Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins, left, celebrates after scoring from second base, as Anthony Santander (25) looks on during the Orioles’ 5-4 win over Tampa Bay on MOnday in Baltimore. Julio Cortez/Associated Press
BALTIMORE — Ryan Mountcastle hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in a four-run fifth inning that sent the Baltimore Orioles to a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
Austin Voth and five Baltimore relievers kept Tampa Bay’s offense from delivering the big hit. The Rays left 10 men on base, including six in the first three innings.
Brandon Lowe homered leading off the third for Tampa Bay, but Corey Kluber (6-6) allowed four earned runs in five innings. Nick Vespi (3-0) struck out four in 1 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win. Vespi was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk before the game.
Ryan McKenna led off the Baltimore fifth with a single, and Cedric Mullins added a bunt single one out later. Adley Rutschman was hit by a pitch, loading the bases, and Mountcastle’s hit put the Orioles up 3-1.
Anthony Santander followed with a grounder to first, and Ji-Man Choi’s throw to second hit Mountcastle. A run came home on that play, and Austin Hays made it 5-1 with a sacrifice fly.
Voth pitched around leadoff walks in the first and second. The Rays had the bases loaded with one out in the second, but Voth was able to throw home for a force on a comebacker by Brett Phillips, and Yandy Díaz hit a flyball to end the threat.
The Orioles also loaded the bases in the second with nobody out. Rougned Odor hit a sacrifice fly, but the next two batters were retired on foul pops.
INTERLEAGUE
REDS 11, MARLINS 2: Jonathan India hit his first career grand slam and Brandon Drury connected for a three-run shot, helping Cincinnati win at home.
India and Donovan Solano each had three hits as last-place Cincinnati improved to 9-4 in its last 13 games. Since starting the season 3-22, the Reds have gone 34-36.
India returned to the lineup as the designated hitter after he was scratched ahead of Sunday’s 6-3 victory over St. Louis because of a bruised left thigh. He got hurt on a headfirst slide on Saturday.
Miami had 15 players on its injured list, hurting its chances for staying in the NL wild-card race. The Marlins dropped to 3-12 against the Reds over the past two seasons.
Cincinnati rookie Nick Lodolo (3-3) struck out a career-high nine over six innings. The left-hander allowed two unearned runs and five hits.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
TIGERS 12, PADRES 4: Eric Haase hit a grand slam off Sean Manaea, Jeimer Candelario homered twice and host Detroit routed San Diego.
Miguel Cabrera hit his 506th career homer in the sixth inning and moved past Al Simmons for 13th on the career RBI list with 1,840.
Manaea (5-5) was pummeled for a career-worst nine runs in 3 1/3 innings, and his replacement, promising young left-hander MacKenzie Gore, was pulled with an apparent arm injury.
PHILLIES 6, BRAVES 4: Bryson Stott homered, doubled and drove in five runs to lift Philadelphia to a comeback victory at home.
Alec Bohm doubled and had three hits for the Phillies, who rebounded from a three-game sweep at home against the lowly Chicago Cubs last weekend.
Austin Riley had a pair of doubles and Marcell Ozuna had three hits and an RBI for the Braves, who fell two games behind the first-place New York Mets in the NL East.
With the Braves leading by one, A.J. Minter (4-3) got the first two outs in the eighth inning before Bohm and Yairo Muñoz singled to put runners on first and second. Stott then drove a full-count cutter into the seats in right field for his seventh home run, putting the Phillies ahead 6-4.
NOTES
RAYS: Tampa Bay Rays standouts Kevin Kiermaier and Mike Zunino are out for the season because of injuries, another significant blow for the defending AL East champions.
Manager Kevin Cash said before Monday night’s game at Baltimore that Kiermaier is having an operation in the coming weeks. The 32-year-old outfielder hasn’t played since July 9 because of a left hip injury, and Kiermaier said earlier this month that he might miss the rest of the regular season.
Zunino, a 31-year-old catcher, hasn’t played since June 9 because of left shoulder problems. He’s out for the season because of thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, according to a team spokesman.
INTERNATIONAL DRAFT: Major League Baseball’s goal of an international amateur draft was thwarted again when the players’ association rejected management’s final offer on Monday and retained direct draft-pick compensation for free agents.
The quirky tie between the two provisions was established in the March 10 agreement that ended the 99-day lockout and preserved a 162-game season. The sides gave themselves until July 25 to reach an agreement on an international draft, which MLB has sought since 2002, and specified the draft-pick provision would be dropped in the event of a deal.
There was little movement over the four months. The union made an offer during a Zoom meeting Saturday, and MLB presented what it termed its final proposal in an email Sunday. Union officials forwarded that plan to the players’ executive board and said they planned to reject it.
PHILIES: Bryce Harper saw the doctor in hopes of having the pins removed from his broken left thumb.
Instead, the Phillies star will have to wait another week.
Harper said X-rays showed his thumb is healing, just not enough to take out the three pins that were inserted three weeks ago to stabilize the fracture. Harper is expected to be re-evaluated next Monday.
Harper broke his thumb when he got hit by a fastball on June 25 in San Diego. He had surgery three days later. Neither Harper nor the Phillies have put a timeline on his recovery.
The Phillies are 12-11 without Harper in the lineup, but the reigning National League MVP’s absence is taking a toll on the offense. They scored seven runs in three losses over the weekend and have just 42 runs over the last 14 games.
In 64 games this season, Harper is hitting .318 with 15 home runs and 48 runs batted in.
METS: Ace Jacob deGrom will make what could be his final minor league rehab start with Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday night.
The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner hasn’t pitched in the majors since July 7, 2021. The 34-year-old right-hander missed the second half of last season with right forearm tightness and a sprained elbow and has been sidelined since late in spring training by a stress reaction in his right scapula.
DeGrom has made three injury rehabilitation appearances in the minors. He threw 24 pitches over 1 2/3 innings on July 3 and 36 over three innings on July 8, both for Class A St. Lucie, then 42 over four innings for Triple-A Syracuse on July 14.
RANGERS: Texas agreed to terms with former AL Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel on a minor league contract.
Keuchel, 34, had stints earlier this season with the Chicago White Sox and Arizona before getting released by both teams. The left-hander and two-time All-Star selection was 2-5 with a 7.88 ERA in eight starts with Chicago prior to being designated for assignment. Keuchel was 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA in four starts with the Diamondbacks, his last coming on July 12.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
