WASHINGTON (AP) — Josh Bell hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Washington Nationals rallied to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-6. Bell, likely on his way out as the Major League Baseball trade deadline nears, gave the home fans possibly one final moment to celebrate his time with the club after his 14th homer of the season just cleared the wall in right-center off Génesis Cabrera (3-2). Erasmo Ramírez (3-1) earned the win with a clean seventh, and Kyle Finnegan got the last five outs for his fourth save of the season. They play again today in Washington.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Luis González and Joey Bart homered on consecutive pitches in the fourth inning and the San Francisco Giants withstood a late rally by Chicago and beat the Cubs 5-4. Austin Slater doubled home Darin Ruf in the bottom of the third to start the scoring for San Francisco. Yermín Mercedes followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0. After David Villar led off the bottom of the fourth with a single, González hit a two-run homer off Cubs starter Drew Smyly. On the next pitch, Bart homered to left to put the Giants up 5-0. San Francisco starter Jakob Junis pitched four scoreless innings, allowing five hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Tyler Rogers (2-3) followed with two perfect innings and was credited with the win. They play again tonight in San Francisco.
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HOUSTON (AP) — Abraham Toro pinch-hit for injured All-Star Julio Rodriguez and delivered a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied past the AL-West leading Houston Astros 5-4. Rodriguez was hit on the hand as he swung at a pitch in the top of the eighth inning. He struck out but played in the field in the bottom half of the inning before being lifted in the ninth. Seattle manager Scott Servais said Rodriguez would get X-rays later Saturday. Erik Swanson (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning and earned the win, and Paul Sewald recorded his 13th save in 16 attempts. Astros closer Ryan Pressly (3-3) had his first blown save since June 23.
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge became the second-fastest player in major league history to reach 200 career home runs, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 8-2. The 6-foot-7 slugger’s 200th homer came in his 671st career game, behind just Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard, who achieved the feat in 2009 in 658 games. DJ LeMahieu homered and had an RBI single, and Matt Carpenter homered for the 15th time in 40 games for New York, which won its third straight after dropping a pair of games to the New York Mets. The American League-leading Yankees have won seven straight against the Royals and 10 of the last 11.
