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Braves’ pitching combines to no-hit the Mets for 8 2/3 innings, win 4-1

 The Associated Press  |    May 11th, 2024 10:50pm EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Atlanta’s Max Fried and two relievers combined for a no-hitter through 8 2/3 innings before New York’s J.D. Martinez homered to spoil the bid as the Braves beat the Mets 4-1 on Saturday.

Fried opened with seven no-hit innings and Joe Jiménez worked around a pair of walks in the eighth before Raisel Iglesias retired the first two batters of the ninth. Martinez homered just over the wall in right field on the next pitch off Iglesias, who walked Jeff McNeil and allowed an infield single to Harrison Bader before retiring Brett Baty on a fly to center.

The Braves have not thrown a no-hitter since Kent Mercker’s gem against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 1994. The no-hitter drought is the fourth-longest in the majors.

The Braves have the second-most wins and second-lowest ERA in baseball since 1994, a span in which Hall of Famers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz pitched for the team.

Fried walked three over the first seven innings, throwing 109 pitches, one shy of his career high. The 30-year-old left-hander retired the first eight batters he faced before issuing consecutive walks to Tomas Nido and Brandon Nimmo. He then set down 11 straight before walking Pete Alonso with one out in the seventh.

BLUE JAYS 10, TWINS 8

TORONTO (AP) — Ernie Clement broke an 8-all tie with a bases-loaded single in the seventh inning and Toronto overcame a six-run deficit to beat Minnesota.

Danny Jansen hit a two-run home run while Bo Bichette and Davis Schneider each hit solo homers for the Blue Jays, who came in having lost six of eight.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 4 for 5 with three RBIs in his 11th multihit game of the season as the Blue Jays used a season-best 16 hits to cool off the Twins, who had won 16 of 18.

Guerrero tied it at 8-all with a two-run, two-out single off Steven Okert in the sixth inning.

After two Blue Jays batters reached against Jay Jackson (1-2) to begin the seventh, pinch hitter George Springer walked and Clement broke the tie with a single to shallow center off Caleb Thielbar. Schneider followed with a sacrifice fly.

Carlos Santana hit a three-run home run and Ryan Jeffers had a solo homer for the Twins, whose seven-game road winning streak was snapped.

RED SOX 4, NATIONALS 2

BOSTON (AP) — Rafael Devers hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the eighth inning to lift Boston to a victory over Washington.

Wearing their alternate bright-yellow jerseys with powder-blue lettering, numbers and caps, the Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak with just their second victory in eight games.

Devers hit his two-out double over the head of left fielder Eddie Rosario off Robert Garcia (0-2) after Tyler O’Neill was intentionally walked with Rob Refsnyder on second.

Chris Martin (2-1) worked a scoreless inning and Kenley Jansen got three outs for his sixth save, the 426th of his career.

Wilyer Abreu hit a solo homer and Jarren Duran added an RBI double for Boston.

Rosario and Joey Meneses each hit a solo homer for the Nationals, with Meneses’ his first this season.

RAYS 7, YANKEES 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Randy Arozarena homered and drove in four runs, Yandy Díaz hit a leadoff shot, and Tampa Bay beat New York.

Arozarena put the Rays ahead 4-2 with a three-run homer in the third inning off Nestor Cortes (1-4). The 2023 All-Star has struggled this season — he went 2 for 3 to raise his average to just .154 — but has gone deep four times in his last eight games.

Díaz homered on Cortes’ first pitch of the game. Díaz and Arozarena had RBI doubles in a three-run seventh.

Zack Littell (2-2) allowed two runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings as the Rays returned to .500 at 20-20.

Rays closer Pete Fairbanks returned after missing 19 games with nerve-related hand issues and struck out one in a 1-2-3 ninth.

Anthony Volpe had a two-run single in the second for the Yankees, who lost for the second time in eight games.

PHILLIES 8, MARLINS 3

MIAMI (AP) — Bryson Stott hit a tiebreaking, bases-loaded triple in the sixth inning, and major league-best Philadelphia beat Miami.

Stott finished with two hits and four RBIs. Catcher J.T. Realmuto had a run-scoring single and threw out two baserunners trying to steal for the Phillies, who have won 13 of 15 to improve to 28-12. Cristian Pache had three hits and an RBI and is 5-for-9 through the first two games of the series.

Phillies starter Taijuan Walker (3-0) allowed one run in six innings. He gave up eight hits and struck out four.

The Marlins dropped to an NL-worst 10-31. They are 1-7 since trading NL batting champion Luis Arraez on May 4.

Philadelphia trailed 1-0 in the sixth before Realmuto’s RBI hit against Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo (0-3). Anthony Maldonado relieved Luzardo and allowed Alec Bohm’s two-out single and walked Nick Castellanos. Stott then hit a hard grounder over the bag at first that rolled to the wall and cleared the bases.

The Phillies broke it open with a four-run eighth. Stott and Pache hit RBI singles and Johan Rojas’ two-run single padded the lead.

ORIOLES 5, DIAMONDBACKS 4, 11 INNINGS

BALTIMORE (AP) — Jordan Westburg flicked a game-ending single inside the right field line in the 11th inning for his fourth hit of the day, and Baltimore beat Arizona.

Gunnar Henderson tied the major league lead with his 12th homer of the season for the AL East-leading Orioles, and Anthony Santander went deep in the eighth to tie the game at 4-all.

Craig Kimbrel (4-1) worked a scoreless 11th after a rough stretch in which the veteran closer failed to convert four of five save opportunities. He also worked a scoreless seventh in Friday night’s 4-2 win. Baltimore (26-12) has won seven of eight and has the second-best record in the majors behind Philadelphia.

Westburg hit an RBI double in the second and singled in the fourth and ninth before his well-placed walk-off hit against Bryce Jarvis (0-2), which scored automatic runner Colton Cowser.

Ketel Marte extended his hitting streak to 12 games and homered for the second consecutive day for the Diamondbacks, who haven’t won at Camden Yards since June 17, 2007.

TIGERS 8, ASTROS 2

DETROIT (AP) — Mark Canha hit a grand slam in a seven-run second inning, Kerry Carpenter homered twice and Detroit beat Houston.

Tarik Skubal (5-0) gave up two runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings.

Cristian Javier (2-1) allowed seven runs on five hits and four walks in 1 1/3 innings, making his first start since going on the injured list because of neck discomfort nearly a month ago.

The Tigers loaded the bases against Javier in the pivotal second and then he threw four straight balls to Riley Greene, forcing home the first run. Two pitches later, Canha sat on a changeup and sent it 393 feet over the left-field fence.

Carpenter’s two-run homer put Detroit ahead 7-0 and ended Javier’s brief and rough outing.

After Houston was held scoreless for a third straight inning, hitting coach Alex Cintron was ejected after appearing to argue with the umpiring crew.

Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz responded in the fourth inning, hitting RBI singles to make it 7-2. Carpenter hit a homer off Hunter Brown in the home half, putting Detroit ahead by six runs.

WHITE SOX 3, GUARDIANS 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Mike Clevinger combined with three relievers on a four-hitter, and Chicago topped Cleveland for their season-high fourth consecutive victory.

Clevinger permitted one run and four hits in 4 2/3 innings in his second major league start of the season. The right-hander, who signed a $3 million, one-year contract with Chicago on April 4, struck out five and walked none.

Then the bullpen took over.

Tim Hill (1-0), Jared Shuster and John Brebbia combined for 4 1/3 hitless innings as the last-place White Sox improved to 9-6 since their 3-22 start. Shuster got six outs before Brebbia handled the ninth for his first save since June 8, 2018, for St. Louis at Cincinnati.

Cleveland wasted a sharp performance by Triston McKenzie (2-3), who pitched 6 2/3 innings of four-hit ball. The Guardians lost for the fourth time in five games.

Josh Naylor accounted for Cleveland’s only run with an opposite-field drive to left with two out in the fourth. It was his 11th homer of the season.

PIRATES 10, CUBS 9

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Skenes struck out seven over four-plus innings in his major league debut and Yasmani Grandal hit a go-ahead three-run homer as Pittsburgh edged Chicago.

Skenes, the top overall pick in the 2023 draft, showed flashes of why he is considered perhaps the best pitching prospect in a generation. The 21-year-old — who was greeted by a standing ovation by most of the near-capacity crowd including girlfriend Livvy Dunne — reached 100 mph on 17 of his 84 pitches.

He was electric at times but hardly perfect. Skenes allowed at least one runner in every inning he started — including a solo homer by Nico Hoerner in the fourth — and was pulled after allowing a pair of hits leading off the fifth. He was charged with three runs on six hits with two walks and a hit batter.

Pittsburgh’s bullpen imploded immediately after Skenes’ exit, allowing Chicago to score seven runs to take the lead, with six coming on walks with the bases loaded, most of them on counts that weren’t even competitive.

Pirates relievers Kyle Nicolas, Josh Fleming and Colin Holderman threw 26 balls in a span of 31 pitches sandwiched around a 2-hour, 20-minute rain delay in the top of the fifth.

GIANTS 5, REDS 1

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Matt Chapman hit a grand slam in the first inning to lead struggling San Francisco to a victory over Cincinnati.

The Giants had lost eight of 11 games coming into the contest and were averaging less than three runs over their last 15 before Chapman provided more than that with one big swing in the first against Nick Lodolo (3-2).

Chapman came to the plate with two outs in and sent a drive over the bullpen beyond the fence in left-center to give San Francisco a 4-0 lead.

Mason Black made the lead stand up by allowing only one run in 4 1/3 innings in his home debut, giving up a solo homer to Elly De La Cruz in the fourth.

The bullpen did the rest, sending the Reds to their ninth loss in 10 games.

BREWERS 5, CARDINALS 3

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Rhys Hoskins hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning and Milwaukee beat St. Louis, sending them to their seventh straight loss.

Milwaukee trailed 3-2 when Hoskins hit his ninth homer, a 407-foot blast to center off reliever Andrew Kittredge (0-2).

The NL-Central leading Brewers have eight straight wins over the Cardinals, dating to last season.

St. Louis, last in the division and nine games behind Milwaukee, has the longest current losing streak in the majors.

Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta, who walked six batters in five innings in his last outing, walked one and struck out eight, giving up three runs in six innings.

Relievers Hoby Milner (1-0), Bryan Hudson and Trevor Megill held St. Louis in check, allowing four hits in three shutout innings. Megill earned his fourth save.

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The Associated Press