Bryce Harper hit his eighth home run of the year and Gio Gonzalez held Cincinnati’s powerful lineup to one hit in eight innings and the Washington Nationals beat the Reds 8-1.
Denard Span and Danny Espinosa drove in three runs apiece, giving Gonzalez more than enough support. The 21-game winner from last season struck out seven and walked two.
Washington had lost nine of 12 and their previous six home games. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been shaking hands,” Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. “That’s more like what we are — good pitching and timely hitting.”
National League Scores
Los Angeles 3 New York 2 Andre Ethier hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning and the Dodgers held on to beat the Mets 3-2. Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched seven solid innings allowing one run and striking out eight. Brandon League recorded his sixth save of the season.
Chicago 4 Miami 3 Luis Valbuena homered in the ninth inning to power the Cubs to a 4-3 win over the Marlins. Nate Schierholtz doubled and homered for Chicago, which scored the final three runs of the game.
Arizona 3 Colorado 2 Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer to back Trevor Cahill, who tossed five innings to earn his first win of the season.
American League Scores
Kansas City 8 Detroit 3 Alex Gordon‘s grand slam highlighted a five-run 10th inning as Kansas City beat Detroit 8-3. Tigers ace Justin Verlander left with a blister on his thumb.
“This was a phenomenal road trip for us,” said right-hander James Shields, who pitched eight solid innings Thursday. “We’re going to look back at this road trip, and I think it’s going to be a pretty crucial road trip.”
Chicago 5 Tampa Bay 2 Chris Sale and Adam Dunn in a two run home run in the sixth inning to lead the Chicago White Sox over Tampa Bay 5-2. Addison Reed recorded his seventh save of the season.
Boston 7 Houston 2 David Ortiz went 3-for-4 with a home run and Clay Buchholz struck out 10 batters over 7 2/3 innings to improve to 5-0 on the season, And the Red Sox beat the Astros 7-2
New York 5 Toronto 3 Robinson Cano hit a three-run homer to lift the Yankees to a 5-3 win over the Blue Jays. Hiroki Kuroda settled down after a shaky first inning and Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson each pitched a scoreless inning, and Mariano Rivera was perfect in the ninth for his seventh save in seven chances.
Texas 2 Minnesota 1 Rookie starter Nick Tepesch pitched six solid innings and Nelson Cruz at his 12 RBI in the past five games in the Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 2-1
Baltimore 10 Oakland 2 The Baltimore Orioles took their offensive show on the road pounding out 15 hits in a 10-2 when over the Oakland A’s. Chris Davis homered and had two RBIs, Adam Jones added three hits, and Jason Hammel pitched six strong innings to help the Orioles win for just the fourth time in their past 20 games at the Coliseum.
Seattle 6 Los Angeles 0 Rookie Brandon Maurer went 6 1/3 innings and Carlo Peguero hit a mammoth home run off of Angels starter Garrett Richards and the Mariners beat the Angels 6-0
