LOS ANGELES — Jack Flaherty struck out 10 in his Dodger Stadium debut, Shohei Ohtani’s two-run homer highlighted a five-run third inning and Los Angeles beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-5 on Friday night.
Flaherty (9-5) got the victory in his first start at home since joining the Dodgers from Detroit before last month’s trade deadline. The native of nearby Burbank made his first appearance at the stadium as a 6-month-old when his mother brought him to a game.
Flaherty was applauded when he exited with two outs in the sixth and the Dodgers ahead 9-4. The right-hander allowed four runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings while throwing a season and team-high 110 pitches.
Ohtani’s 448-foot shot to centre scored Andy Pages, who walked against Mitch Keller (10-6). Will Smith added a two-run single and Miguel Rojas had a two-out RBI single that extended the lead to 6-0.
Teoscar Hernández’s two-out RBI single in the fourth made it 7-1. Kiké Hernández added a two-run shot on the 11th pitch from Keller with two outs in the fifth. His line-drive went off the glove of left fielder Bryan Reynolds.
Freddie Freeman homered with two outs in the first for the Dodgers.
Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz hit a solo homer to lead off the fourth. Joey Bart blasted a three-run shot with two outs in the fifth, closing the Pirates to 7-4.
ORIOLES 4, RAYS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Zach Eflin worked seven scoreless innings against his former team and Baltimore moved into sole possession of first place in the American League East with a win over Tampa Bay.
Eflin (8-7) scattered four hits, walked one and struck out seven for his third straight victory since Baltimore obtained the right-hander from Tampa Bay on July 26.
Seranthony Domínguez pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. Yennier Cano gave up a leadoff homer to Dylan Carlson in the ninth before closing out the combined five-hitter.
Colton Cowser and Cedric Mullins homered for the Orioles, who have a half-game lead over the idle Yankees. New York’s game with Texas on Friday night was postponed by rain.
BLUE JAYS 3, ATHLETICS 1
TORONTO — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. extended his hitting streak to 21 games, José Berríos struck out eight in seven innings and Toronto Blue beat Oakland.
Alejandro Kirk drove in the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning and Spencer Horwitz gave Toronto some insurance with a solo home run in the eighth as the Blue Jays won for the third time in four games.
Guerrero hit a pair of singles and his hitting streak is the longest active streak in the majors.
Guerrero also dove into the netting and landed in the front row of seats behind first base after catching Shea Langeliers’ foul popup to strand two runners in the top of the sixth.
Berríos (10-9) allowed one run and six hits. He’s 8-2 with a 2.83 ERA in 12 home starts and 2-7 with a 5.29 ERA in 12 road starts.
Chad Green pitched the ninth for his 11th save in 11 chances.
NATIONALS 3, ANGELS 2, 10 INNINGS
WASHINGTON — Alex Call hit a game-winning single in the 10th inning, Mitchell Parker pitched 6 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run and Washington defeated the Los Angeles Angels in the opener of a three-game series.
Washington earned its second walk-off win of the season and its first since April 20 against Houston.
Los Angeles’ Anthony Rendon had three hits in his first road game against Washington, where he played his first seven seasons. The Angels hadn’t played a road game against the Nationals since 2017.
After rookie Nasim Nuñez sacrificed automatic runner Jacob Young to third against Matt Moore (5-3), Angels manager Ron Washington summoned right-hander Ben Joyce from the bullpen. Call worked a full count before lining a shot off the drawn-in Luis Guillorme at second base to score the winning run.
Kyle Finnegan (3-5) pitched two scoreless innings for the Nationals.
PADRES 6, MARLINS 2, 10 INNINGS
MIAMI — Manny Machado’s two-run double in the 10th inning highlighted another late-inning rally as San Diego won its sixth consecutive game, defeating Miami.
Machado’s double off Brett De Geus (0-1) scored former Marlin Luis Arraez, who had singled, and Jake Cronenworth. Tyler Wade had broken the tie when he beat the throw home on a Cronenworth grounder to shortstop Xavier Edwards.
Jason Adams (7-2) earned the win. Bryan Hoeing struck out one in a scoreless eighth inning two weeks after the Marlins traded him to the Padres along with fellow reliever Tanner Scott. Scott allowed one hit in a scoreless tenth.
ASTROS 8, RED SOX 4
BOSTON — Jose Altuve hit two-run homer and Jon Singleton and Jeremy Peña added RBI singles in a four-run seventh inning as the AL West-leading Houston beat Boston.
Yainer Diaz added a two-run homer for the Astros, who pounded Boston’s bullpen on the way to their third straight win. Bregman and Peña finished with three hits apiece.
Altuve’s homer off reliever Lucas Sims that tied the game in the seventh inning was the 224th of his career. That moved him into fourth place on the team’s all-time list.
David Hamilton had a two-run double for the Red Sox, who had won three of four and were coming off a 4-2 road trip. Boston’s bullpen gave up seven runs and 12 hits in the last three innings.
BREWERS 8, REDS 3
MILWAUKEE — Willy Adames hit a three-run shot for his fourth homer in four games and Milwaukee again capitalized on a fast start while defeating Cincinnati for their fourth straight win.
Brice Turang also homered and Aaron Civale (3-8) allowed two runs over 6 1/3 innings to earn his first win in exactly four months. Civale, who came to Milwaukee in a July 3 trade with Tampa Bay, had gone 0-7 in his last 19 starts.
For the second straight game, Milwaukee took an 8-0 lead by scoring three runs in each of the first two innings and two more in the third. The Brewers had followed the same formula Thursday afternoon in a 16-7 victory in Atlanta that completed a three-game sweep of the Braves.
Adames got things started by sending a 1-2 pitch from Carson Spiers (4-4) into the second deck of the right-field seats with two outs in the first inning. The 391-foot blast was the 21st of the season for Adames, who went deep twice on Tuesday and once Thursday.
This was Adames’ ninth three-run homer of the year, setting a franchise single-season record in that category.
TWINS 4, GUARDIANS 2, 1ST GAME
TWINS 6, GUARDIANS 3, 2ND GAME
MINNEAPOLIS — Bailey Ober pitched six shutout innings and Carlos Santana and Ryan Jeffers each hit solo home runs for Minnesota in a victory over the AL Central-leading Cleveland in the opener of a doubleheader commencing a four-game series between the division front-runners.
Royce Lewis and Kyle Farmer also drove in runs for the Twins.
Matt Wallner hit the go-ahead three-run homer for the Minnesota Twins in the fifth inning of the nightcap to spoil Cleveland starter Alex Cobb’s season debut, for a doubleheader sweep that gave the Guardians their seventh straight loss and further tightened the AL Central race.
Bailey Ober pitched six shutout innings and Carlos Santana and Ryan Jeffers hit solo homers to win the opener 4-2 for the surging Twins (65-50), who cut their deficit to 1 1/2 games behind the Guardians (67-49).
That’s the closest defending division champion Minnesota has been since May 13 to Cleveland, which has held first place for all but seven days in April.
ROCKIES 6, BRAVES 5
DENVER — Brenton Doyle homered and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning to help Colorado beat Atlanta.
Atlanta has lost six in a row to drop out of an NL wild card spot a week after it was challenging the first-place Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. Not even facing a Colorado team they were 13-1 against since the start of 2022 helped the Braves get out of their funk.
Atlanta had won nine in a row against the Rockies since Sept. 5, 2021, including seven straight at Coors Field, but couldn’t extend the streak after another short outing by a starter.
DIAMONDBACKS 3, PHILLIES 2
PHOENIX — Adrian Del Castillo hit the winning homer in just his second game in the majors, hammering the first pitch of the ninth inning to give Arizona a victory over Philadelphia.
Arizona’s Ryne Nelson threw 7 1/3 brilliant innings, giving up just three hits and two runs, walking one and striking out nine.
The Phillies rallied from a 2-0 deficit, tying it in the eighth on a two-out RBI double from Johan Rojas that scored a hustling Nick Castellanos from first.
That set up Del Castillo’s ninth-inning heroics. He jumped all over a 97 mph fastball from Jeff Hoffman (3-2), launching it deep into the right-field seats for his first big league homer. Del Castillo was called up this week after starting catcher Gabriel Moreno went down with a groin injury in Cleveland.
CUBS 7, WHITE SOX 6
CHICAGO — Ian Happ hit a leadoff homer, Cody Bellinger connected and the Chicago Cubs went deep four times before hanging on to beat the crosstown White Sox 7-6 and spoil the debut of manager Grady Sizemore.
The White Sox, keyed by Andrew Benintendi’s two homers, nearly wiped out a 7-0 deficit, only to come up short in their first game since firing manager Pedro Grifol and replacing him on an interim basis with Sizemore. They made the change on Thursday, two days after ending a 21-game losing streak that tied the American League record.
The White Sox loaded the bases against Héctor Neris in the ninth inning. But the right-hander retired Andrew Vaughn on a fly to centre and came away with his 16th save in 20 chances.
CARDINALS 8, ROYALS 5
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Willson Contreras hit a pair of two-run homers and St. Louis rallied to beat the Kansas City.
Contreras opened the scoring in the first with a two-run shot off the top of the bullpen fence in right and added another two-run shot in the ninth, blasting his 15th homer 424 feet to left for his 15th multi-homer game.
Trailing 5-3 after five innings, the Cardinals scored five runs on seven hits against six relievers.
Will Smith (0-4) retired one of three batters faced in the eighth and, after a failed Kansas City challenge on a potential inning-ending double play grounder, St. Louis took a 6-5 lead on Victor Scott II’s two-out, two-run double.
Matthew Liberatore (3-3) threw three hitless innings in relief of Miles Mikolas, who allowed five runs on eight hits in four innings. Mikolas has a 7.11 ERA over his past five starts. Ryan Hensley allowed a hit and a walk in finishing for his 37th save.
MARINERS 6, METS 0
SEATTLE — Bryce Miller threw six innings and combined with three relievers on Seattle’s 12th shutout of the season, Ryan Bliss hit a two-run shot for the second home run of his career and the Mariners beat the New York Mets.
Seattle’s pitching was again terrific, with Miller (9-7) overpowering the Mets before turning it over to the bullpen. And it was a couple of role players at the bottom of the batting order who had the key hits.
Batting eighth in the order, Bliss hit the first pitch he saw from Mets starter Jose Quintana (6-8) an estimated 410 feet into the Seattle bullpen for a two-run homer in the second inning. His only other home run came back on June 7 in Kansas City.
Then in the seventh, it was No. 9 hitter Leo Rivas ending Quintana’s outing. After Mitch Garver walked and Dylan Moore reached on an infield single, Rivas poked a 3-2 pitch with two outs past diving second baseman Jeff McNeil to score a pair.
Cal Raleigh added a two-run single off reliever Adam Ottavino later in the inning as Seattle sent nine batters to the plate and scored four times.
GIANTS 3, TIGERS 2
SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Conforto scored on Mark Canha’s sacrifice fly with one out in the ninth inning, giving San Francisco a win over Detroit Tigers after being no-hit through six innings.
Canha lifted a 2-2 fastball from Shelby Miller to deep left to score Conforto, who had walked. Heliot Ramos led off the inning with a grounder up the middle that Tigers second baseman Colt Keith misplayed for an error. It was the Giants 10th walk-off win this season.
Tyler Rogers (2-3) retired all three batters he faced to get the win.
In a thrilling matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was a night to remember for both teams as standout performances took center stage. The Dodgers emerged victorious with a 5-2 win over the Pirates, thanks to stellar pitching from Jack Flaherty and a powerful home run from Shohei Ohtani.
Flaherty, the Dodgers’ starting pitcher, put on a dominant display on the mound, recording an impressive 10 strikeouts over six innings of work. The right-hander showcased his electric stuff, consistently fooling Pirates hitters with his array of pitches and keeping them off balance throughout the game. Flaherty’s ability to generate swings and misses proved to be crucial in stifling the Pirates’ offense and ultimately securing the win for the Dodgers.
On the offensive side, it was Ohtani who provided the fireworks for the Dodgers with a towering home run in the fifth inning. The two-way star continued to showcase his prodigious power, launching a mammoth shot deep into the stands to give the Dodgers a lead they would not relinquish. Ohtani’s ability to impact the game both on the mound and at the plate has made him one of the most exciting players in baseball, and his performance against the Pirates only added to his growing legend.
Despite the loss, the Pirates put up a valiant effort against a tough Dodgers team, with standout performances from several players including Bryan Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes. Reynolds continued his hot streak at the plate, collecting multiple hits and driving in a run, while Hayes flashed his defensive prowess with several highlight-reel plays at third base. The Pirates showed resilience throughout the game, but ultimately fell short against a Dodgers team firing on all cylinders.
Overall, it was a memorable night at Dodger Stadium as Flaherty’s dominant pitching and Ohtani’s power hitting propelled the Dodgers to victory over the Pirates. Both teams showcased their talent and competitive spirit, providing fans with an exciting and entertaining game of baseball. As the season progresses, both the Dodgers and Pirates will look to build on this performance and continue their pursuit of success in the highly competitive world of Major League Baseball.