Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland Guardians Pick Center

Bo Naylor's sac fly in 9th sends Guardians to 7-6 win over lowly White Sox

Tue, Jul 2, 2024
MLB News (AP)

CLEVELAND (AP) - Pinch-hitter Bo Naylor delivered a sacrifice fly to center field with one out in the ninth inning, sending the Cleveland Guardians to a 7-6 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

Andres Gimenez opened the ninth with a single off Michael Kopech (2-7), went to second on a groundout to first and took third on a wild pitch by the right-hander.

Naylor, who has bumped his average over .200 by hitting .304 in his last 15 games, then lifted a 3-2 pitch deep enough to score Gimenez without a throw from center fielder Luis Robert Jr.

Rookie Daniel Schneemann and Tyler Freeman hit two-run homers for the Guardians, who won their seventh straight at Progressive Field and improved MLB's best home record to 27-9.

They also evened their record this season to 4-4 against the lowly White Sox, who have the majors' worst record (24-63).

Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (4-1) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, helped by a diving catch from Freeman in center.

CARDINALS 7, PIRATES 4

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Nolan Gorman hit his second career grand slam, and St. Louis beat Pittsburgh.

Matt Carpenter dropped a soft single into left to load the bases with no outs in the fourth inning. Gorman followed with his 17th homer of the season, a 415-foot drive to left-center on a 1-2 sweeper from Mitch Keller (9-5).

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Gorman hit his previous grand slam in a 14-5 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 19, 2023.

Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson (6-3) gave up four runs, all in the fifth, and five hits in five innings. He struck out eight and walked one.

Ryan Helsley struck out one in a perfect ninth inning, earning his major league-leading 31st save in 32 opportunities.

RED SOX 8, MARLINS 3

MIAMI (AP) - Kutter Crawford gave up three hits and one run over six solid innings, Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran homered and Boston beat Miami.

Masataka Yoshida had three hits and Rafael Devers singled twice and drove in two runs for the Red Sox. Each player in Boston's lineup had at least one hit.

Crawford (4-7) struck out seven. It was the right-hander's sixth consecutive start of at least six innings and his 12th this season.

Devers' two-run single in the first gave Boston the early lead. Duran walked and Wilyer Abreu doubled before Devers hit a hard smash that bounced off first baseman Jake Burger's glove and rolled to right field.

The Red Sox increased their lead in the fourth when Rafaela hit a three-run homer, driving a fastball from Marlins starter Valente Bellozo (0-1) over the wall in left.

Burger put Miami on the board with his leadoff homer in the fifth.

BLUE JAYS 7, ASTROS 6

TORONTO (AP) - George Springer hit a three-run home run against his former team, Spencer Horwitz added a solo homer and Toronto held on to beat Houston.

Yordan Alvarez homered and scored twice as Houston almost came back from a 7-0 deficit, but the Astros lost for just the second time in their last 12 games.

Jose Berrios (8-6) pitched five innings to win back-to-back starts for the first time since a three-start winning streak between April 8 and 20. The right-hander allowed five runs and five hits.

Chad Green pitched around Jemery Pena's leadoff double in the ninth for his third save in three chances.

Houston's Jose Altuve had three hits but flied out to center to end it.

METS 7, NATIONALS 2, 10 INNINGS

WASHINGTON (AP) - Brandon Nimmo had two RBIs and the New York Mets beat Washington for their second consecutive extra-innings victory.

Nimmo, who cut his forehead when he fainted and fell Sunday night, entered in the fourth inning after Harrison Bader was pulled following a collision with the wall in right-center field. In the eighth, he drove in Francisco Lindor for a tying RBI single, and then was part of a barrage of hits against Robert Garcia (0-3) once the game went to extras.

As part of a five-run 10th, Jose Iglesias doubled to put the Mets ahead, Nimmo also doubled and Pete Alonso crushed his 18th homer. Lindor homered earlier for New York's first run of the game.

Lindor's 14th homer in the sixth was the only blemish against Nationals rookie DJ Herz, who struck out 10 while pitching 5 2/3 innings of five-hit ball. Herz joined Stephen Strasburg as the only pitchers since 1901 to have two 10-strikeout, no-walk games in his first six major league starts.

But Washington's bullpen let him down, first when Hunter Harvey got knocked around in the eighth and then when Garcia was lit up for the loss.

REDS 5, YANKEES 4

NEW YORK (AP) - Elly De La Cruz tripled and homered in his first game at Yankee Stadium, helping the Cincinnati overcome Aaron Judge's major league-leading 32nd home run in a victory over New York.

Will Benson and De La Cruz hit two-run homers in a four-run fifth as the Reds built a 5-0 lead over the Yankees, who have lost 11 of their last 15 games.

Judge homered in the seventh off Sam Moll for his third hit. He leads the major leagues in batting average (.321), homers and RBIs (83).

De La Cruz, appearing in his 183rd big league game, has tripled and homered together five times, matching Ted Williams for the most since 1901 in a player's first 185 games.

Graham Ashcraft (5-4) had a shutout before the Yankees' three-run sixth and won his third straight start. Alexis Diaz pitched a perfect ninth for his 18th save in 20 chances.

Rookie Luis Gil (9-4) lost his third straight start, allowing four runs and two hits in four-plus innings with three walks and two hit batters. After going 9-1 with 2.03 ERA in his first 14 outings, Gil is 0-3 with a 14.90 ERA in his last three.

TWINS 5, TIGERS 3

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Manny Margot and Carlos Correa went deep to keep Minnesota's club-record home run streak going at 20 games, and the Twins beat Detroit.

Byron Buxton scored the go-ahead run in the seventh with a head-first dive into home plate after leading off the inning with a double, and Royce Lewis hit a two-run double off Tigers ace Tarik Skubal before departing with tightness in his left groin muscle.

After rookie Simeon Woods Richardson pitched two outs into the sixth to match Skubal, who has quietly become one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors, the Twins got shutdown relief from Jorge Alcala (2-3), Griffin Jax in the eighth and closer Jhoan Duran in a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 14 attempts.

Justyn-Henry Malloy homered and Ryan Kreidler hit a two-run shot off Woods Richardson for the Tigers (38-47), who lost for the 17th time in their last 24 games.

GIANTS 5, BRAVES 3

ATLANTA (AP) - Jorge Soler and LaMonte Wade Jr. hit back-to-back homers to help San Francisco beat Atlanta Braves.

Heliot Ramos also went deep as San Francisco won for the sixth time in eight games. Mike Yastrzemski went 2 for 2 in his return from a strained left oblique.

Hayden Birdsong (1-0) pitched five innings of two-run ball in his first big league win. The right-hander struck out five and walked two in his second major league start.

Camilo Doval earned his 15th save with a perfect ninth inning.

Austin Riley and Sean Murphy hit back-to-back homers off Birdsong in the second. Ozzie Albies added an RBI single for the Braves in the eighth.

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