LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw struck out 15 to set a season career high with 251, Chase Utley hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 2-1 on Wednesday night for a series sweep that increased their NL West lead to 6 1/2 games.
The second-place Giants' fifth-straight loss left them facing their largest division deficit of the season. All three defeats to the Dodgers were by a run and they have just 11 runs during their skid.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy was ejected for the second-straight game.
Kershaw (12-6) beat the Giants for the first time in four starts this season. He allowed one run and six hits and walked one on a career high-tying 132 pitches for his third complete game of the season.
The left-hander leads the National League in strikeouts, surpassing his career best of 248 set in 2011. He tied a career high with the 15 strikeouts after having 14 against the Chicago Cubs in his previous start. Kershaw became the first NL pitcher to strike out 250 in a season since the Giants' Tim Lincecum had 261 in 2009.
Mike Leake (9-7) was the loser. He's winless in five starts since the Giants acquired him from Cincinnati on July 30.
Blue Jays 5, Indians 1
TORONTO -- R.A. Dickey pitched a four-hitter to win his seventh-straight decision, Josh Donaldson had three hits and Toronto beat Cleveland.
Toronto won for the fifth time in six games and maintained a 1 1/2-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East.
Dickey (10-10) threw 92 pitches, including 68 strikes, in his second complete game of the season and 15th of his career. He's unbeaten in 10 starts, dating to a July 9 road loss against the White Sox.
Dickey set down 14 straight before Jason Kipnis hit a one-out single in the ninth. Francisco Lindor ended it by grounding into a double play.
Donaldson went 3 for 4 with three RBIs, raising his ML-leading total to 111.
Cleveland right-hander Trevor Bauer (10-11) gave up five runs and six hits in 1 1-3 innings. Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki each had RBI singles in the first and Donaldson chased Bauer with a two-run double in the second.
Yankees 13, Red Sox 8
BOSTON -- Greg Bird, John Ryan Murphy and Carlos Beltran homered during an eight-run second inning and New York beat Boston.
Stephen Drew doubled during New York's big inning and added a three-run homer in the third. Didi Gregorius later homered for the Yankees.
Masahiro Tanaka (11-6) pitched into the seventh inning to help the Yankees won for the fifth time in six games. New York improved to 7-2 against the Red Sox at Fenway Park this season and 10-5 overall this season against their longtime rivals.
The win was the 800th of Yankees manager Joe Girardi's career. He guided the Marlins for one year and is in eighth season with New York.
Red Sox rookie Henry Owens (2-2) retired the first four batters in order but the next eight Yankees reached base safely, with one out coming on the basepaths.
Reds 7, Cubs 4
CHICAGO -- Joey Votto hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning that was set up by third baseman Kris Bryant's two-out error, and Cincinnati beat Chicago.
Bryant hit a two-run homer in the eighth that made it 4-all. The rookie has 22 home runs and 84 RBIs.
Cubs closer Hector Rondon (5-3) retired the first two batters in the ninth. Jason Bourgeois, who homered earlier, followed with a single. Jay Bruce then hit a hard grounder that went through Bryant's legs for an error, and Votto connected for his 27th home run.
J.J. Hoover (7-0) got the win despite allowing Bryant's homer. Aroldis Chapman closed for his 27th save.
Tommy La Stella and Anthony Rizzo hit solo home runs for the Cubs.
Angels 9, Athletics 4
OAKLAND, Calif.-- Albert Pujols hit a two-run drive to make him one of four players with 10 career 35-home run seasons, and Los Angeles jumped on Oakland ace Sonny Gray.
Pujols had an RBI single in the first inning, then hit his 555th career homer in the second. He joined Hall of Famers Willie Mays (10) and Mike Schmidt (11) and Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez (12) to have reached 35 home runs in 10 or more years.
Andrew Heaney (6-2) struck out six and didn't walk a batter in seven innings to end a six-start winless stretch. He had gone 0-2 since a victory against Texas on July 26.
Gray (12-7) lost his third straight decision, matching his career high with six earned runs for the first time since exactly a year earlier on Sept. 2, 2014, at Seattle.
Mets 9, Phillies 4
NEW YORK -- Ruben Tejada hit an inside-the-park homer and drove in four runs to back Matt Harvey as New York returned to its winning ways against Philadelphia.
Yoenis Cespedes and rookie Michael Conforto had conventional home runs for the NL East leaders. They won for the 14th time in 16 games against the last-place Phillies this season. Philadelphia snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Mets with a 14-8 rout Tuesday.
Travis d'Arnaud doubled twice and singled and Cespedes had three hits as well, one night after he homered to stop an 0-for-16 slide. Handed a 6-0 lead, Harvey (12-7) pitched into the seventh inning and won his fourth straight decision.
Prized rookie Aaron Nola (5-2) was the loser.
Nationals 4, Cardinals 3
ST. LOUIS -- Ryan Zimmerman homered twice, then doubled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning and Washington beat St. Louis to end a nine-game losing streak.
Zimmerman reached 200 career home runs with his second shot. Jayson Werth also homered for the Nationals.
Nationals starter Max Scherzer struck out 11, gave up 11 hits and left with a 3-2 lead after the sixth. Johnathon Papelbon earned his 23rd save in 23 chances, escaping a first-and-third, one-out jam in the ninth. Rafael Martin (1-0) got one out for his first career victory
Johnathan Broxton (1-4) took the loss.
Brandon Moss hit a 454-foot homer for St. Louis.
Brewers 9, Pirates 4
MILWAUKEE -- Jonathan Lucroy drove in three runs and extended his hitting streak to a career high-tying 10 games to help Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh for the fifth straight time.
The Brewers have won seven of their last eight against Pittsburgh.
Adam Lind homered, singled and drove in two runs for Milwaukee.
Reliever Jeremy Jeffress (4-0) picked up the win after tossing a perfect seventh and eighth innings. He came in with a 6-4 lead and was awarded the victory -- starter Zach Davies lasted only 4 1-3 innings in his big league debut. Jeff Locke (7-9) was tagged for five runs and nine hits in 3 2-3 innings.
Former Brewers star Aramis Ramirez drove in all four runs for the Pirates, including a three-run homer in the fourth. Ramirez added an RBI double in the fifth in his first series at Miller Park since being dealt to Pittsburgh in late July.
Royals 12, Tigers 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Yordano Ventura struck out 11 over seven sharp innings, and Kansas City hit four home runs to rout Detroit.
Kendrys Morales hit a three-run shot, Cheslor Cuthbert added his first career homer, and Ben Zobrist and Lorenzo Cain also went deep as the AL Central leaders cranked out 14 hits.
Ventura (10-7) walked one and hit one while matching a career high for strikeouts set in his last start. The 24-year-old with the 100 mph fastball has not allowed more than two earned runs in his last five outings, and is 6-0 since his last loss July 20 against Pittsburgh.
Randy Wolf (0-3) gave up eight runs in 3 2-3 innings for Detroit, though he did last longer than Miguel Cabrera. The slugger was tossed by third base umpire Gary Cederstrom after fanning in the third inning, and after a quarrel with plate umpire Quinn Wolcott proved fruitless.
Mariners 8, Astros 3
HOUSTON -- Rookie Shawn O'Malley had three hits, including a tiebreaking RBI single in a two-run eighth inning, and Logan Morrison padded Seattle's lead with a three-run shot in the ninth.
It was the season debut for O'Malley, who appeared in 11 games for the Los Angeles Angels last season, but spent all year in Triple-A before being called up Tuesday. He had a run-scoring single in the second.
The Mariners had runners at second and third with no outs in the eighth inning after an error by Pat Neshek (3-5). The miscue came when he fielded a sacrifice bunt by Jesus Sucre but his throw sailed over the head of 5-foot-5 Jose Altuve, who was covering first base.
O'Malley's line drive to right field scored Logan Morrison to put Seattle on top 4-3.
Carson Smith (2-5) got the last out of the seventh inning for the win and Tom Wilhelmsen got the final five outs for his eighth save.
Rangers 4, Padres 3 (10)
SAN DIEGO -- Mitch Moreland doubled in the go-ahead run in the 10th to give Texas the victory.
Moreland's line drive down the right-field line off Bud Norris (1-1) scored Elvis Andrus, who had reached on a one-out single.
The Rangers cut first-place Houston's lead in the AL West to two games. Texas, which has won nine of 12 games, retained its one-game lead over Minnesota for the second AL wild-card berth.
Sam Dyson (2-1) pitched two innings as the Rangers (70-62) went a season-high eight games over .500.
Sports on 09/04/2015