Dodgers Rally Past Cardinals, Padres Down Cubs

By ESPN

Chase Utley was searching for his batting stroke in April. He's found it in May

Utley, Logan Forsythe and Chris Taylor combined to reach base 12 times and totaled six runs, helping the streaking Los Angeles Dodgers rally past the St. Louis Cardinals 9-4 on Tuesday night to move atop the NL West.

The Dodgers went ahead of the Colorado Rockies, who lost 10-4 to the Seattle Mariners.

Utley finished a homer shy of the cycle and was hit by a pitch as the Dodgers won their season-high sixth straight game. Forsythe reached five times, including three walks, and Taylor reached three times.

"Hitting the ball where they're not playing to be honest, squaring some balls up, putting some good at-bats together," Utley said. "Having a little success can breed confidence and I've always had the opinion that a confident hitter is a good hitter."

Adrian Gonzalez's sacrifice fly and Utley's RBI double started the Dodgers comeback in the third. Enrique Hernandez tied it at 3 with a single, and Paul DeJong's throwing error on the same play scored Utley to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.

The Dodgers scored three more times behind one hit in the fifth as relievers Tyler Lyons and John Brebbia each walked in a run.

"I think the at-bat quality and there's a thing about winning 90 feet when we need to," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "And guys were able to get on base and win 90 feet when we had too."

Utley has hit .333 (22 for 66) in May and he has three homers in his last six games after hitting just .122 in April.

"It wasn't ideal," Utley said of his slow start. "Not something you really anticipate, but it is what it is and I've been through some funks through the course of my career before. You try to stay positive. You try to stick with what you know and what helped make you successful and hopefully it turns around."

Kenta Maeda spotted the Cardinals three first-inning runs for the second straight start, but once again held them scoreless after that to give the Dodgers a chance to come back.

Brandon Morrow (1-0) led a parade of six Dodgers relievers. The Dodgers bullpen gave up one run in five innings, the third consecutive game Los Angeles relievers had to get more than nine outs.

The Cardinals, who've lost 10 out of their last 13 games, capitalized on a fortunate call and a couple of Dodgers errors to take a 3-0 lead in the first.

Dexter Fowler appeared to be thrown out trying to steal second following a strikeout, but umpire Mark Wegner called a close 3-2 pitch to Tommy Pham ball four. Matt Carpenter followed with a single, Taylor's throwing error scored Fowler, and Pham and Carpenter took an extra base on Maeda's throwing error on the same play. Yadier Molina drove them both home with a single.

"When we score three in the first we anticipate that's a game we're going to add on to and win," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "We started out real well and then we couldn't get anything positive going."

Molina had three RBI, and his homer off Chris Hatcher in the eighth broke the Dodger bullpen's scoreless innings streak at 24 2/3 innings.

Michael Wacha (2-3) needed 77 pitches to get through three innings, the shortest outing for a Cardinals starter this season. Three of the four runs he allowed were earned.

Padres 6, Cubs 2

The rebuilding San Diego Padres are hoping to follow the Chicago Cubs' blueprint -- the one that required years of losing before a title was delivered.

Not that the defending World Series champions are looking all that unbeatable up close.

Austin Hedges had a home run and a career-high four RBI, rookie Dinelson Lamet produced another strong outing and the Padres beat the Cubs 6-2 on Tuesday night, giving Chicago its fifth straight loss.

Hedges hit a two-run homer and a two-run double as the Padres clinched the three-game series against the struggling Cubs.

Lamet (2-0), one of Padres' top prospects, was making his Petco Park debut and looking to build on his stellar first start. Against the New York Mets on Thursday, the right-hander threw five innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits.

He was nearly as good against the potent Cubs, limiting them to two runs, five hits and a walk over five innings. For the second straight start, he struck out eight. He showed three effective pitches in a fastball, slider and changeup.

"We knew we would see great stuff, but a 4-to-1 strike-to-ball ratio today?" Padres manager Andy Green said. "He's in the strike zone, and that is the No. 1 thing for him to be successful."

Eddie Butler (2-1) was seeking his third straight win, but he lasted only 4 1/3 innings, charged with six runs and seven hits.

"We had a good game plan, executed a lot of pitches, but missed with a few too many," Butler said.

He walked three and struck out five as his teammates were no match for Lamet.

"Fortunately everything went well," Lamet said through a translator. "I got confidence once I got a strike on these guys, then I could go after them with my offspeed pitches and my breaking stuff. I was trying to be aggressive and attacking the strike zone."

Hunter Renfroe had a two-run double in the fifth that put the Padres up 4-2 and gave him six RBI in two games.

"We gave up the lead and that was largely because they did pitch well again and we're not hitting like we can," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "So that is a bad combination."

Hedges got to reliever Brian Duensing for another two-run double into the left field corner, extending the edge to 6-2.

Kyle Schwarber burned Lamet on an 0-2 pitch, turning on an elevated fastball for a solo homer in the fifth to tie it at 2 and snap his 0-for-13 skid.

"The rest of the outing it was lights out for the young guy," Green said. "I feel really good about his ballgame, and I couldn't be more pleased in what he has done in his two starts."

Hedges' ninth homer of the season, a two-run shot off Butler's fastball, pushed the Padres ahead 2-1 in the second inning. Franchy Cordero opened with a single.

The Cubs struck first when Willson Contreras' bad-hop grounder got past Cory Spangenberg at third for a double in the second for a 1-0 edge, scoring Cordero after he singled.

Chicago, which has fallen a game under .500, has nine hits in the series' first two games. They left nine runners on base.

Red Sox 13, White Sox 7

This wasn't the way Chris Sale pictured his return to Chicago. With the way the Boston Red Sox swung the bats, it didn't make much of a difference.

Sale had a shaky first start back in his former home, but Deven Marrero hit two of Boston's season-high six home runs in a 13-7 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

Sale (6-2) got a warm reception from the crowd and a rude welcome from his old team. The five-time All-Star gave up six runs and 10 hits -- both season highs -- over five innings in his first appearance against the White Sox.

"I don't know how many times I've given up six runs and still been in a pretty good mood after the game," Sale said. "That says a lot about my guys behind me."

Marrero drove in five runs and doubled his career home run total. After hitting two homers in his first 59 major league games, he went back-to-back with Betts in a four-run second inning and chased Jose Quintana (2-7) with a three-run drive in the third that made it 7-3.

Bradley bumped the lead to 10-6 in the fifth with a three-run drive off Dan Jennings, after Chicago had cut it to one.

Bogaerts added a solo homer in the eighth and finished with four of Boston's 16 hits.

Moreland knocked a two-run homer off Juan Minaya in the ninth to make it 13-7.

Boston's Craig Kimbrel worked the final 1⅓ innings for his 14th save in 15 chances, and the Red Sox picked up the win after dropping two in a row.

Todd Frazier and Tim Anderson homered for Chicago, but the White Sox took the loss after winning four of five.

Dealt to Boston last winter for a package of prospects that included highly regarded slugger Yoan Moncada, Sale was looking forward to pitching against his old friends. He got a standing ovation when he trotted to the mound in the first inning.

But it was a rough night overall for the lanky left-hander. He threw 111 pitches and was consistently behind in the count, though he finished with nine strikeouts and two walks.

Boston manager John Farrell said the ballpark "played extremely small." But Sale blamed his rough outing on a lack of command, not the conditions.

Chicago's Quintana got pounded for seven runs and 10 hits in 2⅔ innings. It was his shortest outing since he lasted one inning against the New York Yankees on Sept. 2, 2013.

"We're just going to have to keep grinding it out," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "It's not the stuff. The stuff's the same. It's the command and the execution. If we can get that back on track, I think Q's going to be who he is, which is a very effective major league pitcher."

Quintana, a 2016 All-Star, has allowed 15 runs, 18 hits and four homers in his past two starts. And his ERA has jumped from 3.92 to 5.60.

"We were both off," Sale said. "I think people were expecting something a little different. But they came to a 7 o'clock batting practice session."

Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts and Mitch Moreland also went deep. The Red Sox won for the seventh time in nine games after an anticipated duel between aces never materialized.

Tuesday, May 30 Scoreboard

Cleveland 9, Oakland 4

Los Angeles Dodgeres 9,  St. Louis 4

New York Yankees 8, Baltimore 3

Arizona 3, Pittsburgh 0

Toronto 6, Cincinnati 4

New York Mets 5, Milwaukee 4 (F/12)

Seattle 10, Colorado 4

Miami 7, Philadelphia 2

Texas 9, Tampa  Bay 5

Boston 13, Chicago White Sox 7

Houston 7, Minnesota 2

Kansas City 1, Detroit 0

Washington 6, San Francisco 3

Los Angeles Angels 9, Atlanta 3

San Diego 6, Chicago  Cubs 2

Wednesday, May 21 Schedule (All Times Central)

Arizona at Pittsburgh, 11:35 a.m.

Cincinnati at Toronto, 11:37 a.m.

Houston at Minnesota, 12:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 12:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at San Diego, 2:40 p.m.

Oakland at Cleveland, 5:10 p.m.

New York Yankees at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Milwaukee at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Boston at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

Detroit at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.

Atlanta at Los Angeles Angels, 9:07 p.m.

Colorado at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

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