NEW YORK (AP) Rookie Luis Severino won his third straight start and Alex Rodriguez hit his 681st career home run, sending the New York Yankees over the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 on Friday night for their sixth win in seven games.
Brian McCann and Greg Bird also homered for the Yankees, who hold the top AL wild-card spot and are trying to catch East-leading Toronto. New York won with just four hits – an infield tapper and three long balls.
Evan Longoria hit his third homer in two games for the Rays, still on the edge of the wild-card race.
The 40-year-old Rodriguez gave the Yankees the lead with a two-run drive in the second inning and the 21-year-old Severino kept them ahead.
Chicago slugger Anthony Rizzo hit a grand slam in Chicago’s eight-run fifth inning, and rookie Addison Russell homered twice for the first time in his career as the Cubs trounced the Arizona Diamondbacks 14-5.
Javier Baez added a two-run shot – his first homer this season – and went 3 for 4 in his third game since his recall from the minors as the Cubs rolled to their third win in five following a four-game losing streak.
Rizzo’s 28th homer was his second career grand slam. Russell has three homers in his last four games and 12 this season.
In Detroit, Jerry Sands homered, tripled and scored twice, and Josh Tomlin pitched a four-hitter to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to an 8-1 win over the Tigers.
The Indians have won 10 of 14 as they try to stay in the American League wild-card race. Detroit has lost seven of eight and been outscored 71-21 in that stretch.
The Baltimore Orioles dominated the Toronto Blue Jays 10-2 after Chris Davis hit two home runs to take the major league lead with 40, and Matt Wieters and Adam Jones both connected.
Ubaldo Jimenez (10-9) pitched 5 2/3 innings for the victory as the Orioles won consecutive games for the first time since beating Oakland on Aug. 16-17.
Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a solo homer and David Ortiz an RBI double in the Boston Red Sox’ four-run seventh inning as Joe Kelly won his seventh straight start 7-5, while Washington’s Michael Taylor had a pinch-hit three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Nationals over the Atlanta Braves 5-2.
In other games, Collin McHugh went 7 2/3 innings and Hank Conger hit a grand slam as the Houston Astros beat the Minnesota Twins 8-0, the Chicago White Sox thrashed the Kansas City Royals 12-1, the Miami Marlins overcame the New York Mets 6-5 over 11 innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 9-3.
The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 2-1, the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Texas Rangers 5-2, the Los Angeles Dodgers downed the San Diego Padres 8-4 and the Seattle Mariners were 11-8 winners over the Oakland Athletics.
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