Justin Steele pitched a two-hitter for his first career complete game, Seiya Suzuki homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Angeles 5-1 on Friday.
Steele (1-3) dazzled in his first victory in 13 starts this season. The left-hander threw 95 pitches, striking out seven and walking two, while lowering his ERA from 3.20 to 2.95.
The crowd of 36,948 cheered when he came out for the ninth inning and roared when Brandon Drury grounded out to end the game.
The Cubs won their second straight after losing eight of 10. The Angels dropped their fifth in a row since a season-high six-game win streak.
Steele won 16 games last season and made his first All-Star team. He missed six weeks this year after straining his left hamstring in the opener at Texas and hadn’t received much run support since his return. He got enough this time.
PIRATES 14, METS 2
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Skenes threw seven strong innings and Pittsburgh tied a franchise record by smashing seven home runs in a demolition of the New York Mets.
Bryan Reynolds homered from both sides of the plate, including a grand slam, and Rowdy Tellez had a grand slam among his two homers.
Skenes (5-0), a 22-year-old rookie, allowed two runs on four hits with a walk and eight strikeouts while his ERA ticked up slightly to 2.12.
The mustachioed right-hander has struck out seven or more batters in nine of his first 10 starts, the most ever by a pitcher over the first 10 games of his career. Skenes has thrown 74 pitches of at least 100 mph this season, more than double anyone else in the majors.
Yet Skenes didn’t just beat the Mets with his heat. The last of his 107 pitches was an 87 mph slider that Harrison Bader whiffed at, bringing just the second sellout crowd of the season at PNC Park to its feet as the 6-foot-6 top overall pick in the 2023 draft made his way to the dugout.
WHITE SOX 3, MARLINS 2
MIAMI (AP) — Drew Thorpe threw 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball, Nicky López doubled twice and drove in two runs and the Chicago White Sox beat Miami.
Luis Robert Jr. had two hits, two walks and two stolen bases for the White Sox, who won their first opening game of a road series this season. They were 0-14 before Friday.
The Marlins lost their fifth straight and dropped to an NL worst 30-58.
CARDINALS 7, NATIONALS 6, 11 INNINGS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Willson Contreras hit a tying homer in the ninth inning, Masyn Winn scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball in the 11th, and St. Louis rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to beat the Washington.
Contreras struck out with one out in the 11th and Winn on third against Dylan Floro (3-2), but the ball got past catcher Riley Adams, who was working his first inning behind the plate after Keibert Ruiz was lifted for a pinch-runner in the 10th.
In the ninth, Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan left a 2-2 fastball over the middle of the plate to Contreras, who sent it 407 feet over the wall in right-center to make it 5-all.
Ryan Helsley (3-3) worked two innings and retired the side in the 11th on two popups and a grounder. Keibert Ruiz’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the 10th scored the automatic runner to make it 6-6, Helsley’s third blown save of the season.
PHILLIES 8, BRAVES 6
ATLANTA (AP) — Trea Turner hit a pair of two-run home runs off Max Fried, Aaron Nola earned his 100th career victory and Philadelphia beat Atlanta.
The NL East-leading Phillies extended their lead over second-place Atlanta to 10 games by winning the opener of the weekend series.
Nola (10-4) retired Atlanta’s first 10 batters before giving up a one-out single to Ozzie Albies in the fourth inning. Austin Riley followed with a two-run homer to center field. Albies had three hits, including a homer, and Marcell Ozuna added a three-run shot in the eighth off José Alvarado.
TIGERS 5, REDS 4
CINCINNATI (AP) — Rookie Colt Keith homered twice, Parker Meadows and Riley Greene also went deep and Detroit held off Cincinnati.
Meadows led off the third with a 410-foot homer to right field. After Reds center fielder Stuart Fairchild’s catch robbed Matt Vierling of an extra-base hit, Keith hit one out to almost the same spot as Meadows in the right-field seats.
Keith then had a two-run shot in the fifth, and Greene led off the seventh with his team-leading 17th homer, another deep shot to right field.
The Tigers got an outstanding start from right-hander Reese Olson, who pitched no-hit ball through four innings. He left after 5 2/3, allowing just two runs and three hits and striking out eight.
RED SOX 5, YANKEES 3, 10 INNINGS
NEW YORK (AP) — Masataka Yoshida hit a tying, two-run homer off Clay Holmes with two outs in the ninth inning, Ceddane Rafaela homered against Tommy Kahnle leading off the 10th and Boston stunned New York and sent the Yankees to their 14th loss in 18 games.
Boston overcame a 3-0 deficit, starting the comeback when Romy Gonzalez hit his first home run of the season leading off the fifth.
Holmes, without a save since June 9, allowed pinch-hitter Dominic Smith’s two-out single in the ninth. Yoshida fell behind 0-2, then drove a full-count pitch — Holmes’ sixth straight sinker — into the right-field seats for his third homer.
With an automatic runner on second, Rafaela homered on a 1-0 fastball over the heart of the plate from Kahnle (0-1), the rookie’s 10th home run this season.
GIANTS 4, GUARDIANS 2
CLEVELAND (AP) — Michael Conforto hit a two-run double as San Francisco won for the eighth time in their last 11 games, beating Cleveland.
Patrick Bailey added a sacrifice fly and Nick Ahmed had an RBI single for the Giants, who built a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning against Guardians ace Tanner Bibee (7-3).
Cleveland, which has the best home record in the majors at 28-11, got a solo homer from Josh Naylor and a sacrifice fly from Andrés Giménez.
