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Baseball-Highlights of Saturday's MLB games

June 24 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Major League Baseball games on Saturday: Dodgers 4, Rockies 0 Clayton Kershaw threw six shutout innings for his 11th win of 2017 and Joc Pederson homered to extend Los Angeles' streak of games with a home run to 16 as the Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 4-0 on Saturday night. Kershaw (11-2) improved to 21-6 all-time in 36 starts with a 3.04 ERA against Colorado, the most wins against any team he's faced. He has a career 1.46 ERA covering 17 starts against the Rockies at Dodger Stadium. The win clinched the series for the Dodgers and will mark the first time this season that Colorado has lost consecutive series. The Rockies have also lost a season-high four straight. Rangers 8, Yankees 1 Austin Bibens-Dirkx pitched seven effective innings and Texas scored four times in the ninth inning in its victory over New York. Bibens-Dirx (3-0), a little over a month after being the oldest pitcher in Rangers history to make his first major league start, allowed one run and five hits and tied a career high by pitching seven innings. The 32-year-old right-hander, who waited 12 seasons to make his major league debut May 17, struck out three, walked one and threw 93 pitches. Bibens-Dirkx made one mistake and it was a 1-1 fastball that Aaron Judge hit 439 feet over the left-center field fence for his major-league-leading 26th homer with one out in the sixth. Athletics 10, White Sox 2 Rookies Franklin Barreto, Matt Olson and Jaycob Brugman hit their first career home runs -- marking the first time three teammates have accomplished the feat in a game in more than 100 years -- to lead Oakland to a rout of Chicago. The trio are the second set of three teammates to hit their first major league home runs in a game since the Federal League Kansas City Packers' John Potts, Duke Kenworthy and Art Kruger did so April 26, 1914, according to STATS and SABR HR Log. Olson hit a two-run shot in the first, Brugman connected for a solo shot in the second and Barreto drove a two-run shot in the third after he was called up from Triple-A Nashville earlier in the day -- all off James Shields (1-1). Nationals 18, Reds 3 Michael A. Taylor matched a career high with four hits, including two homers, Trea Turner went a career-best 5-for-5 with a walk and Daniel Murphy drove in four runs as Washington had 19 hits to pummel struggling Cincinnati. The Nationals' Joe Ross (4-3), in his 10th start of the year, gave up one run and six hits in seven innings. He received a major league-record 62 runs of support in his first four starts of the year. Angels 6, Red Sox 3 JC Ramirez tossed six one-run innings in winning his fifth consecutive road start and five Angels batters drove in one run apiece as Los Angeles beat Boston. Ramirez (7-5) allowed four hits and no walks while striking out five. Martin Maldonado, Eric Young Jr., Luis Valbuena, Cameron Maybin and Kole Calhoun each had an RBI as the Angels bounced back from a 9-4 loss in Friday's series opener. Astros 5, Mariners 2 Lance McCullers Jr. pitched five strong innings and Josh Reddick hit a two-run homer as Houston defeated Seattle. McCullers (7-1), who was activated from the 10-day disabled list before the game, opened with four perfect innings. The right-hander, who had been out with lower back discomfort, allowed one run, four hits and struck out eight in five-plus frames. Brian McCann added a three-run double for the American League West-leading Astros, who won for the fifth time in six games and snapped the second-place Mariners' season-high winning streak at six. Diamondbacks 9, Mariners 2 Jake Lamb homered to start the first of successive three-run innings and light-hitting Chris Herrmann drove in three runs as Arizona won for the 10th time in its last 12 games. Robbie Ray (8-3) contributed a double to his own effective pitching while limiting Philadelphia to two runs in 6 1/3 innings -- both on opposing pitcher Ben Lively's two-run homer -- to improve to 6-0 in his last seven starts, all of them Diamondbacks wins. Herrmann, a .183 hitter who often catches for Ray, added a run-scoring single following Lamb's 17th homer leading off the three-run sixth, and had a two-run double in the seventh as Arizona broke the game open. Brandon Drury and David Peralta also drove in two runs apiece for the Diamondbacks. Cubs 5, Marlins 3 Javier Baez drove in three runs and Jon Lester completed his list of at least one win over all National League clubs as Chicago defeated Miami. Baez, who led all Cubs hitters with a .302 batting average in May, delivered a tiebreaking, two-run double in the sixth inning. Lester (5-4) has defeated 29 of the 30 teams in the majors. The only exception is the Boston Red Sox, a team with which he used to play and has never faced. Twins 4, Indians 2 Brian Dozier's home run leading off the eighth inning broke a tie, and Chris Gimenez added a solo shot in the ninth as Minnesota beat Cleveland. Dozier's homer, his 13th, came on a 3-2 pitch from the Indians closer Cody Allen (0-3). Gimenez's homer, his fourth, came off Zach McAllister in the ninth. Cleveland starter Corey Kluber was sensational, striking out 13 in seven innings, allowing two unearned runs, three hits and two walks. He has not allowed an earned run in his last 21 innings. Braves 3, Brewers 1 Brandon Phillips homered for the third straight game and R.A. Dickey pitched seven strong innings to help Atlanta extend its winning streak to four by beating Milwaukee. Phillips was 2-for-4 and scored two runs, but it was his long two-run homer in the third inning that was the decider. The Braves have won seven of its last eight and pulled within two games of .500 for the first time since April 29. Pirates 7, Cardinals 3 Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison each homered while Gerrit Cole pitched six solid innings as Pittsburgh dumped St. Louis. After giving up a homer to the first batter he faced, Cole (6-6) kept the Cardinals off the board for the rest of his outing. He permitted one run and five hits, walking two and fanning five. Mets 5, Giants 2 Jay Bruce broke a tie with an RBI single in the eighth inning and Wilmer Flores capped a two-run uprising with a double that scored Asdrubal Cabrera to lift New York over San Francisco. Jacob deGrom completed eight innings for a third consecutive start, as the Mets won their second straight at AT&T Park after having opened a 10-game trip with four consecutive losses against the Los Angeles Dodgers. DeGrom (7-3) limited the Giants to four hits in eight innings, walking one and striking out seven. The loss was the Giants' 50th of the year, making them the first team to reach the half-century mark this season. Royals 3, Blue Jays 2 Jason Vargas worked seven strong innings and Alcides Escobar had three hits and scored two runs as Kansas City edged Toronto to move above .500 for the first time this year. Vargas (11-3), who leads the majors in victories, gave up two runs on eight hits. He walked none and struck out two. Kelvin Herrera picked up his 18th save. Troy Tulowitzki homered off former Long Beach State teammate Vargas to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead in the second. It was his third home run of the season and gave him seven RBIs in 24 games since coming off the disabled list. Orioles 8, Rays 3 Baltimore finally held a team to fewer than five runs and victimized Tampa Bay's bullpen in the victory. The Rays had bounced back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game, but the Orioles rallied with two outs in the seventh for four runs to break it open. Baltimore had allowed at least five runs in 20 straight games, matching the 1924 Philadelphia Phillies. Tampa Bay reliever Jumbo Diaz was a strike away from getting out of what had been a two-on, no-out jam, but that strike didn't come. Instead, Mark Trumbo hit a two-run double and the next pitch was a two-run homer by Trey Mancini to make it 7-3. Padres 7, Tigers 3 Hector Sanchez hit a two-run, go-ahead, pinch-hit homer off Shane Greene to trigger a five-run eighth inning and lead San Diego past Detroit. The Padres were trailing 3-2 when pinch-hitter Erick Aybar drew a walk to open the eighth. Sanchez drove an 0-1 pitch 403 feet into the right-field stands. San Diego's second straight victory over the Tigers was San Diego's third straight win.