MLB roundup: Braves drill slumping Pirates 14-2, complete 3-game sweep

PITTSBURGH — Kyle Wright allowed two hits over seven efficient innings, Matt Olson hit a grand slam that found the Allegheny River and the Atlanta Braves drilled the sloppy Pittsburgh Pirates 14-2 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.

Wright (16-5) struck out eight and walked one to tie Houston’s Justin Verlander and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tony Gonsolin for most victories in the majors. Wright needed just 73 pitches to record 21 outs, trimming his ERA to 2.99.

Atlanta has won 14 of 16 overall to keep pressure on the NL East-leading New York Mets, who lead the division by 1 1/2 games.

The lone highlight for the Pirates came from rookie Oneil Cruz, who ripped the hardest-hit ball since Major League Baseball began measuring exit velocity in 2015. The ball left Cruz’s bat at 122.4 mph and slammed into the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field with two outs in the third. He was held to a single.

Olson hit it plenty hard, too. He turned on a pitch from Pittsburgh reliever Cam Vieaux and sent it well over the right-field stands in the eighth for his 27th home run of the season and his fifth career grand slam.

The ball landed 420 feet from home plate before finding its way to the river on the bounce, the 66th time in the history of PNC Park that a home run has ended with a splash.

William Contreras added his 17th home run for Atlanta, bashing a pitch from Mitch Keller (4-10) into the left-field bleachers in the second inning to give the Braves an early lead. Dansby Swanson had a two-out, bases-clearing double during Atlanta’s five-run fourth, an inning that was extended because of two errors by Pittsburgh first baseman Josh Van Meter.

Olson and Robbie Grossman finished with three hits each. Swanson and Contreras had two hits.

The Pirates have lost five straight, going 2-5 during a nine-game homestand. Pittsburgh is 9-29 in its last 38 games and last in the NL Central.

INTERLEAGUE

TIGERS 6, GIANTS 1: Matt Manning threw six scoreless innings and Detroit scored all six of its runs in the fifth to beat visiting San Francisco.

Manning (1-1) allowed five hits, walked none and struck out a career-high eight in his first win since last Sept. 15 against Milwaukee.

Victor Reyes and Willi Castro each drove in two runs and Kody Clemens and Harold Castro each drove in one with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. All six runs were charged to Logan Webb (11-7), who was pulled after Harold Castro’s single made it 4-0. Willi Castro greeted reliever Thomas Szapucki with a two-run double.

RANGERS 14, ROCKIES 4: Martin Perez threw six scoreless innings and Nathaniel Lowe homered and drove in five runs, helping Texas win at Denver.

Mark Mathias had a bases-clearing double, Adolis Garcia extended his hitting streak to 21 games with an RBI single and Lowe had a run-scoring single in a seven-run second inning. Texas posted its highest-scoring game since 2019 in winning for the fourth time in five games and improving to 6-4 under interim manager Tony Beasley.

Perez (10-4) allowed four hits and walked one, lowering his ERA to 2.69. He struck out seven to give the first-time All-Star a career-high 139.

ATHLETICS 3, MARLINS 2: Skye Bolt hit a leadoff sacrifice fly – as strange as that sounds – in the 10th inning and Oakland beat visiting Miami to avert a three-game sweep.

With David MacKinnon on second base as the automatic runner and the score tied at 2, Marlins left-hander Richard Bleier flung a wild pitch. That advanced MacKinnon to third, and Bolt followed with a winning fly ball.

GUARDIANS 7, PADRES 0: Cal Quantrill shut down his former team through seven brilliant innings, All-Star Jose Ramirez homered in consecutive at-bats, and rookie Oscar Gonzalez connected again as AL Central-leading Cleveland won at San Diego.

Quantrill (10-5) was pitching at Petco Park for the first time since he was acquired by Cleveland in the nine-player trade that sent Mike Clevinger to San Diego at the deadline in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

NATIONALS 3, MARINERS 1: Seattle right-hander George Kirby set a major league record by throwing 24 straight strikes to start the game and fellow Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez reached a new level, but Ildemaro Vargas hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning that lifted Washington at Seattle.

Kirby gave up five hits and one run before throwing his first ball to Joey Meneses in the third. Kirby topped the mark of 21 consecutive strikes to open by Joe Musgrove for Pittsburgh against St. Louis in 2018.

Rodriguez hit his 20th home run, tying it at 1 in the eighth. The 21-year-old sensation who put on quite a show at the All-Star Home Run Derby became the fourth rookie in big league history with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the same season, joining Mitchell Page (1977 Athletics), Ellis Burks (1987 Red Sox) and Marty Cordova (1995 Twins).

AMERICAN LEAGUE

WHITE SOX 5, ORIOLES 3: Lucas Giolito pitched impressively into the seventh inning, Gavin Sheets came through twice with the bases loaded and Yoán Moncada pulled off a slick double play to help Chicago win at Baltimore.

Giolito (10-7) allowed one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings, rebounding from last week’s effort in which he gave up seven runs in three innings against Houston. Then Kendall Graveman was helped out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh thanks to Moncada’s play at third.

With the bases loaded and one out and Chicago up 3-1, Baltimore’s Jorge Mateo hit a bouncer right at the base. Moncada lunged to his right to snag it, and while doing so tagged third with his bare hand for the force. Then he threw to first to complete the double play.

Sheets drove in three runs for the White Sox, who remained four games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. Austin Hays homered for the Orioles, who stayed 2 1/2 back of the last wild card in the American League.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PHILLIES 7, REDS 5: JT Realmuto homered, Rhys Hoskins drove in three runs and Philadelphia beat visiting Cincinnati.

Jean Segura added three hits for the Phillies, who will go for the four-game series sweep on Thursday night. Christopher Sanchez (2-1) struck out seven in six innings, and David Robertson got three outs for his 18th save.

Kyle Farmer and Stuart Fairchild homered for the Reds.

« Previous

Next »