Baseball-Highlights of Sunday's MLB games

Aug 24 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Sunday's Major League baseball games: - - - - Tigers 13, Twins 4 Max Scherzer tied the Major League lead with his 15th win as Detroit beat Kansas City to move within two games of the Royals for first place in the American League Central Division. Scherzer, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings. The Tigers scored a two runs in three straight innings to runaway with the contest as Victor Martinez and Torii Hunter each had four RBIs. - - Cubs 2, Orioles 1 Tsuyoshi Wada flirted with a no-hitter through six hit-less innings to lead Chicago past the first-place Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore outfielder Steve Pearce homered off Wada in the seventh, but that was the only hit the Orioles managed for the game. Wada exited in the seventh after he struck out eight batters. - - Mets 11, Dodgers 3 First baseman Lucas Duda homered twice and the New York Mets turned a rare triple play in a rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Catcher Travis d'Arnaud and shortstop Ruben Tejada also went deep for New York. The Mets pounded Dodgers starter Kevin Correia (2-1), tagging him for seven runs (five earned) on seven hits in three innings. - - Nationals 14, Giants 6 The Washington Nationals overcame deficits of 5-0 and 6-2 and rallied for six runs in the sixth inning to beat the San Francisco Giants. Left fielder Bryce Harper and second baseman Danny Espinosa each hit two-run homers in the eighth to turn the game into a rout. - - Brewers 4, Pirates 3 The Milwaukee Brewers,scored four runs over the first two innings to move 1-1/2 games in front of St. Louis. Starter Mike Fiers tossed seven innings and struck out seven for the win, while Francisco Rodriguez earned his 39th save of the season. - - Rangers 3, Royals 1 Scott Baker and three relievers shut down red-hot Kansas City in the Texas Rangers' victory over the Royals. The right-handed Baker (2-3) gave up a home run to Kansas City first baseman Billy Butler in the fourth but otherwise held the Royals in check, giving up five hits and a walk over five innings. The Royals (72-57), who entered 3-1/2 games ahead of Detroit in the American League Central Division, lost for the fifth time in their last 31 games. - - Mariners 8, Red Sox 6 Dustin Ackley had three hits and scored three runs to lead the surging Seattle Mariners to a victory over Boston and a three-game sweep of the Red Sox. Austin Jackson had two hits and scored twice, and third baseman Kyle Seager and second baseman Brad Miller had two RBIs apiece for the Mariners. Seattle closer Fernando Rodney loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth inning, but struck out designated hitter Kelly Johnson to finish off his 38th save. - - Yankees 7, White Sox 4 (10 innings) Pinch hitter Brian McCann hit a three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning and the New York Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox. David Huff (3-1) worked out of trouble in the 10th for the victory. With two on, he struck out slugger Jose Abreu looking to end the inning. - - Phillies 7, Cardinals 1 Jerome Williams continued his strong stretch since arriving in Philadelphia, picking up his second win in three starts, as the Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals. Williams tossed eight innings while giving up just the one run, allowing five hits while striking out five and walking three. Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins hit a two-run home run as the Cardinals fell 1-1/2 games behind first-place Milwaukee (72-58) in the National League Central. - - Reds 5, Braves 3 Alfredo Simon pitched seven strong innings and third baseman Todd Frazier hit his 22nd homer, lifting the Cincinnati Reds to a victory over the Atlanta Braves. Simon improved to 13-8 for the Reds while Zack Cozart went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Atlanta (68-63) failed to gain ground in the National League Wild Card race after going 3-for-21 with runners in scoring position combined over the final three games of the series. - - Indians 3, Astros 1 Trevor Bauer pitched six scoreless innings and shortstop Jose Ramirez had three hits to lead the Cleveland Indians to a victory over the Houston Astros. The three Indians (66-63) starters, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar and Bauer, combined to allow just two earned runs over 18 innings of the series between the teams. - - Rays 2, Blue Jays 1 (10 innings) Evan Longoria singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and the Tampa Bay Rays held on to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays. The victory gave the Rays (64-66) the rubber match in the three-game series after the Blue Jays (66-64) won in 10 innings on Saturday. - - Padres 7, Diamondbacks 4 Yasmani Grandal homered and drove in four runs, and pinch hitter Will Venable hit a two-run homer for the San Diego Padres. Grandal hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning and added a three-run homer in the fifth to help right-hander Ian Kennedy (10-11) to his first victory at Chase Field since being traded from Arizona last July. - - Rockies 7, Marlins 4 Christian Bergman returned from a two-month layoff, pitched into the seventh inning and won for the first time as Colorado beat the Miami Marlins. Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer in the first and two batters later, catcher Michael McKenry followed with a solo shot. Second baseman DJ LeMahieu gave the Rockies breathing room with a bases-loaded double in the seventh that drove in two runs. - - - Angels 9, Athletics 4 Left fielder Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer, center fielder Mike Trout added a solo shot, and the Los Angeles Angels beat Oakland, avoiding a series sweep and moving one game ahead of the A's in the American League West. Right hander Jered Weaver allowed three runs on eight hits over 6 2/3 innings for the Angels (77-52). Weaver (14-7) threw six shutout innings, as the Angels built a 9-0 lead, before giving up three runs in the seventh. A's (76-53) left-hander Scott Kazmir (14-6), a 2014 All-Star, had a nightmare start and allowed seven runs and 10 hits. (Compiled by Jahmal Corner)