Cardinals hold off Yankees for a 6-5 win

NEW YORK (AP) — Brendan Donovan hit a three-run homer, Kyle Gibson pitched seven strong innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees 6-5 on Saturday for their first regular-season win at Yankee Stadium.

It was the first victory for St. Louis in the Bronx since Tim McCarver hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning in Game 5 of the 1964 World Series and Bob Gibson pitched a complete game in a 5-2 win. The Cardinals improved to 1-7 at Yankee Stadium in the regular season.

St. Louis went ahead to stay with four runs in the third against rookie Will Warren (0-3). Nolan Arenado hit a tying RBI single before Donovan connected for his 11th homer. It was his first three-run drive since July 23, 2023.

CUBS 5, NATIONALS 3

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nico Hoerner had two hits and scored two runs, and the Chicago Cubs beat sloppy Washington for their fifth straight win.

Javier Assad pitched six innings of three-run ball as Chicago won for the eighth time in nine games overall. The Cubs (70-66), who are trying to make up ground in the race for the last NL wild card, also improved to 18-8 in August.

José Tena went 3 for 3 for Washington, and Andrés Chaparro connected for his second career homer.

The Nationals put two runners on in the ninth, but Porter Hodge struck out Dylan Crews and James Wood for his third save.

RAYS 11, PADRES 4

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Touted rookie Junior Caminero hit a three-run homer, José Caballero had four RBIs and Tampa Bay beat San Diego.

Caminero went deep against Randy Vásquez (4-7) in a four-run second inning to help Tampa Bay take a 5-2 lead. Baseball’s top-ranked prospect has three homers and seven RBIs in 17 major league games.

Jake Cronenworth hit a two-run homer in the first and finished with three hits for the Padres, who hold the second NL wild card. San Diego won the opener of the three-game series 13-5 on Friday night.

Shane Baz (2-2) allowed two runs and two hits in five innings as the Rays won for the third time in nine games. The right-hander missed his previous turn due to the flu.

TIGERS 2, RED SOX 1

DETROIT (AP) — Tarik Skubal allowed one run in eight innings and struck out eight to become the fourth Detroit left-hander with 200 strikeouts in a season as the Tigers celebrated the franchise’s 1984 World Series championship with a win over Boston.

Jack Morris threw the ceremonial first pitch to Lance Parrish, and Skubal (16-4) gave a performance that would have fit onto Morris’ resume. He allowed Tyler O’Neill’s first-inning homer, but Boston only managed three singles the rest of the way.

Skubal joined Hal Newhouser, Mickey Lolich and Matthew Boyd as the team’s only left-handers to strike out 200 in a season. He now has 201.

Tyler Holton pitched the ninth for his sixth save as the Tigers moved 1 1/2 games of Boston for fourth in the American League wild-card race.

PIRATES 3, GUARDIANS 0

CLEVELAND (AP) — Rowdy Tellez hit a two-run single in the eighth inning, and Pittsburgh beat AL Central leading Cleveland.

Luis Ortiz (6-4) pitched six innings of one-hit ball in his first win since July 20. The right-hander struck out five and walked three, helping Pittsburgh stop a four-game slide.

Jalen Beeks, Dennis Santana and Aroldis Chapman combined with Ortiz for a two-hitter. Chapman earned his fifth save of the season and tied Roberto Hernandez for 19th on the career list with 326.

The Guardians, who own the best home record in the AL at 42-25, had their division lead over Kansas City sliced to two games. Cleveland was shut out for the 14th time this season, matching the most in the majors.

RANGER 3, ATHLETICS 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Leody Taveras hit a game-ending single with one out in the ninth inning and Texas beat Oakland.

The bases were loaded when Taveras grounded a single through the middle and past a drawn-in infield, sending pinch-runner Ezequiel Duran home with the winning run.

Athletics reliever Tyler Ferguson (2-2), who struck out the side after coming on in the eighth, hit Nathaniel Lowe with a pitch to start the ninth. Carson Kelly reached on a bloop single and Travis Jankowski drew a four-pitch walk with one out. Duran replaced Lowe at second base after Kelly’s single.

All-Star closer Kirby Yates (6-2) worked around a single and a walk in a scoreless ninth.

ASTROS 5, ROYALS 2

HOUSTON (AP) — Yusei Kikuchi struck out 12 in seven innings to lead Houston Astros to a win over Kansas City.

Kikuchi (7-9) improved to 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA since he was acquired by Houston a day before the trade deadline. He gave up five hits, only allowing Kansas City a run on a fielder’s choice grounder that followed two singles in the seventh. He threw 101 pitches, including 75 for strikes and walked none.

Kikuchi had no run support until the Astros chased Royals starter Cole Ragans (10-9) in a five-run sixth inning. Yainer Diaz hit a two-run single and Jeremy Peña hit a two-run truple during the inning, before Peña scored on a wild pitch.

Ragans looked dominant for much of the first five innings, allowing just one hit. At one point, he matched a Royals franchise record with eight consecutive strikeouts. The record was previously set by Blake Stein in 2001 at Milwaukee.

BLUE JAYS 15, TWINS 0

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Toronto hit three two-run homers, including two in a seven-run first inning, and José Berríos tossed six shutout innings as the Blue Jays routed Minnesota.

Daulton Varsho and Spencer Horwitz each hit two-run home runs in the first inning off Twins starter Zebby Matthews (1-2), giving the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead just four batters into the game. Toronto scored three more runs in the inning off Matthews to take a 7-0 lead before Minnesota’s bats ever got to the plate.

Matthews lasted just one more inning in his fourth career start. He surrendered another two-run blast in the second, this time off the bat of Addison Barger, to make it a 9-0 Toronto lead.

Cleveland and Kansas City also lost Saturday, so Minnesota remains 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Guardians and a game back of the second-place Royals in the American League Central.

PHILLIES 3, BRAVES 0

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Zack Wheeler pitched seven shutout innings to earn his 100th career victory, Edmundo Sosa homered, doubled and drove in two runs and Philadelphia defeated Atlanta.

Trea Turner also went deep for NL East-leading Philadelphia, which increased its lead over the Braves in the division to six games. The Phillies have won six of eight.

Michael Harris II robbed Austin Hays of a home run with a stellar, highlight-reel catch in the seventh inning for the Braves.

Wheeler (13-6) struck out seven, walked none and allowed four hits. The 34-year-old right-hander threw 65 of his 96 pitches for strikes. The Phillies signed the former No. 6 overall pick in the 2009 draft to a five-year, $118 million deal prior to the 2020 season.

METS 5, WHITE SOX 3

CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Alonso and Jesse Winker hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning and the New York Mets beat the skidding White Sox, handing Chicago its 106th loss to tie a franchise record.

The Mets (72-64) won their third straight and moved within two games of Atlanta for the final NL wild card. New York has won eight of 12 to climb eight games over .500 for the first time this season.

The White Sox (31-106) dropped their ninth straight to match their mark for most defeats in a season set in 1970. Chicago is 4-35 since the All-Star break and on track to break the modern major league record for most losses — 120 by the expansion 1962 Mets.

Alonso’s two-run drive off Davis Martin was his 30th homer, giving him 30 or more in five of his six major league seasons, all with the Mets. The four-time All-Star finished with 16 in 57 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.