ST. LOUIS — Matt Holliday homered and doubled with three RBIs, and Lance Lynn won his third straight start for the St. Louis Cardinals in a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
ST. LOUIS — Matt Holliday homered and doubled with three RBIs, and Lance Lynn won his third straight start for the St. Louis Cardinals in a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Kolten Wong had two hits and scored on both of Holliday’s RBI hits for the Cardinals against the team they beat in the NLCS last fall. They have won six of eight and remained a game behind the Brewers for the NL Central lead.
A.J. Ellis had an RBI double for the Dodgers, battling the Giants for the NL West lead. They remained offensively challenged coming out of the All-Star break, totaling 10 runs the last six games.
Holliday’s seventh homer, estimated at 435 feet to straightaway center, came off Dan Haren (8-7).
Lynn (11-6) gave up two runs on four hits in six-plus innings. He struck out nine and worked around four walks, which tied his season high.
Lynn has 44 wins the last three seasons, one behind Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright for most in the league. He bounced back from season worsts of two innings and six earned runs at Los Angeles on June 28 before leaving with a blister.
Haren piled up 99 pitches in 4 2-3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, and is among the National League leaders with 20 homers allowed. He’s totaled 8 2-3 innings his last two starts and has lost his last three outings overall.
The Dodgers left the bases loaded in the third when Matt Kemp struck out. The Cardinals stranded three in the fourth when Lynn bounced out after an intentional walk to Tony Cruz.
Consecutive doubles by Juan Uribe and Ellis leading off the seventh chased Lynn. Ellis scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to one.
The Dodgers stranded two against Pat Neshek in the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal had two strikeouts in a perfect ninth for his 29th save in 33 chances.
YANKEES 4, REDS 3
NEW YORK — Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run homer, and David Phelps pitched the Yankees to a fast start in the second half, leading New York to a 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night.
Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran had two-out RBIs for the Yankees, who began a 10-game homestand. Dellin Betances struck out three in 1 2-3 perfect innings, and David Robertson got three outs for his 24th save in 26 chances.
Phelps (4-4) gave up three runs — two earned — and six hits in 6 1-3 innings against a lineup missing injured thumpers Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one for his first win since June 19.
RANGERS 5, BLUE JAYS 1
TORONTO — J.P. Arencibia hit a three-run homer against his former team, Yu Darvish matched his season high with 12 strikeouts, and Texas beat Toronto.
Adrian Beltre added a solo homer as the Rangers snapped their season-high, eight-game losing streak and won for just the second time in 13 road games.
Darvish (9-5) won for the first time in three starts, allowing one run and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. He reached the 10-strikeout plateau for the sixth time this season, all in his past 12 starts.
GIANTS 9, MARLINS 1
MIAMI — Pablo Sandoval hit a three-run homer off one of his favorite foils, and San Francisco topped slumping Miami.
All-Star Madison Bumgarner (11-7) allowed one run in six innings.
The Marlins lost their fifth game in a row, while San Francisco emerged from the All-Star break looking determined to end a prolonged scoring slump. The Giants began the night averaging less than three runs per game in July, worst in the majors, but they have totaled 17 runs in two games.
Sandoval’s 12th homer ended Nathan Eovaldi’s night in the Giants’ five-run fifth. Sandoval improved to 8 for 11 against Eovaldi with nine RBIs.
Brandon Crawford hit the 11th pitch he saw for a two-run homer in the second inning. Buster Posey and Michael Morse each had three of San Francisco’s 13 hits.
Eovaldi (5-5) gave up a season-high eight runs in his shortest outing of the year, lasting just four-plus innings. His has an ERA of 13.30 in five starts against the Giants.
BREWERS 4
NATIONALS 2
WASHINGTON — Scooter Gennett and Khris Davis homered, and Kyle Lohse pitched seven strong innings to help Milwaukee beat Washington.
Aramis Ramirez added a two-run single for the NL Central leading Brewers.
Lohse (10-4) earned his first win since June 22. He allowed 10 hits, but just one run over seven innings as Washington went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
Milwaukee shortstop Jean Segura was back in the lineup, a week after the death of his 9-month-old son, and went 1 for 4.
Bryce Harper had a homer and two singles for Washington, which began play percentage points ahead of Atlanta in the NL East. Francisco Rodriguez gave up Harper’s ninth-inning homer, but earned his 28th save.
Stephen Strasburg (7-7) allowed four runs and seven hits. He struck out nine in seven innings.
BRAVES 6, PHILLIES 4
ATLANTA — Jason Heyward homered and drove in two runs, Andrelton Simmons had two RBIs, and Atlanta won its third straight game with a victory over Philadelphia.
The Braves moved one game ahead of Washington in the NL East. Last-place Philadelphia dropped 11 games behind Atlanta.
INDIANS 9, TIGERS 3
DETROIT — Jason Kipnis hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer, and Asdrubal Cabrera sent the next pitch over the right-field fence to cap a seven-run seventh inning and help Cleveland rout Detroit.
Kipnis hit another home run, a solo shot, in the Indians’ two-run ninth.
The AL Central-leading Tigers won 17 of 23 games going into the All-Star break. Cleveland has won seven of 10.
RED SOX 5, ROYALS 4
BOSTON — Jonny Gomes hit a go-ahead two-run pinch homer in the sixth after another two-run shot in the inning by Xander Bogaerts, and Boston edged Kansas City.
The Red Sox maintained their momentum after winning four of their last five games before the All-Star break.
PIRATES 4, ROCKIES 2
PITTSBURGH — Travis Snider’s pinch-hit double in the eighth inning scored Neil Walker to spark Pittsburgh’s win over Colorado.
Walker trotted home when right fielder Carlos Gonzalez couldn’t track down Snider’s sinking line drive off reliever Matt Belisle (2-5). All-Star Josh Harrison added a sacrifice fly one batter later.
WHITE SOX 3, ASTROS 2
CHICAGO — Slump-ridden Tyler Flowers drove in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning double, and four Chicago pitchers retired the final 22 batters to lift the White Sox past Houston.
Alejandro De Aza singled off Scott Feldman and stole second before Flowers delivered the game-winning hit. He entered the game with only 12 hits in his last 116 at-bats, and a .218 batting average overall.
RAYS 6, TWINS 2
MINNEAPOLIS — Ben Zobrist homered and Evan Longoria had three RBIs to lead Tampa Bay past Minnesota.
Alex Cobb (5-6) allowed two runs in 5 2-3 innings, and Matt Joyce added an RBI single for the Rays.
Trevor Plouffe homered for the Twins, a two-run shot in the third highlighted by a fan leaning over the railing in left-center and making a sno-cone catch.
Tampa Bay took a 3-0 lead in the third on Longoria’s bases-loaded double that soared just beyond the reach of right-fielder Oswaldo Arcia.
Zobrist made it 5-2 in the fifth with a two-run homer off Kyle Gibson (8-8).