UNDATED (AP) — The Chicago Cubs have opened a 3 ½-game lead in the NL Central by beating Pittsburgh, 4-1 while the second-place Milwaukee Brewers suffered a 10-2 loss to St. Louis. Jake Arrieta (ar-ee-EH’-tuh) tossed two-hit ball over six shutout innings before Ben Zobrist hit a solo shot to spark a three-run sixth. Luke Voit collected four RBIs and Matt Carpenter socked a two-run homer to help the Cardinals stay five games behind the Cubs.
TORONTO (AP) — The Red Sox lead the AL East by four games over the Yankees after Chris Sale bounced back from his worst start of the season to throw seven shutout innings of a 3-0 win over the Blue Jays. The Red Sox ace struck out 11 and limited the Jays to just two singles and a double before Addison Reed and Craig Kimbrel finished the combined four-hitter. Eduardo Nunez broke a scoreless tie with an RBI double in the sixth, one inning before Hanley Ramirez homered.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton slammed his major league-leading 51st home run, but the Marlins fell 14 games out of first place in the NL East with an 8-3 loss to the division-leading Washington Nationals. It was Stanton’s 18th home run this month, tying Rudy York’s major league record set with the 1937 Tigers. The Nats got four RBIs from Anthony Rendon (rehn-DOHN’), who put the game out of reach with a three-run double in the seventh.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Texas Rangers easily took the opener of their three-game series with the Astros at St. Petersburg as Shin-Soo Choo homered and had four RBIs in a 12-2 pounding of Houston. Joey Gallo hit a two-run homer before an announced crowd of 3,485 at Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays. Hurricane Harvey forced the Astros and Rangers to take their three-game series to Florida.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ervin Santana pitched into the seventh and Jorge Polanco hit a pair of solo homers as the Twins beat the White Sox, 6-4. Santana is 14-7 after allowing three runs with seven strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. Eduardo Escobar drove in two runs to help Minnesota get within 6 ½ games of the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians.
