Baseball | Royals double up against Rays, Cubs do double on Cardinals

Kansas City Royals left fielder Paulo Orlando

Paulo Orlando belted a game-ending grand slam for Kansas City to beat Tampa Bay 9-5 in the opener of a doubleheader, and Alcides Escobar’s bases-clearing double helped them to a 7-1 win over the Rays in the nightcap yesterday.
Along the way, Alex Gordon was on base eight times with seven hits and six RBIs, Greg Holland (3-0) and Brandon Finnegan (2-0) each earned a win in relief, and the Royals added to their lead over Minnesota in the American League Central.
Meanwhile, St. Louis lost both games of its doubleheader at the Chicago Cubs, cutting the Cardinals’ once-dominant lead in the National League Central to just 4 1/2 games ahead of Pittsburgh, which edged San Diego.
Cleveland pitcher Corey Kluber broke through for an overdue win as the Indians beat Houston 2-0, and the promising Miguel Sano contributed to Minnesota’s 8-3 win against Baltimore.
The first game at Kansas City was tied at 5-5 when Orlando came to the plate. Tampa Bay’s All-Star closer Brad Boxberger (4-5) threw him a changeup, and the Brazilian pounded it into the bullpen for his first career slam.
In the night game, Escobar hit a bases-loaded double on the 11th pitch of his at-bat in the sixth inning to turn a 1-1 game into a 4-1 lead for the Royals.
The Cubs won only two of their previous 10 games against St. Louis, but set about redressing that balance when Jake Arrieta pitched strongly to steer the hosts to a 7-4 win in the day game.
In the second game, Chicago trailed 2-1 until Addison Russell hit a tying single and scored during a three-run rally in the seventh, with Cardinals reliever Seth Maness (3-1) getting ejected after giving up the tying single, only for his replacement Kevin Siegrist to allow two more runs. The Cubs won 5-3.
Pittsburgh further eroded St. Louis’ lead by winning 3-2 at home against San Diego.
Gregory Polanco hit a go-ahead triple in the eighth inning for the Pirates. Earlier, he and a couple of teammates came to the rescue of a ground crew member who was trapped under the tarpaulin while covering the infield during a rain delay.
Sean Rodriguez, who helped Polanco in that rescue, was hit by a pitch from Joaquin Benoit (5-4) leading off the eighth, and Polanco tripled with two outs to give the Pirates their fourth straight win.
Cleveland ace Corey Kluber took his first win in almost six weeks. Kluber (4-9) undeservedly went 0-4 with two no-decisions in his previous six starts. But he was on his game against the Astros, who managed to get only one run past second base into the seventh inning.
Michael Brantley homered in the sixth as the Indians snapped a three-game losing run.
Minnesota’s top prospect, Miguel Sano, hit his first major league homer then showed some patience at the plate by drawing a bases-loaded walk as the Twins cruised past Baltimore.
Sano hit a towering two-run homer in the first inning in front of the fans who have long been waiting for his heralded arrival. Known for a potent bat, Sano had two hits and has hit safely in each of his first six games since being promoted from the second tier of the minors.
San Francisco’s Matt Cain pitched six scoreless innings for his first win in nearly a year as the Giants beat the New York Mets 3-0 to arrest a seven-game losing skid. It was two days short of one year since Cain (1-1) last pitched at home, before missing the final half of the season following elbow surgery.
Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto pitched a shutout with 11 strikeouts to guide the Reds over Washington 5-0.
The potential pitching duel between Cueto and Nationals ace Max Scherzer never materialized. Cueto kept up his end — retiring the final 15 batters in his first complete game of the year — but Scherzer (9-7) gave up five runs before being pulled after 4 2/3 innings; his shortest outing in more than a year.
Reds slugger Joey Votto doubled in a run in the first inning, hit a solo homer in the third, and added an RBI single in the fifth.
Oakland’s Brett Lawrie hit a leadoff homer in the 10th inning to give the Athletics a 4-3 win at the New York Yankees. It was the first extra-inning victory of the season for the A’s, at the seventh attempt. They were the last team in the majors to win in extra innings this season.
Philadelphia pitcher Chad Billingsley won for the first time in over two years following two elbow surgeries as he beat his old team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-2.
Arizona rookie Robbie Ray held Texas scoreless over the first seven innings, outpitching Rangers ace Yovani Gallardo and guiding the Diamondbacks to a 4-2 victory.
Seattle’s Robinson Cano drove in the winning run with one out in the 11th inning, lifting the Mariners past Detroit 7-6, Toronto out-pitched the Chicago White Sox to win 2-1, Los Angeles cruised past Colorado 10-2, Atlanta edged Milwaukee 4-3, and Boston beat Miami 4-3. AP