CINCINNATI — Pete Alonso hit his major league-leading 50th home run, Jacob deGrom pitched shutout ball for seven innings and the New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-1 Friday night.
Amed Rosario hit a two-run homer and Jeff McNeil added a solo shot for the Mets.
Alonso is two homers shy of Yankees star Aaron Judge’s 2017 total for the rookie record. The right-handed hitter connected on a two-run blast in the eighth inning against reliever Sal Romano, reaching for a down-and-away pitch and lining it an estimated 437 feet to right-center field. Alonso is the second rookie to reach 50 homers, and he leads Cincinnati’s Eugenio Suarez by two for most in the majors.
The Reds intentionally walked Alonso during New York’s three-run ninth.
DeGrom (10-8) struck out nine and didn’t walk anybody to match his win total from last season, when he won the NL Cy Young Award. He could be a repeat winner after dropping his ERA to 2.51.
CARDINALS 2, CUBS 1: Yadier Molina had three of St. Louis’ four hits, including a two-run single, and the visiting Cardinals held off the fading Cubs.
Carlos Martinez got the final two outs a day after a brutal blown save, and the Cardinals stretched their NL Central lead to 3 1/2 games over Milwaukee and five games over Chicago. The Cubs are 1 1/2 games behind the Brewers for the second NL wild card, with Milwaukee set to play later Friday against Pittsburgh.
Chicago has totaled nine runs while losing its past four games. The Cardinals have won the first two games of this key four-game set, and they’ll play the Cubs five more times over their final eight games.
The Cubs scored their run following a St. Louis error in the second inning, and the Cardinals rallied in the sixth.
David Phelps (2-1), the second of eight Cubs relievers, walked Paul Goldschmidt and Marcell Ozuna to start the inning. Steve Cishek took over and walked Matt Carpenter to load the bases before Molina grounded a 2-2 pitch up the middle.
BRAVES 6, GIANTS 0: The Atlanta Braves clinched their second straight NL East title as Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his 41st homer against visiting San Francisco, which was eliminated from postseason contention in Bruce Bochy’s last year as manager.
Acuna scored three runs to back Mike Foltynewicz (8-5), who allowed three hits in eight innings. Atlanta’s 19th division title tied the New York Yankees for the most since Major League Baseball split into divisions for the 1969 season.
NATIONALS 6, MARLINS 4: Trea Turner hit two solo homers as Washington won at Miami.
The Marlins became the third team to lose 100 games this season, joining the Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers. Miami also had 100-loss seasons in 1998 and 2013.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ORIOLES 5, MARINERS 3: Baltimore got home runs from Anthony Santander and Hanser Alberto to win at home.
Aaron Brooks (6-8) threw seven innings of one-hit ball in relief of opener Richard Bleier to help the Orioles end Seattle’s five-game winning streak.
BLUE JAYS 4, YANKEES 3: Star second baseman Gleyber Torres prompted an audible gasp from the Yankee Stadium crowd when his right leg buckled while fielding a grounder and made an early exit as New York lost at home.
Torres said his lower legs felt weakness. Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said he expects him to be OK but pulled him as a precaution. Torres leads the AL East champions with 38 home runs and is hitting .284 with 90 RBI.
Aaron Judge and Tyler Wade homered for the Yankees a day after they clinched the division.
Justin Smoak hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh to help Toronto match a season high with its fifth straight victory. He connected off Tommy Kahnle (3-2) as the Yankees’ bullpen wobbled in the late innings for the third time in a week.
ASTROS 6, ANGELS 4: Carlos Correa hit two home runs, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman also connected and host Houston dropped its magic number to clinch the AL Central to one.
Zack Greinke (17-5) retired his first six batters before Kevan Smith hit his first pitch of the third inning into the bullpen in right-center to cut the lead to 5-1.
WHITE SOX 10, TIGERS 1: Eloy Jimenez hit a grand slam in the fourth inning, and Yoan Moncada also went deep as Chicago won at Detroit.
Tim Anderson had two more hits in his pursuit of the American League batting title, and the White Sox chased Jordan Zimmermann (1-12) in the fourth.
INTERLEAGUE
INDIANS 5, PHILLIES 2: Carlos Carrasco got his first save in five years, and Cleveland beat visiting Philadelphia to maintain position for the second AL wild card and damage the Phillies’ playoff chances.
Cleveland’s fifth straight win eliminated the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox from postseason contention. No team has repeated since the New York Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000.
NOTES
YANKEES: Pitcher Domingo German won’t return in the regular season or playoffs, ESPN reported. German was placed on administrative leave on Thursday while MLB investigates a domestic violence case.
Baseball’s joint (between the union and commissioner’s office) domestic violence policy is open-ended. Players can be put on leave for seven days, or longer if the union agrees to it.
There’s no police report on German’s incident, but MLB and the union were able to reach an agreement. The Daily News reported Thursday that the incident or incidents were reported directly to the league.
German, 27, had been the Yankees’ best pitcher this season, with 18 wins and a 4.03 ERA. He had pitched on Wednesday, two days after the alleged incident occurred.
NATIONALS: Manager Dave Martinez rejoined the team following a heart procedure that caused him to a miss a three-game series at St. Louis.
The 54-year-old was back in the dugout Friday, four days after a cardiac catheterization.
MARLINS: Don Mattingly says he’s glad to be returning next year as manager to provide stability for a struggling franchise, because as a player he experienced the other extreme.
Mattingly played for the New York Yankees from 1982-95, when they made 12 managerial changes.
He’ll be back for a fifth season with Miami in 2020. His contract announced Friday is for two years plus a mutual option for 2022.
The Marlins also announced a two-year contract with shortstop Miguel Rojas that includes an option for 2022.
Mattingly’s contract had been set to expire after this season, his fourth in Miami. CEO Derek Jeter, another former Yankee, said Mattingly remains the right person for the job.
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