Jul 9, 2017; Chicago, IL, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli (29) is met at home plate after hitting a grand slam home run during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Photo Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
CHICAGO — Francisco Cervelli hit a grand slam and Andrew McCutchen followed with a home run in a 10-run first inning in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 14-3 rout of the Chicago Cubs on Sunday to conclude the first half of the season.
McCutchen followed Cervelli’s third career grand slam with his 17th home run to stretch the lead to 10 and knock Cubs starter Jon Lester out of the game with two outs in the first.
Lester (5-6) allowed four earned runs and six hits in the shortest outing of his career. He walked three and struck out none, throwing 27 of his 53 pitches for strikes.
The Pirates sent 15 batters to the plate. Jose Osuna delivered a two-run double, Jordy Mercer hit a two-run single and Josh Bell added an RBI single while the Cubs committed two errors.
It was the Pirates’ highest-scoring inning since they put up 10 in the seventh against Colorado on May 17, 2009. Pittsburgh last scored 10 runs in a first inning on June 8, 1989, at Philadelphia.
Phillies 7, Padres 1
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia right-hander Jerad Eickhoff turned in a solid outing in his first start since June 17 and the Phillies hit six home runs, two coming from Freddy Galvis.
The Phillies (29-58), whose six homers were the most they hit in a game since 2004, snapped a five-game losing streak while San Diego (38-50) saw its stretch of five wins in six games disrupted before the All-Star break.
Eickhoff (1-7) was activated Sunday (back injury) and had one of his best performances. He tossed five shutout innings, tying a season-high with eight strikeouts. Eickhoff allowed five hits, walked one batter, hit a batter with a pitch and generated a season-best 14 swing and misses.
Astros 19, Blue Jays 1
TORONTO — Carlos Correa hit two home runs and had a career-best five RBIs and Brad Peacock pitched six scoreless innings as Houston defeated Toronto.
Yulieski Gurriel, Jose Altuve and Evan Gattis also homered for the Astros, who gained a split of the four-game series.
Correa had four hits, Altuve added three hits for his fifth consecutive game, and Gattis had four RBIs.
Toronto’s Ezequiel Carrera hit his seventh homer of the season with two outs in the ninth against Francis Martes to avoid the shutout.
Cardinals 6, Mets 0
ST. LOUIS — In his longest start since May 23, Lance Lynn fired seven shutout innings to lead St. Louis over the New York Mets at Busch Stadium.
Lynn (7-6) gave up three hits and a walk, striking out a season-low two. Two of the three hits were erased on double plays as New York (39-47) never got a runner to second base.
Offensively, Paul DeJong was at it again, going 2-for-4 with a 434-foot solo homer to left-center field in the fourth inning to cap an epic series. He finished 9-for-12 with four doubles and three homers to go along with four RBIs.
Tommy Pham and Luke Voit also cracked homers for St. Louis (43-45), which has won 10 of its last 15 games going to the break. Pham finished 3-for-3 with two RBIs before departing after six innings with right hip tightness.
Brewers 5, Yankees 3
NEW YORK — Travis Shaw drove in four runs, including a three-run homer with one out in the top of the first inning, and Milwaukee beat the New York Yankees.
Stephen Vogt also homered for the Brewers, who won a series against the Yankees in New York for the first time since May 5-7, 1995.
Jimmy Nelson (8-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in five-plus innings to match his win total from last season. He struck out six, including Aaron Judge in consecutive at-bats. Four Milwaukee relievers combined on four scoreless innings and Corey Knebel posted his 14th save when he struck out Gary Sanchez with a runner on second.
Clint Frazier hit a two-run homer for the Yankees, who are 7-18 in their last 25 games since June 12 after striking out 14 times and going 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Rays 5, Red Sox 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brad Miller had hit only two home runs in 147 at-bats this season, after getting 30 last year, but he came through with a two-run shot in the eighth to give Tampa Bay a win over Boston.
What started as a duel between Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer and Boston’s David Price saw two lead changes in the final three innings. Dustin Pedroia’s two-run shot off Archer in the seventh gave Boston a 3-2 lead, but the Rays clawed back for the win, matching a season-high at four games over .500.
Miller’s home run came after the Rays had tied the score in the seventh on a sacrifice fly, also against reliever Joe Kelly (3-1), who came in with a 1.04 ERA and a streak of 23 straight scoreless appearances.
Brad Boxberger (1-0) got the win in relief of Rays starter Chris Archer, who dueled with Boston starter David Price. Rays closer Alex Colome pitched a scoreless ninth for his 25th save — the most in the American League — and his third in four days.
Nationals 10, Braves 5
WASHINGTON — Anthony Rendon was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Matt Wieters drove in three runs and Daniel Murphy was 2-for-5 with two RBIs as the bottom part of the order lifted Washington over Atlanta, earning a split of the four-game series.
The Nationals are 52-36 while the Braves are 9 1/2 games back at 42-45. The winning pitcher was Matt Grace (1-0), who came on in the fourth and allowed two runs (one earned) in 2 2/3 innings.
Washington scored three runs in the first as Ryan Zimmerman had a sacrifice fly and Rendon, hitting sixth in the lineup, added a two-run double.
The Braves scored three of their own in the third as Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer to left to make it 3-3 off starter Joe Ross, who left in the fourth with a possible injury. It was the 16th homer of the year for Freeman, who had two hits.
Orioles 11, Twins 5
MINNEAPOLIS — Adam Jones homered twice and drove in five runs and Caleb Joseph added two hits and three RBIs as Baltimore went into the All-Star break with two straight wins.
Ubaldo Jimenez survived one bad inning thanks to Baltimore’s highest offensive output since scoring a season-high 15 runs on June 17. Jimenez (4-4) allowed four runs on four hits and four walks in five innings.
Jones had his first multi-homer game of the season and 11th of his career, taking Minnesota’s Kyle Gibson deep twice. Seth Smith and Ruben Tejada each had three hits for the Orioles.
Gibson (5-7) surrendered seven runs on nine hits and two walks in four innings.
