ATLANTA — Rafael Ortega hit a sixth-inning grand slam Sunday to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 5-3 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ortega, recalled Tuesday from the minors, made the most of only his second start with the Braves with his first career grand slam. It came off Dustin May.
May (1-2) couldn’t hold a 3-1 lead. He walked Brian McCann, gave up a single to Matt Joyce and hit Adeiny Hechavarria with a pitch to load the bases before giving up Ortega’s homer into the Braves’ bullpen.
“I was just trying to just focus on trying to make good contact with the ball,” Ortega said through a translator.
PADRES 3, PHILLIES 2: Austin Hedges had four hits, including a tiebreaking homer in the seventh, and Joey Lucchesi pitched six strong innings to lead San Diego at Philadelphia.
Luis Urias also went deep for the Padres, who had lost seven consecutive rubber games before taking 2 of 3 in Philadelphia.
CARDINALS 5, REDS 4: Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer, Tommy Edman added a solo shot among his three hits and St. Louis held on at Cincinnati.
Jack Flaherty’s scoreless streak was snapped at 23 innings, but he allowed only one run in five innings.
NATIONALS 16, BREWERS 8: Washington matched a team record with eight home runs, including two by Juan Soto, and took 2 of 3 at home from a fellow contender in the NL playoff race.
Matt Adams and Victor Robles hit back-to-back homers in the first to give the Nationals a 4-0 lead, and Anthony Rendon and Soto did the same in the third as the advantage ballooned to 13-0. Washington has gone for back-to-back homers 10 times this season.
ROCKIES 7, MARLINS 6: Garrett Hampson hit a bases-loaded single in the the 10th inning, and Colorado rallied to win at Denver and complete a three-game sweep.
Nolan Arenado homered twice for Colorado, which has won four straight and swept a series for the first time since June 18-20.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, GIANTS 1: Wilmer Flores and David Peralta homered, Merrill Kelly held San Francisco to one run in 5 2/3 innings, and Arizona won at Phoenix to avoid a four-game series sweep.
Kelly (9-12) struck out five and allowed six hits in his first win at home since June 2. Madison Bumgarner (8-8) took the loss after giving up four runs on six hits in six innings.
CUBS 7, PIRATES 1: Jose Quintana pitched seven crisp innings, Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer and Chicago won in the MLB Little League Classic at Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
MARINERS 7, BLUE JAYS 0: Yusei Kikuchi pitched his first shutout in the major leagues, throwing a two-hitter for Seattle at Toronto.
Kikuchi (5-8), a rookie, struck out eight, walked one and retired the final 14 batters in his first win since beating Baltimore on June 23. He went 0-3 with a 6.53 ERA in eight starts covering 40 innings between victories.
RAYS 5, TIGERS 4: Ji-Man Choi’s two-run single in the ninth inning completed a rally from a late three-run deficit as Tampa Bay won at St. Petersburg, Florida.
The Rays trailed 4-1 after seven before coming back with two in the eighth and then the winning hit in the ninth.
INDIANS 8, YANKEES 4: Mike Clevinger struck out 10 in five shutout innings, Mike Freeman had three extra-base hits and Cleveland won at New York for a four-game split between AL pennant contenders.
A day after Manager Aaron Boone and two other Yankees were ejected for again ranting against umpires, it was a relatively quiet day. Miffed by a strike three call against rookie Mike Ford, Boone merely threw his hands up and walked down the dugout steps without saying a word.
ASTROS 4, ATHLETICS 1: Zack Greinke threw seven smooth innings for his 200th win as Houston won at Oakland, California, to avoid a four-game sweep.
Alex Bregman had a go-ahead, three-run homer among his four hits to back Greinke, who won his third straight start since joining the Astros from Arizona at the July 31 trade deadline.
ANGELS 9, WHITE SOX 2: Shohei Ohtani, Kole Calhoun, Matt Thaiss and Anthony Bemboom homered to lead Los Angeles at Anaheim, California.
Ohtani hit his first home run since July 27 and just his second since the All-Star break. He has a nine-game hitting streak, the longest of his young career.
TWINS 6 RANGERS 3: Jorge Polanco cleared the bases with a tiebreaking triple in the eighth inning, helping Minnesota at Arlington, Texas, to its first four-game sweep of Texas.
INTERLEAGUE
METS 11, ROYALS 5: Pete Alonso hit his 40th home run to break the National League rookie record, capping a late outburst by New York at Kansas City, Missouri.
Copy the Story LinkSend 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.