Baseball Capsules (June 18, 2016)

BALTIMORE (AP) — Michael Saunders set career highs with three homers and eight RBIs, and the Toronto Blue Jays blew past the Baltimore Orioles 13-3 on Friday night for their fourth straight victory.

Saunders connected with two on against Mike Wright (3-4) in the first inning, added another three-run drive off Wright in the fourth and went deep against Ubaldo Jimenez with a man on in the sixth.

Batting in the eighth against T.J. McFarland and with the chance to tie the major league record of four homers in a game, Saunders bounced into a bases-loaded double play.

That did little to ruin Saunders' finest game in the big leagues. He raised his home run total for the season to 15, second-most in his career behind the 19 he hit for Seattle in 2012. In eight games against Baltimore this season, Saunders is 18 for 33 with five home runs and 12 RBIs.

Josh Donaldson and Justin Smoak also homered for the surging Blue Jays. They have won seven of eight to move within a game of first-place Baltimore in the AL East.

Aaron Sanchez (7-1) pitched six innings for his second win over the Orioles in a week.

GIANTS 5, RAYS 1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jeff Samardzija threw a four-hitter and San Francisco won its sixth consecutive game by beating Tampa Bay Pride Night before the biggest regular-season crowd at Tropicana Field in a decade.

The announced attendance of 40,135 was the first regular-season turnout over 40,000 at the Rays' ballpark since opening day in 2006 against Baltimore (40,199). Tampa Bay entered averaging 16,037 in home attendance this season, second-lowest in the majors.

The Rays dedicated this year's event to the victims of Sunday's mass shooting in Orlando.

Samardzija (8-4), who was 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA in his previous three starts, retired 22 of 23 before Brad Miller homered with two outs in the ninth.

Brandon Crawford and Gregor Blanco had two RBIs apiece and Brandon Belt homered for the NL West-leading Giants, a season-high 16 games over .500.

Chris Archer (4-9) took the loss.

CUBS 6, PIRATES 0

CHICAGO (AP) — Jake Arrieta pitched two-hit ball over six innings, Matt Szczur homered, Albert Almora Jr. had three hits and Chicago beat Pittsburgh.

Arrieta (11-1) struck out 11 and walked three to help the Cubs start the weekend series on a strong note after dropping two of three at Washington.

Arrieta won his second straight start since his streak of 20 regular-season winning decisions ended. The only hits he allowed were back-to-back singles by Jordy Mercer and Chris Stewart in the third.

Szczur hit a two-run homer in the first inning on Francisco Liriano's second pitch of the game.

Almora had an RBI double during a three-run sixth that broke it open and drove in another with a single in the seventh. He raised his average to .429 in nine games since he was called up from the minors.

The Pirates fell below .500 at 33-34 with their eighth loss in nine games. They were shut out for the first time in a regular-season game since they lost to St. Louis on Sept. 28. Liriano is 4-7.

RANGERS 1, CARDINALS 0

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rougned Odor homered and Cole Hamels pitched 7 2/3 innings in Texas' victory over St. Louis.

Hamels (7-1) allowed three hits while striking out six and walking three. He lowered his road ERA to 1.64 this season and turned in his fourth consecutive quality start.

Hamels scattered five baserunners and allowed only one to reach second.

Odor homered on the first pitch he saw in the fifth, hitting it 433 feet to straightaway center. It was Odor's third homer in three games and the 19th for the Rangers in their last eight games.

Sam Dyson picked up his 12th save.

Michael Wacha (2-7) lost a career-high seventh straight decision.

DIAMONDBACKS 10, PHILLIES 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Peter O'Brien and Yasmany Tomas each hit two of Arizona's team-record six home runs to lead the Diamondbacks past Philadelphia.

Paul Goldschmidt and Wellington Castillo also went deep for Arizona in the first game of a 10-game trip. Goldschmidt also singled and doubled while extending his hitting streak to 11 games.

O'Brien, who drove in four runs, has homered for all three of his hits this season. He was called up from Triple-A Reno on June 10 and is 3 for 20.

Every starter had a hit for the Diamondbacks, who finished with 16.

Robbie Ray (4-5) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. Adam Morgan (1-6) was the loser.

MARINERS 8, RED SOX 4

BOSTON (AP) — Franklin Gutierrez homered in his first two at-bats and drove in a career-high six runs in Seattle's victory over Boston.

Robinson Cano added a pair of RBIs, including his 19th homer with a leadoff shot in the seventh, to help Seattle win its second straight following a four-game losing streak.

Hisashi Iwakuma (6-5) went seven innings, allowing four runs on nine hits. Steve Cishek came in to end a threat in the ninth and picked up his 16th save.

David Ortiz hit a two-run homer for Boston in the fourth. It was the 521st homer for Ortiz, tying him with former Red Sox great Ted Williams, Willie McCovey and Frank Thomas for 19th on the career list.

The Mariners roughed up former teammate Roenis Elias (0-1) early in his first start for Boston.

BRAVES 5, METS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — John Gant, the rookie righty with the weird windup, earned his first big league win by beating the team that traded him away last summer, pitching Atlanta past New York.

Gant (1-1) threw two-hit ball for 6 2/3 innings, helping the Braves post their first three-game winning streak since mid-April. They started the day tied with Minnesota for the worst record in baseball.

Gant gave up one run, struck out five and walked two in his second start in the majors. The Mets might have been thrown off by his mechanics — he lifts his left leg as if he's going to begin his motion, but puts it down, comes to a full stop and then goes into a normal delivery.

Atlanta's Freddie Freeman kept up his extra-base hit spree with an RBI double and also singled twice.

Hunter Cervenka protected a 4-1 lead in the seventh, relieving with the bases loaded and two outs and fanning pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores. Matt Harvey (4-9) was the loser,

ROYALS 10, TIGERS 3

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Perez homered to end Michael Fulmer's long scoreless innings streak, Yordano Ventura kept Detroit's big bats off balance and Kansas City routed the Tigers.

Ventura (6-4) scattered six hits while striking out five without a walk, ultimately outlasting Fulmer (7-2) in what began as an entertaining pitching duel between two bright young starters.

Fulmer pushed his streak to a Detroit rookie-record 33 1/3 innings before Perez went deep in the sixth. He left after walking the next two batters, allowing five hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings.

Perez drove in two more in the seventh, Kendrys Morales hit a three-run shot in the eighth, and Eric Hosmer added three RBIs.

REDS 4, ASTROS 2, 11 INNINGS

HOUSTON (AP) — Eugenio Suarez hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the 11th inning, and Cincinnati held on to beat Houston.

Adam Duvall started the 11th with a single off Pat Neshek (2-1). He scored when the double by Suarez landed in the corner of left field, and the throw home rolled out of reach of catcher Jason Castro. The Reds added a run on Ramon Cabrera's sacrifice bunt with one out.

Houston's Carlos Correa homered to tie it at 2 in the eighth.

J.J. Hoover (1-1) allowed one hit in two scoreless innings for the win, and Tony Cingrani finished for his eighth save.

ATHLETICS 3, ANGELS 2

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Billy Burns singled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Oakland past Los Angeles.

The Angels successfully challenged what would have been a game-ending double play in the top of the ninth. A ball hit to right fielder Jake Smolinski was ruled a catch and with pinch-runner Todd Cunningham standing on second, it looked like an easy double play.

Replays clearly showed the ball bouncing into Smolinski's glove and the play was reversed. Johnny Giavotella followed with a sacrifice fly that tied it at 2.

Marcus Semien drew a two-out walk from Fernando Salas (3-3) and Smolinski singled him to third to set up Burns' first career walk-off RBI. Ryan Madson (3-2) gave up the lead in the ninth and got the victory.

YANKEES 8, TWINS 2

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Masahiro Tanaka pitched eight strong innings, Carlos Beltran hit a two-run homer and New York beat Minnesota.

Tanaka allowed one run and seven hits, recovering nicely from his rough outing last Saturday when he gave up five runs at home against Detroit. He is 3-1 with a 1.32 ERA in seven road starts — the second-lowest road ERA in the AL and third-lowest in the majors. Tanaka (4-2) has gone at least six innings with one earned run or less in five straight road starts since May 5.

He had all the run support he needed by the time he tossed his first pitch. Beltran connected against Pat Dean (1-3) in the first, and Rob Refsnyder and Didi Gregorius each drove in a run in the inning to give Tanaka an early 4-0 cushion.

MARLINS 5, ROCKIES 1

MIAMI (AP) — Adam Conley and four relievers combined on a one-hitter, and Miami snapped Colorado's four-game winning streak.

Struggling Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton had a two-out, two-run single in the seventh for his first multiple-RBI game since May 6. He also had a single and a walk in four plate appearances, raising his average to .200. Christian Yelich put Miami ahead to stay with a two-run homer.

Ichiro Suzuki had a pinch-hit single for his 2,980th career hit.

Nick Wittgren (2-1) was the winner, and Jon Gray (4-3) took the loss.

INDIANS 3, WHITE SOX 2

CLEVELAND (AP) — Carlos Santana hit a leadoff homer in the ninth inning to lift Cleveland past Chicago.

Santana drove an 0-2 pitch from Nate Jones (2-2) over the wall in center for his 14th homer, stopping Cleveland's three-game losing streak.

Jason Kipnis' RBI double in the eighth inning put the AL Central-leading Indians in front, but Avisail Garcia tied it for the White Sox with a one-out double in the ninth against closer Cody Allen (2-3).

DODGERS 3, BREWERS 2, 10 INNINGS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Justin Turner homered twice and delivered the game-ending RBI single in the 10th inning, lifting Los Angeles over Milwaukee.

Turner hit a solo homer in the first and another in the eighth that tied it at 2. He won it with a bases-loaded single off Jeremy Jeffress (1-2) with one out in the 10th to score Will Venable from third.

With Venable on third, the Brewers intentionally walked Chase Utley and Corey Seager to get to Turner, who fouled back three consecutive 96 mph fastballs before lining a single over leaping third baseman Aaron Hill and into left field.

Pedro Baez (1-2) pitched a scoreless top of the 10th for the win.

NATIONALS 7, PADRES 5

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run homer and Daniel Murphy homered and drove in three runs to help Washington beat San Diego.

Joe Ross (6-4) pitched at Petco Park for the first time and was starting for the second time against the Padres, who selected him 25th overall in the June 2011 draft. The Padres shipped Ross and shortstop Trea Turner to the Nationals in an 11-player, three-team trade in December 2014 that netted them Wil Myers from Tampa Bay.

Ross allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, struck out six and walked two. His older brother, Tyson, was San Diego's opening day starter but hasn't pitched since due to right shoulder inflammation.

Zimmerman's homer to left capped a four-run third and gave the Nationals a 5-1 lead against Christian Friedrich (3-2).