Sports Al Dente

Royce Lewis hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the eighth inning, helping the Minnesota Twins come back to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Sunday.

Bailey Ober started and pitched six strong innings, and Jhoan Duran got his 20th save for Minnesota, which is now tied with Kansas City and 3 1/2 games behind AL Central-leading Cleveland.

Ernie Clement hit a home run for Toronto, which lost its fourth game in six tries.

Down 3-1 going into the eighth inning, Ryan Jeffers and Austin Martin hit singles off Blue Jays closer Chad Green (4-4). Lewis then completed an eight-pitch at-bat by hitting a 2-2 slider 361 feet, just over the wall and into the flower bed in left field. It was his first home run since Aug. 12.

“I faced him actually on a rehab stint,” Lewis said. “… Those at-bats are like big because I know, ‘Hey maybe I’ll face him one day.’ And today ended up being a big at-bat. It was good to have that memory of his pitches and what they kind of look like, the shapes, and do my best to put a good swing on it.”

Green, who was on the injured list from April 17 to May 27 with a major strain of a muscle near his shoulder, had been perfect in 16 save chances this season.

“They make a bunch of changes, so we talked about having him face the middle of the order. That’s the guy you want against those hitters,” manager John Schneider said.

With the game tied at 1, Toronto loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning off Griffin Jax (4-4). Jax then hit Leo Jiménez with his first pitch, scoring Nathan Lukes. A ground out by Joey Loperfido brought in another run, giving the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead.

Lewis started the game at third base but was moved to second base in the sixth inning. It was his first time playing that position in the majors.

Jordan Walker went 5 for 5, Lars Nootbaar hit a bases-clearing two-strike double in the seventh inning and added a two-run homer in the ninth inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees 14-7 on Sunday.

New York’s lead in the American League East over Baltimore was cut to a half-game.

Walker hit a long two-run homer in the fifth inning and drove in three runs. Walker’s five-hit game was the first by a Cardinal since Matt Carpenter did it in 2018. This came after Walker had only one hit in his first two games back from Triple-A Memphis.

At 22 years and 102 days old, Walker became the third-youngest Cardinal to get five hits in a game, behind Frank Snyder (21 years, 86 days on Sept. 21, 1915) and Rogers Hornsby (20 years, 62 days on June 28, 2016).

“I think five-hit days are sick,” Walker said. “It’s very nice to have for sure but I’m always confident in my abilities. But it’s definitely nice.”

After the game, Walker received a signed baseball from pitcher Kyle Gibson, the home run ball, and a signed scorecard from St. Louis television play-by-play broadcaster Chip Caray to celebrate the occasion.

“It’s good to see him out there and just doing what he did today,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said about Walker. “Obviously he’s not going to get five hits every day, but he stayed on the ball extremely well and just looks like he’s having fun out there.”

Nootbaar followed Walker’s fourth hit by hitting a fly ball to right field. New York’s Juan Soto seemed to have trouble reading the ball, which went over his head and allowed the Cardinals to take a 10-7 lead.

“I didn’t know, I was hoping here with the shorter right field that maybe it could distract him or something,” Nootbaar said about Soto’s read. “I was just hoping for anything at that point.”

“He just hit a line drive, it got good backspin and it just went over my head,” Soto said.

Nootbaar had a career-high five RBIs and got his fourth hit to give the Cardinals a lead in the seventh inning or later this season.

Victor Scott II hit an RBI double and scored due to a throwing error by reliever Phil Bickford. The Cardinals set season highs for runs and hits (21) and were 8 for 18 with runners in scoring position.

St. Louis had double-digit hits for the sixth time in seven games and finished with at least 20 hits for the first time since getting 23 hits at Cincinnati on Sept. 1, 2020.

Nootbaar hit his ninth homer after Walker started the ninth inning with his fourth single.

Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI double to start a three-run fifth inning, followed by run-scoring singles from Alex Verdugo and Gleyber Torres.

Anthony Volpe hit an RBI single and Torres added a tying sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, but the Yankees lost for the fourth time in six games and allowed their most hits since giving up 24 to Cleveland on Aug. 15, 2019.

“We just couldn’t close out that inning,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “I think we were still tied with two outs and they got all five of those runs. So, one of those games.”

JoJo Romero (6-2) retired Soto to end the sixth inning and set up the big inning for the Cardinals.

Walker hit his first homer since Sept. 17 to extend the St. Louis lead to 7-2. He also had an RBI single in the second inning to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

Rookie Masyn Wynn hit a two-run double and Luken Baker hit a two-run homer in a four-run fourth inning off Nestor Cortes for the Cardinals, who were 0-7 in the regular season at Yankee Stadium before winning the last two games of the series.

Giancarlo Stanton homered and Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored on an error in the second inning. Aaron Judge stayed at 51 homers, going homerless for the sixth straight game.

St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas allowed five runs (three earned) and seven hits in four-plus innings.

Xander Bogaerts hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, and the San Diego Padres won 4-3 against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, despite giving up a three-run lead.

“We don’t like to give up leads,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “It’s not very common for us. (But when) we do get in a position where we need to fight back, we do.”

Jackson Merrill hit a two-run homer for the Padres, who are closely competing with Arizona for the first NL wild card spot. Merrill now has 79 RBIs, tying Benito Santiago’s rookie record for the team set in 1987.

Merrill also made a great diving catch in center field on Ben Rortvedt’s leadoff liner in the third inning.

“It makes you say, ‘Wow,’” Shildt said. “It’s clearly a highlight-type play. And of course the swing was big, too.”

Jake Cronenworth drew the Padres’ 10th walk leading off the ninth inning against Manuel Rodríguez (3-4) and advanced to third on Manny Machado’s single. Bogaerts then drove in the go-ahead run with a hit to deep center field.

Tampa Bay issued its most walks since August 29, 2019, against Houston.

“The walks set the tone,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “You’re dealing with some veteran hitters to take the walks, but between Machado and Bogaerts, they just have a good idea of what they’re doing.”

Tanner Scott (9-5) got out of a two-on, one-out situation in the eighth inning, and Robert Suarez did the same in the ninth to earn his 21st save in 23 chances.

Tampa Bay had only two baserunners through five innings against Dylan Cease before loading the bases with no outs in the sixth on two walks and a hit.

Jason Adam, who was acquired from Tampa Bay in July, then hit Junior Caminero with a pitch to bring in a run. Another run scored on Josh Lowe’s double-play grounder, and the Rays tied the game at 3 on a wild pitch by Adam.

Zach Eflin struck out nine in seven impressive innings, and James McCann hit a home run, leading the Baltimore Orioles to a 6-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.

Gunnar Henderson had two hits and two RBIs for Baltimore, which had lost three of its last four games. Anthony Santander also contributed with two hits.

The Orioles (79-59) finished a 3-3 road trip and moved within half a game of the AL East-leading New York Yankees, who lost 14-7 to St. Louis.

“We’ve been grinding for a couple of months and it’s not been easy,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’d like to find some consistency. It’s hard right now but just looking for some spark to get us going, get on a little bit of a run.”

Eflin (10-7) gave up one run and four hits. He has won all five of his starts for Baltimore since being traded from Tampa Bay on July 26. The right-hander was activated from the 15-day injured list before the game after being out with shoulder inflammation.

The 30-year-old Eflin retired his first 15 batters and needed only 49 pitches to get through five innings. He struck out all three batters in the third inning and used just six pitches to complete the fifth inning.

“Any inning I have less than 10 pitches I’m extremely happy with,” Eflin said. “I was excited to keep the pitch count down and stay in the game as long as possible.”

Colorado had its first baserunner when Jake Cave led off the sixth inning with a dribbler down the third base line for an infield single.

Cave advanced on a wild pitch, and Jordan Beck walked. However, Drew Romo hit into a double play, and Ezequiel Tovar was retired on a comebacker to the mound.

“That was an accident,” Cave said about his single. “I hit it off my thumbs down the third base line.”

Josh Jung hit a three-run homer off All-Star closer Mason Miller in the 10th inning, and the Texas Rangers won 6-4 against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.

This was the Rangers’ second walk-off win in a row and their fifth in six home games since August 5.

“They keep fighting, so that’s what I have to say about them,” said Bruce Bochy, who tied Bucky Harris for eighth place on the manager wins list with his 2,158th win. “You get down two there (in) extra innings, you’ve got your hands full with one of the best closers in the game.”

Miller (1-2), who was the winning pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game held in Texas this summer, pitched a scoreless ninth inning and got the first two outs in the 10th. However, Adolis García hit a 2-2 slider for an RBI single, and Wyatt Langford walked after fouling off four pitches.

Jung then hit a 101.7 mph fastball to the opposite side and just inside the right-field pole for his fifth homer.

Jung, who was playing in only his 28th game after missing 102 due to a fractured right wrist, wasn’t sure if the ball was going to make it out until it landed a few rows deep.

“It’s a positive thing, it puts things in the right direction,” said Jung, who was still upset about missing an earlier RBI opportunity.

“I went out there and started over-swinging again, felt like I just fixed that the other day. So being able to not lunge at 100 (mph) and be able to turn it around is big for me.”

Oakland had taken the lead in the 10th inning against Matt Festa (3-1), who struck out his first two batters before Seth Brown hit a go-ahead RBI triple and Zack Gelof followed with a double.

Miller, who had not pitched since Wednesday, threw 34 pitches in his 1 2/3 innings.

“That last at-bat of the game is a fastball up and in. Jung got the barrel to it and it goes out to right field,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “So, you know, a tough way to lose. But we had the right guy on the mound and it just didn’t go our way today.”

Caden Dana became the youngest pitcher in Angels history to win his major league debut as Los Angeles came back to win 3-2 against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. “That’s pretty cool hearing that,” Dana said.

The right-hander gave up two runs and two hits in six innings. At 20 years and 259 days old, he is the youngest Angels pitcher since Francisco Rodríguez in 2002 and the youngest starter since Frank Tanana in 1973.

Dana (1-0) is also the first pitcher in his major league debut to pitch at least six innings and allow two or fewer runs at his age or younger since Jordan Lyles of Houston on May 31, 2011, against the Chicago Cubs (20 years and 244 days).

This is the first time in the American League since Joel Davis of the White Sox on August 11, 1985, against Milwaukee at 20 years and 215 days.

“He didn’t let any inning affect how it was going and it shows he has some poise. He proved to himself he can pitch in the big leagues,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He made pitches when he had to. He used his fastball, wasn’t able to land his breaking ball as consistently as he wanted to, but landed them when he needed.”

Taylor Ward extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a leadoff homer, and Anthony Rendon provided the go-ahead hit with a two-run single in the fifth.

“It’s awesome. That was special. Everyone behind me played well,” said Dana, who struck out four and walked four. “It was a good feeling getting a win like that. Getting a win like that helps going into the next outing.”

Luke Raley homered for Seattle, which fell to 5-4 since Dan Wilson replaced Scott Servais as manager on August 22. Bryce Miller (10-8) allowed three runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Dana, who led Double-A with 147 strikeouts, played in the MLB Futures Game in July and is seen as the Angels’ top pitching prospect. Drafted in the 11th round in 2022, Dana had a record of 9-7 with a 2.52 ERA in 23 starts for Rocket City before being called up on Friday.

“Honestly, I was really nervous and after that first pitch, that was when all my nerves kind of released. Getting the two quick outs definitely gave me confidence to trust myself,” Dana said.

He threw 52 of his 95 pitches for strikes. Dana walked two batters in a row with two outs in the fifth inning before striking out Victor Robles to end the inning.

“I thought he had enough secondary stuff to kind of complement the fastball and kept us off stride just enough,” Wilson said. “He got deep enough into the game that their bullpen was able to take over.”

Ben Joyce pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his fourth save.

Dana retired the first five batters he faced before Raley hit a fastball down the middle 433 feet into the left-center stands to tie the game at 1. Raley has hit six of his 16 homers since August 1.

The Angels scored quickly when Ward hit his second leadoff homer in three games. The ball just cleared the wall in center field after Julio Rodríguez mistimed his jump. It was Ward’s 19th homer, one short of the team lead.

Seattle’s Josh Rojas led off the third inning with a ground-rule double down the left-field line. He moved to third on Leo Rivas’ grounder and scored on Robles’ sacrifice fly to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead.

The Angels took back the lead in the fifth inning. Rendon hit a single to left that drove in Ward and Zach Neto after Rivas missed a diving catch at shortstop on the low liner.

Randal Grichuk hit a three-run homer during Arizona’s eight-run second inning, and Brandon Pfaadt struck out 10 as the Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 14-3 on Sunday.

The Dodgers had won the first two games of the series by scoring early against Arizona.

The Diamondbacks got their revenge with a strong performance on Sunday, sending 11 batters to the plate against Justin Wrobleski (1-2) in the second inning.

“The first two games didn’t go our way, but we didn’t give up in either of those games and we’re not going to give up — that showed up today,” Grichuk said. “Guys are firing on all cylinders, and it’s fun to come out and get it done.”

Eugenio Suárez hit a homer and had two RBIs, and Geraldo Perdomo added a two-run double in Arizona’s big inning. Pfaadt (9-7) pitched well after getting a big early lead, helping Arizona move back within five games of the Dodgers in the NL West.

The Diamondbacks had 17 hits and ended the Dodgers’ four-game winning streak. Los Angeles finished the game with infielder Kiké Hernández pitching the eighth inning.

“We got put into a tough spot today, then you’re just trying to find a way to salvage pitching,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think the positive is we’re back to full strength for tomorrow with a chance to win the series.”

Wrobleski was added to the roster as a September callup to give the rotation an extra day of rest after Clayton Kershaw went on the injured list with a bone spur in his big left toe.

The rookie left-hander’s return to the big leagues did not go well.

The Diamondbacks took advantage of Wrobleski in the second inning, starting with Grichuk’s leadoff double. Suárez, Jose Herrera, and Jose Bell each had run-scoring singles in the inning.

Kyle Stowers hit a three-run homer, and the Miami Marlins defeated the San Francisco Giants 7-5 on Sunday, securing their first series win in over a month.

Nick Fortes had three hits and scored two runs for Miami, which won three out of their last four games.

“Everything had to go well, honestly, to beat a team like that in this environment,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “To take two out of three with the three pitchers that they ran out against us, really happy with what our group did.”

San Francisco lost four out of five games, which hurt their chances in the race for the third NL wild card spot. Miami’s previous series win was at Milwaukee in late July.

“This is probably as bad a loss as we’ve had,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. Giants ace Logan Webb (11-9) gave up six runs and eight hits in six innings. He struck out four and did not walk any batters.

Webb was working on a shutout before he got into trouble with two outs in the fifth inning. Fortes hit an RBI single before Stowers’ third homer — a 439-foot drive to right-center that extended his hitting streak to seven games and gave the Marlins a 4-2 lead.

Both Melvin and Webb were disappointed by a bad throw from Webb to second base on a comebacker by José Devers, which prevented the Giants from getting an inning-ending double play in the fifth.

“It’s just a bad play and that leads to runs,” Webb said. “I lost that game today. That was on me today. It just sucks. We scored five runs. We scored early and I feel like I was in a good spot. I had good stuff.”

Webb had a 1.70 ERA over his last six games coming into this one.

“He’ll be the first to admit he’s got to turn that double play,” Melvin said. “He had good stuff — really good stuff. It just had all the makings of something we haven’t been able to do. And then it just turned on us.”

Stowers, who played at Stanford and had family at the game, batted leadoff for the first time. He took two changeups outside before Webb threw him another one that came into the strike zone.

“He has such good action on his sinker and such good action on his changeup that you’ve just got to get him a little elevated,” Stowers said. “Because if you play that game below the zone, it’s tough. I was just able to get him a little bit higher than pitches in prior at-bats.”

San Francisco managed a three-run rally in the bottom half, with Mark Canha’s tying RBI single being the highlight. But Miami answered with two more runs in the sixth inning.

Jonah Bride doubled home Jesús Sánchez, and Otto Lopez’s run-scoring groundout gave the Marlins a 6-5 lead.

Xzavion Curry (1-2), who made his MLB debut on Saturday night, pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings for his first career win. Calvin Faucher handled the ninth inning for his sixth save of the season.

San Francisco’s Mike Yastrzemski, grandson of Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski, hit a leadoff drive in the first inning for his 100th career homer. The Yastrzemskis are the fourth grandson-grandfather pair to each hit at least 100 home runs in their MLB careers.

Marlins starter Darren McCaughan, who made his first start of the season and his second career start, gave up three earned runs in four innings.

It looked like the Chicago White Sox might finally catch a break from their losing streak when Garrett Crochet was striking out batter after batter at the beginning of the game.

But this is the White Sox, and in a season full of misfortunes, they added another to their list: setting a franchise record for losses in a single season.

The loss number reached 107 when the New York Mets beat them 2-0 on Sunday. At their current pace, the White Sox are on track to break the modern-era record for losses in baseball.

“There’s no sense in harping over the record right now,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said before the game. “Our job right now is to try to get a win today. We’re trying to just improve every day and get better as each series goes on.

My message has been the same since I got here. It’s not about the record. It’s not about wins. It’s just about competing and playing together as a team.”

Chicago (31-107) surpassed the club record for losses set by the 1970 team. The White Sox also completed their first 0-10 homestand in franchise history, becoming the first team since the 1965 Mets to have three 10-game losing streaks in one season.

The White Sox need to go 12-12 in their remaining games to avoid tying the expansion 1962 Mets (40-120-1) for the most losses by a team since 1900. That seems unlikely, as Chicago is on track to finish 36-126. On a more positive note, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders’ record of 134 losses is still safe.

Chicago’s remaining schedule is a mix of challenges, starting with a tough three-game series at Baltimore and then heading to Boston. They also have three home games against AL Central leader Cleveland from September 9-11 and games at San Diego from September 20-22.

Leaving town might be a good thing for the White Sox. They’ve lost 12 games in a row at Guaranteed Rate Field, matching their worst streak of the season. Their previous worst homestand was going 0-7 from May 23-29.

“There’s not really a perspective to put into it at this point,” Crochet said. “It sucks to say that we’ve been here before and we’ve dug ourselves out of it with a win. We just continue to come to the field every day fighting and playing a good brand of baseball.”

Garrett Crochet, one of the few bright spots for the team, tied an American League record on Sunday by striking out the first seven batters and had a total of eight strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.

The All-Star left-hander allowed one run and three hits, with no walks. The White Sox are limiting his pitching because he missed most of the last two seasons after Tommy John surgery and was a reliever before that.

Apart from Crochet, finding positives for the team is tough.

Chicago has been shut out 15 times and has lost 22 series sweeps— the most in the majors— after the Mets won all three games. The White Sox are 4-36 since the All-Star break and 3-18 under interim manager Grady Sizemore.

Chicago fired manager Pedro Grifol three weeks ago, just a few days after the team ended a 21-game losing streak that tied the American League record. Grifol was in his second season as a major league manager after a long career in baseball, with an 89-190 record.

The White Sox also had a 14-game losing streak from May 22 to June 6, which was a team record until the 21-game slide from July 10 to August 5.

The situation is so dire that the White Sox announced last month they’re reducing season-ticket prices for 2025 by an average of 10%. The team has been in a sharp decline since making the playoffs in 2020 and 2021.

Nick Castellanos hit a game-winning single in the 11th inning, and Philadelphia’s bullpen threw five scoreless innings after Aaron Nola, leading the Phillies to a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday night. This was the last regular-season game between the two top teams in the NL East.

Castellanos was the key player for the Phillies, helping them win three of the four games in the series and increasing their division lead to seven games.

He tied the game in the sixth inning with a two-run double off Braves pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach and then ended the game with a two-out RBI single off Grant Holmes.

This was Castellanos’ fourth walk-off hit of the season. Both of his hits came in at-bats that began with 0-2 counts.

“It makes me want to take (pitches) so I have two strikes more often,” Castellanos said, jokingly. “I think the thing that has gotten me the most comfortable in those spots is all the work I do on the field early.

I don’t feel like I’m searching for a swing. I think that since we started doing that in May, it’s just built success slowly.”

The Braves are currently leading the New York Mets by one game for the last National League wild-card spot.

Carlos Estévez (3-4) pitched the 10th and 11th innings, retiring all six batters he faced and preventing the automatic runner from scoring in both innings.

Estévez celebrated with excitement and received a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd, which had a playoff-like feel.

“It’s really cool, man,” said Estévez, who has only faced two batters in the postseason in his nine-year career, including time with Colorado and the Los Angeles Angels.

“It’s one thing when you see (the Philadelphia crowd) from the other side, but when you live it here, it’s really amazing.”

Only left-hander Matt Strahm had any difficulty for the Phillies’ bullpen, as he loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning. However, he managed to get Orlando Arcia to pop out and Luke Williams to fly out, keeping the score tied.

Aaron Nola gave up two runs and four hits, walked one batter, and struck out nine in six innings. This was his 18th quality start of the season, which is the second most in the majors, behind his teammate Zack Wheeler.

“His velocity has gone up a little bit and he held his velocity tonight,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “Consequently, the breaking ball is better because of the velocity. He was commanding all of his pitches. … He was fantastic.”

Spencer Schwellenbach kept the Phillies off balance before the sixth inning, causing a lot of weak contact. He didn’t let any runner reach scoring position until Bryce Harper hit a bloop double down the left-field line right before Castellanos in the sixth inning.

By allowing only two runs, Schwellenbach set a Braves franchise record with 21 consecutive starts giving up three runs or fewer.

Michael Harris II hit a 2-2 curveball from Nola in the third inning into the first row of seats in right-center to give the Braves an early lead.

Whit Merrifield drove in another run for Atlanta by beating out a potential double-play grounder with runners on the corners in the fourth inning. He was initially called out, but the Braves challenged the call, and it was overturned upon replay review, so the run counted.

Aaron Bummer (4-3) took the loss. He was charged with an unearned run despite not allowing a hit in two-thirds of an inning.