Pirates tip Cardinals in 19 innings

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — Pedro Alvarez homered in the 19th inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates won the longest game in the majors this season, outlasting the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 Sunday.

It took 6 hours, 7 minutes to finish. Both teams scored a run in the 17th, and each club used eight pitchers.

Alvarez hit his 23rd homer, a solo shot off Barret Browning (1-3). Andrew McCutchen added a two-run single later in the inning.

Wandy Rodriguez (8-12), who was set to start for the Pirates tonight at San Diego, got the win with two scoreless innings of relief.

About 9,000 fans from the original crowd of more than 43,000 stayed until the end. This was the longest game by innings in the big leagues this year. At 6:07, it tied for the longest by time, matching a game between Baltimore and Boston on May 6.

Each team had played a marathon in recent years. St. Louis went 20 innings against the Mets on April 17, 2010, and Pittsburgh played 19 innings at Atlanta on July 26, 2011.

The Pirates improved to 4-0 in extra innings this season. They moved two games ahead of St. Louis in the race for the last wild card spot in the NL. The Cardinals have lost three of four overall.

Both teams ran out of position players after the 18th inning.

Garrett Jones gave Pittsburgh a short-lived 3-2 lead with a bases-loaded infield single in the 17th. He drove in pitcher James McDonald, who singled as a pinch-hitter.

But St. Louis came right back to tie it on a sacrifice fly by Tony Cruz that brought in pinch-runner Ryan Jackson. Yadier Molina and Skip Schumaker began the 17th inning with singles.

St. Louis left-hander Jaime Garcia, sidelined for 64 days with a strain in his pitcher shoulder, struck out a career-high 10 and did not allow an earned run in an eight-inning, 107-pitch stint. He gave up five hits, two unearned runs and did not walk a batter.

Pittsburgh had a pair of hits in the 16th but Molina threw out Jose Tabata trying to steal and reliever Joe Kelly induced McCutchen to ground out to end the inning. Reliever Edward Mujica got Neil Walker to ground into a double play to end the 11th.

Carlos Beltran put St. Louis in front with a two-run double in the fourth, and also stole three bases. Beltran leads the NL with 85 RBIs.

D-BACKS 8, ASTROS 1

HOUSTON — The Houston Astros lost in their first game under interim manager Tony DeFrancesco as Aaron Hill homered twice to give the Arizona Diamondbacks an 8-1 win and a sweep.

DeFrancesco was the manager at Triple-A Oklahoma City before being promoted. The Astros, with the worst record in the majors, fired Brad Mills late Saturday night.

Houston dropped its fourth straight and fell to 7-33 in its last 40 games.

Arizona won its ninth in a row against the Astros.

Hill, who connected for a three-run homer on Saturday night, kept going deep. He led off a five-run fourth with a shot off Armando Galarraga (0-4) and added another solo homer in the eighth. Hill also doubled.

Ian Kennedy (11-10) went six innings.

NATIONALS 5, METS 2

WASHINGTON — Bryce Harper homered and tripled, and Danny Espinosa also homered to lift the Washington Nationals over the New York Mets.

Gio Gonzalez (16-6) pitched into the sixth inning, allowing one run and seven hits. Tyler Clippard pitched a perfect ninth for his 27th save in 31 chances.

Jeremy Hefner (2-5) took the loss as the Mets fell for the ninth time in 13 games.

DODGERS 5, BRAVES 0

ATLANTA — Chad Billingsley combined with two relievers on a three-hitter to win his sixth straight start, Luis Cruz homered for the second game in a row and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Atlanta.

Mark Ellis drove in four runs, three with a bases-loaded double in the ninth.

Billingsley (10-9) gave up three hits in seven innings, striking out four and walking two. He is 6-0 since the All-Star break after losing five straight. He reached 10 wins for the sixth straight season.

Cruz homered deep into the left-field seats in the fifth off Mike Minor (6-10) for a 1-0 lead.

REDS 5, CUBS 4

CINCINNATI — Xavier Paul led off the ninth inning with a pinch-hit triple and Ryan Hanigan followed with a single, lifting the Cincinnati Reds over the Chicago Cubs.

Paul lined the first pitch from Shawn Camp (3-6) over first base into the right-field corner. Hanigan hit the next pitch to left-center over the drawn-in Chicago outfield.

The NL Central-leading Reds took three out of four from the Cubs and finished a 5-2 homestand.

Aroldis Chapman (5-4) struck out two in the ninth. Brett Jackson doubled with one out, but was caught trying to steal third.

PADRES 7, GIANTS 1

SAN DIEGO — Clayton Richard pitched eight sparkling innings, Cameron Maybin drove in three runs and the San Diego Padres snapped a five-game losing streak by beating San Francisco.

The Giants dropped out of first in the NL West and trail the Dodgers by a half-game heading into their big three-game series in Los Angeles. Madison Bumgarner is scheduled to face Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in the opener on Monday night.

Richard (10-12) was 0-3 with a 7.64 ERA in his three previous starts against San Francisco this season.

Maybin tied his career high with four hits, including a two-run single in the first inning when the Padres scored three times against Ryan Vogelsong (10-7).

ROCKIES 3, MARLINS 2

DENVER — Jordan Pacheco homered among his three hits as the banged-up Colorado Rockies slowed down Giancarlo Stanton and beat Miami.

Stanton went homerless for the first time in seven games at Coors Field. On Saturday night, he became the first player in big league history to homer in his first six games in a particular park, the Marlins said in citing the Elias Sports Bureau.

Stanton drew two intentional walks and went 0 for 2 in the series finale.

Rockies outfielder Eric Young Jr. left after one inning with a strain in his left ribcage and shortstop Josh Rutledge exited in the fifth with tightness in his left thigh.

Adam Ottavino (5-1) tossed three scoreless innings for the win and Rafael Betancourt pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.

Josh Johnson (7-10) lost his third consecutive start.

PHILLIES 8, BREWERS 0

MILWAUKEE — Kyle Kendrick pitched three-hit ball for eight innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat Milwaukee after waiting out a rare rain delay at Miller Park.

The game was held up for 7 minutes when showers popped up in the first inning with the retractable roof still open. It takes about 10 minutes for the roof to fully shut, and the game was delayed with the Brewers batting in the bottom half when the rain became harder. Most of the Phillies stayed on the field.

Kendrick (6-9) struck out seven and walked one. In his previous start, he threw seven impressive innings and beat Miami 1-0.

Domonic Brown drove in four runs and scored twice. Michael Martinez, who began the day hitting .130, homered off Randy Wolf (3-10).

ORIOLES 7, TIGERS 5

DETROIT — Nate McLouth hit a go-ahead, two-run triple and the Baltimore Orioles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers.

McLouth, Nick Markakis and Mark Reynolds each had two hits for the Orioles, who have won five of seven, including the last two of the key weekend series at Detroit. Chris Davis homered for the second straight game and J.J. Hardy had a two-run double.

Baltimore leads Detroit by two games in the race for the second wild-card spot in the American League.

Jhonny Peralta hit a three-run homer for the Tigers, who led 5-0 after the first inning. Doug Fister (7-8) allowed seven runs and eight hits in 3 2-3 innings.

Wei-Yin Chen (12-7) managed to last five innings despite the rocky start for Baltimore. Jim Johnson worked the ninth for his 37th save in 40 chances.

ROYALS 5, WHITE SOX 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jeremy Guthrie flirted with a no-hitter, Salvador Perez drove in three runs and Kansas City completed a three-game series sweep of the AL Central leaders.

Paul Konerko reached on an infield single with two out in the seventh for Chicago’s first hit. Shortstop Alcides Escobar fielded Konerko’s grounder on the outfield grass and his one-hop throw was dropped by first baseman Eric Hosmer.

Official scorer Del Black ruled it a hit and the Kauffman Stadium crowd of 22,401 loudly booed when the “H” was flashed on the scoreboard.

Guthrie allowed two unearned runs and three hits in 7 2-3 innings. Greg Holland (6-3) retired the final four batters to pick up the victory.

Perez hit a tiebreaking RBI single off Jesse Crain (2-2) in the eighth inning.

RANGERS 11, BLUE JAYS 2

TORONTO — Michael Young hit a three-run homer and a two-run double to power Texas to the victory.

David Murphy also connected and doubled twice and Geovany Soto had three hits as baseball’s highest scoring offense passed 600 runs for the season. The AL West leaders top the majors with 606 runs scored.

Matt Harrison (14-7) pitched eight strong innings to match his career high for wins, set last season. The left-hander allowed two runs and two hits, struck out seven and walked one.

Held to four runs while splitting the first two games of the series, Texas pounded out 19 hits in the finale.

Henderson Alvarez (7-11) allowed career highs of eight runs and 12 hits in 4 1-3 innings and lost his fourth straight start.