ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brandon Lowe hit his first career grand slam in the second inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied with two runs in the ninth to beat the Cleveland Indians 9-8 on Monday night.

Manuel Margot departed after appearing to hurt his leg when he led off the ninth with a single off off Emmanuel Clase (3-4), his fourth hit of the game. Randy Arozarena singled to move pinch-runner Brett Phillips to second. After Wander Franco tied it with an RBI single, Austin Meadows was intentionally walked before Phillips easily scored from third on Yandy Díaz’s grounder to second.

Pete Fairbanks (2-3) worked a scoreless ninth.

Franmil Reyes homered and drove in five runs for the Indians, who have lost seven straight.

TWINS 8, WHITE SOX 5: Rookie Bailey Ober pitched five scoreless innings for his first major league victory, Max Kepler homered twice and Minnesota held off Chicago in Minneapolis.

Ober (1-1) hit the milestone in his seventh career start, with seven strikeouts and two hits and three walks allowed. In two previous turns against the White Sox, he gave up nine runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Kepler hit a two-run home run in the second. With an RBI single by Trevor Larnach and a two-run triple from Nick Gordon, the Twins built a 6-1 lead and gave White Sox starter Dylan Cease (7-4) the hook in the sixth inning.

Then the AL Central leaders surged back with a four-run seventh, getting a two-run single by Leury García against Caleb Thielbar and a two-run triple by Yoán Moncada off Tyler Duffey.

TIGERS 7, RANGERS 3: Wily Peralta threw seven scoreless innings in his longest big league outing since 2016 and Detroit won in Arlington, Texas.

No. 9 batter Zack Short homered for the Tigers, who have won three in a row and five of six. Former Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara twice drove in a run without a hit.

Peralta (2-1), back in the majors only three weeks, struck out six without a walk while throwing 61 of 91 pitches for strikes. The right-hander allowed only three hits in his fourth start for Detroit.

Kolby Allard (2-5) struck out a career-high nine in his 5 1/3 innings, and only two of the five runs scored against the Texas lefty were earned.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CARDINS 5, GIANTS 3:  Kwang Hyun Kim pitched seven scoreless innings, Matt Carpenter hit a two-run triple in the seventh for the first runs of the game and visiting St. Louis snapped San Francisco’s three-game winning streak.

Kim (3-5) allowed three hits with two strikeouts and two walks.

Donovan Solano and Steven Duggar hit RBI singles in the ninth against Alex Reyes, but San Francisco’s comeback bid fell short.

Giants starter Kevin Gausman didn’t allow a hit until Nolan Arenado’s one-out single in the seventh that started a two-run rally in what had been a scoreless game. After Yadier Molina struck out, Tommy Edman singled before Carpenter’s triple.

Arenado, an NL All-Star, added an RBI single in the eighth. Alex Dickerson slugged a pinch-hit home run in the bottom half of the inning that held up on replay review.

Gausman (8-3) began the day with a 1.68 ERA, the lowest through 16 starts of any Giants pitcher since the team moved West in 1958.

PHILLIES 13, CUBS 3: Odúbel Herrera hit a three-run homer, and Philadelphia went deep five times while handing host Chicago its 10th straight loss.

Andrew Knapp, Didi Gregorius, Rhys Hoskins and Alec Brohm also connected.

The Cubs remained winless since Zach Davies and three relievers combined to no-hit the Dodgers in Los Angeles on June 24. They also extended their worst losing streak since a 12-game slide in May 2012.

Herrera’s drive against reliever Kohl Stewart capped a six-run eighth that broke open a 4-2 game. Brohm also drew a bases-loaded walk and two more came in when third baseman Eric Sogard misplayed Ronald Torreyes’ grounder.

METS 4, BREWERS 2: Pete Alonso broke a seventh-inning tie with a two-run double off All-Star Brandon Woodruff, and New York beat Milwaukee Brewers  in a matchup of National League division leaders, in New York.

Edwin Díaz pitched out of trouble in the ninth, retiring three straight batters with two on after giving up an RBI single to Tyrone Taylor.

Michael Conforto added an RBI single and Dominic Smith had a sacrifice fly for the Mets, who managed only one hit against an efficient Woodruff (7-4) through six innings.

Still, they improved to 25-11 at Citi Field with another stingy pitching performance — New York began the day with a 2.08 ERA at home that was best in the majors — and reached the midpoint of the season with a 44-37 record.

MARLINS 5, DODGERS 4: Jorge Alfaro hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, and the Miami Marlins ended the Los Angeles Dodgers’ nine-game winning streak with a victory in Miami.

Alfaro drove a slider from Dodgers reliever Victor González (3-1) to center field for his third homer of the season.

All-Stars Mookie Betts and Max Muncy and 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger were not in the Dodgers’ starting lineup, but all three pinch-hit in the eighth, when LA scored twice to tie it 4-4.

Miami reliever Zach Pop allowed Albert Pujols’ leadoff single and then walked Will Smith and Muncy. David Hess (1-0) walked Gavin Lux to force in a run and allowed Bellinger’s game-tying sacrifice fly. In his Marlins debut, Hess kept it tied, walking Betts before he retired Chris Taylor on a flyball to right and struck out A.J. Pollock.

PIRATES 11, BRAVES 1: Ben Gamel homered twice and drove in six runs to lead Pittsburgh to a win at home.

Gamel took Max Fried (5-5) over the fence in center field for a two-run home run in the fourth, doubled home Bryan Reynolds in the sixth and added a three-run shot in the seventh as the Pirates won their second straight following a six-game losing streak.

A day after driving in the winning run as a pinch-hitter in a 10-inning victory over Miami, Fried came back down to earth with his worst start since April. The Pirates touched the left-hander for six runs in five-plus innings as Atlanta missed a chance to get back to .500 for the first time since June 8.

REDS 6, ROYALS 2: Eugenio Suarez clubbed a tiebreaking three-run home run shortly after Nick Castellanos hit a tying solo shot and Cincinnati Reds won in Kansas City, Missouri.

Suarez hit a 1-1 pitch off the Royals Hall of Fame in left field to give his team a three-run lead in the seventh inning. The homer was his 17th of the season and came off Kyle Zimmer against his first batter of the game.

Vladimir Gutierrez (4-3) went six innings and gave up two runs, five hits and two walks with six strikeouts.

NOTES

ANGELS: Shohei Ohtani plans to be a pitcher and a hitter in his first All-Star Game next week, his Los Angeles Angels manager says.

Joe Maddon said that he has spoken with AL manager Kevin Cash and given his encouragement to showcase all of the Japanese sensation’s two-way skills on July 13 at Coors Field. Maddon says Ohtani wants to play both ways in Denver, and Cash is on board with the plan.

The current Tampa Bay manager just hasn’t figured out when Ohtani will pitch, according to the former Rays skipper.

“The conclusion is that he will pitch, but how it’s going to happen has not been concluded,” Maddon said. “There’s different ways to do it, obviously. He could start the game, or come in game-in-progress.”

Last weekend, Ohtani — who leads the majors in homers — became the first player in major league history to be selected for an All-Star Game as both a hitter and a pitcher. The fans elected him to the game at the plate, and he received the honor as a pitcher in the final team announcement on Sunday.

DODGERS: Manager Dave Roberts expects pitcher Trevor Bauer to be out beyond the seven-day administrative leave imposed by Major League Baseball slated to end Friday.

Bauer was placed on leave last Friday, three days after an allegation of assault was made by a woman against him. MLB and police are investigating the incident.

The administrative leave – during which a player is paid but cannot play – has been extended for players under the policy in the past.

Roberts expressed doubts about Bauer returning as soon as Friday before the Dodgers opened a four-game series against the Miami Marlins on Monday.

MARLINS: Rookie right-hander Sixto Sánchez will miss the rest of the season after an MRI revealed a small tear in the posterior capsule of his throwing shoulder.

He will undergo arthroscopic surgery.

Expected to be one of the mainstays in the club’s starting rotation, Sánchez has been sidelined all season because of shoulder soreness. Sánchez recently experienced a setback while increasing velocity in a throwing program.

The 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic and top prospect in the Marlins’ system made seven starts last season and finished 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA.

CUBS: Chicago agreed to a one-year contract with catcher Robinson Chirinos. A .231 career hitter over parts of nine seasons with Tampa Bay, Texas, Houston and the New York Mets, Chirinos figures to back up Willson Contreras. He gets an $800,000 salary while in the majors and $150,000 while in the minors.

 

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