Ryan Braun, wearing injured teammate Christian Yelich's jersey under his own as a tribute, slugged a go-ahead, two-run homer to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 3-2 win over the host Miami Marlins on Thursday afternoon. Yelich, the National League's reigning MVP, was lost for the season on Tuesday with a fractured kneecap. However, that hasn't stopped the Brewers, who have won seven straight contests, including a four-game sweep of the Marlins. Milwaukee remains tied with the Chicago Cubs for the second National League wild-card position. Both teams are four games behind the first-place St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. Reliever Freddy Peralta (6-3) earned the win by pitching two scoreless innings and striking out three. Josh Hader picked up his 31st save of the season — his second in roughly 16 hours. Cubs 4, Padres 1 Yu Darvish struck out 14 batters over six shutout innings as Chicago earned a victory in San Diego. Darvish and relievers Kyle Ryan (two in two innings) and Rowan Wick (three in the ninth) combined for 19 strikeouts. The Padres scored in the ninth and had the winning run at the plate when Wick fanned Luis Urias to end the game with the bases loaded. Ian Happ delivered a two-out, two-run single in the fourth inning for the Cubs, who won for just the second time in seven games. Cardinals 10, Rockies 3 Dexter Fowler and Kolten Wong started the game with consecutive home runs, and St. Louis also got leadoff homers in the second, third and fourth innings en route to a victory over Colorado in Denver. Rangel Ravelo, Marcell Ozuna and Harrison Bader went deep, and Fowler, Wong and Andrew Knizner had two hits apiece for the Cardinals, who salvaged the finale of a three-game series. Paul DeJong and Wong each had two stolen bases. Nolan Arenado homered and finished with two hits, Josh Fuentes hit his first major league home run, and Garrett Hampson had two hits for the Rockies. Mets 11, Diamondbacks 1 Juan Lagares had the biggest game of his major league career, homering twice and finishing with six RBIs as New York completed a four-game sweep of visiting Arizona. The Mets outscored the Diamondbacks by a 20-1 margin in the final two games and 26-4 overall to leapfrog Arizona, which began the series 2 1/2 games ahead of New York, in the gaggle of National League teams pursuing a wild card. Lagares produced his first career two-homer game, and he doubled his previous single-game career RBI high. Todd Frazier added his third homer in two days. Yankees 10, Tigers 4 (Game 1) Luke Voit had three hits, including a two-run homer, scored three runs and drove in three as New York won the first game of a doubleheader in Detroit. Edwin Encarnacion also ripped a two-run homer for the Yankees. He came out for a pinch hitter in the seventh, with the team saying he had a left oblique strain. Encarnacion will return to New York for further testing. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge reached base four times and scored four runs. Dawel Lugo hit a two-run homer and Travis Demeritte added a solo shot for the Tigers. Yankees 6, Tigers 4 (Game 2) Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer, Domingo German pitched four innings of scoreless relief, and New York completed a doubleheader sweep at Detroit. DJ LeMahieu had three hits, scored a run and knocked in another for the Yankees. CC Sabathia, back from the injured list, started and allowed two runs in 3 1/3 innings. Aroldis Chapman got the last two outs for his 37th save. Putting a damper on the sweep, Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez exited in the fourth inning due to left groin tightness, an inning after he was caught trying to steal a base. Sanchez was out July 24-Aug. 9 because of a left groin strain. Dodgers 4, Orioles 2 Cody Bellinger and Gavin Lux drove in runs, but visiting Los Angeles broke a tie by scoring two runs on a passed ball in the sixth inning and defeated Baltimore in the finale of a three-game series. The Dodgers trailed 2-1 before scoring three runs in the sixth, but Bellinger's single brought in the first run of the inning to tie the score. Later in the inning, Russell Martin struck out with two out and the bases loaded, but Dylan Bundy's high fastball got past catcher Pedro Severino and went to the backstop, allowing Bellinger and Corey Seager to score for a 4-2 lead. Phillies 9, Braves 5 Cesar Hernandez, Adam Haseley, Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto homered to lead host Philadelphia past Atlanta. Hernandez, Segura and Maikel Franco had two hits apiece for the Phillies (76-70), who remain within two games of the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers for the second wild-card berth in the National League. Ozzie Albies, Adam Duvall and Ronald Acuna Jr. homered for the Braves, who dropped to 91-57. Nationals 12, Twins 6 Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto each homered and drove in three runs, and Adam Eaton and Yan Gomes also hit home runs to lead visiting Washington over Minnesota at Minneapolis. Rendon also doubled, walked twice and scored two runs, and Asdrubal Cabrera tripled and drove in two runs for Washington (81-64), which extended its lead for the first wild card in the National League to 3 1/2 games over the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. Jonathan Schoop homered among his three hits, and Nelson Cruz went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs for Minnesota (89-57), which saw its American League Central Division lead shrink to 3 1/2 games over the Cleveland Indians. Rangers 6, Rays 4 Nick Solak homered off Peter Fairbanks, the pitcher he was traded for two months ago, helping Texas defeat Tampa Bay in Arlington, Texas. Solak went 2-for-3 in his 22nd major league game, raising his batting average to .360. The Rangers (74-74) have won six of seven games to get back to .500. The loss by the Rays (87-61), coupled with Oakland's 3-2 win over the Houston Astros, allowed the A's (87-60) to take over the lead for the American League's first wild card by one-half game. The Cleveland Indians, who were idle on Thursday, are another one-half game behind the Rays. Athletics 3, Astros 2 Matt Olson homered for the third time in this four-game series, and Oakland held on for a victory over host Houston. Olson smacked his 32nd home run off Astros right-hander Justin Verlander in the third inning, a two-run shot that provided right-hander Homer Bailey (13-8) and five Oakland relievers just enough of a cushion. The victory gave the Athletics sole possession of the first American League wild card, a half-game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Astros put up a fight, loading the bases in the eighth after Jose Altuve clubbed his 27th home run to cut the deficit to one. But Oakland right-hander Blake Treinen struck out Kyle Tucker to leave the bases loaded, and closer Liam Hendriks earned his 21st save in the ninth. Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 4 Marco Hernandez hit a two-run double in the second inning, and Boston went on to defeat host Toronto to end a five-game losing streak. Brock Holt added two RBIs to help the Red Sox salvage the finale of a three-game series and win the season series 11-8. Red Sox opener Jhoulys Chacin allowed no runs, two hits and two walks while striking out three in 2 2/3 innings. Josh Taylor (2-2) pitched a perfect fourth inning to pick up the win, and Brandon Workman, Boston's ninth pitcher, picked up his 12th save. Reds 11, Mariners 5 Freddy Galvis hit a grand slam with two outs in the seventh inning as Cincinnati rallied to beat host Seattle. Curt Casali and Eugenio Suarez added two-run homers in the eighth as the Reds avoided being swept in the three-game interleague series. Reds right-hander Sal Romano (1-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the victory. Seattle's Kyle Lewis homered for the third consecutive game to start his major league career, and Dylan Moore and Omar Narvaez added two-run shots. Royals 6, White Sox 3 Hunter Dozier stroked a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning to lead Kansas City to a win at Chicago. Jorge Soler went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and two runs while Dozier added a double for the Royals, who won for the fourth time in six games. Kansas City captured the last two games of the three-game series. Royals starter Jorge Lopez (4-7) allowed three runs, two earned, on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two. Pirates 4, Giants 2 Pittsburgh used triples from Cole Tucker and starting pitcher Joe Musgrove to build a lead, then got a home run from Jacob Stallings as insurance in a win at San Francisco. Musgrove (10-12) pitched five shutout innings, and Felipe Vazquez recorded his third save in four days, allowing the Pirates to take three of four in the series. The Giants' first two batters in the ninth inning reached base, but Vazquez rebounded to strike out pinch hitter Austin Slater and Mike Yastrzemski before getting Buster Posey to ground out for his 28th save. — Reuters
