BOSTON -- Jake Arrieta certainly picked two of baseball's most historic places to put on memorable performances.
Arrieta held the Red Sox hitless until Stephen Drew singled with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Red Sox 2-0 on Monday night in the opener of only the second series between the teams at Fenway Park since 1918.
Six days after losing a perfect game on a leadoff single in the seventh inning of his previous start at Wrigley Field against Cincinnati, Arrieta took his no-hit bid a little deeper at Fenway. He allowed only Mike Napoli's fifth-inning walk before Drew lined a sharp single to right.
"It's special to do it in this ballpark," Arrieta said. "It was special to do it last week in Wrigley and to do it here in these two parks is pretty special."
Starting the season on the disabled list with shoulder tightness, the 28-year old right-hander was pushing his pitch limit before Drew lined a 2-2 pitch.
Arrieta (5-1) was lifted by Cubs manager Rick Renteria immediately following the hit that came on his career-high 120th pitch.
The 28-year-old Arrieta was given a loud ovation before he even got to the foul line, tipping his cap to the Boston crowd. He tipped it again after crossing the line.
"Something like that in Fenway is pretty rare for an opposing team, so yeah I got some goosebumps there," he said. "That's why you play this game, for moments like that. I was very thankful to be a part of something like that."
Arrieta fanned 10 in just his 11th start of the season.
"Awesome. That was some kind of awesome," Renteria said of the ovation. "We were standing out there at the mound. That was some show of respect."
NATIONAL LEague
Braves 5, Mets 3 Three errors by New York fueled Atlanta's comeback as host Atlanta scored four runs in the eighth inning and beat the New York Mets for their fifth consecutive victory. Errors by reliever Jeurys Familia (1-3), center fielder Juan Lagares and third baseman Eric Campbell in the eighth helped the Braves rally from a 3-1 deficit.
Nationals 7, Rockies 3 Adam LaRoche homered, Ryan Zimmerman had three hits and Ian Desmond added two doubles and three RBIs as host Washington welcomed back Bryce Harper with a victory over Colorado. Harper, who missed 57 games because of a torn ligament in his left thumb, went 1 for 3 with an RBI single -- on Bryce Harper bobblehead night.
American League
Rays 4, Yankees 3 (12) Logan Forsythe hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the 12th inning and visiting Tampa Bay beat the New York Yankees after squandering a late lead. Matt Joyce and Kevin Kiermaier homered for the Rays, who have their first three-game winning streak since taking a season-best four in a row May 22-25.
Orioles 7, Rangers 1 Steve Pearce hit two of host Baltimore's four home runs off Joe Saunders and Ubaldo Jimenez ended a run of nine winless starts as the Orioles defeated Texas. Pearce put Baltimore ahead to stay with a two-run drive in the first inning and connected with a man on in the fourth. It was his first two-homer game during a career that began in 2007.
Tigers 5, Athletics 4 Rajai Davis hit his third career grand slam with one out in the ninth inning, giving Detroit a victory over visiting Oakland. Oakland closer Sean Doolittle (2-2) was given a three-run lead to work with in the ninth, but only managed one out. Detroit's rally took Anibal Sanchez off the hook -- he allowed two earned runs in seven innings to extend his unbeaten streak to 10 starts. Blaine Hardy (1-0) earned his first career victory with a scoreless top of the ninth.
Mariners 10, Astros 4 Robinson Cano had a three-run shot in the seventh inning, one of visiting Seattle's season-high four home runs in a victory over Houston. Mike Zunino had a two-run drive in the second, Michael Saunders added a pair on his long ball in the fourth and Brad Miller homered two batters later to help the Mariners to their eighth win in 10 games.
Sports on 07/01/2014