Cardinals fall to Blue Jays, 6-5, in extra innings

ST. LOUIS — A sloppy defensive game ended appropriately ended with sloppy defense for the Cardinals on Tuesday.

With two outs in the top of the 11th, Blue Jays outfielder Steve Pearce hit a routine ground ball to shortstop Aledmys Diaz. Diaz gathered the ball cleanly, but threw the ball away from first baseman Jose Martinez.

Standing on second base, Toronto pinch-hitter and pitcher Marcus Stroman, who laced a one-out double to left field earlier in the inning, scored on the error for the winning run.

The Cardinals couldn’t muster anything in the bottom of the frame and fell to the visiting Blue Jays, 6-5, in 11 innings.

St. Louis starter Michael Wacha continued his strong run of starts, allowing just two runs on five hits while striking out six and walking one. He received a no-decision, however, as he was removed with the score at 2-2.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

ASTROS 4, INDIANS 2 Dallas Keuchel pitched a complete game to extend his promising start to the season and the Houston Astros beat the Cleveland Indians even though Jose Altuve and Teoscar Hernandez left following a frightening collision in the eighth inning. ltuve and Hernandez were chasing a popup in right field and stayed down for a while after. Altuve appeared to get hit near his chin by Hernandez’s arm, but he walked off the field under his own power. Hernandez, called up from the minors before the game, was carted off the field with an injury to his left leg. euchel (4-0) gave up solo homers to Austin Jackson in the third and Michael Brantley in the ninth.

RAYS 2, ORIOLES 0 Substitute starter Austin Pruitt combined with four other Tampa Bay relievers on a two-hitter, and the Rays capitalized on Wade Miley’s wildness in a victory over the Baltimore Orioles. On another damp and chilly night at Camden Yards, Rays starter Erasmo Ramirez was a late scratch due to “uncertain weather conditions,” according to the team. Pruitt, a rookie right-hander making his first major league start, allowed one hit in three innings. Danny Farquhar followed by getting two outs; Jumbo Diaz went 1 1/3 innings; Chase Whitley (1-0) contributed three perfect innings and Alex Colome worked the ninth for his fifth save. Tampa Bay pitchers retired 17 straight batters before Chris Davis drew a two-out walk in the ninth. Colome then struck out Mark Trumbo to end it. TWINS 8, RANGERS 1 Ervin Santana delivered his fourth straight outstanding start, Miguel Sano sparked a seven-run fifth inning with a leadoff homer and the Minnesota Twins pounded the Texas Rangers. Santana (4-0) allowed a run, four hits and one walk with six strikeouts in seven innings. He went into the game leading major league starters in ERA (0.64) and opponents’ batting average (.099). Santana’s standout performance came at a venue that had previously frustrated him. In 17 previous starts at Globe Life Park, he was 6-7 with a 6.93 ERA. Kennys Vargas also homered for Minnesota, his first since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester last Sunday. Both homers came off Andrew Cashner (0-2), who labored through his four-plus innings. WHITE SOX 10, ROYALS 5 Todd Frazier drove in three runs, Leury Garcia had three hits and the Chicago White Sox beat Kansas City in their second straight one-sided win over the Royals. A night after beating the Royals 12-1 and outhitting them 15-2, the White Sox outhit Kansas City 14-8. Chicago scored 10 or more runs in consecutive games for the first time since May 26-27, 2012. Kansas City is 0-6 on a seven-game trip, its longest skid since losing eight consecutive games last June. Last in the AL Central at 7-13, the Royals are off to their worst 20-game start since opening 6-14 in 2012, when they finished 72-90. Frazier’s sacrifice fly tied the score in the third inning.

TIGERS 19, MARINERS 9 James McCann, Justin Upton and Alex Avila homered for Detroit — and that was before the Tigers added nine runs in the fifth inning en route to a 19-9 rout of the Seattle Mariners. Felix Hernandez (2-2) allowed four runs in two innings in his shortest outing since 2015, and Seattle’s next two pitchers fared even worse. Detroit finished with 24 hits, 19 of which came in the first five innings. That was despite injuries that kept Miguel Cabrera, J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias out of the lineup. Jordan Zimmermann (2-1) allowed five runs in six innings. Jean Segura, Danny Valencia and Nelson Cruz hit solo homers for Seattle, but that wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with Detroit’s offensive onslaught.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CUBS 1, PIRATES 0 Kyle Hendricks rediscovered his 2016 form, limiting the Pittsburgh Pirates to four hits over six innings to outduel Gerrit Cole and lead the Chicago Cubs to a win. Hendricks (2-1) struck out two and walked three in easily his best start this year. The struggling Pirates managed just four singles off Hendricks and didn’t reach third base until he was out of the game. Wade Davis worked a perfect ninth for his fifth save as the Cubs won for the sixth time in seven games. Addison Russell doubled in the second off Cole (1-3) and scored when second baseman Alen Hanson airmailed first base on a Jason Heyward grounder, the Pirates’ major league-high 20th error this season.

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