And That Happened: Thursday's scores and highlights - MLB

Mariners 4, Yankees 2: Rookie Roenis Elias struck out ten Yankees in seven innings. Not bad. Robinson Cano doubled and drove in two. The Mariners take both games of the abbreviated series and have won five of six overall.

Rays 2, Red Sox 1; Rays 6, Red Sox 5: The Rays did NOT want to play a doubleheader yesterday to make up Wednesday’s rainout. Boston did. Be careful what you wish for Boston, because you done got swept. Replay controversy in the first game, where Dustin Pedroia was called out at home in the seventh. Replay made it appear as if he was safe, but it was ruled “inconclusive” and the call on the field stood. The Sox’ third base coach was ejected for arguing after the replay call. Pedroia and Jake Peavy each made comments after the game critical of replay. Expect fines and stuff. In game 2, Yunel Escobar homered off Koji Uehara leading off the ninth to put the Rays up for good.

Reds 8, Brewers 3: Brayan Pena hit a pinch-hit homer that sparked a five-run rally in the eighth. Big catches from both center fielders in this one: Billy Hamilton with a diving catch of a Carlos Gomez line drive and Gomez robbing Joey Votto of a home run. Hamilton sprained his hand on his and will miss some time.

Marlins 5, Braves 4: And the sweep. The first two games of the series were blowouts, the third a tight one. Either way the Braves are happy to be leaving Miami. It was the first time the Marlins have swept the Braves at home in almost eight years.

Dodgers 9, Twins 4; Dodgers 4, Twins 3: Four hits and two RBI in the first game for Yasiel Puig. Scott Van Slyke and Drew Butera came up big in the nightcap, each homering in the 12th. Not bad for a warm weather team who looked pretty uncomfortable in cold Minneapolis conditions.

Rockies 7, Mets 4: Juan Nicasio was a one-man gang: he pitched seven scoreless innings and drove in three runs. Also a One Man Gang?

Orioles 5, Pirates 1; Orioles 6, Pirates 5: A rare single-admission doubleheader. I’d be curious to see the actual number of people who stayed for all 19 innings and all seven hours and five minutes of baseball + the time between games. Steve Pearce had three hits and two RBI in the opener. Not bad for a guy who the Orioles released a couple of days ago. The nightcap featured the return of Manny Machado, and it also featured a walkoff homer by Matt Wieters in the 10th.

Blue Jays 7, Royals 3: The Jays salvage one. Juan Francisco and Colby Rasmus each homered and drove in two runs. Mark Buehrle worked in a lot of trouble, but notched is fifth win.

And with that I’m out of here for the weekend. Aaron and the fellas will be covering today. I lucked into some Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks tickets, so as you read this I am heading down to Louisville for a Decadent and Depraved weekend. Well, not that depraved. I’m going far more southern dandy than Hunter S. Thompson here. I mean, I even got a bow tie.

Have a nice weekend, y’all.

MIAMI — Trea Turner and Paul Goldschmidt and an unrelenting U.S. lineup kept putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard, a dynamic display of the huge gap between an American team of major leaguers and Cubans struggling on the world stage as top players have left the island nation.

Turner homered twice to give him a tournament-leading four, driving in four runs to lead the U.S. to a 14-2 rout Sunday night and advance the defending champion Americans to the World Baseball Classic final.

Goldschmidt also homered and had four RBIs and Cedric Mullins went deep in a game interrupted three times by fans running on the field to display protest signs.

“The team kind of represents the government over there, and people aren’t too happy about it,” U.S. manager Mark DeRosa said.

The U.S. plays Japan or Mexico in Tuesday night’s championship, trying to join the Samurai Warriors as the only nations to win the title twice.

“I think it took us a little bit of time, but now we kind of found our stride a little bit,” Turner said.

Turner has a tournament-leading 10 RBIs. He followed his go-ahead, eighth-inning grand slam a night earlier against Venezuela with a solo homer in the second inning off Roenis Elias (0-1) and a three-run drive in the sixth against Elian Leyva.

“I kept saying every time he went deep, who is the idiot that’s hitting him ninth?” DeRosa said.

Cuba went ahead when its first four batters reached off Adam Wainwright (2-0) without getting a ball out of the infield. The 41-year-old right-hander recovered to strand the bases loaded.

“I put myself in that situation in the first place by making horrible PFP plays — or not making PFP plays,” Wainwright said in a reference to pitchers’ fielding practice.

American batters had 14 hits, including eight for extra bases, and seven walks. Goldschmidt hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the first on a 112 mph rocket high over the left-field wall. He added a two-run single in the fifth.

“For me that was one of my favorite home runs I’ve ever hit in my entire life,” Goldschmidt said.

St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado left after he was hit on a hand by a pitch in the fifth inning, briefly raising another injury concern before X-rays came back as negative. Mets closer Edwin Díaz sustained a season-ending knee injury during the celebration that followed Puerto Rico’s win on Wednesday and Houston second baseman Jose Altuve broke a thumb when hit by a pitch while playing for Venezuela on Saturday.

Fans in the sellout crowd of 35,779 at loanDepot Park sounded evenly split between the U.S. and Cuba. Several hundred people gathered before the game outside the ballpark in Miami’s Little Havana section to protest the presence of the Cuban team, whose island nation has been under communist rule since 1959.

Play was briefly interrupted in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings when fans ran onto the field. The first held a banner that read “Libertad Para Los Presos Cubanos del 11 de Julio (Freedom for the Cuban Prisoners of July 11)” referring to the date of 2021 demonstrations.

“There were provocations, but we never paid attention to it,” Cuba manager Armando Johnson said.

Cuban fans roared in the early going when their team’s first four batters strung together three infield hits and a bases-loaded walk. Wainwright allowed one run and five hits in four innings. Cardinals teammate Miles Mikolas followed with four innings and Aaron Loup finished.

An Olympic gold medalist in 1992, 1996 and 2004, Cuba’s national team has struggled in recent years as many top players left for MLB. Cuba failed to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Cuba for the first time this year is using some players under contract to MLB clubs, including Chicago White Sox Gold Glove centerfielder Luis Robert and third baseman Yoán Moncada — who were booed. But many Cuban big leaguers were absent.

“We would like for the other players to join,” Johnson said. “They should think about it and return to Cuba.”

SECOND GUESSED

DeRosa on what he did after Saturday night’s come-from-behind quarterfinal win over Venezuela.

“I was reading how horrible a manager I was on social media first,” he said.

OTHER SIDE OF THE BRACKET

In the other semifinal, Japan starts 21-year-old sensation Roki Sasaki against Mexico and the Los Angeles Angels’ Patrick Sandoval on Monday night.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Moncada left after the third baseman collided in the sixth inning with left fielder Roel Santos, who caught Kyle Schwarber’s fly. Moncada was hit on the ribs but is OK, Johnson said.

UP NEXT

Arizona RHP Merrill Kelly is likely to start the final.

And That Happened: Thursday’s scores and highlights

U.S. routs Cuba 14-2 to reach World Baseball Classic final