MLB roundup: Elly De La Cruz outduels Aaron Judge, Reds beat Yanks

Elly De La Cruz homered, tripled, singled and drove in three runs as the Cincinnati Reds beat the visiting New York Yankees 6-1 in the opener of a three-game set on Monday night.

De La Cruz atoned for a pair of defensive miscues by falling just a double shy of his second career cycle. He topped off his memorable night with his 18th homer, an opposite-field shot to right in the eighth inning. Gavin Lux added a solo homer for the Reds.

Cincinnati reliever Scott Barlow (3-0) relieved starter Nick Lodolo with one out in the fifth and retired all five batters he faced to earn the win.

Aaron Judge belted a 398-foot homer to the upper deck in left, his 28th of the season, while Cody Bellinger doubled twice and had three hits for the Yankees.

Mariners 11, Twins 2

Cal Raleigh hit his league-leading 32nd home run, Julio Rodriguez drove in four with a double and a home run, and Seattle routed Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone added homers for the Mariners, who won the series opener with righty Bryan Woo (7-4) tossing six innings of two-run baseball. He had nine strikeouts while surrendering six hits.

Carlos Correa and Trevor Larnach responded with solo shots for Minnesota, which lost for the 10th time in 11 games. Bailey Ober (4-5) gave up seven runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings.

Orioles 6, Rangers 0

Jackson Holliday smacked a three-run home run and a run-scoring double and Trevor Rogers pitched eight shutout innings as Baltimore defeated visiting Texas to open a three-game series.

Rogers (1-0), in his third big-league outing of the season, held the Rangers to three singles across eight frames. He struck out four without a walk. Holliday racked up three hits and Ramon Laureano had a double among his two hits for Baltimore, which had eight players with at least one hit.

The Rangers didn’t threaten, stranding three runners and only having one plate appearance with a runner in scoring position. Starter Patrick Corbin (4-7) allowed five runs and nine hits in five-plus innings. He struck out six without issuing a walk.

Diamondbacks 10, White Sox 0

Pavin Smith hit two home runs and drove in four, Ketel Marte homered among his three hits and Eduardo Rodriguez pitched six strong innings as Arizona routed host Chicago.

Arizona out-hit Chicago 13-5, roughing up White Sox starter Shane Smith and four relievers on the way to its fourth win in five games. The White Sox have lost 10 of 12.

Rodriguez (3-4) cruised behind the early support, limiting the White Sox to five hits in six shutout innings while striking out 10 against two walks. He has won each of his five career starts at Rate Field.

Braves 3, Mets 2

Spencer Schwellenbach tossed seven strong innings and earned the win for visiting Atlanta, which beat reeling New York in the opener of a four-game series between the National League East rivals.

Michael Harris II delivered a second-inning sacrifice fly before Ronald Acuna Jr. homered and Sean Murphy lofted another sac fly an inning later for the Braves, who have won five of seven, including four straight against the Mets since last Tuesday.

Schwellenbach (6-4) gave up the two runs on four hits with one walk while striking out four. Juan Soto hit a two-run homer in the sixth but struck out with runners at the corners to end the eighth for the Mets, who have lost nine of 10.

Cardinals 8, Cubs 2

Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman hit two-run homers as host St. Louis pummeled Chicago.

Willson Contreras added two doubles in a 3-for-4 night for the Cardinals, who won for the sixth time in seven games to move within 3 1/2 games of the division-leading Cubs. Matthew Liberatore (5-6) allowed two runs on six hits over seven innings.

Ben Brown (4-6) gave up eight runs on nine hits in five-plus innings for the Cubs, who lost for the fourth time in their last five. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner and Carson Kelly went 2-for-3 in the defeat.

Pirates 5, Brewers 4

Isiah Kiner-Falefa tripled in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and Nick Gonzales had five hits as visiting Pittsburgh held on to beat Milwaukee in the opener of a three-game series.

Gonzales had two doubles and three singles, driving in two runs, and Tommy Pham hit his first home run of the year for the Pirates, who won back-to-back games for the first time since June 6-9.

Christian Yelich brought the Brewers even at 4-all in the fifth with his 15th homer, a two-run shot down the right field line. Milwaukee had its four-game winning streak snapped.

–Field Level Media