BLUE JAYS 6, ROYALS 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- All the Toronto Blue Jays needed to break out of a skid was an impressive outing by Mark Buehrle and two big swings.
Buehrle pitched seven strong innings, Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run home run and the Blue Jays beat Kansas City 6-2 Saturday to snap the Royals' six-game winning streak.
Buehrle (10-5) limited the Royals to two runs and five hits while improving to 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA in his past four starts against them. It was Buehrle's 26th victory over the Royals. Only Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven (34) has more victories against the Royals.
"He continues to roll, on a tough day to pitch," Blue Jays Manager John Gibbons said. "It was hot out there. The offense came to life. We do what we do with a couple of home runs; that was the difference there. Buehrle was really good. They put a run up early and he kicked it up a notch."
Encarnacion's 18th home run in the fourth inning off Chris Young ended the Blue Jays' 27-inning scoring drought.
"If the pitch was executed a little bit better, it might have been a pop up," Young said. "The next at-bat I threw a better slider and he popped it up. It was a mistake. I didn't make too many mistakes today. It's a bad feeling as a pitcher, letting the team down with one pitch. I felt like I executed most of my pitches to give us a chance, but again Buehrle was just better today."
Toronto led 3-2 in the ninth when Danny Valencia, traded by the Royals to the Blue Jays last July 28, hit a three-run home run off rookie Brandon Finnegan to extend the advantage.
"Obviously I played here last year, but we needed a win and I wanted to help the team," Valencia said.
Jose Reyes had three hits, stole three bases, walked, scored a run and drove in a run for the Blue Jays.
Young (7-5), working on 3 days' rest, gave up 3 runs and 5 hits with 2 walks in 6-plus innings. He left after giving up a single to Kevin Pillar to open the inning.
RAYS 3, ASTROS 0 Jake Odorizzi won in his first start in five weeks, Rene Rivera drove in two runs and host Tampa Bay beat sliding Houston. Odorizzi (5-5) scattered 2 hits, walked 3 and struck out 5 over 5 2/3 innings in his initial appearance since straining his left oblique June 5. Brad Boxberger, the fourth Rays reliever, pitched the ninth for his 22nd save to complete a three-hitter. Houston has scored just four runs during a five-game losing streak. The surprising Astros took over first place in the AL West on April 19, but they had their lead dwindle to a half-game over the Los Angeles Angels entering Saturday.
TWINS 9, TIGERS 5 Pine Bluff's Torii Hunter belted a towering two-run home run into the third deck against his former team, the highlight of a 16-hit afternoon for host Minnesota, and the Twins beat Detroit. Trevor Plouffe and Eddie Rosario each had three hits and scored twice. Aaron Hicks hit a two-run triple in the third inning that finished Alfredo Simon's start. Phil Hughes (8-6) gave up a home run to Victor Martinez and a two-run single to James McCann in the fourth, but he took a 7-0 lead into that inning.
ATHLETICS 5, INDIANS 4 Billy Butler’s two-run double with the bases loaded broke a tie in the eighth inning and visiting Oakland beat Cleveland.
RED SOX 5, YANKEES 3 Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run home run, Mookie Betts had two extra-base hits and David Ortiz also had two hits to help host Boston beat first-place New York.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
MARLINS 14, REDS 3 Miami lost All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon to a dislocated left thumb, and the team responded with a franchise-record offensive outburst, routing visiting Cincinnati. Gordon was hurt in the seventh inning sliding headfirst into first base for his third infield hit. He left the game for a pinch runner. The hit was the second of nine in a row, a Marlins record, and they scored eight runs in the inning. Gordon, who leads the majors with 122 hits, was chosen to start in the All-Star Game for the first time. The Marlins were already without All-Star right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, sidelined since June 26 with a broken left hand. The Marlins totaled a season-high 21 hits, and their run total was also a season high after they had scored just 12 runs in the past seven games.
METS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 2 Matt Harvey pitched seven strong innings and hit his first career home run to lead host New York to a victory over Arizona. Lucas Duda homered for the second consecutive game and Ruben Tejada also went deep for the Mets. After giving up a two-run home run to David Peralta in the first inning, Harvey (8-6) settled into a groove and scattered just four singles over his last six innings. Jeurys Familia got the last three outs for his 26th save.
ROCKIES 3, BRAVES 2 Carlos Gonzalez hit a bases-loaded bloop single that dropped between charging center fielder Cameron Maybin and backpedaling shortstop Andrelton Simmons in the ninth inning, driving in the decisive run in Colorado's victory over visiting Atlanta.
INTERLEAGUE
WHITE SOX 5, CUBS 1 Chris Sale dominated into the eighth inning while outpitching Jon Lester, and the visiting Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs for their ninth victory in 11 games. Sale (8-4) showed why he was picked to his fourth consecutive All-Star Game, helping the White Sox move into position to sweep the weekend series with their crosstown rivals. Lester's winless streak reached 10 starts. The White Sox took a 2-0 lead in the first on an RBI triple by rookie Tyler Saladino for his first major league hit and a run-scoring single by Jose Abreu. They broke open the game with three more in the seventh against Lester (4-8), making the most of third baseman Kris Bryant's costly throwing error on Avisail Garcia's grounder.
NATIONALS 7, ORIOLES 4 Bryce Harper and Danny Espinosa hit home runs in a four-run sixth inning, and visiting Washington beat Baltimore to end a three-game skid.
PADRES 6, RANGERS 5 Yangervis Solarte hit a two-run home run off Texas closer Shawn Tolleson with two outs in the ninth inning, and visiting San Diego rallied to end a season-high sixgame losing streak with a victory over the Rangers.
Sports on 07/12/2015