The Pirates took the first game 5- 4 when Pedro Florimon scored on Starling Marte’s sacrifice fly in the eighth, but they couldn’t complete the sweep as the Cubs pulled back within four games of Pittsburgh for the top spot in the NL wild-card race.
Lester (10-10) walked one and struck out nine while picking up his 12th career complete game. David Ross and Javier Baez had two hits each for the Cubs.
J.A. Happ (9-8) had his five-game winning streak end. Happ pitched in and out of trouble, allowing two runs on eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. Aramis Ramirez had two hits but Pittsburgh’s rejiggered lineup mustered little against Lester.
Nationals 4, Phillies 0
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Stephen Strasburg gave up one hit and tied a career-best with 14 strikeouts in eight dominant innings, Bryce Harper hit two homers and the Nationals beat the Phillies.
Strasburg (9-7) allowed only a single to Cody Asche leading off the bottom of the fifth — a hard grounder to right field. He has 27 strikeouts in his last two starts.
The hard-throwing righty struck out the side twice and fanned eight of the last 12 batters he faced. He was still firing 96 mph fastballs in the eighth. Blake Treinen tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to complete the shutout.
Marlins 9, Mets 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Jacob deGrom was hit hard during a rare dud at home against one of his favorite opponents, and the Marlins stopped the Mets’ eight-game winning streak.
Mets nemesis Dee Gordon homered and had four hits to back Tom Koehler, who plunked Yoenis Cespedes in the first inning and then helped silence the streaking slugger the rest of the way.
Rangers 6, Astros 5
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Rangers overtook the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West, winning another tense Texas showdown on Mitch Moreland’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Adrian Beltre’s fourth hit put the Rangers in position to win a night after Prince Fielder pulled them within a half-game of the Astros with a tiebreaking two-run home run in the eighth. Houston had been in first place since July 28.
Royals 2, Indians 0
CLEVELAND (AP) — Kris Medlen pitched five-hit ball over 6 1-3 innings and Alex Rios hit a home run that launched some unintentional fireworks, leading the Royals to a win over the Indians.
Rays 6, Yankees 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Nick Franklin hit a go-ahead tworun homer in the sixth inning and the Rays beat the AL wild-card leading Yankees.
Hobbled Alex Rodriguez and Greg Bird homered for the Yankees, who remain three games behind AL East-leading Toronto, which lost 3-2 at Atlanta.
Braves 3, Blue Jays 2
ATLANTA (AP) — Andrelton Simmons’ tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth inning snapped a 12- game home losing streak and the Braves beat the AL East-leading Blue Jays.
Toronto began the night with a three-game lead over the New York Yankees, but the Blue Jays, despite the majors’ best record since the All-Star break, have lost two straight.
Tigers 5, Twins 4
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Victor Martinez had three hits and two RBIs, and the Tigers beat Phil Hughes and the Twins.
James McCann also had three hits for Detroit, and Alfredo Simon (13-9) pitched into the seventh inning. Bruce Rondon allowed a run in the ninth before finishing for his fifth save.
A’s 17, White Sox 6
CHICAGO (AP) — Josh Reddick homered and drove in four runs during a 10-run fourth inning to power the Athletics to a rout of the White Sox.
Billy Butler had three hits and three runs batted in, and Eric Sogard and Jake Smolinski each had a pair of RBIs as the Athletics snapped a six-game losing streak against Chicago.
Cardinals 3, Brewers 1
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jason Heyward hit a line drive two-run homer in the 10th inning to lead the Cardinals to a victory over the Brewers.
St. Louis has won consecutive games following a 2-8 skid and increased its lead in the NL Central to three games over secondplace Pittsburgh.
Angels 4, Mariners 3
SEATTLE (AP) — David Murphy hit a three-run homer and Mike Trout added a solo shot to power the Angels to a victory over Felix Hernandez and the Mariners.
Murphy, hitting leadoff for the first time this season, hit his ninth home run off the top of the wall in right field in the third inning. Hernandez (17-9) had hit David Freese to open the inning and Carlos Perez, who had three hits, reached on an infield single.
D-Backs 6, Padres 4
PHOENIX (AP) — A.J. Pollock’s three-run homer led the Diamondbacks to a victory over the Padres.
Pollock drove the first pitch from reliever Kevin Quackenbush into the left-field seats. Quackenbush had just entered the game for losing pitcher Bud Norris (1-2).
Reds 9, Giants 8
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Todd Frazier hit his 34th home run leading off the 10th to make up for a costly throwing error an inning earlier, and the Cincinnati Reds held on for a wild victory against the Giants that snapped San Francisco’s four-game winning streak.
Rockies 5, Dodgers 4
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nolan Arenado hit his NL-leading 39th home run and the Rockies capitalized on a throwing error by rookie shortstop Corey Seager to score three runs in the fourth en route to a victory over the Dodgers.
Despite their fifth loss in 21 games, the Dodgers’ magic number for clinching the NL West shrunk to 11 by virtue of San Francisco’s 9-8 loss to Cincinnati.
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