And That Happened: Monday's Scores and Highlights - MLB

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Astros 7, Royals 3: Houston got a three-run homer from Yuli Gurriel and a two-run shot from Brian McCann to win their eleventh straight game. The Astros are one win shy of their franchise record of 12 straight wins, which they did twice: 1999 and 2004. Oh, and it was their eleventh straight road win as well, which is perhaps even more impressive. Business trips suck.

Reds 4, Cardinals 2: Carlos Martinez was dominant through six innings, shutting out the Reds on one hit. But then the seventh happened. The Reds loaded the bases off of him before he gave up a two-run double to Eugenio Suarez. Mike Matheny pulled him for Kevin Siegrist and Scooter Gennett hit a two-run double off of him. All runs were charged to Martinez, of course. Just goes to show you how quickly everything can turn to hell in this world. St. Louis has lost four in a row and seven of ten.

Phillies 11, Braves 4: Bartolo Colon continues his nightmare season. Here one of the worst teams in baseball lit him up for eight runs in three and and two-thirds, puffing his ERA up to an unsightly 7.78. It was a good plan for the Braves to bring in veterans who could eat innings during the rebuild, but the Bartolo Colon/R.A. Dickey experiment has been a failure. Time to cut bait. In other news, I wish like hell that Mac Thomason, the founder of Braves Journal, was still alive. His roasting of Colon right now would be savage. It’d almost be enough to make me want to watch one of his starts.

Giants 7, Brewers 2: Jeff Samardzija was shaky at first, allowing two early runs, but then he settled down and shut the Brewers out for the next seven innings or so, retiring 19 batters in a row at one point. It was close while he was in the game too, as the Giants did not take the lead until pinch hitter Aaron Hill doubled in two in the eighth to break a 2-2 tie.

Cubs 3, Marlins 1: Kris Bryant hit a two-run homer in the first and Albert Almora Jr. hit a solo shot in the fourth to back Eddie Butler, who tossed one-run ball into the sixth. Mike Montgomery took it the rest of the way, working like a piggyback-starter and tossing three and a third shutout innings for the long save. I know the Cubs did this out of necessity — Wade Davis is out on paternity leave — but I’m surprised we don’t see more of this. There are a lot of starters who are good one time through the lineup before getting lit up after three innings or so.

Nationals 4, Dodgers 2:Anthony Rendon hit a solo homer in the second, Matt Wieters hit a two-run single in the fourth and Bryce Harper hit an RBI single in the fifth. Wieters’ and Harpers’ hits came with two outs, which is something managers and broadcasters love. I’m not sure if they love that more than guys hitting the ball to the opposite field, but man do they love two out hits. The Nats have now won six of seven.

Athletics 5, Blue Jays 3: There was a couple of year stretch where it seemed like Khris Davis was hitting multiple homers in a game all the dang time. I guess some of that magic has rubbed off on his teammate Ryon Healy, who homered twice and drove in all five of the A’s runs. This is the second time in three games he has hit two bombs, as he did so Saturday against the Nats. Sean Manaea won his fourth straight start, striking out seven over six innings while allowing two runs on four hits.

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LOS ANGELES – Despite battling injuries all season, the New York Yankees are still managing to pick up victories.

With AL MVP Aaron Judge sidelined after injuring his foot on Saturday, the Yankees got strong pitching and were able to use a little bit of small ball to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 Sunday and take two of three games in the weekend series.

“Just a really good all-around effort. A lot of winning things were happening in that game,” manager Aaron Boone said.

New York plated runs in the seventh and eighth innings on soft-contract grounders before Anthony Volpe provided some insurance with a two-run homer in the ninth.

J.D. Martinez homered for the Dodgers, who dropped the final two games in the series.

Clay Holmes (4-2) pitched one inning to pick up the win, and Wandy Peralta got the last four outs for his fourth save.

It was a pitchers’ duel for six innings between the Yankees’ Domingo Germán and Dodgers’ Bobby Miller. The right-handers matched zeroes as the teams combined for only four hits in the first six innings.

Dodgers’ rookie Miller allowed only one hit in his six innings, becoming the first Dodgers’ pitcher since at least 1901 to allow one hit or fewer within his first three big league starts. The 24-year old right-hander struck out seven and walked two in his third start.

Germán went 6 2/3 innings and allowed one run and four hits, including Martinez’s solo shot to tie it at 1-all in the seventh. The right-hander has limited opponents to one run or fewer in four of his last six starts.

Jake Bauers – who was playing right field in place of Judge – scored the game’s first run in the seventh on Kyle Higashioka‘s broken-bat grounder to short.

Bauers got aboard with a base hit then advanced to third when Brusdar Graterol threw the ball away on Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s bunt.

After Martinez’s homer, the Yankees retook the lead in the eighth against Evan Phillips (1-1). Oswaldo Cabrera drove in Anthony Rizzo with the go-ahead run with a slow roller that second baseman Miguel Vargas could only throw to first.

“It not being hit well helps when the fielders have to move a little. That’s what you’re selling out for. Good job by the base runners there,” Boone said.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said both balls could not have been placed any better by the Yankees’ batters.

“I don’t think they had a chance on both balls. The base runners had such a good jump. They were jam shots,” Roberts said. “There were a lot of things we did as far as giving away a couple bases on the defensive side.”

Volpe had two hits after being mired in a 3-for-38 slump his last 11 games. He extended the lead by driving Caleb Ferguson’s fastball over the wall in left-center in the ninth. It was Volpe’s ninth homer, which is second among AL rookies.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence,” said Volpe after the Yankees took four of six on the road trip.

BOMBS AWAY

Martinez evened it in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot to left-center. It was his 10th homer in the last 21 games.

Martinez has 20 homers against the Yankees, his third-most against any club. He has 35 against Baltimore and 23 vs. Cleveland. He is four homers away from 300 for his career.

MILLER TIME

Miller – the 29th overall pick in the 2020 amateur draft – looked like he might have a short outing after throwing 27 pitches in the first inning. He struck out three but also walked two.

Miller retired seven straight between the third and fifth innings before Volpe lined a base hit to center field with two out in the fifth.

“It felt really good. Been working on my slider a lot lately.,” said Miller, who threw 86 pitches, including 39 sliders. “They know I have a good fastball so I have to have my other pitches working as well.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes is expected to be placed on the injured list Monday or Tuesday due to a shoulder issue. Manager Aaron Boone said Cortes has been slower to recover between starts and is likely to miss one or two starts. … LHP Carlos Rendon (left forearm strain) will face hitters on Wednesday.

Dodgers: OF Trayce Thompson was placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain. OF Johnny Deluca was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City.

UP NEXT

Yankees: Return home for six games starting Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox. RHP Clarke Schmidt (2-5, 5.01 ERA) has gone at least five innings in six of his last eight starts.

Dodgers: Hit the road starting Tuesday against Cincinnati. RHP Tony Gonsolin (3-1, 1.77 ERA) has gone 3-0 in his last four starts.

And That Happened: Monday’s Scores and Highlights

Yankees score runs in final three innings for 4-1 victory over Dodgers