Blue Jays left-hander Robbie Ray reached double digits in strikeouts for his fourth consecutive start and held the Oakland Athletics to one hit Sunday on the way to an 8-0 win in Toronto. Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP
TORONTO — Robbie Ray struck out 10 while pitching one-hit ball into the seventh inning, Marcus Semien hit his 35th home run and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics 8-0 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
Bo Bichette went 4 for 4, scored twice and drove in a run, and Alejandro Kirk homered as Toronto reached double figures in hits for the fourth straight game. The Blue Jays have won seven of eight and are four games behind the Red Sox for the second AL wild-card berth.
The A’s have lost 14 of 20 and are also four games behind Boston.
Ray (11-5) reached double digits in strikeouts for the fourth straight start, the first Blue Jays pitcher to achieve the feat. The only hit he allowed was a one-out double by Khris Davis in the fifth while going 6 2/3 innings.
The left-handed Ray has 212 strikeouts this season, second to New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (215) in the majors.
ORIOLES 8, YANKEES 7: Gary Sánchez hit a grand slam and a two-run homer, but New York blew a late lead and lost again at home against last-place Baltimore.
The Yankees dropped to 7-9 against the Orioles this year. Baltimore went 1-18 against AL East-leading Tampa Bay.
New York wasted leads of 4-1, 5-2 and 7-4 and lost for the sixth time in eight games following its first 13-game winning streak since 1961.
Sánchez hit a slam in the second inning, and his homer in the sixth off Marcos Diplan (1-0) gave the Yankees a 7-4 lead and earned the catcher a brief curtain call. But the reception from the crowd changed when Andrew Heaney (8-9) allowed four runs in the seventh.
TWINS 6, RAYS 5: Nick Gordon tied the game with RBI single in the seventh, then hit a go-ahead RBI single in the ninth as Minnesota won in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Rays rookie Wander Franco extended his on-base streak to 35 games with a seventh-inning double. It’s the third longest by a player under 21 and one short of the AL-record held by Mickey Mantle.
Brandon Lowe and Austin Meadows homered for the Rays, who are 33-14 since the All-Star break.
Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli left the team during the game to return home to Minnesota for the birth of his child.
ROYALS 6, WHITE SOX 0: Brady Singer tossed seven scoreless innings and Salvador Perez hit another home run as Kansas City won at home.
Singer (4-9) matched his season high with seven innings and allowed four hits with no walks and six strikeouts. It was just the third time this season that Singer has issued no walks.
Perez had his third home run of the series, eighth in the last 11 games and 41st of the season. He’s second in the majors behind Shohei Ohtani.
RANGERS 7, ANGELS 3: DJ Peters homered twice, had a career-high four hits and drove in four runs, and Taylor Hearn pitched seven innings of seven-hit ball as Texas won at home.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BRAVES 9, ROCKIES 2: Ozzie Albies homered on the first pitch of Ryan Feltner’s major league debut, and Atlanta added three more home runs in a win at Denver.
Austin Riley, Adam Duvall and Travis d’Arnaud also went deep, and Charlie Morton (13-5) pitched seven strong innings, allowing two runs on two hits.
PHILLIES 4, MARLINS 3: Odúbel Herrera hit an RBI single in the 10th inning and Philadelphia averted a three-game sweep in Miami.
Bryce Harper hit his 27th home run and Freddy Galvis also connected for the Phillies, who are two games behind Atlanta in the NL East and 2 1/2 behind San Diego for the second NL wild-card berth.
METS 13, NATIONALS 6: Javier Báez went 4 for 4 with a home run, Kevin Pillar hit a grand slam that capped a six-run ninth inning, and New York withstood another rally by host Washington.
Francisco Lindor and Jonathan Villar also homered for the Mets, who squandered an early four-run lead but got 4 2/3 shutout innings from their bullpen to win for the seventh time in eight games.
Lane Thomas and Josh Bell homered for Washington, which has lost eight of nine and 24 of its last 31.
BREWERS 6, CARDINALS 5: Daniel Vogelbach delivered a pinch-hit grand slam off Alex Reyes to cap a five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth that gave Milwaukee a victory over St. Louis.
The NL Central-leading Brewers trailed 5-1 before starting their comeback against Giovanny Gallegos, who began the ninth after getting the final two outs in the eighth.
CUBS 11, PIRATES 8: Frank Schwindel hit a go-ahead grand slam, Matt Duffy homered twice, including a grand slam, and Chicago outslugged visiting Pittsburgh.
Jason Heyward also went deep for just the second time this season as the Cubs won their sixth straight.
Schwindel, who took over at first base in late July after Anthony Rizzo was traded, has homered in three straight games and six of seven.
GIANTS 6, DODGERS 4: Steven Duggar hit a tiebreaking two-run triple after being called up earlier in the day, Brandon Belt homered, and San Francisco regained the NL West lead with a win over visiting Los Angeles.
Albert Pujols hit career home run No. 678 – a pinch-hit, two-run drive in the ninth off Giants closer Jake McGee, who allowed Max Muncy’s single one out later and then retired Mookie Betts on a called third strike. The final out went to replay and was confirmed after right fielder Mike Yastrzemski caught Justin Turner’s fly against the netting in foul territory.
INTERLEAGUE
MARINERS 10, DIAMONDBACKS 4: Kyle Seager hit a go-ahead, two-run double to spark an 11th-inning rally as visiting Seattle completed a three-game series sweep.
The Mariners are on a five-game winning streak and is just three games behind Boston for the second AL wild-card spot.
TIGERS 4, REDS 1: Jeimer Candelario snapped a scoreless tie with a two-run triple in the sixth inning as Detroit won at Cincinnati.
PADRES 4, HOUSTON 3: Jake Cronenworth hit a solo home run with one out in the ninth inning and San Diego moved back into the lead in the race for the second NL wild-card berth by beating visiting Houston.
NOTES
YANKEES: New York placed reliever Jonathan Loaisiga on the 10-day injured list because of a strained right rotator cuff.
Manager Aaron Boone said Loaisiga experienced some pain Saturday morning after he surrendered a game-tying homer to Jorge Mateo in the seventh inning of Friday night’s 4-3 victory over Baltimore.
An MRI showed the strain and Loaisiga was given a cortisone injection. Boone said Loaisiga will not throw for 10 days, and he is hoping the hard-throwing right-hander can return this season.
“Hopefully this is something that’s a little bit of a timeout and we get him back for the stretch drive,” Boone said.
Loaisiga, 26, is 9-4 with a 2.25 ERA in 54 appearances this season. He also has five saves and 66 strikeouts in 68 innings, his most since pitching 68 2/3 innings in 2013 in the Dominican Summer League as a minor leaguer for the San Francisco Giants.
BREWERS: Shortstop Willy Adames went on the 10-day injured list because of a left quadriceps strain. He had been dealing with a quad issue already and aggravated it Saturday while running to first base on a single.
Adames is hitting .294 with 17 homers and 51 RBI in 88 games for Milwaukee since being acquired in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Send 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.