May 19, 2018 4 min read

Billy Hamilton drew a bases-loaded walk with no outs in the 11th inning and the Cincinnati Reds outlasted the Chicago Cubs 5-4 Saturday in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.

The benches cleared in the seventh when Javier Baez exchanged words with Reds reliever Amir Garrett after striking out to end the inning. The fracas was quickly broken up.

The Reds topped a Chicago team that rallied three times to tie it. Ian Happ homered, tripled and doubled for the Cubs, who drew a large contingent of fans to Great American Ball Park.

Cincinnati loaded the bases in the 11th off Justin Wilson (1-1) on a walk to Scott Schebler, a bloop single by Tucker Barnhart and a walk to Adam Duvall. The Cubs went to a five-man infield with the speedy Hamilton up, but he drew a walk-off walk on five pitches.

Dylan Floro (1-0) earned his first career win with two relief innings.

L.A. Dodgers 4, Washington 1: Ross Stripling struck out a career-high nine in six innings, Max Muncy drove in two runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals 4-1 in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

The Nationals suffered a potentially significant injury when Howie Kendrick went to the ground after catching Muncy’s sacrifice fly to deep left in the eighth. Kendrick, who’s hitting a team-leading .303, put no weight on his right leg and was taken off the field on a cart.

He was later placed on the 10-day disabled list with an Achilles injury.

Stripling (1-1) struck out the side in the first inning and then fanned the final five batters he faced, getting Bryce Harper during each of those stretches, in the longest and best of his four starts this season. He allowed one run on four hits, walking none.

Philadelphia 7, St. Louis 6: Odubel Herrera homered and Jorge Alfaro drove in the go-ahead run to propel the Philadelphia Phillies to a 7-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Alfaro was scratched with right knee soreness after originally being in the lineup. He was removed from Friday night’s game with soreness in the knee. Alfaro pinch hit for Andrew Knapp in the eighth inning and knocked a single up the middle to drive in Scott Kingery.

Greg Holland (0-2) surrendered two runs while getting just two outs.

Herrera extended his streak of reaching base to 45 consecutive games with his third inning home run.

Tommy Hunter (1-0) was initially in line for the loss after allowing an RBI double to Matt Carpenter in the seventh inning. Carpenter drove in Tommy Pham with a double off Hunter to give the Cardinals a 6-5 lead in the seventh inning.

American League

Oakland 5, Toronto 4: Chad Pinder hit his first career grand slam and the Oakland Athletics overcame a four-run deficit, rallying to score five times in the eighth inning to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4.

The Athletics have homered in all nine games of their current road trip, hitting 18 total home runs. They’re 6-3 on the swing with one game remaining.

The Blue Jays did all their scoring in the fifth. Gio Urshela hit a two-run homer, Yangervis Solarte hit an RBI double and Kevin Pillar added a sacrifice fly.

It stayed that way until the eighth, when Stephen Piscotty hit a one-out RBI single off reliever John Axford.

Tyler Clippard (4-1) came on and retired Dustin Fowler, then walked pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie to load the bases for Pinder, who connected on a 1-1 pitch.

Emilio Pagan (1-0) worked two innings for the win. Lou Trivinio pitched the eighth and Blake Treinen finished for his 10th save in 12 opportunities as Oakland won for the fifth time in six games.

Toronto has lost 11 of 14 at home, including the past five straight.

Cleveland 5, Houston 4: Corey Kluber struck out 10, Michael Brantley and Yan Gomes hit home runs and the Cleveland Indians defeated the Houston Astros 5-4.

The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner made his 22nd straight start of allowing no more than three earned runs, breaking the team record set by Sonny Siebert in 1965.

Kluber (7-2) gave up two runs – on Carlos Correa’s eighth homer in the sixth – and six hits in seven innings. He walked none and dominated the World Series champions in the first four innings, striking out eight in that stretch.

Houston starter Dallas Keuchel (3-6) allowed four runs and six hits, striking out three in five innings. This is the first time Keuchel has given up four or more runs in a start since April 27 against Oakland.