Cardinals end losing skid
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ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Blaze Jordan and Ramón Urías homered early to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-5 on Thursday, snapping a five-game losing streak.
Riley O’Brien pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his National League-leading 34th save after allowing a combined seven runs and taking the loss in his previous two outings.
The teams traded runs in the eighth after Coby Mayo hit a three-run homer, his 18th of the season, off Caleb Ferguson in the seventh to cut the St. Louis lead to 6-4.
Urías hit his third homer off starter Trevor Rogers (9-9) in the fourth to give the Cardinals a 5-0 cushion.
Rogers allowed six runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts in five innings.
Jordan launched his third homer to center field in the second after Alec Burleson singled to extend his hitting streak to 13 games and Joshua Báez doubled, putting St. Louis ahead 3-0.
Jordan left in the top of the eighth after diving awkwardly into third base to tag out Gunnar Henderson when Samuel Basallo hit a grounder to pitcher George Soriano.
Luis Gastelum (4-3) tossed 1 1/3 perfect innings after Justin Bruihl allowed one run in 1 2/3 innings and Gordon Graceffo pitched three perfect innings as an opener for the Cardinals.
Before the game, St. Louis selected the contract of Cade Winquest from Triple-A Memphis and placed fellow right-hander Peter Strzelecki on the 15-day injured list with right forearm extensor inflammation.
ROYALS 13, BLUE JAYS 2
TORONTO (AP) -- Jac Caglianone had a homer among his career-best five hits and finished with a career-high six RBIs, Noah Cameron pitched six strong innings and Kansas City beat Toronto.
The Blue Jays are 3 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the race for the final American League wild-card spot.
The Royals took two of three in the series, have won 10 of their last 11 games and four consecutive series, including two straight on the road after starting the season 3-15-2 in road sets. Kansas City, which went in tied with the Giants for the worst road record in MLB, is 24-45 away from home this season.
Cameron (9-8) allowed six hit and two runs and struck out three.
Carter Jensen hit a 421-foot homer off Spencer Arrighetti to lead off the game, and Vinnie Pasquantino hit a two-run homer that capped Kansas City’s six-run sixth and made it 10-0.
Caglianone’s two-run shot with two out in the ninth capped the scoring.
Bobby Witt Jr. and Kyle Isbel each had a run-scoring double.
BRAVES 1, DODGERS 0
ATLANTA (AP) -- Chris Sale struck out 11 in a five-hit shutout, Drake Baldwin launched a leadoff homer against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the Atlanta Braves edged the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 on Thursday night to complete a three-game sweep.
Sale (13-9) did not walk a batter. The left-hander posted his fourth double-digit strikeout game this season and the 95th of his career, which ranks seventh all-time.
Fans in the sellout crowd of 39,650 cheered when Sale strolled out to the mound for the ninth inning even though relievers were ready in the Atlanta bullpen. Braves manager Walt Weiss stuck with his ace after Freddie Freeman singled leading off the ninth.
Teoscar Hernández popped out, pinch-runner Alek Thomas was out at second on Miguel Rojas’ fielder’s-choice grounder and Sale struck out Alex Call for his 17th complete game and first since 2019 with Boston.
NATIONALS 7, ROCKIES 1
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Daylen Lile homered and drove in two runs as part of a three-hit day, and Washington beat Colorado to split their four-game series.
Keibert Ruiz also went deep for Washington, which had dropped 12 of 15. The Nationals won a game started by a pitcher other than Cade Cavalli for the first time since Aug. 9.
Colorado fell to an NL-worst 52-82, clinching its eighth consecutive losing season. The Rockies were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base overall.
Lile led off the fifth inning with a drive to right off Gabriel Hughes (0-6) for his 18th home run this season. The left fielder was 8 for 15 with three homers and eight RBIs in the series.
ASTROS 5, YANKEES 1
NEW YORK (AP) -- Christian Walker had three hits, including a two-run homer off Gerrit Cole in the sixth inning, and Jeremy Peña added a solo shot to power Houston to a victory over the New York Yankees.
Astros starter Hayden Wesneski (4-1) allowed one run and three hits in five-plus innings against the team that drafted him in 2019 and traded him to the Chicago Cubs in 2022 for reliever Scott Effross.
Houston (67-67) took two of three at Yankee Stadium and leads the AL West by one game over Texas.
Walker broke an 0-for-11 skid with a single in the second and homered on Cole’s 1-0 curveball for a 3-0 lead in the fifth. He doubled off Justin Topa in the eighth and scored when the Yankees committed two errors on one play.
BREWERS 8, METS 2
NEW YORK (AP) -- Jackson Chourio went 4 for 5 with two homers, four RBIs and four runs to help Jacob Misiorowski and Milwaukee beat the New York Mets.
Misiorowski (14-5) overcame some command issues and reduced velocity -- at least by his standards -- to allow two hits and strike out six over six innings.
Both hits he gave up came in the fifth, when Jacob Young had an RBI double and Christopher Morel laced a run-scoring single.