CLEVELAND — Yasiel Puig drove in his first two runs for Cleveland, Mike Clevinger won his fifth consecutive decision Friday night and the Indians beat the Los Angeles Angels, 7-3.
Puig, acquired from Cincinnati in a blockbuster trade Wednesday, had RBI singles in the first and second, helping Cleveland take an early 6-1 lead.
Puig also showed off his defensive skills in right field. He made a leaping catch on the warning track of Andrelton Simmons’ line drive in the fourth and ran down Kole Calhoun’s fly ball in the corner in the eighth.
Puig is 3 for 7 in two games for the Indians and instantly has become a fan favorite. The crowd of 28,386 gave him a loud ovation before each at-bat and chanted his name on several occasions.
Clevinger (6-2) gave up one run in 6 1/3 innings – a solo homer to Mike Trout in the first. The blast was Trout’s 36th of the season and moved him into a tie for the major league lead with Christian Yelich of Milwaukee.
BLUE JAYS 5, ORIOLES 2: Freddy Galvis had a home run among his three hits, Brandon Drury also went deep and Toronto won at Baltimore for its season-high fifth straight victory.
Galvis hit his 17th homer in the fourth inning off Aaron Brooks (2-5) and Drury connected in the sixth for a 4-0 lead. Toronto has seven home runs in the first two games of the series and a major league-leading 81 since June 16.
Not only have the Blue Jays won five straight for the first time since last Aug. 20-25, they’re riding their first five-game road winning streak since August 2015.
Chris Davis homered for the Orioles in this matchup between the last two teams in the AL East.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CUBS 6, BREWERS 2: Javier Baez homered and drove in three runs, and Chicago won at home.
Jose Quintana pitched solidly into the seventh inning and Jason Heyward also went deep to help Chicago move within a half-game of first-place St. Louis in the NL Central.
Baez ripped two doubles and scored twice. Quintana (9-7) also singled in a run as he won his fifth straight decision. He allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out five, and was given a five-run lead as the Cubs came out swinging at home following a 3-6 trip that ended with an 8-0 drubbing Thursday night at St. Louis.
REDS 5, BRAVES 2: Joey Votto homered and drove in three runs, Alex Wood pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and Cincinnati won at Atlanta.
Wood (1-0) was sharp in his second start since returning from a season-long back injury, allowing five baserunners, and solo homers to Austin Riley in the fifth and Ronald Acuna Jr. in the sixth. Wood struck out five.
PIRATES 8, METS 4: Starling Marte’s three-run homer in the seventh inning broke open a tight game and Pittsburgh won at home to snap New York’s seven-game winning streak.
The Pirates led 5-4 when Marte turned on a pitch from Tyler Bashlor and sent it into the seats in left field for his 19th home run of season.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.