Pitch-hitter Justin Upton stretched his arms to tie the game in the eighth inning and Abraham Toro drove in the game-winning run with a single in the ninth as the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 2-1, Saturday.
The Martiners loaded up in the ninth when Lou Trivino (1-6) walked Eugenio Suarez, Carlos Santana singled and Cal Raleigh hit the trails on an error by Nick Allen.
Toro then pushed pinch runner Marcus Wilson home for the win.
Diego Castillo (6-1) inherited the victory.
Upton slammed the first pitch he faced from reliever AJ Puk deep to left field to tie the game at 1-1. It is his first home run of the season, the 325th of his career.
The A’s opened the scoring first at the expense of George Kirby. Tony Kemp started the game with a walk, Ramon Laureano followed with a single and Sean Murphy had a sacrifice fly.
Kirby and A’s starter Paul Blackburn both excelled.
Kirby, who allowed the Baltimore Orioles four homers in a tough outing Monday, rebounded by striking out 13 in a row in the second through sixth innings.
Blackburn responded by striking out 14 in a row. He shut out the Mariners on four hits in six-and-a-third innings with five strikeouts.
Yankees abuse Guardians pitchers
The New York Yankees were ruthless in front of the Cleveland Guardians’ pitchers to claim a 13-4 win in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.
After conceding home runs to Josh Naylor and Franmil Reyes in 2e inning, the Yankees let their sticks do the talking by scoring four runs in 3e sleeve, then four others in 6e some.
Giancarlo Stanton is the only hitter in the Yankees rotation to not hit a hit in the game.
Matt Carpenter was the spark plug in the New York camp with three hits and four RBIs. He hit two long balls to bring his total to eight this season.
Gleyber Torres also did well offensively with three hits and three RBIs.
On the mound, Gerrit Cole was intractable, as he held the Guardians hitters to three hits and two RBIs in six innings of work. This performance allows him to sign his 7e win of the season.
The game was tougher for the Guardians gunners, who allowed a total of 14 hits. Starter Kirk McCarty was pulled from the game after giving up six hits and four earned runs in five innings of work.
The Yankees have won five of their last six games. They will face the Guardians again in the evening.
In Game 2, Rizzo and Stanton hit the long in the fourth inning, leading the Yankees to a 6-1 win over the Guardians.
Starter Nestor Cortes recorded his seventh victory of the campaign, having worked six innings, allowing only one run and totaling six strikeouts.
His vis-à-vis Aaron Civale (2-5) conceded four points to New Yorkers in four sets on the mound.
Amed Rosario drove in the Guardians’ lone run by stretching his arms against Cortes in the first inning.
Five Astros home runs
Martin Maldonado hit two of the Astros’ five homers and Houston earned its fifth straight win on Saturday, beating the Los Angeles Angels 9-1.
Maldonado had just one hit in his previous four games.
Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Chas McCormick also hit long ball for the Astros, who led 5-0 after two innings.
Altuve had three hits and stole a sixth base this season.
Jose Urquidy (7-3) allowed one run and two hits over six innings, striking out eight batters.
The Astros’ starting pitchers are 7-0 in their last nine games.
It was the fifth straight game where the Astros conceded the most one point.
During the winning streak, Houston outscored the opposition 30-4.
The first 10,000 supporters (out of 35,332) received a bobblehead from Lance McCullers, winner of 13 matches last year. He signed no less than 1500 boxes of these.
Sunday, Framber Valdez will be looking for a third win in four outings.
Patrick Sandoval (3-3) gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings.
Taylor Ward homered for the Angels.
Mike Trout was 0 for 4, struck out four times. He’s batting .105 in five games.
Elsewhere in America
Orioles 3 – Twins 4
BAL : Anthony Santander hit his 15th home run, but the Orioles lost their 4th straight game.
MIN : Nick Gordon and Jorge Polanco hit the long ball.
Royals 3 – Tigers 4
KC : Hunter Dozier drove in two runs with a double in the 1st.
THE : Victor Reyes and Riley Greene (1st of his career) overthrew the Royals with consecutive home runs in 9th.
