PIRATES 9, CARDINALS 3
ST. LOUIS -- J.A. Happ is happy to be back in the National League and pitching in a pennant race.
Happ pitched seven scoreless innings and Starling Marte drove in three runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.
Happ (4-1) allowed only three singles and won for the fourth time in six starts since being acquired from Seattle at the July 31 trade deadline. He retired 15 consecutive batters in one stretch, matched his season-high with eight strikeouts and walked none. He lowered his ERA with the Pirates to 1.57.
"It's been a good transition," Happ said. "(There's) definitely some excitement on this team and possibilities for it."
Happ was 4-6 with a 4.64 ERA before the trade.
"Sometimes a change of scenery can give a guy a shot in the arm," Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said. "You don't want to be a weak link and you re-acquire your focus knowing you're being counted on. He's showed up well."
After being swept at last-place Milwaukee, Pittsburgh cut St. Louis' lead in the NL Central to 5 1/2 games with its first victory since Happ beat the Colorado Rockies last Saturday. It was the Pirates' fourth victory in their last 17 games at Busch Stadium.
"Happ was doing whatever he wanted," Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny said. "He was on. That's all there really was to it."
Brandon Moss, who was traded from Cleveland to St. Louis at the deadline, had seen plenty of Happ when the left-hander spent the past three years in the American League.
"He had the velocity but he was a little more erratic with his command," Moss said. "He kept the ball down really well and didn't miss over the middle of the plate. It always seemed like he was ahead and they were quality pitches."
Carlos Martinez (13-7), pitching for the first time in eight days, gave up 4 runs and 7 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings. The 23-year-old was given extra rest because of a tight back and to monitor a workload that has reached 159 2/3 innings.
He allowed two runs in a 36-pitch first inning when the Pirates scored on a bloop single by Jung Ho Kang and a broken-bat single by Marte.
"We know giving him extra rest anytime we can get is the right thing to do," Matheny said. "If the results don't look right in the back end, so be it. That's what we have to do to keep these guys healthy and hopefully strong."
Andrew McCutchen had two hits and scored three runs in his return to the lineup after sitting out Thursday night.
"We weren't swinging at his pitches," McCutchen said of Martinez. "When we wait on our pitch and are ready to hit it, good things happen."
Marte added a two-out, two-run double in the fifth for his first three-RBI game since June 5.
The Pirates scored 4 runs in the ninth on 5 hits and finished with 17 hits, their most against the Cardinals since June 29, 2012.
Rookie Stephen Piscotty drove in the Cardinals' first run with an eighth-inning double. Piscotty had two hits and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
NATIONALS 5, BRAVES 2 (10) Michael Taylor had a pinch-hit three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift host Washington to a victory over Atlanta. Taylor, who missed the last two games with a sore right knee, batted for Jonathan Papelbon and hit a 1-0 pitch over the wall in left-center for his 14th home run.
CUBS 14, DIAMONDBACKS 5 Anthony Rizzo hit a grand slam in Chicago's eight-run fifth inning, and rookie Addison Russell homered twice in a game for the first time in his career to power the Cubs and Jon Lester to a rout of visiting Arizona. Rizzo's 28th home run was his second career grand slam.
MARLINS 6, METS 5 (11) Martin Prado's fifth hit of the game was a two-out double in the 11th inning that scored Christian Yelich from first base and gave host Miami a victory over New York. The Mets tied the seesaw game with a run in the ninth but they stranded 13 runners, including three in the eighth and three more in the ninth.
INTERLEAGUE
RED SOX 7, PHILLIES 5 Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a solo home run and David Ortiz an RBI double in Boston's four-run seventh inning as Joe Kelly won his seventh consecutive start and the host Red Sox beat Philadelphia. Kelly (9-6) gave up 2 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings. He's the first Red Sox pitcher since Josh Beckett in 2007 to win seven consecutive starts.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
WHITE SOX 12, ROYALS 1 John Danks threw a seven-hitter and Adam Eaton matched his career high with four hits, including a three-run home run, as visiting Chicago beat Kansas City. Alexei Ramirez also had 4 hits -- tying his career high -- drove in 2 runs and scored 3 times. Tyler Flowers also hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning.
INDIANS 8, TIGERS 1 Jerry Sands homered, tripled and scored twice and Josh Tomlin pitched a four-hitter as Cleveland beat host Detroit. Tomlin (4-1) allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5. His last complete game was June 28, 2014, in Seattle.
ORIOLES 10, BLUE JAYS 2 Chris Davis hit two home runs to take the major league lead with 40, Matt Wieters and Adam Jones both connected, and visiting Baltimore beat Toronto. Davis opened the scoring by leading off the second inning with a second-deck drive to right, then broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run shot in the sixth.
YANKEES 5, RAYS 2 Sizzling rookie Luis Severino won his third consecutive start and Alex Rodriguez hit his 681st career home run, sending host New York over Tampa Bay for its sixth victory in seven games. New York won with just four hits -- an infield tapper and three long balls.
ASTROS 8, TWINS 0 Collin McHugh went 7 2/3 innings and Hank Conger hit a grand slam as Houston beat visiting Minnesota. McHugh (15-7) gave up seven hits and struck out six in picking up his second consecutive victory. McHugh has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last six starts.
Sports on 09/05/2015