Shohei Ohtani went 4-for-4 and became the first Japanese-born player in the majors to hit for the cycle as the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 on Friday night in St. Petersburg, Fla. Ohtani launched his eighth home run in a three-run first inning, doubled in the third, tripled in the fifth and singled in the seventh to author the eighth cycle in club history. Ohtani became the seventh Angel to hit for the cycle, joining Jim Fregosi (twice), Dan Ford, Dave Winfield, Jeff DaVanon, Chone Figgins and Mike Trout. Albert Pujols drilled his 12th homer, a two-run shot, for the Angels, who have won three straight and four of their past five. Angels starter Tyler Skaggs (5-6) allowed three runs in five innings, and Cam Bedrosian recorded his first save by working a scoreless ninth. Tommy Pham notched two hits, two RBIs and a run, and Brandon Lowe added a pair of singles for the Rays, who have lost three consecutive games on their seven-game homestand. Ryan Yarbrough (5-3) yielded five runs in six innings. Diamondbacks 5, Nationals 0 Zack Greinke took a no-hitter into the seventh, his teammates hit two homers and Arizona won at Washington. Greinke (8-2) had faced the minimum 18 hitters until leadoff man Trea Turner hit a hard grounder to first baseman Christian Walker to begin the bottom of the seventh. Walker dove to his right to make the stop but fumbled the ball on the exchange and couldn't make a throw as the official scorer ruled it a hit. Greinke allowed those two hits, struck out three and walked none in 7 1/3 innings, throwing 75 pitches. He did not return after a rain delay of 63 minutes. The loss came in the first of a four-game series and 11-game homestand for the Nationals, who had won 12 of their previous 17 outings. Dodgers 7, Cubs 3 Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy each hit two-run home runs in a decisive fourth inning as Los Angeles rallied past visiting Chicago. Clayton Kershaw rebounded from a slow start to pitch six solid innings, Bellinger added a second blast and David Freese had his own two-run homer as the Dodgers ended a brief two-game skid. Los Angeles had lost four of its previous six games. Kyle Schwarber hit a home run on the first pitch of the game and Kris Bryant added his own solo shot as the Cubs lost for the sixth time in their last seven road games. White Sox 5, Yankees 4 Leury Garcia hit a tiebreaking homer to lead off the seventh inning and Chicago rallied after trailing 4-0 to beat visiting New York in the opener of a four-game series. The White Sox won for the eighth time in their last 10 home games and for the 10th time in their last 15 games overall by overcoming the four-run deficit. Garcia also hit an RBI double and Tim Anderson added a game-tying three-run homer in the fifth off Yankees starter J.A. Happ. The Yankees lost for the seventh time in 10 games after winning 32 of their previous 42 games. Clint Frazier had three hits and an RBI while Didi Gregorius and Gleyber Torres had two hits apiece. Red Sox 7, Rangers 6 Xander Bogaerts hit a tiebreaking solo home run in the seventh inning as Boston came back from an early five-run deficit to beat visiting Texas. Bogaerts' homer, off Peter Fairbanks (0-1) with two outs, was the fifth of the day for the Red Sox, who rallied from 6-1 down in the second inning to salvage a split of the four-game series. Brandon Workman (4-1) got the win in relief, and Josh A. Smith pitched the ninth for his first career save. Elvis Andrus led the Rangers' offense with three hits and three RBIs, and Shin-Soo Choo reached base five times on three walks and two hit by pitches. Texas failed to score after the second, leaving 14 men on base, including the tying run at third in the eighth and at second in the ninth. Twins 10, Mariners 5 Nelson Cruz homered and drove in three runs and C.J. Cron added a two-run blast to lead Minnesota over Seattle in Minneapolis. Cruz finished 3-for-4 with a walk and scored two runs, and Ehire Adrianza went 3-for-5 and scored a run as Minnesota improved to 18-4 following a loss this season. Jorge Polanco went 2-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Daniel Vogelbach went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, Kyle Seager went 2-for-5 with a double and RBI, and Dylan Moore had a two-run double for the Mariners, who lost for the 11th time in its last 12 games following a win. Rockies 9, Padres 6 Charlie Blackmon homered twice and drove in four runs, Trevor Story also went deep, and Colorado beat San Diego in Denver. Rockies starter Jon Gray (6-5) struck out 10 and didn't walk a batter over six innings. It was the second time this season and 14th time in his career Gray has fanned 10 or more batters. He gave up four runs on nine hits. Manny Machado hit two homers, Wil Myers had three hits and three RBIs, and Fernando Tatis Jr. tripled, doubled and scored twice for the Padres. San Diego has lost five in a row. Braves 6, Pirates 5 Atlanta second baseman Ozzie Albies continued his torrid stretch with two hits and two RBIs in beating visiting Pittsburgh, giving the Braves a four-game series sweep and extending their winning streak to seven. Albies doubled among his two hits and was 7-for-16 with three homers in the four-game series with Pittsburgh. Freddie Freeman added two hits and two RBIs to bolster the 10-hit attack and help the Braves to their first four-game sweep of the Pirates since 1991. Pittsburgh starter Joe Musgrove (4-7) lasted only four innings and allowed six runs on nine hits and two walks. Musgrove started the first game of the series but was ejected in the first inning following an incident when Josh Donaldson was hit by a pitch. Royals 7, Tigers 3 Two Royals with Omaha connections helped a guy without one, as host Kansas City defeated Detroit in the first major league game ever played in the state of Nebraska in a game played in front of 25,454 fans at Omaha's TD Ameritrade Park, preluding the 2019 College World Series. Whit Merrifield, who had the CWS-winning hit in 2010 for South Carolina, had two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored for the Royals. Nicky Lopez, who played at TD Ameritrade with Creighton, hit his first career MLB home run. Matthew Boyd (5-5), who pitched in the College World Series in 2013 with Oregon State, took the loss for Detroit, allowing five runs (four earned) in four innings. The Royals won the three-game series, their first series win since a three-game sweep over the Cleveland Indians from April 12-14. Blue Jays 12, Orioles 3 Cavan Biggio homered twice and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. added a home run and three RBIs as visiting Toronto routed Baltimore. Freddy Galvis, Danny Jansen and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. each drove in two runs as the Jays banged out 17 hits, scored seven runs in one inning and won their second straight after dropping five in a row. Starter Marcus Stroman (4-8) allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits in six innings. Gabriel Ynoa (0-3) was effective in his start for Baltimore, allowing three runs in five innings plus one batter, but that last hitter was Gurriel, who broke a 2-2 tie with a homer. The Baltimore bullpen then fell apart, giving up nine runs over the final four innings. Cardinals 4, Mets 4 (suspended) Kolten Wong and Harrison Bader delivered back-to-back run-scoring hits with two outs in the ninth inning for visiting St. Louis, which managed to tie New York in a game that was subsequently suspended due to torrential rains. The game, which was officially suspended after a delay of about 50 minutes, will resume at 6:10 p.m. EDT on Friday, an hour before the scheduled start of the second game of the four-game series. The ninth-inning comeback by the Cardinals extended Mets ace Jacob deGrom's winless streak to six starts. DeGrom allowed two runs on six hits and no walks while striking out eight and throwing a season-high 116 pitches over seven innings. — Reuters
