Baseball-Highlights of Saturday's MLB games

May 21 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Saturday's Major League Baseball games. Royals 2, White Sox 1 Lorenzo Cain homered and Danny Duffy pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings before the Kansas City Royals bullpen finished off a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday. After Cain's home run gave the Royals a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning, Kansas City reliever Joakim Soria helped to preserve the slim cushion by pitching out of a bases-loaded walk jam in the seventh. Rockies 5, Pirates 1 Tony Wolters' sharply hit ground-ball single to first base produced two runs during a four-run ninth inning and Colorado ended an eight-game losing streak against Pittsburgh. Mets 5, Brewers 4 David Wright laced a game-winning single with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning as New York came back to beat Milwaukee. Eric Campbell began the winning rally with a leadoff single against right-hander Michael Blazek. Kevin Plawecki then drew a walk before pinch-hitter Matt Reynolds advanced both runners with a bunt. Cardinals 6, Diamondbacks 2 Mike Leake allowed just four hits over seven shutout innings and Jedd Gyorko, Matt Adams and Yadier Molina homered to give St. Louis Cardinals the win. Leake won his third consecutive start after beginning the year 0-3. It was his first win at home for the Cardinals after going 0-2 with two no-decisions and a 5.76 ERA in his first four starts at Busch Stadium. Tigers 5, Rays 4 James McCann hit his first homer of the season and rookie Michael Fulmer had a career-high 11 strikeouts as Detroit held off Tampa Bay. The game was marred by a severe hand injury to Tampa Bay Gold Glove centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier. He suffered two fractures in his left hand while diving for James McCann's bloop single in the fifth. Mariners 4, Reds 0 Franklin Gutierrez hit a three-run home run, Leonys Martin added a solo shot, and Felix Hernandez allowed four hits in six innings lifting the Seattle over Cincinnati. Seattle improved to 12-2 all-time against Cincinnati, which dropped to 0-6 in interleague play this season coming off four straight losses to Cleveland earlier this week. Yankees 5, Athletics 1 Masahiro Tanaka pitched seven effective innings and New York scored four times in the top of the fourth inning to beat Oakland. Tanaka made his sixth start on five days rest and helped the Yankees get their season-high fourth straight win, allowing one run and five hits. He struck out four, walked two and collected nearly half of his 21 outs on the ground. Red Sox 9, Indians 1 Joe Kelly came off the disabled list with a bang. The right-hander, out just over a month with right shoulder impingement, threw 6 2-3 hitless innings and Mookie Betts hit two homers, one a grand slam, and drove in five runs in Boston's win. One pitch after centerfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. -- who had just extended his hitting streak to 26 games -- made a nifty catch of a Marlon Byrd line drive, Juan Uribe ripped a double to right-center. Braves 2, Phillies 0 Williams Perez threw 6 1/3 shutout innings on his 25th birthday as Atlanta clinched a series win on a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon. With a cool breeze blowing and clouds threatening to break into showers at any minute, the Braves and Phillies sped through the first three innings in under 45 minutes. Twins 5, Blue Jays 3 Eduardo Nunez had two hits, including a three-run homer in a decisive five-run eighth inning, to lead Minnesota over Toronto. The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Twins, who mustered only one hit against Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ through seven innings. That changed in the eighth. Rangers 2, Astros 1 Cesar Ramos earned his first win on the season and Texas claimed a second consecutive pitcher's duel victory over Houston at Minute Maid Park. Ramos allowed one run on two hits and one walk with four strikeouts over six innings. He needed just 80 pitches to work those six frames and pitched effectively enough to hand a lead to the Texas bullpen. Marlins 3, Nationals 2 ustin Bour hit a two-run, tie-breaking homer and Jose Fernandez improved his record at Marlins Park to 21-1 as Miami defeated first-place Washington. Miami had a 3-1 lead entering the ninth and held on as closer A.J. Ramos allowed one run on a Wilson Ramos single. Washington loaded the bases with no outs before Ramos got pinch-hitter Jayson Werth on a double-play groundout. Jose Lobaton then hit a grounder for the final out, giving Ramos 13 saves this season. Giants 5, Cubs 3 Matt Cain snapped a 15-game winless streak while holding Chicago to one run on six hits to lead San Francisco to the win. The Giants right-hander won his first game of the season by working six innings. Cubs starter Jon Lester had his shortest and rockiest outing of the year, lasting just 2 2/3 innings in the middle game of a series at AT&T Park. Orioles 3, Angels 1 Matt Wieters hit a three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to give Baltimore Orioles the win over Los Angeles. The Orioles maintained their one-game lead over the Boston Red Sox in the American League East. Padres 3, Dodgers 2 (11 innings) Yangervis Solarte drew a bases-loaded walk to force home Wil Myers with two outs in the 11th inning to give the San Diego Padres a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night at Petco Park. It was the Padres' second walk-off win in as many nights against the Dodgers. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)