Baseball-Highlights of Wednesday's MLB games

Sept 14 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Wednesday's Major League Baseball games: Cubs 7, Cardinals 0 Jon Lester continued his remarkable late-season run and pushed the Chicago Cubs to the brink of the National League Central title. Lester allowed three hits over eight innings and knocked in the game's first run to lead Chicago to a 7-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday at Busch Stadium. Lester (17-4) walked one, struck out eight and faced just two batters over the minimum. It was the sixth consecutive start in which Lester has allowed zero or one run. The Cubs (93-52) clinched at least a tie for the division title and can pop the champagne Thursday night with a victory over Milwaukee at Wrigley Field. It will be their first division championship since 2008. Orioles 1, Red Sox 0 Mark Trumbo's towering solo home run in the second inning proved to be the difference for Baltimore at Fenway Park. Trumbo's blast was his major-league-leading 42nd and his first since a Sept. 2 solo shot against the Yankees. His previous career high in homers was 34. Orioles starter Kevin Gausman (8-10) outdueled 20-game winner Rick Porcello, tossing eight scoreless innings while allowing four hits and one walk. Zach Britton shut down the Red Sox in the ninth to convert his 43rd straight save opportunity to start the year, a major league record for a left-handed pitcher. Rays 8, Blue Jays 1 Corey Dickerson belted a home run and had four RBIs, Kevin Kiermaier also went deep and Alex Cobb won for the first time in nearly two years as Tampa Bay defeated Toronto. Cobb (1-0), who was making his third start since returning from Tommy John surgery, allowed one run, two hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings. The right-hander struck out four in winning for the first time since Sept. 2, 2014. The Rays (62-83) won the rubber match of the three-game series and took the season set 11-8 from the skidding Blue Jays (79-66), who are 3-9 in September. Nationals 1, Mets 0 Tanner Roark threw seven scoreless innings and Wilson Ramos belted a homer with one out in the seventh as Washington beat New York. The second-place Mets are now 10 games back of the first-place Nationals (87-59) with 16 games left. The magic number for Washington to clinch the National League East is seven. Ramos, showing signs of life after a long slump, hit the first pitch he saw from reliever Fernando Salas into the seats in center for his 21st homer of the season. Roark gave up three hits with seven strikeouts and four walks as he went seven scoreless innings for the ninth time this year. Dodgers 2, Yankees 0 Clayton Kershaw retired the first 12 hitters he faced but had his second start since returning from a back injury halted by a second rain delay, and Justin Turner produced the tiebreaking double with none out in the top of the ninth inning for Los Angeles. Corey Seager opened the ninth against Dellin Betances when his one-hopper went off Starlin Castro's glove for an error. Seager stole second before Turner doubled down the left field line. Turner eventually then scored the second run on a throwing error by Betances. Kershaw needed only 44 pitches to get through the first four innings, which were interrupted by a 12-minute rain delay after the top of the fourth. He wound up allowing one hit in five innings. Tigers 9, Twins 6 Miguel Cabrera drove his 33rd home run of the season off the top of the railing on the wall in deep left center to break a 6-6 tie with one out in the seventh inning and lead Detroit over Minnesota. The win went to Shane Greene after a scoreless seventh. Bruce Rondon worked the eighth and Francisco Rodriguez gained his 42nd save after a run-free ninth. Detroit added two unearned runs in the eighth. James McCann reached on a passed ball charged to Kurt Suzuki while striking out. He was bunted to second, stopped at third on a single to left by Jose Iglesias and scored on a bloop single to center by Ian Kinsler, his fourth hit of the game. Iglesias scored on reliever Michael Tonkin's wild pitch. Phillies 6, Pirates 2 Philadelphia had 15 hits and Pittsburgh's late-season struggles continued at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies got home runs from Freddy Galvis and Tommy Joseph, and rookie Jake Thompson provided six strong innings on the mouth. Every starting position player for the Phillies had a hit, and six players had multi-hit games. The loss was the 13th in 16 games for Pittsburgh, which has seen its National League wild-card hopes take a hit. The Pirates trail the New York Mets by six games. Padres 3, Giants 1 Luis Perdomo pitched into the seventh inning and the bullpen threw hitless ball the rest of the way as San Diego finished a three-game sweep. The loss kept the Giants just one game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals (76-69) in the National League wild-card race on the eve of their four-game series. Luis Sardinas had three hits, scored twice and drove in a run for the Padres, who have won six straight against the Giants. The three-game sweep was San Diego's first in San Francisco since May 2010. A's 8, Royals 0 Sean Manaea collected his first career road victory as Oakland downed Kansas City. Manaea, who was 0-6 with a 6.44 ERA in his first eight road starts, handcuffed the Royals on three hits for five innings. After walking one and giving up two singles in the first, Manaea (6-9) limited Kansas City to one hit the next four innings. John Axford, Liam Hendriks, and Chris Smith completed the four-hit shutout. The A's widened the margin with a three-run eighth. Khris Davis had a two-run single off Brandon McCarthy, giving him six RBIs for the series. Ryon Healy's two-out single off left-hander Scott Alexander scored Davis with the final run. Marlins 7, Braves 5 Jose Fernandez bounced back from a rocky start to retire 10 of the last 11 batters he faced and pitch Miami over Atlanta at Turner Field. Fernandez (15-8) settled down after he allowed four runs in the second inning and broke a five-game road losing streak. The Marlins took a 5-4 lead with a four-run rally in the sixth, getting a run on an infield single and RBI from Derek Dietrich and a three-run homer by Marcell Ozuna, his 23rd home run of the season. It was Ozuna's first home run since Aug. 18 and matched his career best since in 2014. Brewers 7, Reds 0 Domingo Santana hit a three-run homer, Scooter Gennett added a two-run shot and Junior Guerra tossed six shutout innings for Milwaukee. The Brewers won for just the second time in its previous seven meetings with Cincinnati and avoided being swept by the Reds for the first time since 2013. Guerra gave up three hits and two walks and struck out five. The Brewers improved to 14-6 when he pitches. The loss halted the Reds' four-game win streak. Indians 6, White Sox 1 Josh Tomlin's return to the rotation was a success for Cleveland, which defeated Chicago. Cleveland, which lost the first two games of the series, has a chance to earn a split in the finale Thursday. Tomlin, who was removed from the rotation during a stretch of poor outings, earned the win in his first start since Aug. 30. Replacing injured right-hander Danny Salazar, Tomlin went five innings and allowed one run on four hits. He struck out two and didn't allow a walk. Four Cleveland relievers combined to hold Chicago scoreless in the final four innings. Astros 8, Rangers 4 Marwin Gonzalez delivered a seeing-eye, two-run single in the eighth inning to provide needed insurance for Houston, which averted a series sweep by defeating Texas. Gonzalez rolled a single off Tanner Scheppers just under the glove of shortstop Elvis Andrus and into center field, driving home Tyler White and Yulieski Gurriel to extend the Astros' tenuous lead to 7-4. The Rangers nearly clawed their back from a four-run deficit, getting a two-run home run from Nomar Mazara in the seventh inning before Jonathan Lucroy added an RBI single in the eighth. Earlier, Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run homer as Houston built a 5-1 lead. Mariners 2, Angels 1 Nelson Cruz hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning to give Seattle a win over Los Angeles at Angel Stadium. Kyle Seager also hit a solo homer as the Mariners extended their best winning streak of the season to eight games. Seattle moved within 1 1/2 games of the Toronto Blue Jays for the second wild-card spot and within 8 1/2 games of the first-place Texas Rangers in the American League West. Right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma established a career high with his 16th victory. Iwakuma (16-11) induced 10 groundouts in 6 1/3 innings, conceded one run on five hits and three walks and registered two strikeouts. Edwin Diaz pitched a perfect ninth inning with one strikeout for his 16th save. Diamondbacks 11, Rockies 6 Jean Segura had five hits including a pair of home runs to power Arizona past Colorado, completing a three-game sweep. Brandon Drury homered in his third straight game and Chris Owings also homered for the Diamondbacks, who swept a home series for the first time since Sept. 29 - October 1, 2015, also against the Rockies. The Diamondbacks finished with 16 hits, the 14th consecutive game against Colorado in which Arizona had double-digit hits. It's the longest single-season streak against a single opponent since the Brooklyn Robins accomplished the feat against Philadelphia in 1930. (Editing by Simon Jennings)