Baseball-Highlights of Saturday's MLB games

Sept 13 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Saturday's Major League Baseball games: - - - Red Sox 10, Rays 4 Rick Porcello continued his string of quality starts and was backed by five home runs, including a pair of history making shots from David Ortiz as Boston beat Tampa Bay 10-4 at Tropicana Field on Saturday. In front of 20,698 fans, many of them in Red Sox gear, Ortiz his the 499th and 500th home runs, and Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia and rookie Travis Shaw also went deep as Boston jumped out early and cruised past the Rays. Ortiz hit a three-run shot in the first inning, and a solo shot in the fifth, to become the 27th player in major league history to reach 500. Among active players, only Alex Rodriguez (684) and Albert Pujols (555) have more than the soon-to-be 40-year-old Ortiz. - - - Marlins 2, Nationals 0 Jose Fernandez improved to a record-tying 16-0 at home and lowered his career ERA at Miami to 1.11. The only other pitchers in history to start their careers 16-0 at home were Johnny Allen (1932-33) and LaMarr Hoyt (1980-82). But of the three, only Fernandez earned his 16 wins exclusively as a starter. - - - Mets 6, Braves 4 New York padded its National League East lead while adding to Atlanta's woes. Yoenis Cespedes hit his seventh homer in the past 10 games and added an RBI fielder's choice in a tie-breaking ninth inning as the Mets handed the Braves their 11th straight home loss. - - - Pirates 10, Brewers 2 Jeff Locke pitched into the seventh inning for just the second time in 10 starts, Josh Harrison had four hits and Michael Morse hit a pinch-hit grand slam as Pittsburgh rolled to the victory. Locke worked 6 1/3 innings and allowed only one run and three hits as the Pirates won for the sixth time in nine games and drew within two games of the first-place St Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. - - - Blue Jays 9, Yankees 5 (11 innings, first game) Russell Martin drew one of three bases-loaded walks in the top of the 11th inning as Toronto outlasted New York in the first game of a doubleheader. Ahead of Martin's pinch-hitting appearance, the Blue Jays loaded the bases when Bryan Mitchell (0-2) issued walks to Edwin Encarnacion and Chris Colabello while hitting Cliff Pennington with a pitch. - - - Blue Jays 10, Yankees 7 (second game) Toronto moved 3 1/2 games ahead of the New York in the AL East by completing a doubleheader sweep with a 10-7 victory in the nightcap. - - - Royals 14, Orioles 6 Mike Moustakas hammered his way into the Kansas City Royals' record books by driving in nine runs with a pair of homers, including a grand slam. Kansas City won for just the second time in eight games but evened the three-game series with the rubber match on Sunday. Baltimore fell to five games under .500. - - - Reds 5, Cardinals 1 Skip Schumaker hit a three-run homer and Anthony DeSclafani had a career-high 10 strikeouts in six innings, lifting Cincinnati over struggling St Louis. The Cardinals committed five errors in the first three games of the series and have been outscored 47-13 in the past seven contests. - - - Reds 4, Cardinals 2 (suspended game) Adam Duvall's two-run homer in the eighth inning lifted the Reds past the Cardinals in the resumption of Friday's suspended game. Duvall's homer, his third, came on a 1-0 pitch from right-hander Jonathan Broxton and just barely cleared the right field wall with a runner aboard. - - - Giants 8, Padres 0 Madison Bumgarner retired the first 23 San Diego Padres he faced before settling for a one-hit shutout, delivering the San Francisco Giants an 8-0 victory. Angel Pagan and first baseman Brandon Belt smacked solo home runs and right fielder Marlon Byrd drove in three runs with three hits, helping the Giants (74-68) keep pace with the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers (81-60) atop the National League West. - - - Athletics 5, Rangers 3 Oakland rookie Sean Nolin notched his first career win by holding Texas to one run in 5 2/3 innings. Nolin, who was acquired from Toronto on the offseason as part of the Josh Donaldson trade, struck out five and gave up just five hits in his fourth career outing. - - - White Sox 8, Twins 2 Adam Eaton went 3-for-5 with an RBI and the Chicago cruised to the win. Trayce Thompson, Carlos Sanchez and Melky Cabrera were among five other players who contributed two hits apiece for the White Sox. - - - Mariners 7, Rockies 2 Seattle used four home runs, including the career-high 41st of the season from Nelson Cruz to beat Colorado. Cruz's home run matched the season total of Baltimore's Chris Davis for the most in baseball. - - - Dodgers 9, Diamondbacks 5 Rookie Corey Seager had four hits including his first major league home run and drove in three runs Los Angeles' win. Carl Crawford homered to open the game and Adrian Gonzalez and Joc Pederson homered in the third inning as the Dodgers built a 7-0 lead. - - - Angels 3, Astros 2 C.J. Cron hit a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Los Angeles the victory. The Angels used their third successive win and their seventh in 10 games to move within 3 1/2 games of the first-place Astros in the American League West and within two games of the Texas Rangers, who hold the second wild-card spot. - - - Phillies 7, Cubs 5 Pinch-hitter Cody Asche drilled a two-run, walk-off homer in the ninth inning to give Philadelphia the win. On the first pitch Asche saw from Cubs reliever Hector Rondon, he hit his second career walk-off homer and his eighth home run of the season. - - - Tigers v Indians (postponed, rain) Saturday's game between Detroit and Cleveland was postponed by rain that had started on Friday and continued through most of Saturday. The teams will attempt to play two games on Sunday. (Editing by John O'Brien)