Joc Pederson of the Cubs jokes with Patrick Wisdom, center, after hitting a home run in the fourth inning Wednesday. Gregory Bull/Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — Joc Pederson and Sergio Alcantara homered, and Jake Arrieta threw five strong innings for the Chicago Cubs, who beat former teammate Yu Darvish and the San Diego Padres 3-1 Wednesday to take 2 of 3.
The Cubs beat the Padres five times in six games in a 10-day stretch, including a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field last week.
Darvish (6-2) retired the first nine batters before Pederson hit a towering home run to right-center field leading off the fourth to tie it at 1. Pederson mimicked Fernando Tatis Jr.’s stutter step as he approached third base on his trot. It was Pederson’s seventh.
Darvish pitched well but took the loss when the Cubs scored the go-ahead run in the seventh on Anthony Rizzo’s double-play ball. Darvish opened the inning by walking Ian Happ and allowing a single to right by Patrick Wisdom before Rizzo hit into a 4-6-3 double play to bring in Happ.
Alcantara homered off Emilio Pagan with one out in the eighth, his first.
Arrieta allowed one run and four hits in five innings, struck out six and walked one. He finished strong, striking out the side in the fifth after allowing a leadoff single to former Cubs catcher Victor Caratini.
Arrieta allowed Manny Machado’s RBI single in the third.
PHILLIES 2, BRAVES 1: Luke Williams walked Philadelphia off with his first big league homer, hitting a two-run shot with two outs in the ninth inning to beat Atlanta.
The Phillies had just four hits and made 15 straight outs before Andrew McCutchen drew a one-out walk off Will Smith (1-5) in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Brad Miller popped out to second, bringing up Williams, who was promoted from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Tuesday for his first taste of the majors.
Williams drove an 0-1 slider over the wall in left. It was the 24-year-old’s first homer in an affiliated game since connecting on Aug. 23, 2019 for Double-A Reading.
REDS 7, BREWERS 3: Vladimir Gutierrez pitched seven effective innings, Tyler Stephenson drove in three runs and Cincinnati stopped visiting Milwaukee’s five-game win streak.
Gutierrez (2-1) allowed two runs and six hits in the longest of his three big league starts. The right-hander struck out seven and walked three in his second straight win.
ROCKIES 4, MARLINS 3: Raimel Tapia hit two doubles, singled and scored twice, and Colorado earned a rare road victory.
Charlie Blackmon had two hits and an RBI for the Rockies, who are a major league-worst 5-23 on the road – compared to 20-14 at Coors Field.
Tapia has eight doubles in June after he hit four over the first two months of the season.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
MARINERS 9, TIGERS 6: Jake Fraley made a game-saving catch in the ninth inning, then drove in the go-ahead run in the 11th to lead Seattle at Detroit.
Fraley robbed Isaac Paredes of a game-ending homer with one out in the ninth, reaching well over the left-field fence to make the catch, then threw to first for an inning-ending double play.
After both teams scored one run in the 10th, Fraley gave the Mariners a 5-4 lead with a one-out RBI single in the 11th.
INTERLEAGUE
RANGERS 4, GIANTS 3: Brock Holt hit a game-ending single with two outs in the 11th inning and Texas beat visiting San Francisco for its second win in 14 games.
Holt lined a single to center off lefty Jake McGee (2-2) after the Giants intentionally walked leadoff hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa to get to the left-handed hitter.
Nate Lowe, who had a tying pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, started the 11th on second base. There were two popups before he scored to end the Rangers’ fourth walk-off win this season. They are 7-2 in extra innings and ended a 13-game interleague losing streak that had matched a major league record.
The Giants, still with the NL’s best record at 38-23, matched a 20-year-old club record with multiple homers in their seventh consecutive road game.
ATHLETICS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 0: Sean Manaea pitched six innings of two-hit ball, and Oakland handed Arizona its 19th straight road loss.
Mark Canha had two hits and two RBI for Oakland, and Jed Lowrie finished with three hits. The AL West leaders won for the sixth time in seven games.
The Diamondbacks dropped their seventh straight game overall. Their road slide is the longest such streak in major league baseball since 1985.
Manaea (5-2) extended his scoreless streak to 15 innings. He struck out three and walked two in his second straight win.
METS 14, ORIOLES 1: Kevin Pillar and Billy McKinney each homered twice, and visiting New York beat Matt Harvey decisively for the second time this season.
Harvey, who helped New York win the National League pennant in 2015, has faced the Mets twice this year, on May 12 and on Wednesday. New York won the May matchup at Citi Field 7-1.
Harvey (3-7) allowed seven runs and eight hits in both games. He lasted 4 1/3 innings the first time and three innings Wednesday.
Pete Alonso and Mason Williams also homered for New York.
NOTES
HALL OF FAME: Baseball’s Hall of Fame is moving this year’s induction ceremony for Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller from July 25 to Sept. 8 so a crowd may attend as coronavirus restrictions ease.
The ceremony will take place outdoors on the Hall’s lawn as a ticketed event with a limit on crowd size, the Hall said. Tickets will be available starting July 12.
The inductions were to have taken place in July 2020 but were postponed due to the pandemic. No candidates were elected in 2021.
The Hall’s award presentations will remain on July 24 as an indoor, television-only event. The presentations include the Baseball Writers’ Association of America Career Excellence Awards for 2020 to the late Nick Cafardo and for 2021 to Dick Kaegel, of the Ford C. Frick Awards for broadcasting excellence for 2020 to Ken Harrelson and for 2021 to Al Michaels, and of the 2020 Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award winner, David Montgomery.
WHITE SOX: The White Sox will return to 100% capacity at Guaranteed Rate Field starting with a June 25 game against Seattle.
The announcement came five days after the Chicago Cubs said they will move to 100% at Wrigley Field for their June 11 game against St. Louis. More than half the 30 big league teams have announced returns to full capacity.
The White Sox said the June 25 game will be followed by postgame fireworks. Season-ticket holders will return to their regular locations, and seating pods will be eliminated.
Only Texas among the 30 major league teams began this season at 100% after fans weren’t permitted last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Atlanta went to full capacity on May 7.
Others announcing the move to full capacity in-season have been Arizona (May 25), Boston (May 29), Kansas City (May 31), Baltimore (June 1), Cincinnati and Cleveland (June 2), Detroit (June 8), Washington (June 11), Philadelphia (June 12), St. Louis (June 14), Houston and Milwaukee (June 25), and Minnesota (July 5).
METS: Slugger Pete Alonso accused Major League Baseball of manipulating the baseballs to harm the earning potential for star free agents and players eligible for arbitration.
Alonso was responding to a question about the crackdown on sticky substances used by pitchers.
“I think that the biggest concern is that Major League Baseball manipulates the baseballs year in and year out depending on the free agency class – or guys being in an advanced part of their arbitration,” Alonso said. “So I do think that’s a big issue – the ball being different every single year. … Maybe if the league didn’t change the baseball, pitchers wouldn’t need to use as much sticky stuff.”
When asked a follow-up question about this, Alonso remained firm. His implication was that the balls are friendlier to hitters in a year when a number of top pitchers are about to hit free agency – and vice versa.
“That’s a fact,” he said. “Guys have talked about it, but I mean, in 2019, there was a huge class of free-agent pitchers, and then that’s, quote-unquote, the juiced balls. Then 2020, it was a strange year with the COVID season, but now that we’re back to playing like a regular season with a ton of shortstops or position players that are going to be paid a lot of money, high-caliber players, I mean yeah, it’s not a coincidence.”
The league did not comment on Alonso’s charge.
MLB informed teams in February that it planned to slightly deaden the baseballs for the 2021 season following a years-long surge in home runs. In 2019, 3.6% of plate appearances ended in a homer, a number that has dropped to 3.1% this year.
RANGERS: Closer Ian Kennedy was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a mild left hamstring strain.
Kennedy’s last appearance was in 30-pitch outing Friday night at home against Tampa Bay, when he got his 12th save of the season. It was the right-hander’s first save opportunity in two weeks.
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