Major League Baseball

Mets strand 25 but withstand Cardinals in 18

National League

ST. LOUIS -- Ruben Tejada hit a sacrifice fly in the 18th inning and New York Mets outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 Sunday 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 scored 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.

The Mets got 16 hits and drew 13 walks. Kevin Plawecki hit an RBI single for their lone run until the 18th.

The Cardinals got 13 hits, including Kolten Wong's leadoff home run in the 13th inning, and five walks.

PHILLIES 8, MARLINS 7 Jeff Francoeur's two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted host Philadelphia over Miami. Ryan Howard and Freddy Galvis also hit home runs for the Phillies.

BREWERS 6, PIRATES 1 Rookie Taylor Jungmann pitched seven strong innings, Khris Davis hit a two-run double and host Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh for a sweep. Jungmann (5-1), added to the Brewers' roster in early June, won his third consecutive decision. He gave up one run and five hits.

GIANTS 2, DIAMONDBACKS 1 Madison Bumgarner and four relievers scattered nine hits and Justin Maxwell hit a home run, helping the visiting San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bumgarner (10-5) pitched 5 innings for the victory, allowing a run and 4 hits with 3 strikeouts and a walk in his first start since July 10. The Giants won their sixth consecutive game and swept their second consecutive three-game series.

CUBS 4, BRAVES 1 Jake Arrieta pitched seven dominant innings and Jorge Soler hit a home run to help the visiting Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves. Arrieta (11-5) gave up 3 hits, 3 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. Shelby Miller (5-6) struck out 8 and allowed 4 hits, 4 walks and 3 runs -- 1 earned -- in 6 innings for the Braves. Atlanta has lost seven of eight.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

ASTROS 10, RANGERS 0 Astros ace Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) struck out a career-high 13 in seven scoreless innings, leading host 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 consecutive 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 who leads the AL with a 2.12 ERA.

YANKEES 2, MARINERS 1 Mark Teixeira hit a home run with two outs in the eighth inning, and the host New York Yankees rallied for a victory over the Seattle Mariners for a series victory. 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 1-1.

ORIOLES 9, TIGERS 3 Jonathan Schoop hit a three-run home run -- part of visiting Baltimore's six-run fourth inning against Justin Verlander -- and the visiting Orioles routed the Detroit Tigers. Adam Jones also hit a home run for the Orioles, and J.J. Hardy added a two-run double. Verlander (0-3) allowed 7 runs and 8 hits in 3 2/3 innings.

ROYALS 4, 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 host Chicago White Sox. Lorenzo Cain and Paulo Orlando hit home runs as Kansas City (55-35) moved a season-high 20 games above .500. The AL Central leaders took three of four in the weekend series and have won 11 of 14 overall.

ATHLETICS 14, TWINS 1 Jake Smolinski hit two home runs for four RBI, Josh Reddick hit a grand slam and the host Oakland Athletics slugged past the Minnesota Twins. Billy Butler and Josh Phegley hit two-run home runs for the A's, who cleared the fences a season-high five times to boost their 2015 total to 80.

BLUE JAYS 4, RAYS 0 Marco Estrada pitched eight shutout innings to outduel Chris Archer, Chris Colabello and Jose Bautista each hit two-run home runs and the host Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays. The Blue Jays snapped a streak of four consecutive series losses. Estrada (7-5) allowed two hits through the first seven innings, with both runners erased trying to steal.

INTERLEAGUE

INDIANS 5, REDS 3, (11) Yan Gomes drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in the tiebreaking run in the 11th inning and the visiting Cleveland Indians beat the Cincinnati Reds. Jason Kipnis added a sacrifice fly in the 11th for Cleveland, which scored its first four runs on walks.

Sports on 07/20/2015

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