Kivlehan Sparks Reds Past Cardinals, Marlins Edge Cubs

By ESPN

Scooter Gennett didn't have any more homers in that tan bat. Instead, another Cincinnati utility player hit the ball a long way and decided a game.

St. Louis kept Gennett in check a day after his four-homer game , but Patrick Kivlehan had a pinch-hit three-run shot that sparked the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-4 victory Wednesday night, extending the Cardinals' longest losing streak in four years.

The Cardinals have dropped six in a row, their deepest slump since they lost seven straight in July 2013.

They let a 4-1 lead slip away when Kivlehan -- another utility player like Gennett -- and Joey Votto homered during a five-run seventh inning.

"Before the inning, I was thinking that it had been a while since I'd gotten to pinch hit and I decided that if I was sent up there, I wasn't going to take any swings in the (batting) cage," said Kivlehan, the Reds' leading pinch hitter. "I was just going to grab a bat and go up there."

Kivlehan's first career pinch-hit homer off Brett Cecil (0-2) tied it 4-4. Votto's two-run homer off Trevor Rosenthal finished the eight-batter rally that put the Reds in position for their 13th comeback win of the season.

"Sometimes you're amazed that it's happening," manager Bryan Price said. "I never get tired of it."

Gennett became the first Reds player to homer four times in a game during the 13-1 win a night earlier. He connected in his last four at-bats and had a chance for more history on Wednesday -- nobody has homered in five straight plate appearances.

Using the same tan bat that produced five hits overall the previous night, Gennett grounded into a double play his first time up against Lance Lynn, ending his homer streak. He also struck out, hit into another double play and singled as part of the Reds' go-ahead rally.

Scott Schebler had a homer among his three hits for the Reds, who have won all three games in a series that ends on Thursday. They have won 10 of their last 15 games overall against the NL Central rival.

It's been a long time since the Cardinals have gone through such bad times.

"You hope that when you do go through them, they're not long," said Lynn, who was removed after five innings for a pinch hitter. "And they're longer than we would like it right now. We've got one more tomorrow. Hopefully we can win that one and get back home and kind of regroup, take a deep breath and get back after it."

Wandy Peralta (3-1) got the win in relief of Bronson Arroyo. Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth, staying perfect in 11 save chances.

Marlins 6, Cubs 5

The Miami Marlins looked like they were on their way to a rather easy win after J.T. Realmuto and Marcell Ozuna homered.

Some aggressive base-running by Dee Gordon helped preserve the victory.

Ozuna hit his 15th homer, Realmuto went deep and the Miami Marlins hung on to beat the Chicago Cubs 6-5 and avoid a three-game sweep on Wednesday night.

"I think it's important for us to win these one-run ballgames," said A.J. Ramos, who worked the final 1 1/3 innings. "It sets the tone, it shows that we can win these close ballgames, because we've been losing a lot of these and it's good to get one win out here at least after losing those two so hopefully get some momentum rolling to Pittsburgh."

Solo homers by Realmuto in a three-run fourth and Ozuna in the fifth against John Lackey (4-6) helped stake Miami to a 5-2 lead.

Gordon tripled and scored in the first. He also singled and raced home from second with the decisive run in the seventh when Giancarlo Stanton struck out on a pitch in the dirt. The ball ricocheted to the left of the plate, leaving it uncovered as catcher Miguel Montero threw to first.

Gordon's aggressive play on the bases made it 6-3, and the Marlins won for the eighth time in 11 games. They also stopped the Cubs' season-high win streak at five.

Kyle Schwarber homered and had two doubles for Chicago. Ian Happ also went deep. Anthony Rizzo added two hits and two RBI. But the Cubs came up short trying to sweep the Marlins after taking all three from NL Central rival St. Louis.

They were trailing 6-4 in the eighth when Jon Jay singled with two outs and scored on Schwarber's double to right-center against Nick Wittgren. Ramos then struck out Happ to end the inning and worked the ninth for his ninth save in as many chances.

He walked Rizzo with one out, putting the tying run on base. Ramos then deflected Ben Zobrist's comebacker with his foot, picked up the ball and threw to second for the force. Heyward followed with a fly to center to end the game.

Jose Urena (4-2) improved to 3-0 in his past four starts despite a 7.45 ERA in that stretch. He lasted five innings, allowing three runs and three hits while walking three.

Lackey gave up five runs and seven hits in six innings and was once again hurt by the long ball. The 38-year-old right-hander has allowed 16 home runs.

But what bothered Lackey more was JT Riddle's two-run single on a hanging slider in the fourth.

"If I managed the game a little bit better, (the home runs) shouldn't have killed us," Lackey said. "The hit to the shortstop (Riddle) is probably the one that got me the most for sure."

Rays 3, White Sox 1

Tampa Bay's Jacob Faria capped what he describes as the "best two-week span of my life" with his first major league win.

The 23-year-old right-hander sparkled in his big league debut Wednesday night, taking a three-hitter into the seventh inning of a 3-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Pitching on the sixth anniversary of the day the Rays selected him in the 10th round of the 2011 amateur draft, Faria walked two and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings, settling down after falling behind three batters into the game to help his team end a season-high four-game losing streak.

"Usually after starts, my legs would be exhausted. But I feel like I could go run a mile right now. I've still got a ton of adrenaline going," said Faria, who also became engaged to be married on May 23, the sixth anniversary of meeting his long-time girlfriend.

"He provided a huge boost for us," Rays manager Kevin Cash added. "We needed a win, and generally you don't ask for a guy to come up and make his major league debut to provide that. But it worked out. He was just outstanding."

Relievers Tommy Hunter, Jose Alvarado and Alex Colome finished the combined four-hitter, with Colome getting the final three outs for his 16th save.

A night after squandering numerous scoring opportunities in a 4-2 loss to the White Sox, the Rays sputtered early offensively against Mike Pelfrey (2-5), who escaped jams in the first two innings but couldn't do it again in the third, when the Rays scored three times.

Tim Beckham singled with the bases loaded, giving Tampa Bay only its second hit of the series in 15 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Another run scored when right fielder Avisail Garcia misplayed Beckham's hit for an error. Daniel Robertson's RBI grounder made it 3-1.

Faria (1-0) allowed hits to two of the first three batters he faced, with Laury Garcia leading off the game with a single before stealing second and scoring on Jose Abreu's single to right field.

The rookie, 6-1 with a 3.07 ERA for Triple-A Durham before being promoted earlier Wednesday, didn't allow another hit until Kevan Smith doubled with two outs in the fifth.

"Their guy did a nice job of kind of keeping us off balance. ... He mixed his pitches well," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said.

Pelfrey, meanwhile, allowed three runs and six hits over 5 1/3 innings.

The White Sox, who snapped a five-game losing streak on Tuesday night, have lost six of seven. They've been outscored 37-15 while dropping four of five on a nine-game trip that ends this weekend at Cleveland.

"We actually have been playing decent baseball," Renteria said. "I thought we've had a couple of games where we didn't play very well. The rest of them, for the most part, I think we've been in games. We just haven't been able to score enough runs to overcome some deficits."

Wednesday, June 7 Scoreboard

Los Angeles Dodgers 2, Washington 1

Colorado 8, Cleveland 1

Toronto 7, Oakland 5 (F/10)

Baltimore 9, Pittsburgh 6 (F/11)

New York Yankees 8,  Boston 0

Detroit 4, Los Angeles Angels 0

Cincinnati 6,  St. Louis 4

Tampa Bay 3, Chicago White Sox 1

Atlanta 14, Philadelphia 1

New York Mets 4, Texas 3

Miami 6, Chicago  Cubs 5

Milwaukee 6, San Francisco 3

Kansas City 7, Houston 5

Arizona 7, San Diego 4

Seattle 6, Minnesota 5

Thursday, June 8 Schedule (All Times Central)

St. Louis at Cincinnati, 11:35 a.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

San Francisco at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

San Diego at Arizona, 2:40 p.m.

Boston at New York Yankees, 6 p.m.

Baltimore at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Miami at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

Colorado at Chicago Cubs, 7:05 p.m.

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

Minnesota at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Friday, June 9 Schedule (All Times Central)

Colorado at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Texas at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Miami at PIttsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Detroit at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

Oakland at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Baltimore at New York Yankees, 6:35 p.m.

New York Mets at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

Milwaukee at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Toronto at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.

Kansas City at San Diego, 9:10 p.m.

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

Saturday, June 10 Schedule (All Times Central)

Texas at Washington, 11:05 a.m.

New York Mets at Atlanta, noon

Oakland at Tampa Bay, 12:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at St. Louis, 1:15 p.m.

Colorado at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Miami at Pittsburgh, 3:05 p.m.

Minnesota at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Houston, 3:10 p.m.

Kansas City at San Diego, 3:10 p.m.

Oakland at Tampa Bay, 3:40 p.m.

New York Mets at Atlanta, 5 p.m.

Detroit at Boston, 6:15 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Cleveland, 6:15 p.m.

Baltimore at New York Yankees, 6:15 p.m.

Toronto at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Arizona, 9:10 p.m.

Sunday, June 11 Schedule (All Times Central)

Baltimore at New York Yankees, 12:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Cleveland, 12:10 p.m.

Oakland at Tampa Bay, 12:10 p.m.

New York Mets at Atlanta, 12:35 p.m.

Miami at Pittsburgh, 12:35 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at St. Louis, 1:15 p.m.

Colorado at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Texas at Washington, 3:05 p.m.

Minnesota at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m.

Toronto at Seattle, 3:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Arizona, 3:10 p.m.

Kansas City at San Diego, 3:40 p.m.

Detroit at Boston, 7 p.m.