Tampa Bay’s Harold Ramirez, left, runs around Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno, right, to score a run in the third inning of the Rays’ 6-1 win on Thursday in Phoenix. Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
PHOENIX — Luke Raley homered in the first inning, Wander Franco and Josh Lowe drove in two runs each in a five-run third and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 Thursday.
Tampa Bay won two of three in a series between the 1998 expansion teams. The Rays lead the major leagues at 56-28, while Arizona tops the NL West at 48-34.
Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll left after four innings with right shoulder soreness.
Yonny Chirinos (4-3) allowed one run and seven hits over six-plus innings of relief that followed opener Zack Littell. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit his 12th homer of the season leading off the seventh.
Brandon Pfaadt (0-3) allowed six runs and seven hits in two-plus innings, raising his ERA to 9.82. He was recalled from Triple-A to make the his sixth start.
Raley put the Rays ahead in the first with his 13th homer. He also singled and was hit by a pitch.
Franco hit a two-run triple in the third and scored on Harold Ramírez’s single for a 4-0 lead. Isaac Paredes walked and Lowe chased Pfaadt witha two-run single.
BLUE JAYS 2, GIANTS 1: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run home run, Chris Bassitt struck out a career-high 12 over six shutout innings and Toronto won at home.
Guerrero hit a go-ahead 413-foot drive to left off Keaton Winn (0-1) in the sixth, Guerrero’s 12th home run this season.
ASTROS 14, CARDINALS 0: Kyle Tucker homered and drove in five runs, Alex Bregman hit his third grand slam this season and Houston blew out Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals 14-0 in St. Louis.
Houston had 18 hits, its most since Sept. 10, 2019, against Oakland. Bregman, Yainer Diaz and Corey Julks had three hits each.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
YANKEES 10, ATHLETICS 4: Josh Donaldson hit a 472-foot home run in an eight-run sixth inning, Isiah Kiner-Falefa had three RBI and New York won in Oakland, California to take two of three from the major league-worst Athletics.
A day after Domingo Germán pitched the fourth perfect game in franchise history, the Yankees rallied with seven hits in the sixth, overcoming a 3-1 deficit and winning their third straight series. They scored 21 runs in their last two days after totaling 21 in their previous nine.
TIGERS 8, RANGERS 5: Spencer Torkelson homered twice and Andy Ibañez had the go-ahead RBI single and Detroit earned a series split with AL West-leading Texas in Arlington, Texas.
Ibañez broke a 3-3 tie as all four batters that faced reliever Joe Barlow (1-1) to start the seventh inning reached base. John King then got out of that jam with a strikeout and a double-play grounder, though the reliever gave up Torkelson’s second homer the next inning.
WHITE SOX 9, ANGELS 7: Eloy Jiménez and Zach Remillard had two-run singles in the third inning and Chicago won in Anaheim, California, overcoming Shohei Ohtani’s Angels-record 14th homer in June.
The Japanese superstar broke the team mark for home runs in a month in the ninth inning with a two-run shot to left-center off Kendall Graveman’s slider. Ohtani leads the majors with 29 homers and is batting .309.
ROYALS 4, GUARDIANS 3: José Ramirez daringly stole home for the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, but Kansas City rebounded to beat Cleveland on pinch-hitter Freddy Fermin’s two-run double in the bottom half in Kansas City, Missouri.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
PIRATES 5, PADRES 4: Henry Davis capped his first three-hit game with go-ahead single in a three-run seventh inning that rallied Pittsburgh over visiting San Diego for a three-game sweep that stretched the Padres’ losing streak to five.
San Diego wasted a 4-0 lead in the finale of a series in the Padres were outscored 21-9. San Diego has lost eight of 10, dropping seven games under .500 at 37-44. The Padres, who began the season with Major League Baseball’s third-highest payroll at nearly $258 million, dropped 11 games behind first-place Arizona in the NL West and eight back for the last NL wild card.
PHILLIES 3, CUBS 1: Kyle Schwarber homered on the game’s first pitch, Taijuan Walker won his fifth straight start and surging Philadelphia won in Chicago.
Bryce Harper drove in two runs. Trea Turner had two hits and scored a run, helping the Phillies win for the 18th time in 23 games.
BREWERS 3, METS 2: Devin Williams struck out Starling Marte to strand the bases loaded in the ninth inning and visiting Milwaukee hung on for a victory over Mets, dropping New York a season-high nine games under .500 at the halfway point.
The $355 million Mets are 36-45 and have lost 18 of 24. New York hasn’t won a series since sweeping Philadelphia from May 30 through June 1 and have lost two in a row since owner Steve Cohen said manager Buck Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler were not in danger of losing their jobs. New York is nine games under .500 for the first time since Sept. 26, 2021.
NOTES
ALL-STAR GAME: Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout was elected to his 11th All-Game and four Texas Rangers were chosen by fans for the American League’s lineup for the July 11 game at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park.
Trout was voted to start for the 10th time and will be joined in the AL lineup by teammate Shohei Ohtani, who last week was chosen at designated hitter as the league’s top-vote getter in the first round.
Nine first-time starters were picked by fans, including three Rangers: catcher Jonah Heim, shortstop Corey Seager and third baseman Josh Jung.
Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien was chosen for his second start.
Texas’ previous high was three starters in 2012, when Adrian Beltré, Josh Hamilton and Mike Napoli were picked.
Tampa Bay first baseman Yandy Díaz and outfielder Randy Arozarena were among the first-time starters, joined by Atlanta shortstop Orlando Arcia and catcher Sean Murphy, Miami second baseman Luis Arraez and Atlanta outfielder Corbin Carroll.
Three Los Angeles Dodgers were picked: first baseman Freddie Freeman, outfielder Mookie Betts and designated hitter J.D. Martinez.
St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado was elected to his fifth start and eighth appearance.
Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, elected to start for the fifth time, hasn’t played since June 3 because of a torn ligament in his right big toe. Houston’s Yordan Alvarez finished fourth in the AL outfield voting.
Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. earned an outfield spot last week as the NL’s top vote-getter during the first round, from May 31 to June 22. The second round started Monday and ended Thursday.
• Todd Tichenor will be the home plate umpire and crew chief for the All-Star Game at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park on July 11.
Tichenor, 46, will be working the All-Star Game for the second time after umpiring in left field for the 2014 game in Minneapolis. Tichenor umpired his first big league game in 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2012. He worked the 2020 World Series and was promoted to crew chief this year.
His crew includes five umpires working the All-Star Game for the first time: Quinn Wolcott (first), Tripp Gibson (second), Stu Scheurwater (third), Ryan Blakney (left) and Ramon De Jesus (right). Wolcott and Blackney are Washington state natives and Gibson is a Washington state resident.
GUARDIANS: Terry Francona was back inside the visitor’s office at Kauffman Stadium, two days after Cleveland’s manager was briefly hospitalized, with one big caveat: That’s where he intended to stay for the first pitch.
With temperatures expected to soar into the triple digits for the finale of a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals, Guardians General Manager Mike Chernoff convinced the 64-year-old Francona to sit out his third straight game.
Bench coach DeMarlo Hale planned to handle on-the-field duties after leading Cleveland to wins in the first two games.
HOME RUN DERBY: Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is going back to the Home Run Derby.
Guerrero said he will participate in the July 10 event at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, his first appearance since hitting a derby-record 91 home runs as a rookie in 2019 at Cleveland. He had 40 against Joc Pederson in the semifinals, then lost to the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso in the final round.
ROYALS: The Kansas City Royals hope to settle on the location for a new ballpark by the end of the summer, and owner John Sherman said that he envisions the club playing in a new stadium by the 2027 or 2028 season.
The long-preferred site is near downtown Kansas City, where the park would be the centerpiece of a redevelopment project that links the eastern part of the metro to the vibrant area near T-Mobile Center. The location would keep the club in Jackson County, though far from the current Kauffman Stadium, and continue a trend of using sports to spearhead urban renewal.
But complicating matters has been a competing bid from Clay County, which sits across the Missouri River from downtown Kansas City. There is more space available for a ballpark village, much like the entertainment district that has sprung up around Truist Park in Atlanta, and that could help the small-market organization generate much-needed long-term revenue.
BLUE JAYS: Catcher Alejandro Kirk was activated from the 10-day injured list by Toronto, who optioned catcher Tyler Heineman to Triple-A Buffalo.
An All-Star last year, Kirk is batting .253 with three home runs and 21 RBIs in 59 games. He hadn’t played since June 18 because of a cut on his left hand.
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