NEW YORK — Michael Conforto hit a tiebreaking homer moments after an embarrassing error by Cleveland Indians left fielder Oscar Mercado, and the resurgent New York Mets rolled from there to a 9-2 victory Tuesday night.
J.D. Davis also went deep and Steven Matz (8-7) permitted only one earned run in 61/3 innings as the Mets opened a critical homestand against a trio of playoff contenders with a resounding performance.
New York (65-60), which began the day two games out of a wild-card spot, improved to 25-10 since the All-Star break and matched a season best at five games over .500.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ANGELS 5, RANGERS 1: Mike Trout matched the MLB lead with his career-best 42nd homer, Andrew Heaney had a career-high 14 strikeouts without a walk over eight innings and Los Angeles won the first game of a day-night doubleheader at Arlington, Texas.
Trout lined a two-run shot into the left field seats immediately after David Fletcher led off the game with a single off Joe Palumbo (0-2). It was Trout’s 10th homer this year against the Rangers, matching the most ever by an opponent against them in a season.
MARINERS 7, RAYS 4: Tom Murphy hit a tiebreaking homer, his sixth in the last four games, in the sixth to lift Seattle at St. Petersburg, Florida.
Murphy’s 16th homer of the season came off Jalen Beeks (5-3) after a walk to Kyle Seager. Murphy became the first Mariners catcher to homer in four straight games.
ORIOLES 4, ROYALS 1: Hanser Alberto hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth, and host Baltimore ended an eight-game skid.
Royals reliever Jacob Barnes (1-2) sandwiched a pair of walks around two outs before Alberto hit a 1-1 pitch into the Baltimore bullpen for his eighth home run. As the ball cleared the wall, Alberto raised his right arm in the air and smiled broadly approaching second base.
Hunter Harvey (1-0) worked a perfect eighth to earn his first major league win.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
PIRATES 4, NATIONALS 1: Starling Marte hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in eighth inning, and Pittsburgh won at home.
After struggling to manage anything off Stephen Strasburg through seven innings, Pittsburgh loaded the bases against Wander Suero (3-7) with nobody out in the eighth when Adam Frazier bunted a single past the mound. Bryan Reynolds tied it 1-1 with a sacrifice fly before Marte drove a fastball from Daniel Hudson 397 feet to right-center for his 22nd homer of the season.
Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez (3-1) went 1 1/3 innings, allowing one hit with one strikeout.
BRAVES 5, MARLINS 1: Freddie Freeman homered twice and drove in four runs, Dallas Keuchel kept working out of trouble and the Atlanta beat visiting Miami.
Freeman sent one went the opposite way into the Marlins bullpen against Elieser Hernandez in the fourth. The next inning, the Braves slugger went deep again with two outs to break a 1-1 tie, launching a pitch from Tyler Kinley (1-1) into the right-field seats for his 33rd homer of the season.
REDS 3, PADRES 2: Freddy Galvis hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth, and Aristides Aquino added an RBI single as Cincinnati won at home.
Galvis, claimed off waivers from Toronto on August 12, followed Josh VanMeter’s second hit of the game with an opposite-field drive to left. It was his second home run in two nights and career-high 21st of the season.
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