MLB Roundup: Slam Diego! Cronenworth hits Padres’ 5th slam in 6 games
Published 7:06 pm Saturday, August 22, 2020
- San Diego Padres' Jake Cronenworth, back right, celebrates his grand slam with Manny Machado during the second inning of the team's baseball game against the Houston Astros in San Diego, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Padres rookie Jake Cronenworth hit a grand slam in a wild nine-run second inning Saturday night against Houston, making San Diego the first team in major league history to hit five in six games.
Earlier in the week, the Padres became the first club to hit a grand slam in four straight games.
Cronenworth drove a 3-1 pitch from Humberto Castellanos into the home run deck in right field — which now has a number of mannequins dressed in Padres gear — to give San Diego an 11-1 lead. It was San Diego’s third homer of the inning and fifth of the game.
Cronenworth, obtained along with outfielder Tommy Pham in an offseason trade with Tampa Bay, became the 20th Padres rookie to hit a grand slam. It was his third homer of the year.
Earlier in the week, the Padres hit grand slams in four consecutive games during a sweep of the Texas Rangers in a home-and-home series.
That onslaught started with Fernando Tatis Jr.’s controversial slam Monday night on a 3-0 count with a seven-run lead, reigniting a debate about etiquette and baseball’s so-called “unwritten rules.” Wil Myers hit a slam on Tuesday, Manny Machado had a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning Wednesday night and Eric Hosmer capped the run with a historic shot on Thursday night.
Hosmer batted with the bases loaded Friday night but grounded out.
Trent Grisham hit a three-run homer with Cronenworth aboard, and Myers launched a solo shot in the second inning. Tatis was hit by a pitch from rookie Brandon Bielak, who made way for Castellanos. Both teams were warned by the umpires, and Houston’s Martin Maldonado was ejected from the dugout.
Grisham also hit a leadoff shot and Machado had a solo shot with one out in the first.
Nationals 5, Marlins 4
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Nationals’ bullpen halted a Miami Marlins rally, retiring all seven batters it faced in a 5-4 victory on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader.
Kyle Finnegan (1-0) struck out Jorge Alfaro to escape a two-out, bases-loaded jam he inherited from starter Max Scherzer in the fifth to earn his first major league win. Tanner Rainey pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, and Daniel Hudson earned his sixth save with a perfect seventh.
While Scherzer labored for much of his outing, Miami didn’t manage anything until Jonathan Villar’s RBI single in the fifth and Matt Joyce’s homer a batter later. Scherzer allowed the next four hitters to reach and was finally chased when Jesus Sanchez walked with the bases loaded.
Scherzer surrendered four runs while throwing 108 pitches in 4 2/3 innings. It was the third time in six starts the three-time Cy Young Award winner allowed at least four runs.
Pirates 12, Brewers 4
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Adam Frazier and Jacob Stallings homered and drove in three runs apiece, helping the Pittsburgh Pirates pound the Milwaukee Brewers 12-5 on Saturday.
Pittsburgh collected 14 hits for the second straight day, good enough for its first win streak since last September. Gregory Polanco had a home run and a double for his first two-hit game in 15 months. Colin Moran doubled three times, and Erik Gonzalez chipped in a two-run double in the seventh as the Pirates batted around against Milwaukee’s suddenly vulnerable bullpen.
Pittsburgh’s nine extra-base hits were a season high, and its run total matched the most surrendered by the Brewers this year.
Derek Holland (1-1) surrendered one run in five innings in his 300th major league appearance. The veteran left-hander allowed four hits in his first victory as a starter since April 9, 2019, for San Francisco.
The Pirates entered the weekend with the worst record in the major leagues after dropping 14 of 16. Their sputtering offense, however, has found a semblance of a groove against the Brewers. Pittsburgh’s 19 runs against Milwaukee in the first two games of the series is one less than the club managed over its previous seven games combined.
Angels 4, Athletics 3
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout drove in three early runs, then made a key catch late as the Los Angeles Angels beat Oakland 4-3 Saturday to snap the Athletics’ nine-game home winning streak.
The three-time MVP made a diving catch on Matt Olson’s sinking liner to center field to start the eighth inning, which had Angels reliever Ty Buttrey clapping his glove in gratitude. Buttrey got six outs for his second save.
Anthony Rendon extended his hitting streak to 12 games for the Angels, who snapped a four-game losing streak with their second victory in the last 10.
Matt Andriese (1-1) relieved starter Griffin Canning in the fifth and pitched 2 1/3 innings for his first win with the Angels.
Ramon Laureano scored from first on a double by Olson in the fifth to make it a 4-3 game, but the A’s didn’t have a winning rally in them this time. Oakland had its three-game winning streak snapped.
Matt Chapman homered in the fourth to pull the A’s to 4-2. Olson and Tony Kemp each hit an RBI double.
Indians 6, Tigers 1
CLEVELAND (AP) — Triston McKenzie struck out 10 in his major league debut and Domingo Santana delivered a bases-clearing double in the sixth, lifting the Cleveland Indians to a 6-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.
McKenzie (1-0) went six innings, allowing two hits on a Willi Castro homer and a Jeimer Candelario double. The 23-year-old right-hander notched his first strikeout on three pitches to future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera in the first.
Santana’s two-out double came off reliever John Schreiber and gave Cleveland a 3-1 lead and Roberto Perez followed with an RBI single. Carlos Santana had a sacrifice fly in the seventh and César Hernández singled in the Indians’ final run in the eighth.
Rays 2, Blue Jays 1, 10 innings
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Pinch-hitter Kevin Kiermaier singled in the 10th inning and Tampa Bay Rays ended Toronto’s six-game winning streak, beating the Blue Jays 2-1 Saturday night.
Both teams scored a run in the fifth and it stayed 1-all until each team began the 10th with an automatic runner on second base.
After Anthony Banda (1-0) got Travis Shaw to ground into an inning-ending double play in the top half, the Rays won it.
A groundout and walk put runners at the corners. Kiermaier batted for Michael Brosseau and singled off Anthony Bass (1-1).
The Blue Jays were bidding for their first seven-game winning streak since 2016. Toronto had won the series opener Friday night 6-5 in 10 innings.
Toronto lefty Hyun Jin Ryu allowed one run, three hits and struck out six in five innings. He has given up three runs and 10 hits over 22 innings in his last four starts.
Rays starter Aaron Slegers struck out five over four no-hit innings in his first start since July 10, 2018 while with Minnesota. He allowed one baserunner, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who reached on an error.
Slegers was the 10th different starting pitcher used by Tampa Bay this season. The Rays have seven pitchers, including starters Charlie Morton and Yonny Chirinos, on the injured list.
Twins 7, Royals 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eddie Rosario hit a three-run homer, Miguel Sano homered and also drove in three runs, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 7-2 on Saturday night to even their series at a game apiece.
Randy Dobnak (5-1) pitched five innings of two-run ball, continuing his brilliant start to the season. The former undrafted free agent, who just three years ago was pitching for the independent Utica Unicorns, gave up a homer to Alex Gordon but otherwise kept dodging trouble on a hot, humid night at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals’ Brady Singer (1-3) allowed four runs and six hits in four innings in his third straight start against Minnesota.
After the Royals jumped on the Twins with four runs in the first Friday night, it was Minnesota’s turn to strike early. Max Kepler hit a leadoff double, Jorge Polanco singled and Rosario hit Singer’s biggest mistake into the right-field fountain.
Sano made it 4-0 when he crushed a pitch off the Royals’ Hall of Fame — an estimated 458 feet to left field.
Meanwhile, Dobnak was keeping the Royals off the scoreboard until the fifth, when Gordon sent a one-out pitch over the wall in center. That finally gave Kansas City some momentum: Cam Gallagher and Whit Merrifield added two-out singles and Nicky Lopez guided an RBI double down the left-field line to make it 4-2.