Baseball-Highlights from Wednesday's MLB games

Aug 3 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights from Major League Baseball games on Wednesday: Tigers 2, White Sox 1 J.D. Martinez blasted a go-ahead, solo home run in his first at-bat since June 16, lifting the Detroit Tigers to their eighth straight victory -- a 2-1 decision over the Chicago White Sox. Martinez, who was activated from the 15-day disabled list earlier, jumped on the first offering from White Sox ace Chris Sale in the eighth inning. Sale (14-5) pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits with a season-high 10 strikeouts. He had retired 11 straight batters before Martinez's home run. Shane Greene (2-2) picked up the victory with 1-1/3 innings of scoreless relief, including two strikeouts. Detroit starter Michael Fulmer held the White Sox to one run on five hits over 6-2/3 innings but wound up with his fourth straight no-decision. Cubs 5, Marlins 4 Matt Szczur scored on a wild pitch to cap a three-run ninth inning as the Chicago Cubs rallied to a 5-4 walk-off victory over the Miami Marlins. Chicago trailed 4-2 entering the ninth but A.J. Ramos gave up a leadoff double to Miguel Montero, a single to Javier Baez and walked Szczur on five pitches to load the bases. Dexter Fowler hit a sacrifice fly to right-center to score Montero. Ben Zobrist walked to bring home Baez and Ramos' two-out wild pitch sailed past Miami catcher Jeff Mathis and allowed Szczur to score the game-winner. Ramos (1-1) took the loss while reliever Justin Grimm (1-0), who was brought up from Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday, worked the ninth for the victory. Nationals 8, Diamondbacks 3 Daniel Murphy and Trea Turner homered and Washington right-hander Max Scherzer won his 12th game and contributed two RBIs. Murphy broke a 1-1 tie with a bases-empty homer in the sixth inning, and Scherzer capped the three-run rally with a two-run single for a 4-1 lead. Scherzer (12-6) pitched through bases-empty homers by Jake Lamb in the sixth inning and Yasmany Tomas in the seventh inning. Orioles 3, Rangers 2 Baltimore's Kevin Gausman outdueled Texas' ace Cole Hamels, leading the Orioles to their third straight victory. Gausman (3-8) allowed two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings. Matt Wieters had a pair of RBIs for the Orioles. Zach Britton picked up his American League-leading 33rd save for Baltimore. Blue Jays 3, Astros 1 Marco Estrada pitched seven strong innings and Josh Donaldson slugged a pair of home runs as Toronto topped Houston. Estrada (7-4) allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts. Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna set the side down in order in the ninth inning for his 23rd save on the year. Twins 13, Indians 5 Minnesota continued its devastating attack on Cleveland pitching with a third consecutive rout. The Twins have won the first three contests of the four-game series, outscoring the Indians 35-16 and outhitting them 48-27. Minnesota starter Tyler Duffey (6-8) gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings. Trevor Bauer (7-5) allowed eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits and five walks in 2-2/3 innings. Joe Mauer had his second four-hit game of the series and added four RBIs. In the series, Mauer is 10-for-15 with five doubles, a triple, a home run and six RBIs. Rockies 12, Dodgers 2 Colorado took advantage of a Los Angeles pitching ploy and pounded the Dodgers to record their 11th win in 13 games. Brock Stewart was recalled from Triple-A to make his second big league start for Los Angeles and give Kenta Maeda and Scott Kazmir each an additional day of rest. Colorado walloped five home runs, including two by Carlos Gonzalez, who left the game after fouling a ball off his left ankle in the seventh inning. Four homers came against Stewart, who departed after facing five batters in the four-run fifth inning that put the Rockies ahead 9-2. Phillies 5, Giants 4 (12 innings) Maikel Franco, who tied the game with an eighth-inning, two-run single, singled home the winning run in the 12th for Philadelphia. Ryan Howard and Cameron Rupp hit back-to-back homers in the seventh inning for the Phillies, who erased a 4-0 deficit to win for the fourth time in six games. Buster Posey drove in three runs for San Francisco, which is a major-league-worst 4-13 since the All-Star break. Yankees 9, Mets 5 Mark Teixeira hit a three-run homer in the second inning and nearly sparked a benches-clearing incident three innings later as the Yankees beat the Mets at Yankee Stadium. Teixeira gave the Yankees the lead when he homered off Steven Matz (8-8) with two outs in the second. With one out in the fifth, the switch-hitting first baseman was hit on the left knee by Matz's first pitch. Teixeira took exception to being hit and immediately began yelling and glaring at Matz. Teixeira tossed his shin guard in the air and walked toward first base while being restrained by Yankees third baseman Chase Headley and Mets catcher Rene Rivera. Both benches emptied but never got past the foul lines and relievers from both teams stood in front of the warning track in case things escalated further. Rays 12, Royals 0 Jake Odorizzi (6-5) pitched his third straight scoreless start and the Rays got three-run homers from Steven Souza and Kevin Kiermaier as they came within one run of their season high for scoring. Kansas City was ugly all around, matching season highs for errors (three) and walks (seven), including one with the bases loaded. Odorizzi allowed two hits in six innings to extended his streak to 20-2/3 frames. Cardinals 5, Reds 4 Stephen Piscotty homered and Brandon Moss doubled twice and drove in two runs to lift St. Louis to victory over Cincinnati. St. Louis starter Michael Wacha (7-7) allowed two runs and six hits in five innings. Cincinnati's Joey Votto extended his career-high hitting streak to 17 games with an RBI single. Rookie left-hander Cody Reed (0-6) took the loss. Braves 8, Pirates 4 Atlanta spotted Pittsburgh four runs in the first inning before rallying to hand starter Rob Whalen a victory in his major league debut. Whalen, who was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett and signed his major league contract only hours before the game, allowed four runs on four hits and four walks, with five strikeouts. He did not allow a hit after the second inning. The Braves tallied 15 hits, with each position player in the starting lineup getting at least one. Center fielder Ender Inciarte and shortstop Erick Aybar led with three apiece. Mariners 3, Red Sox 1 Solo home runs from Nelson Cruz, Mike Zunino and Adam Lind helped Seattle end Boston starter Rick Porcello's six-start winning streak. Cruz, Zunino and Lind homered in the second, sixth and seventh innings, respectively, while Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma threw 7-1/3 shutout innings. New Mariners closer Edwin Diaz earned his second consecutive save despite a shaky ninth inning that included a single, a hit batter and a wild pitch as the Red Sox scored their run. Diaz got Travis Shaw and Sandy Leon to ground out to end the game. Angels 8, Athletics 6 Albert Pujols' two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Los Angeles Angels to an 8-6 win over the Oakland A's. Pujols unloaded on a 3-1 pitch from Ryan Dull with Mike Trout on first base, ending the game a half-inning after Los Angeles reliever Cam Bedrosian blew a 6-5 lead. The Angels had taken a 6-4 lead into the eighth. The A's pushed across a run in the eighth, then scored in the ninth against Bedrosian. Padres 12, Brewers 3 Yangervis Solarte and rookie Jabari Blash homered to lead Sn Diego's 14-hit attack in their victory over the Brewers. Blash's homer was the first of his major-league career.