Cardinals Win It In Ninth, Nationals Blank Cubs

Jason Heyward shook off a critical error with a game-tying homer. Peter Bourjos' legs did the rest to ensure a St. Louis Cardinals sweep. Heyward homered to tie it leading off the ninth inning and Bourjos' slide at the plate upended catcher Jordan Pacheco resulting in a throwing error that allowed the winning run to score in a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night.

"I was going in hard, I had no intention of trying to hurt anybody," Bourjos said. "I was trying to make it tough for them to turn a double play."

Mark Trumbo homered for Arizona, which has lost nine of its last 10 against the Cardinals. The Diamondbacks have re-tooled with former Cardinals Tony La Russa as chief baseball officer, pitching consultant Dave Duncan and first base coach Dave McKay.

Pacheco replaced Tuffy Gosewisch, who jammed his left knee on a groundout in the sixth. Third baseman Yasmany Tomas threw home for a force out on Jhonny Peralta's grounder against Brad Ziegler (0-1) and Pacheco tried for a double play but threw well above first baseman Paul Goldschmidt's head after Bourjos' foot made contact with his back leg.

Nationals 3, Cubs 0

The Washington Nationals' two biggest stars were full of praise for each other Wednesday night. After what they did against the Chicago Cubs, it was merited.

Bryce Harper hit his 18th home run, Max Scherzer struck out a season-high 13 to outduel Jon Lester and Washington beat Chicago 3-0.

The top two free-agent pitchers on the market last offseason, Scherzer (6-3) and Lester faced off in a memorable matchup in the finale of the three-game series. Scherzer, who signed a seven-year deal worth $210 million with Washington, was better than his counterpart, throwing seven scoreless innings while allowing five hits and one walk to win his fifth straight start.

"He's unbelievable," Harper said. "He's definitely as good as advertised."

White Sox 5, Blue Jays 3

What could have been another disastrous defeat for the Chicago White Sox ended instead as an uplifting victory. Adam LaRoche singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and the White Sox survived their second blown save in two games to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Wednesday, avoiding a three-game sweep.

"There's some resilience there," manager Robin Ventura said of his team, which lost its fourth straight Tuesday on Josh Donaldson's walkoff homer. "Especially after last night, you can just lay down and think it's going to happen all over again and you don't answer the bell. It says a lot about the group."

Jose Abreu had three hits with two RBI and scored the winning run as Chicago won for the second time in nine games. The White Sox avoided what would have been their first sweep in Toronto since 2009.

David Robertson, who blew the save in Tuesday's 10-9 loss, got burned again when Donaldson tied it at 3 with a solo homer into the second deck in the ninth.

Wednesday, May 27 Scoreboard

Wednesday, May 27

Cleveland 12, Texas 3

Colorado 6, Cincinnati 4

Pittsburgh 5, Miami 2

Chicago White Sox 5, Toronto 3 (F/10)

New York Yankees 4, Kansas City 2

Minnesota 6, Boston 4

New York Mets 7, Philadelphia 0

Seattle 3, Tampa Bay 0

San Francisco 3, Milwaukee 1

Detroit 3, Oakland 2

Baltimore 5, Houston 4

Washington 3, Chicago Cubs 0

St. Louis 4, Arizona 3

San Diego 5, Los Angeles Angels 4

Atlanta 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 2

Thursday, May 28 Schedule (All Times Central)

Chicago at Baltimore, 12:05 p.m.

Chicago at Baltimore, 3:05 p.m.

Boston at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Detroit at Los Angeles, 9:05 p.m.

New York at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

Cleveland at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at San Diego, 9:10 p.m.

Atlanta at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.