Brewers ' Nelson Beats Cardinals, Cubs Pound D-backs

By ESPN

Jimmy Nelson is in the midst of the best year of his career, though the emerging ace of the Milwaukee Brewers had yet to solve the St. Louis Cardinals.

That changed Tuesday, as Nelson finally beat St. Louis with six strong innings in the Brewers' 3-2 victory.

Nelson (9-5) entered 0-8 with a 7.01 ERA in 11 appearances (10 starts) against the Cardinals. This time, the right-hander overcame his division rival by allowing just two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.

"It is definitely nice to finally get one," Nelson said.

The Brewers' bullpen kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard for three innings, including Anthony Swarzak striking out the side in the eighth after Josh Hader issued a leadoff walk.

Left fielder Ryan Braun and shortstop Orlando Arcia collided and allowed Stephen Piscotty to reach on a single with one out in the ninth, but Corey Knebel worked around the miscue to earn his 19th save.

The Brewers scored their three runs in the first inning off Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez (7-9) and had just two infield singles the rest of the game.

Eric Sogard scored on a groundout by Braun, and Domingo Santana snapped Milwaukee's 0-for-33 skid with runners in scoring position with a two-out RBI single up the middle. Manny Pina followed with a double to center to plate Santana and make it 3-0.

"You're facing Carlos Martinez, so you know runs are going to be tough to begin with," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "We got him before he settled in, really."

A two-out RBI single by Yadier Molina and another by Tommy Pham in the fifth pulled St. Louis within 3-2.

Nelson worked out of the inning by getting Paul DeJong to fly out with two on and then pitched a scoreless sixth.

Martinez settled in to get through five innings. He escaped further damage in the fifth by inducing a grounder to third base by Santana with the bases loaded.

First-inning struggles are nothing new to Martinez, who has a 6.55 ERA (16 runs in 22 starts) in opening frames, by far his highest in any inning. After the game, he hinted at potentially changing his warmup routine.

"I throw all my pitches at game speed," Martinez said through a translator. "I try to stay focused and try to treat my warmups as I was pitching an inning during the game. Now I think it's more of an issue of staying in control mentally and that's something I need to work on."

Cubs 16, Diamondbacks 4

Jon Lester loved everything about Tuesday night, except for his performance on the mound.

Lester hit his first major league homer and struck out nine to reach 2,000 for his career, helping the Chicago Cubs to a runaway 16-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. But he was pulled in the fifth, and that part was frustrating for the ace left-hander.

"My name doesn't have first base or outfield next to it. It has a P next to it, and my job is to pitch," he said, "and on the pitching side of it, wasn't exceptionally well tonight."

Anthony Rizzo went deep twice and Ian Happ and Javier Baez also connected as Chicago kicked off a six-game homestand with its 14th win in 17 games since the All-Star break. Rizzo, Baez and Albert Almora Jr. each drove in three runs, and Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras had two RBI apiece.

The World Series champions rapped out 17 hits in their highest-scoring game of the season and stayed 2 1/2 games ahead of second-place Milwaukee in the NL Central. Hector Rondon (3-1) got five outs for the win, and Mike Montgomery pitched three innings for his third save.

"It's back. The feeling is back," Rizzo said. "All those good vibes, all those good juices that we've had for the last couple years is back. Just a different look in guys' eyes. It's a different feeling. I can't pinpoint it to one thing. It's just everyone feels really good right now."

Adam Rosales had two hits and two RBI in his first game with Arizona after he was acquired Monday in a trade with Oakland. Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock contributed two hits apiece, but the Diamondbacks were unable to overcome Patrick Corbin's worst start in weeks and a rough performance by their bullpen.

"I just didn't have it tonight," Corbin said. "I've got to be better. It starts with fastball command, and that's something I was lacking tonight."

Arizona lost for the third time in four games and fell a half-game back of Colorado for the top spot in the NL wild-card standings.

"There were a lot of things that happened today that weren't Arizona Diamondbacks baseball," manager Torey Lovullo said.

With two outs and Happ on first in the third, Lester drove a 2-2 pitch from Corbin over the wall in center to make it 8-1. The crowd of 40,709 roared as Lester trotted around the bases and kept cheering until he popped out of the dugout for a curtain call.

"It was cool, man," Lester said. "Yeah, that's something that you can't really describe. I mean it's a cool feeling."

Lester, a .072 career hitter coming into the night, also singled and scored in Chicago's four-run second. But manager Joe Maddon came out to get him after the first three batters reached in the fifth, leaving him just short of his fourth straight victory.

"Jon was good," Maddon said. "They just kept fouling off pitches."

Corbin (8-10) lasted just three innings in his shortest outing of the season. He allowed eight runs, seven earned, and 10 hits after going 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA over his previous four starts.

The Cubs sent 12 batters to the plate in a seven-run sixth, highlighted by Baez's three-run shot. Rizzo led off the seventh with his 26th homer in his return to the lineup after missing Sunday's victory over the Brewers with back soreness.

Blue Jays 8, White Sox 4

The Toronto Blue Jays were sailing along after Justin Smoak and Josh Donaldson staked them to a commanding lead when tempers flared.

Bullpens emptied. And in a flash, it was over.

A heated exchange between Marcus Stroman and Chicago's Tim Anderson was one of the few tense moments in a rather routine win for Toronto.

Smoak hit his 31st homer, Donaldson homered and drove in three runs, and the Blue Jays beat the White Sox 8-4 on Tuesday night.

Smoak and Donaldson each connected for the second straight night and third time in five games. Donaldson also had a sacrifice fly and RBI double.

Stroman (10-5) went seven innings, allowing four runs and seven hits. He was winless in his previous three starts despite a 1.89 ERA in that stretch.

Stroman exchanged words with Anderson as he batted leading off the seventh. They continued to go at it as Anderson walked back to the dugout after striking out.

The situation quickly cooled after both benches and dugouts emptied. Anderson was restrained, but there were no ejections. Of course, each player said the other was the instigator.

"It seemed like he wanted to talk the entire way back to the dugout after striking out," Stroman said. "I got the ball back from Donaldson after throwing the ball around, and he was still continuing to talk, so I asked him what he was saying. He continued to talk more, so I walked toward the dugout. I thought he had a problem. I don't understand why he would be running his mouth walking back to the dugout. It made zero sense to me."

Why did it matter if Anderson was talking?

"No comment," Stroman said.

Anderson said Stroman had words for him when he stepped out of the box and mumbled something after striking him out.

"I felt disrespected. I had to do what I had to do," Anderson said.

He insisted he has no regrets, adding, "I stood up like I was supposed to and it happened."

Toronto came out on top after dropping three of four and snapped a four-game road losing streak.

Chicago's Kevan Smith hit a two-run homer batting for injured designated hitter Matt Davidson in the sixth. But the White Sox lost for the 18th time in 22 games.

Donaldson connected in the first and added a sacrifice fly in the third to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

Chicago's Omar Narvaez tied it with a two-run double in the fourth, but Smoak's two-run drive just beyond a leaping center fielder Leury Garcia with two outs in the fifth made it 4-2.

The Blue Jays added three more in the sixth while chasing Mike Pelfrey (3-9) after he retired the first two batters. Russell Martin hit a two-run, bases-loaded single off Gregory Infante, and Donaldson drove an RBI double off the center-field wall to make it 7-2.

Pelfrey gave up six runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Wackiness At Red Sox Game

Amid the euphoria and the sheer delirium, Christian Vazquez stood with his back to the Boston Red Sox dugout, arms in the air, just bathing it all in.

And then came the bath.

Xander Bogaerts sneaked back onto the field and dumped a bucket of red Gatorade on Vazquez, who moments earlier had crushed a walk-off three-run home run to almost straightaway center field. It was quite likely the hardest ball the Boston catcher has ever hit, and it ended probably the strangest game you will see all season, a 12-10 Red Sox victory over the Cleveland Indians.

"This was a PlayStation game, you know?" Bogaerts said. "You keep bouncing back and forth. It was like PlayStation."

Consider the wackiness of Tuesday night in Fenway Park:

    Red Sox ace Chris Sale, the Cy Young favorite in the American League, gave up a season-high seven runs -- five in the first two inning -- after allowing a total of five runs in his previous six starts.

    Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco gave away a 5-0 lead in the second inning and lasted only 1 2/3 innings, the shortest non-injury start of his career.

    A Red Sox second baseman not named Dustin Pedroia notched three hits and four RBIs. And with Pedroia going on the disabled list earlier in the day, Eduardo Nunez might get a lot more time at second. One thing is certain: Nunez will stay in the lineup, having gone 11-for-22 with four doubles and two homers in five games since being acquired last week in a trade with the San Francisco Giants.

    Indians center fielder Austin Jackson leaped to rob Hanley Ramirez of a home run in the fifth inning, tumbled over the bullpen wall and held on to the ball. It was such a terrific catch that Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel said, "You want to start clapping, but then you realize he just took a run away from us." Sufficiently impressed, the Fenway crowd gave Jackson a standing ovation. "I was just so pumped up, it's like I didn't even hear them," Jackson said. "I was glad I was able to hold on to it, especially going over like that."

    Here's where things really got weird. Indians relief ace Andrew Miller couldn't hold a 7-5 lead in the sixth inning and blew only his second lead of the season.

    Not to be outdone in the ninth inning, Kimbrel gave up a leadoff homer to Francisco Lindor and allowed the go-ahead run to score on a wild pitch. It was the fourth blown save for Kimbrel, who has struck out 81 of the 165 batters he has faced this season.

    With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Mitch Moreland struck out but reached base on a wild pitch from Indians closer Cody Allen. After another wild pitch, Vazquez turned around a 95 mph fastball for only his second homer in 208 at-bats.

And we haven't even gotten to the ovation Dennis Eckersley received in the third inning, a show of support for the Hall of Fame pitcher who still hasn't received an apology after he was mocked and cursed by Red Sox lefty David Price on the team plane June 29.

Bonkers, right? If you didn't know better, you'd think there was a full moon over Fenway.

"I think that was the best strikeout of my career so far," Moreland said after 22 runs, 28 hits and four lead changes. "I think to date, that right there was probably the most exciting game. That was a fun one for us."

Said manager John Farrell: "We haven't had a game like this in a long time."

Indeed, the biggest gripe among Red Sox fans -- if it's even fair to gripe about a 59-49 record -- is that the the team has lacked excitement. The Sox don't hit many home runs (a league-worst 107 in 108 games) and are prone to quick bursts of offense sandwiched between long scoreless droughts.

But in sliding back into first place, a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees, the Red Sox provided enough excitement to last a week. And while it's never wise to dwell on the potential impact that one game can have on a season of 162, it's victories like this that propel a team to bigger, better things, as long as right-hander Rick Porcello doesn't lay an egg or the offense doesn't go quiet again in the series finale on ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball.

The Red Sox, 10-14 since the Fourth of July, can certainly play better than they have lately. Odds are, they will. Maybe all it takes to get them going is one of the most bizarre games they have played.

"I think this kind of win sets the tone for anybody," Moreland said.

Said Kimbrel: "Right now is the time to roll. Get through August and then we get to September and you see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully we can catch some fire here in August and play some good ball."

Tuesday, August 1 Scoreboard

Baltimore 7, Kansas City 2

Detroit 4, New York Yankees 3

Cincinnati 9, Pittsburgh 1

Boston 12, Cleveland 10

Miami 7, Washington 6

Los Angeles Dodgers 3, Atlanta 2

Milwaukee 3, St. Louis 2

Seattle 8, Texas 7

Chicago Cubs 16, Arizona 4

Toronto 8, Chicago  White Sox 4

Tampa Bay 6, Houston 4

Colorado 5, New York Mets 4

San Francisco 10, Oakland 4

Los Angeles Angels 7, Philadelphia 1

San Diego 3, Minnesota 0

Wednesday, August 2 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

Toronto at Chicago White Sox, 1:10 p.m.

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

Cleveland at Boston, 6 p.m.

Kansas City at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Washington at Miami, 6;10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

Seattle at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

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

St. Louis at Milwaukee, 7;10 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Houston, 7;10 p.m.

New York Mets at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

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

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