CHICAGO -- Kris Bryant hit a home run and drove in three runs to help the surging Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 8-6 on Saturday.
Bryant's big day powered Chicago to its third consecutive victory and ninth in 10 games. He also walked and scored on Miguel Montero's tiebreaking single in the fifth inning as the Cubs opened a 2 1/2-game lead over San Francisco in the race for the second NL wild card.
Bryant's two-run shot off Matt Cain (2-3) in the third was the rookie's first home run since July 27 against Colorado. He entered with a .162 batting average in 21 games since the All-Star break.
Brandon Belt hit a two-run home run for the Giants, who have dropped three in a row and five of seven. Hunter Pence had two hits and scored twice.
Angel Pagan and Nori Aoki each had a run-scoring single in San Francisco's three-run ninth before Justin Grimm came in with a runner on first and got Matt Duffy to ground out to shortstop for his third save.
Montero's run-scoring single was his first hit since he came off the disabled list Friday after being sidelined for almost a month by a sprained left thumb. Jorge Soler then came home on pitcher Kyle Hendricks' double-play grounder, lifting Chicago to a 5-3 lead.
The Cubs (61-48) also got three hits from Addison Russell while moving 13 games over .500 for the first time since they finished the 2008 season with a 97-64 record. The victory clinched their first series victory at home against the Giants since taking two of three in June 2011.
San Francisco (59-51) was hurt by an erratic outing from Cain, who set season highs with 5 walks and 2 hit batters in 4-plus innings. The right-hander has allowed at least four runs in four of his last five starts.
Hendricks (6-5) was pulled after consecutive one-out singles by Buster Posey and Pence in the sixth. Travis Wood (Bryant) struck out Belt and retired Brandon Crawford on a grounder.
BRAVES 7, MARLINS 2 Rookie Mike Foltynewicz won for the first time in three starts since returning to the Braves rotation as host Atlanta downed slumping Miami. Nick Markakis had three hits and an RBI to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, the National League's longest active streak. His run-scoring single in the fifth inning gave the Braves the lead for good.
PIRATES 6, DODGERS 5 Francisco Liriano hit the first home run of his 10-year career and Andrew McCutchen went 3 for 3 as host Pittsburgh held on to beat Los Angeles. Liriano hit a three-run shot in the second inning in his 160th career at-bat to put the Pirates ahead 4-2. However, he could not hold the lead as he wound up allowing four runs in three innings. McCutchen is 13 for 29 (.448) with 9 RBI and 10 runs scored in his last 9 games.
CARDINALS 3, BREWERS 0 Matt Carpenter hit a leadoff home run, Jaime Garcia pitched two-hit ball for seven innings and visiting St. Louis made it three consecutive shutout victories with a victory over Milwaukee. The Cardinals have thrown 36 consecutive scoreless innings since the fourth inning of Wednesday's 13-inning 4-3 victory. Michael Wacha won his team-leading 13th game, stopping Cincinnati 3-0 on Thursday. Lance Lynn beat Milwaukee 6-0 Friday night.
NATIONALS 6, ROCKIES 1 Stephen Strasburg returned to Washington's rotation with a bang, striking out 12 in seven innings and contributing three hits as the host Nationals beat Colorado. The right-hander had been on the disabled list since a left oblique strain forced him out after 3 2/3 innings against the San Francisco Giants on July 4.
REDS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1 Keyvius Sampson earned his first major league victory, visiting Cincinnati hit three home runs and the Reds beat Arizona on the night the Diamondbacks retired new Hall of Famer Randy Johnson's No. 51. All the Cincinnati runs came on home runs by Eugenio Suarez, Brandon Phillips and Marlon Byrd, whose solo shot in the ninth was his 150th career home run.
PHILLIES 4, PADRES 2 Adam Morgan held down host San Diego over six innings and Odubel Herrera had two hits and two RBI to lead Philadelphia. The Phillies won for the 15th time in 20 games since the All-Star break, the best record in the majors.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ROYALS 7, WHITE SOX 6 Kendrys Morales and Salvador Perez each drove in two runs and host Kansas City overcame Jose Abreu's two home runs to beat Chicago. Perez, who had been in a 6-for-32 skid, had a two-out single in the three-run fourth. Morales and Perez picked up back-to-back run-producing doubles with two out in a four-run fifth.
INDIANS 17, TWINS 4 Jerry Sands had a pinch-hit grand slam and Abraham Almonte, called up from the minors before the game, was 4 for 5 with a two-run home run, leading host Cleveland to a victory over Minnesota. Trevor Bauer (9-8) won for the first time since July 8, allowing 4 runs in 6 1/3 innings. He gave up solo home runs to Joe Mauer and Eddie Rosario and a two-run home run to Kurt Suzuki.
ATHLETICS 2, ASTROS 1 Danny Valencia delivered an early two-run double and right-hander Jesse Chavez went seven impressive innings to lead host Oakland to a victory over Houston. Valencia ripped a two-run double to the gap in right field in the bottom of the first.
BLUE JAYS 6, YANKEES 0 David Price pitched three-hit ball for seven innings, Justin Smoak lined Toronto's first grand slam in the Bronx and the visiting Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees for their seventh consecutive victory. Troy Tulowitzki also hit a home run as Toronto closed within 2 1/2 games of the AL East leaders.
TIGERS 7, RED SOX 6 Victor Martinez hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning and host Detroit held off David Ortiz and Boston. Ortiz had three hits, including a home run in the sixth. His two-run single in the seventh gave Boston a 6-5 lead, but Martinez answered with a long drive down the right-field line off reliever Junichi Tazawa (2-5).
RANGERS 11, MARINERS 3 (11) Visiting Texas scored eight runs in the 11th inning, including a two-run home run by Prince Fielder, to pull away from Seattle. Texas opened the inning with seven consecutive hits, the first six off Rob Rasmussen (1-1). Fielder's home run was the eighth hit of the frame for the Rangers.
ORIOLES 5, ANGELS 0 Ubaldo Jimenez yielded 2 hits over 8 innings, and Manny Machado had 4 hits and scored 2 runs in visiting Baltimore's victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Machado and Caleb Joseph hit home runs, and Jonathan Schoop drove in two runs in the Orioles' third victory in five games.
INTERLEAGUE
RAYS 5, METS 4 Grady Sizemore and Kevin Kiermaier each drove in two runs to erase an early deficit as host Tampa Bay stopped NL East-leading New York's seven-game winning streak. Tampa Bay relievers Xavier Cedeno, Steve Geltz, Jake McGee and Brad Boxberger, who pitched the ninth for his 28th save, combined for four hitless innings.
Sports on 08/09/2015