ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Gary Sanchez failed to hustle on a pair of key plays, Jake Bauers hit a three-run homer and scored with some nifty baserunning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat Luis Severino and the New York Yankees 7-6 on Monday night.
The Yankees loaded the bases against Jose Alvarado with one out in the ninth when Brett Gardner singled, Aaron Judge walked and Giancarlo Stanton was intentionally walked. After Aaron Hicks hit into a force out at the plate, Alvarado got his first save when Sanchez grounded out, a play where Hicks beat the play at second but the Yankees catcher was thrown out at first after jogging most of the way there.
Hicks limped off the field after his slide.
Bauers made it 4-1 on his sixth homer in the fifth. Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the first when Bauers had a two-out double and aggressively scored from second on Sanchez’s 10th passed ball. Sanchez and Severino got their signs crossed up, leading to the passed ball. Sanchez slowly chased the ball as it bounced away in foul territory, giving Bauers time to score from second base.
TWINS 8, BLUE JAYS 3: Logan Morrison homered and had three RBI, Max Kepler added a two-run blast and Minnesota Twins won in Toronto.
Joe Mauer and Mitch Garver each had three hits, and right-hander Adalberto Mejia (1-0) pitched 51/3 innings for his first win of the season as the Twins bounced back after being swept at Kansas City over the weekend.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a solo home run for the Blue Jays. Toronto swept a three-game series from Baltimore over the weekend but couldn’t extend its winning streak against the Twins.
Promoted from Triple-A Rochester to make his second start of the season, Mejia allowed one run and eight hits, leaving with the bases loaded. Matt Belisle came on and retired two straight to escape the jam.
The Blue Jays gave right-hander Luis Santos his first career start because right-hander Marco Estrada remains sidelined with a strained left gluteal muscle.
Santos (0-1) allowed one run and three hits in two innings.
Eduardo Escobar hit an RBI triple off Santos in the first and Morrison delivered a two-run single off left-hander Tim Mayza in the third.
Gurriel homered in the bottom half, his fifth, but Mauer and Escobar hit RBI singles in the fourth before Morrison and Kepler both connected off Joe Biagini in Minnesota’s three-run fifth.
A moment of silence was held before the game for the victims of Sunday night’s shooting in Toronto’s Greektown neighborhood. Two people died and 13 were injured.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
REDS 2, CARDINALS 1: St. Louis starter Daniel Poncedeleon made a sensational debut 14 months after suffering a severe head injury, throwing no-hit ball for seven innings before Eugenio Suarez led Cincinnati’s two-out rally in the ninth at home.
Suarez’s two-out, solo homer off Bud Norris (3-3) made it 1-1. The closer then loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk, and pinch-hitter Dilson Herrera singled to end the Reds’ losing streak at four games. Jared Hughes (3-3) pitched the ninth.
The late rally overshadowed Poncedeleon’s incredible comeback.
The 26-year-old right-hander was hit on the right temple by a line drive while pitching for Triple-A Memphis on May 9 last year, fracturing his skull and causing bleeding in the brain. He had emergency surgery followed by months of slow recovery.
Poncedeleon was one of the top pitchers in the Pacific Coast League when St. Louis called him up Monday to help their injury-depleted rotation.
He walked three and struck out three, threw 116 pitches and gave way to a pinch-hitter in the eighth with St. Louis up 1-0.
Jordan Hicks gave up a one-out single up the middle by pinch-hitter Phillip Ervin in the eighth for Cincinnati’s first hit. Suarez’s tying homer was only Cincinnati’s second hit. It was Norris’ third blown save in 21 chances.
BRAVES 12, MARLINS 1: Freddie Freeman hit his 17th homer and also doubled for Atlanta, which totaled 16 hits at Miami.
Freeman is batting .469 with five homers in eight games against Miami this year. The Braves improved to 6-2 versus the Marlins and have outscored them, 56-29.
PADRES 3, METS 2: Jacob deGrom’s winless streak reached five games as the major league ERA leader was hurt by a pair of errors behind him, and San Diego won at New York in a matchup of teams with the worst records in the league.
Rookie left-hander Joey Lucchesi (5-5), brought back from the minor leagues, baffled the Mets for the much of the night with a combination curveball and change-up at about 80 mph.
INTERLEAGUE
PIRATES 7, INDIANS 0: Josh Harrison hit a three-run homer and Gregory Polanco had a two-run triple as Pittsburgh won at Cleveland in a six-inning, rain-shortened game for its 10th straight win.
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