Baseball-Highlights of Thursday's MLB games

June 16 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's Major League Baseball games: Rangers 5, Athletics 1 Colby Lewis lost on no-hitter in the ninth inning on a leadoff double by Max Muncy but rebounded to pitch a complete game, delivering the Texas Rangers a 5-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday afternoon. Ian Desmond broke a scoreless tie with a leadoff home run in the seventh, propelling the Rangers to a third win in four days against the A's and their franchise-record-tying eighth straight series win. Lewis took a perfect game two outs into the eighth before issuing a four-pitch walk to Yonder Alonso. In the ninth, Lewis fell behind Muncy 2-1 before the left-handed hitter hit a high drive toward the right-field wall. Rangers right fielder Nomar Mazara got to the fence at the same time as the ball, which deflected off his glove as he was crashing into the padded wall. Two batters later, Lewis lost his shutout when Rua came up just short on another attempt at a spectacular catch, racing in on a Coco Crisp liner, diving and having the ball go in and out of his glove. Crisp got a double on the play, scoring Muncy. Lewis (6-0) retired the next A's to complete his two-hitter, throwing 109 pitches. He walked one and struck out four. Mariners 6, Rays 4 Dae-Ho Lee was 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead Seattle over Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field. Lee had a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth inning that proved to be the difference in the game. In the top of the ninth, Kyle Seager added an insurance run with a solo homer to right. Braves 7, Reds 2 Matt Wisler bounced back from two poor starts to help Atlanta defeat Cincinnati at Turner Field. Wisler, who had received only 1.8 runs in support in his previous 12 starts, broke a four-game losing streak and won for the first time since May 20. The win allowed Atlanta to split the four-game series and win back-to-back home games for only the second time this season. Wisler gave up two runs and eight in 6 2/3 innings. The Atlanta offense was led by first baseman Freddie Freeman, who went 3-for-4, including his 12th homer of the season, a two-run shot in the third inning, and scored two runs. Freeman, who hit for the cycle on Wednesday, was 10-for-18 with three homers in the four-game series. Orioles 5, Red Sox 1 Tyler Wilson survived some early hard-hit balls and pitched eight shutout innings and Adam Jones hit a two-run homer and added an RBI double as Baltimore moved into sole possession of first place in the American League East with a victory over Boston. The win, the Orioles' sixth in 10 games with Boston this season, gave Baltimore the series 2-1 and snapped the tie atop the division. Wilson, who allowed 10 runs on 14 hits in 9 2/3 innings over his last two starts, yielded three hits in his first win in his last six starts. He walked one and struck out six to raise his record to 3-5 with his fifth major league win. Mets 6, Pirates 4 Bartolo Colon threw 7 2/3 strong innings and doubled to begin a four-run third inning for New York, which went on to beat Pittsburgh at Citi Field. The Mets won the final two games of the three-game series. The Pirates lost seven of eight to fall to .500 for the first time since they were 9-9 on April 23. Colon carried a shutout into the eighth, when he gave up a leadoff homer to Matt Joyce and a one-out RBI single to Josh Harrison before exiting to a standing ovation from the crowd of 33,052. The 43-year-old allowed the two runs on seven hits and no walks while striking out eight in lowering his ERA to 3.01. Blue Jays 13, Phillies 2 Kevin Pillar hit two home runs and Edwin Encarnacion homered and drove in four runs as Toronto battered Philadelphia. Michael Saunders and Devon Travis also homered for the Jays, whose five home runs were a season high as were their 13 runs and 17 hits. Josh Donaldson went 3-for-3, reached base five times and scored three runs for Toronto, which outscored the Phillies 31-7 in winning the last three contests of a four-game home-and-home series. Philadelphia lost for the 20th time in its last 26 games. Yankees 4, Twins 1 Didi Gregorius had two hits, including a three-run home run in the seventh inning, to lift New York over Minnesota at Target Field. With the game tied at 1, Gregorius hit the first pitch he saw from reliever Fernando Abad over the right-field fence for his sixth homer of the season. Relievers Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller worked scoreless innings to bridge the gap to closer Aroldis Chapman, who secured his 12th save. Tigers 10, Royals 4 Victor Martinez hit three home runs and Miguel Cabrera had a two-run go-ahead shot in the seventh inning as Detroit belted a season-high six homers to top Kansas City. It could be a costly victory for the Tigers, who lost right fielder J.D. Martinez with a fractured right elbow in the second inning. Justin Verlander worked seven innings to pick up the victory and is 5-2 in his last seven starts. He allowed four runs on eight hits, while striking out seven, walking one and hitting two batters. Nationals 8, Padres 5 Washington hit three home runs, including back-to-back, opposite-field shots by Bryce Harper and Wilson Ramos, to defeat San Diego in the opener of a four-game series at Petco Park. The win was the second straight and ninth in 11 games for the National League East leaders. The loss was the Padres fifth in their last six games. Right-hander Tanner Roark allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts over six innings to get the win and improve to 6-4. Shawn Kelley picked up his second save. Brewers 8, Dodgers 6 Jonathan Villar hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning and Milwaukee snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over Los Angeles before 44,183 at Dodger Stadium. Villar drilled a two-run homer over the center-field wall off reliever Pedro Baez -- breaking a 6-6 tie -- to lift the Brewers. Tyler Thornburg set the Dodgers down in order in the eight for the win. Jeremy Jeffress allowed a run in the ninth before striking out Corey Seager with the bases loaded for his 19th save. (Editing by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru)