ARLINGTON, Texas — The Seattle Mariners won their 14th straight game as rookie All-Star Julio Rodríguez hit a two-run double and Ty France homered after joining him on the AL team to beat the Texas Rangers 6-2 on Sunday.

The Mariners moved closer to the team record of 15 consecutive wins during their most recent playoff season in 2001, when they went 116-46. The 14-game streak is the longest going into an All-Star break in major league history.

Cal Raleigh’s two-run homer put the Mariners ahead for good in the fourth inning as they matched reigning World Series champion Atlanta’s June streak for the longest this season. St. Louis had a 17-game winning string last year.

Rodríguez, who wasn’t even six months old the last time the Mariners were on a streak this long 21 years ago, lined a double off the wall in left-center field in the seventh, then raced home on France’s single for a 6-1 lead.

BLUE JAYS 4, ROYALS 2: Alejandro Kirk hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning, sending Toronto to a victory  at home over Kansas City.

Kansas City, in last place in the AL Central, was without 10 unvaccinated players, including All-Star outfielder Andrew Benintendi and infielder Whit Merrifield, during this four-game series in Toronto.

The Royals won the first game of the series Thursday and then dropped the next three.

Since unvaccinated foreign nationals aren’t allowed to enter Canada, the Royals roster included Triple-A and Double-A prospects, making an already difficult series against the high-powered Blue Jays more challenging.

RAYS 7, ORIOLES 5: Brett Phillips, Randy Arozarena and Francisco Mejía homered as Tampa Bay, despite losing hot-hitting Harold Ramírez to a broken thumb, beat Baltimore in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Ramírez, who was batting .329 in 77 games as a first baseman/outfielder, was hit in the right thumb by a pitch from Jordan Lyles in the first. Ramírez stayed in the game, scored a run and exited the next inning. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

The Rays are 51-41 and hold the top spot in the AL wild-card race. They enter the All-Star break at least 10 games over .500 for the sixth time – they made the playoffs the first five times.

WHITE SOX 11, TWINS 0: Dylan Cease spun a one-hitter over seven innings in his latest masterful start for Chicago, who walloped host Minnesota and surged into the All-Star break by winning three out of four games against the first-place Twins.

Cease (9-4) allowed only a fifth-inning single to Alex Kirilloff and two walks. Andrew Vaughn had three hits and three RBIs to help bring the White Sox within three games of Minnesota in the AL Central. Cleveland is two games back.

The White Sox had 16 hits on a hot and humid afternoon, including home runs by Yoán Moncada, Vaughn and Josh Harrison in the seventh inning. Chicago outscored the Twins 32-10 during the series to pick up two games in the standings.

ATHLETICS 4, ASTROS 3: Stephen Vogt hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and Oakland wrapped up a shaky first half by winning in Houston.

Ramón Laureano homered for the A’s, who went into the All-Star break at 32-61, the worst record in the AL. This is their first season under Manager Mark Kotsay.

Kyle Tucker and Jeremy Peña homered for Houston, which holds the second-best record in the AL at 59-32. Manager Dusty Baker’s club won the pennant last year but lost the World Series to Atlanta.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PHILLIES 4, MARLINS 0: Aaron Nola struck out 10 and pitched scoreless ball into the ninth inning as Philadelphia won in Miami for a three-game sweep.

Yairo Muñoz homered to help Philadelphia head into the All-Star break at 49-43. Even minus injured star Bryce Harper, the Phillies showed a dramatic turnaround after manager Joe Girardi was fired on June 3, going 27-14 under Rob Thomson.

Nola (6-7) gave up four hits and walked one. He was pulled after allowing one-out singles to Joey Wendle and Brian Anderson in the ninth.

NATIONALS 7, BRAVES 3: Juan Soto and Victor Robles homered, and Washington won at home to snap a nine-game losing streak.

Soto, Washington’s lone All-Star who could be traded by the end of the month, hit a solo shot in the eighth inning to extend his on-base streak to a career-high 26 games. The Nationals avoided dropping 10 in a row for the first time since an 11-game skid that spanned the 2008 and 2009 seasons. At 31-63, they have the worst record in the majors at the All-Star break.

Washington hadn’t scored five runs in a game since an 8-7 loss to Pittsburgh on June 29, a loss which started the Nationals’ 1-15 slide entering Sunday.

CUBS 3, METS 2: Nico Hoerner hit a tiebreaking RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning, and Chicago stopped a nine-game slide by topping visiting New York.

Christopher Morel sparked Chicago’s winning rally with a leadoff infield single against Drew Smith (1-3). Morel advanced to third on Willson Contreras’ single and scored on Ian Happ’s tapper to the right of the mound.

After Seiya Suzuki popped out, Hoerner’s liner into center drove in Contreras from second for a 3-2 lead. Hoerner finished with three hits.

PIRATES 8, ROCKIES 3: Kyle Newman and Michael Chavis had three hits apiece, and Pittsburgh ended its 12-game road trip with a win in Denver.

Jason Delay and Jason Marisnick also had two hits and Tyler Beede (1-1) pitched two innings of relief for the Pirates.

Pittsburgh had a season-high 16 hits to end a four-game skid and finish its 11-day, four-city trip 6-6.

GIANTS 9, BREWERS 5: Logan Webb pitched six strong innings for his ninth win to keep the Giants rolling into the All-Star break with a victory over slumping Milwaukee in San Francisco.

LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a three-run home run. Brandon Belt also connected and drove in three runs as the Giants won their third straight against the Brewers after dropping the series opener.

San Francisco has won seven of nine overall heading into the All-Star break after losing 14 of its previous 18.

DIAMONDBACKS 3, PADRES 1: Merrill Kelly gave up one run in six innings and David Peralta hit a solo homer to lead Arizona to a victory in San Diego.

Arizona went into the All-Star break on a good note but dropped two of three games at San Diego to finish a 2-4 road trip.

The Padres concluded their first half by losing six of their last nine games.

NOTES

ALL-STAR GAME: Houston’s Justin Verlander, the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and Atlanta’s Max Fried won’t be active for the All-Star Game, along with the Angels’ Mike Trout, after weekend starts.

Relievers Liam Hendriks of the Chicago White Sox, Jordan Romano of Toronto and Devin Williams of Milwaukee and Seattle first baseman Ty France replaced them on the active rosters for Tuesday’s game at Dodger Stadium, Major League Baseball said Sunday.

About a dozen players have changed from the original rosters announced July 6 and 8.

POSTPONEMENTS: The finale of the four-game series between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians was postponed by rain.

The scheduled 1:40 p.m. game was called off about two hours before the first pitch. The game will be made up as part of a traditional doubleheader Aug. 15.

Also Sunday, the game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds was postponed because of rain.

The final game of the three-game set was called at 12:31 p.m. local time. It will be made up on Sept. 17 as part of a day-night doubleheader.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Red Sox lose Chris Sale to injury in loss to Yankees

Next »

British Open: Cameron Smith rallies to win first major title