Tigers even series at 1 apiece as Kenta Maeda gets first win for Tigers, 4-1 over Cardinals

DETROIT (AP) — Kenta Maeda got his first win for Detroit, allowing four hits over six innings in a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday as the Tigers took two of three games in the series.

Matt Vierling had three RBIs for the Tigers, who are 31-16 against St. Louis in interleague play. The teams also met in three World Series, with the Cardinals winning in 1934 and 2006, and Detroit taking the title in 1968.

Maeda (1-1) allowed a fourth-inning home run to Willson Contreras that landed in shrubbery above the center-field fence. He struck out five and walked none.

The 36-year-old right-hander, who signed a $24 million, two-year contract during the offseason, had a 7.64 ERA in his first four starts but has lowered it to 5.02 by allowing one run over 11 innings in his last two outings. He spent his first seven big league seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota.

Alex Lange got four outs for his second save.

Miles Mikolas (2-4), facing Detroit for the first time, gave up three runs and six hits in six innings.

BREWERS 7, RAYS 1

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Willy Adames homered twice with four RBIs and Colin Rea pitched six scoreless innings to lead Milwaukee over Tampa Bay on Wednesday in the finale of a contentious three-game series.

Milwaukee reliever Abner Uribe was suspended for six games and starter Freddy Peralta for five by Major League Baseball for their roles in a brawl on Tuesday night. Rays outfielder Jose Siri was suspended for three games, and Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy for two. All four also were fined.

Murphy started his suspension on Wednesday, leaving associate manager Rickie Weeks to lead the team. Siri’s suspension was cut to two games as part of an agreement, and he served the first game Wednesday. Uribe and Peralta can continue to play until their appeals are resolved.

Adams hit a solo homer in the third off Zach Eflin (1-4) and a three-run drive in the seventh against Erasmo Ramírez for his fifth big league two-homer game.

Rea (3-0) gave up four hits over six innings with two walks and six strikeouts in a 99-pitch outing. Bryan Hudson, Uribe and Thyago Vieira finished a five-hitter, and the Brewers took two of three from the Rays.

TWINS 10, WHITE SOX 5

CHICAGO (AP) — Max Kepler and José Miranda hit run-scoring singles to put Minnesota ahead in the seventh, and the Twins rallied late for their 10th straight win over the Chicago White Sox.

Miranda added his third hit for another RBI in a four-run ninth that put it away for the Twins, whose winning streak is their longest since June 2008 and the longest in baseball this season. Willi Castro added an RBI single to cap a three-hit day that included a double and triple.

Alex Kirilloff hit a solo shot off Chicago starter Chris Flexen. Ryan Jeffers knocked in two runs with a double for Minnesota, which has beaten Chicago in eight straight dating to last season.

Tommy Pham hit his first homer with the White Sox and added an RBI double. He’s batting .375 with Chicago in six games since joining them last Friday.

ROYALS 6, BLUE JAYS 1

TORONTO (AP) — Seth Lugo pitched seven strong innings to win for the fifth time in seven starts, Michael Massey hit a three-run home run and Kansas City beat Toronto.

Bobby Witt Jr. had two hits, scored once and also drove in a run as the Royals won for the fifth time in seven meetings with Toronto.

Witt also turned in a highlight defensive play, making a sliding stop and throwing from one knee to retire Bo Bichette for the final out of the sixth inning.

Salvador Perez had an RBI single and extended his career-best streak of reaching base safely to 21 games. His 27 RBIs lead the American League.

Massey homered off right-hander Nate Pearson in the eighth, his second in two games. He finished with four RBIs.

Lugo (5-1) allowed just one hit, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s single in the first, until Toronto catcher Danny Jansen homered with two outs in the seventh. The solo blast was Jansen’s third of the season.

ATHLETICS 4, PIRATES 0

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Ross Stripling threw six strong scoreless innings to earn his first win in nearly two years, and Oakland hit two home runs to beat Pittsburgh to complete their first series sweep of the season.

Abraham Toro and Phil Nevin both went deep to help the A’s to their fourth straight victory in front of another sparse crowd of 4,679 at the Coliseum. Kyle McCann added two hits and an RBI.

Stripling (1-5), acquired from San Francisco in the offseason, had lost 10 consecutive decisions for the A’s and Giants before putting the clamps on the Pirates offense. The veteran right-hander allowed three hits, had two strikeouts and retired the final seven batters he faced to gain his first win since Oct. 1, 2022.

Five Oakland relievers combined for three innings to complete the A’s fourth shutout of the season.

BRAVES 5, MARINERS 2

SEATTLE (AP) — Chris Sale allowed one run over five innings and struck out nine, Austin Riley had the big blow at the plate with a two-run triple, and Atlanta salvaged the final game of a three-game series with a win over Seattle.

The NL East-leading Braves rebounded after suffering back-to-back defeats for the first time this season with another strong start from Sale and Atlanta’s offense taking advantage of an error to score four unearned runs off Seattle starter Emerson Hancock.

Sale (4-1) continued to flash signs of his former self — one of the most dominant lefties in the game before injuries sidetracked his career. He used his assortment of arm angles and pitch shapes to reach a season high in strikeouts while scattering six hits. The only run Sale allowed came with two outs in the fifth inning on Jorge Polanco’s blooper.

Sale won his third straight decision and has a 2.36 ERA over his last three starts.

Seattle brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth, when Raisel Iglesias walked Luke Raley and gave up a single to Julio Rodríguez. But Iglesias got popups from Haniger and Polanco and a groundout from Cal Raleigh to finish off his eighth save.

PHILLIES 2, ANGELS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Kyle Schwarber had a two-run single in the second inning, Alec Bohm extended his hitting streak to 15 games and Philadelphia defeated the Los Angeles Angels.

Philadelphia won the getaway game despite striking out 18 times, the 11th time since 1906 the team has whiffed at least that many times in a game.

Nick Castellanos struck out four times for the fifth time in his career.

Ehire Adrianza hit his first home run in three years for the Angels, who went 3-6 on their homestand and have not won any of their five home series this season.

Los Angeles went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position. It had runners on first and third with one out in the ninth, but Gregory Soto struck out Jo Adell and Taylor Ward hit a deep fly ball to the warning track in left field where Schwarber caught it for the final out to secure Soto’s second save.

PADRES 6, REDS 2

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jake Cronenworth hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the seventh inning and Jurickson Profar had four hits for San Diego who beat Cincinnati to take two of three in the series.

Cronenworth hit his third career grand slam and the second for the Padres this season. It came after Tyler Wade opened the inning with a bunt single over the head of reliever Fernando Cruz (1-2), followed by Profar’s single and Fernando Tatis Jr.’s walk. Cronenworth connected to right on the first pitch he saw from Cruz.

Profar, re-signed in the offseason to a $1 million, one-year contract, extended his hitting streak to eight games. He had a two-run single in the fourth.

Until Cronenworth’s slam, the biggest moment of the game was when Reds center fielder Stuart Fairchild made a sensational leaping catch to rob Manny Machado of a three-run homer.

YANKEES 2, ORIOLES 0

BALTIMORE (AP) — Luis Gil outdueled Corbin Burnes, Oswaldo Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning and New York topped Baltimore Orioles.

Gil (2-1) allowed two hits and a walk over a career-high 6 1/3 innings in another low-scoring game between the top two teams in the AL East. Baltimore began this four-game series with victories of 2-0 and 4-2, but Gil’s performance helped the Yankees ensure they weren’t swept.

The game was significant enough that New York used closer Clay Holmes for the final five outs in his longest outing of the season. He struck out Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman with two on to end the eighth, then pitched around a leadoff single in the ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances.

The teams are back in a virtual tie for first place, with the Orioles (19-11) percentage points ahead of New York (20-12).

MARLINS 4, ROCKIES 1

MIAMI (AP) — Roddery Muñoz pitched six strong innings to get his first major league win and Miami beat Colorado.

Making his second major league start, the 24-year-old Muñoz (1-0) gave up one run and three hits while striking out seven and walking two. After allowing two base runners in the first, Muñoz retired 11 straight before Elehuris Montero’s one-out single in the fifth.

Emmanuel Rivera singled twice and walked, while Luis Arraez and Bryan De La Cruz each drove in a run for the Marlins, who won their first series of the season. Dane Myers drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single in the eighth and has five RBIs over the last two games.

The Rockies are the first team since 1900 to have trailed at one point in each of their first 30 games.

Arraez hit a two-out RBI single against Rockies starter Dakota Hudson and scored on De La Cruz’s double to put Miami ahead 2-0 in the fifth.

Elias Díaz’s run-scoring grounder in the sixth got the Rockies to 2-1 after Muñoz walked Brenton Doyle and allowed Ryan McMahon’s double.

RED SOX 6, GIANTS 2

BOSTON (AP) — Kutter Crawford pitched a career-high seven innings, Connor Wong had three hits and the Boston beat San Francisco.

Crawford (2-1) allowed two runs on four hits — including a home run — and two walks with six strikeouts as the Red Sox won their fourth straight. The right-hander’s previous career high was 6 1/3 innings on April 17, 2023, against the Los Angeles Angels.

Wong was 3 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.

Jarren Duran also reached base three times for Boston, with two walks and his fourth triple of the season.

Chris Martin and Greg Weissert each pitched a scoreless inning in relief for Boston.

Dalton Jefferies (0-2) pitched 2 2/3 innings of relief, giving up four runs on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts for San Francisco. He lowered his ERA from 22.50 to 17.36.