NEW YORK — Yoenis Cespedes homered with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the New York Mets a 2-1 victory over the Miami Marlins in the first game of a pivotal series between National League playoff contenders Monday night.
Jose Reyes dashed home to score the tying run in the eighth on a dangerous collision at the plate, and the Mets pulled even with Miami for second place in the NL East. With its seventh victory in nine games, New York remained 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the league’s second wild card.
It was an exhilarating victory for the Mets, who appeared to be at a major disadvantage on the mound in the opener of a four-game set. New York was shut out for six innings by Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, but Mets starter Rafael Montero also put up zeros in his first major league start since April 2015.
Recalled from Class AA Binghamton before the game, Montero went five innings and worked around six walks — the most by a Mets pitcher this season. The right-hander yielded only two hits during a spot start for Jacob deGrom, skipped in the rotation to rest and regroup following two poor outings in a row.
Rookie left-hander Josh Smoker (1-0), who pitched for the third consecutive day and fourth in the past five, struck out two in a perfect inning for his first major league victory.
Cespedes, who sat out Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia to nurse his nagging right quadriceps, launched a no-doubt drive to left-center on a 1-1 pitch from Nick Wittgren (4-3).
CUBS 8, PIRATES 7 (13) Pinch-hitter Miguel Montero singled to drive in Kris Bryant in the bottom of the 13th inning after Anthony Rizzo’s RBI single tied the game, and the Cubs beat the visiting Pirates. Pittsburgh took a 7-6 lead in the top of the 13th on Josh Harrison’s sacrifice fly, but the Cubs countered with singles by Dexter Fowler, Bryant and Rizzo to tie the game. Ben Zobrist received an intentional walk to load the bases, before Montero ended against Jeff Locke, who pitched three scoreless innings before failing to get an out in the 13th.
CARDINALS 6, BREWERS 5 Stephen Piscotty scored on a throwing error in the ninth inning after Carlos Martinez struck out a career-high 13, leading visiting St. Louis past Milwaukee. With two on and nobody out in the ninth, Yadier Molina bunted and reliever Tyler Thornburg (5-5) threw to third base for a force out, but Jonathan Villar’s throw to first was wild, allowing Piscotty to score.
NATIONALS 4, PHILLIES 0 Tanner Roark (14-7) threw seven impressive innings, Jayson Werth hit a home run and visiting Washington beat Philadelphia.
ROCKIES 8, DODGERS 1 Jon Gray (9-6) pitched six scoreless innings, Nick Hundley hit a two-run home run and host Colorado beat NL West-leading Los Angeles.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ROYALS 8, YANKEES 5 Dillon Gee (6-7) kept the Royals’ momentum going with six sharp innings, Alcides Escobar hit a three-run home run and host Kansas City beat New York.
RANGERS 6, MARINERS 3 Yu Darvish (5-3) struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings and Carlos Beltran homered among three hits, helping host Texas beat Seattle. The American League West-leading Rangers won the first of six consecutive games at home against the two teams chasing them in the AL West and dropped the Mariners into third, a game behind Houston and 9 1/2 back of Texas.
INDIANS 1, TWINS 0 (10) Jason Kipnis’ 10th-inning single scored Chris Gimenez as host Cleveland handed Minnesota its 11th consecutive loss. Kipnis lined a 1-0 pitch from Brandon Kintzler (0-1) with one out to left-center to finally break up the scoreless game.
TIGERS 4, WHITE SOX 3 Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift host Detroit over Chicago. Justin Upton also went deep for the Tigers, who pulled within a game of Baltimore for the American League’s second wild card.
RED SOX 9, RAYS 4 Rick Porcello (18-3) became the first 18-game winner in the major leagues this season and the first Red Sox pitcher in 70 years to open a season 13-0 in Fenway Park, going seven innings in host Boston’s victory over Tampa Bay. BLUE JAYS 5, ORIOLES 1 Josh Donaldson hit his fourth home run in two days and Jose Bautista also went deep in support of Marco Estrada (8-6), leading visiting Toronto past Baltimore.
ASTROS 6, ATHLETICS 0 Jose Altuve homered, Joe Musgrove (2-2) and three relievers combined on a four-hitter as host Houston shut out Oakland.
Sports on 08/30/2016