Mets defeat Cardinals in 18 innings
ST. LOUIS — Ruben Tejada hit a sacrifice fly in the 18th inning and the New York Mets outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals despite stranding 25 baserunners.
The Mets went 1 for 26 with runners in scoring position, yet still won the majors’ second-longest game this season. Boston beat the Yankees in 19 innings in April. It took 5 hours, 55 minutes for the Mets to top the NL Central-leading Cardinals and avoid a three-game sweep.
Tejada hit a bases-loaded fly for the lead and Eric Campbell drove in another run with a squeeze bunt.
The game was scoreless until before both teams got a run in the 13th.
Carlos Torres (3-4), the seventh Mets pitcher, was the winner. Carlos Martinez (10-4) was pressed into relief and was the Cardinals’ eighth pitcher.
L.A. Dodgers 5, Washington 0: Zack Greinke extended his scoreless streak to 43 2/3 innings, striking out a season-high 11 through the eighth and leading the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Washington Nationals 5-0 Sunday.
Greinke’s string is the longest in the majors since Orel Hershiser set the major league record of 59 shutout innings in 1988 with the Dodgers. Greinke (9-2) leads the big leagues with a 1.30 ERA. He scattered three singles, walked one and threw 119 pitches in eight innings.
Philadelphia 8, Miami 7: Jeff Francoeur’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Philadelphia Phillies over the Miami Marlins.
Ryan Howard and Freddy Galvis also homered for the Phillies. Philadelphia ace Cole Hamels was roughed up for the second straight outing, giving up five runs and eight hits in three innings. The left-hander, considered to be a top candidate to be dealt at the trading deadline, gave up a career-worst nine runs in 3 1/3 innings in his last outing.
San Francisco 2, Arizona 1: Madison Bumgarner and four relievers scattered nine hits and Justin Maxwell homered, helping the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Bumgarner (10-5) pitched five innings for the win, allowing a run and four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in his first start since July 10.
Chicago Cubs 4, Atlanta 1: Jake Arrieta pitched seven dominant innings and Jorge Soler homered to help the Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves.
Arrieta (11-5) gave up three hits, three walks and struck out 10, throwing 73 of his 112 pitches for strikes. Over his last six starts, the right-hander is 5-0 with a 0.96 ERA.
Houston 10, Texas 0: Astros ace Dallas Keuchel struck out a career-high 13 in seven scoreless innings, leading Houston over the Texas Rangers.
Keuchel (12-4), the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game last Tuesday night, retired 18 straight batters during one stretch. The Rangers piled up a total of 29 hits in the first two games of the series, but couldn’t do anything against Keuchel. He leads the AL with a 2.12 ERA.
N.Y. Yankees 2, Seattle 1: Mark Teixeira homered with two outs in the eighth inning, and the New York Yankees rallied for a victory over the Seattle Mariners for a series win.
On a steamy day with a game-time temperature of 92 degrees – a thermometer in the photographers’ well down the first-base line read over 100 – both Cy Young Award winning starters, CC Sabathia and Felix Hernandez, were done after six impressive innings with the score tied 1-all.
Baltimore 9, Detroit 3: Jonathan Schoop hit a three-run homer – part of Baltimore’s six-run fourth inning against Justin Verlander – and the Orioles routed the Detroit Tigers.
Kansas City 4, Chicago White Sox 1: Danny Duffy took a shutout into the ninth inning in the longest outing of his career, and the surging Kansas City Royals beat Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox.
Oakland 14, Minnesota 1: Jake Smolinski homered twice for four RBIs, Josh Reddick hit a grand slam and the Oakland Athletics slugged past the Minnesota Twins.
Toronto 4, Tampa Bay 0: Marco Estrada pitched eight shutout innings to outduel Chris Archer, Chris Colabello and Jose Bautista each hit two-run homers and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays.
Cleveland 5, Cincinnati 3: Yan Gomes drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in the tiebreaking run in the 11th inning and the Cleveland Indians beat the Cincinnati Reds.