SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ” Giants pitcher Jake Peavy homered through the low-hovering mist for his first long ball in more than nine years, leading San Francisco past the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 in Major League Baseball on Wednesday.
Peavy struck out eight in six-plus innings on the mound and connected for his third career home run in the fourth against reliever Collin Balester. It was Peavy’s first since July 26, 2006, at Dodger Stadium with the Padres.
That gave Giants pitchers nine home runs this season, the most since hitting 10 in 1934. The 1924 team also had nine.
Peavy (7-6) became the fifth San Francisco pitcher to go deep this season, matching an MLB record. Everyone in the rotation with at least 16 starts aside from rookie Chris Heston has homered, and Madison Bumgarner has five.
San Francisco remained 7 1/2 games behind National League West-leading Los Angeles and 7 1/2 back of the Cubs for the second playoff wild card.
In other games, Texas padded its lead in the American League West division with a 14-3 win over Houston, Toronto protected its lead in the AL East with a 9-1 victory over Atlanta, and Chicago slipped by pennant-chasing Pittsburgh 3-2 in 12 innings.
Prince Fielder hit two of Texas’ season-high five homers and drove in five runs to help Texas increase its advantage over Houston in the AL West to 1 1/2 games going into the series finale on Thursday.
Fielder’s RBI single in the first put the Rangers ahead to stay. The slugger pulled both of his homers into the second deck in right field, leading off the third and then capping an 11-pitch at-bat in the sixth with a three-run shot that made it 12-1.
Mike Napoli, Rougned Odor and Bobby Wilson also homered to help Texas win its third straight game in the series.
In Atlanta, David Price allowed one run in seven innings and Russell Martin hit a homer and drove in four runs as Toronto beat Shelby Miller and the Braves.
Price (16-5) gave up six hits and had nine strikeouts. He improved to 7-1 since coming to Toronto in a trade with Detroit, and lowered his ERA to 2.42.
The Blue Jays stayed three games ahead of second-place New York in the AL East division.
Miller (5-15) didn’t make it through the fourth inning. He is winless in 22 straight starts, the longest streak for any pitcher in a season he was an All-Star.
Chicago pinch-runner Quintin Berry raced home on Anthony Rizzo’s sacrifice fly in the top of the 12th inning as the Cubs topped the Pirates.
Pittsburgh rallied to tie it in the eighth against Jake Arrieta, spoiling his bid to become the first 20-game winner in MLB this season. Arrieta allowed two runs, one earned, and six hits, but failed to pick up a win for the first time since Aug. 4.
Hector Rondon (6-4) worked two innings to help Chicago pull within three games of the Pirates for the top spot in the NL playoff wild-card race.
Elsewhere, prized rookie Luis Severino rebounded from his worst start and Greg Bird homered and drove in two runs as the New York Yankees beat Tampa Bay 3-1.
Severino (4-3) allowed one run and six hits in 5 2-3 innings. The right-hander gave up a career-high six earned runs over 2 1-3 innings in an 11-5 loss Friday to Toronto.
New York’s other team, the Mets, had its pursuit of the NL East title slowed in a 6-0 loss to the streaking Miami Marlins.
Miami captured its fifth straight series win ” matching a franchise record set in 2003 for most consecutive series won in one season ” while New York’s lead over Washington was cut to 7 1/2 games.
Washington’s Jayson Werth hit two homers and Gio Gonzalez tied his career high with 12 strikeouts as the Nationals topped Philadelphia 12-2.
In Los Angeles, Alex Wood pitched one-hit ball for eight innings on only 78 pitches and retired his last 19 batters, leading the Dodgers past Colorado 2-0.
Dustin Pedroia homered twice and had a season-high five RBIs to back a dominant pitching performance by rookie Henry Owens in Boston’s 10-1 victory over Baltimore.
Also, St. Louis topped Milwaukee 5-4, Detroit beat Minnesota 7-4 in 12 innings, Cleveland defeated Kansas City 5-1, San Diego edged Arizona 4-3, Seattle beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-1, and the Chicago White Sox defeated Oakland 9-4.
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