LOS ANGELES – Hunter Renfroe hit his second late-inning home run in as many days and the San Diego Padres held on for a 3-1 victory Saturday night over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Renfroe broke through in a scoreless pitchers’ duel with a blast in the seventh inning off Kenta Maeda, his team-leading 27th of the season. He also hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of a victory over the Dodgers on Friday night.
Maeda (7-5) gave up three runs on four hits, including two homers, while striking out six and walking one in 7⅔ innings at Dodger Stadium. He hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch.
“Those two homers (I gave up) caused the loss. It’s my fault,” Maeda said.
In addition’s to Renfroe’s homer, Manuel Margot hit a two-run blast in the eighth to extend San Diego’s lead 3-0.
“They were poor pitches so it’s regrettable. The pitch location wasn’t so bad but my sliders didn’t break the way I wanted them to,” Maeda said.
Renfroe also hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of a victory over the Dodgers on Friday night.
But he followed his big night with a three-pitch strikeout against Maeda in the second inning, ending the at-bat on a slider. Then came a strikeout on another slider in the fifth. A last two-strike slider in the seventh was one too many as Renfroe delivered.
“You swing at enough sliders, eventually they’ll throw one that you can hit,” Renfroe said with a wink. “I’m just kidding.
“Kenta was good out there tonight. He eventually threw one that I could get a nice barrel to it. The second at-bat, I swung and just missed a two-strike one. I was like, ‘If he throws me that again, I’m not going to miss it.’ I was able to get a barrel to it and stay toward the middle of the field and stay long enough through it to get it.”
Maeda is 0-3 over his last six starts with a 4.05 ERA and has not won a game since May 31.
“I thought (Maeda) threw the ball well across the board; everything was really good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He made two mistakes and unfortunately they were homers. But to go deep in the seventh inning, he threw a great baseball game.”
Padres starter Chris Paddack pitched 5⅔ scoreless innings, throwing 96 pitches, just one off his career high. He gave up three hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
Trey Wingenter (1-1) pitched 1⅓ scoreless innings for the victory, while Kirby Yates pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 29th save of the season and second in two nights.
Maeda had given up just one hit until Renfroe got to him with two outs in the seventh.
“Hunter is the kind of guy that failure doesn’t bother him,” Padres manager Any Green said. “Struggle doesn’t bother him. Nobody wants to go up there and struggle a couple at-bats, but you still have the confidence that there’s not going to be a carryover effect. As soon as he got that first slider that first at-bat, he was still out front of it. He was still out in front of the second. He finally backed the third one up.”
The Dodgers’ only run came in the bottom of the eighth, Alex Verdugo scoring when Padres third baseman Manny Machado was charged with a throwing error after a grounder by Justin Turner.
Nationals 6, Royals 0
In Washington, Max Scherzer worked seven strong innings, Kurt Suzuki homered and the Nationals blanked Kansas City.
Scherzer (9-5) allowed four hits and struck out 11 with one walk. He has won seven straight starts.
Kansas City starter Glenn Sparkman (2-5) gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings.
Juan Soto had two RBI singles for Washington.
Marlins 5, Braves 4
In Atlanta, Yadiel Rivera hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the fifth and Miami beat the Braves for the second time this season.
Caleb Smith (4-4) allowed four runs, three earned, in six innings in his first start since June 6.
Astros 4, Angels 0
In Houston, Yuli Gurriel homered for the fourth straight game and Gerrit Cole pitched seven scoreless innings before two relievers completed the four-hitter.
Gurriel’s solo shot extended the Astros’ lead to 3-0 in the sixth and gave him a 10-game hitting streak and the longest stretch of consecutive games with home runs in his career.
Cole (9-5) scattered three hits over seven innings while striking out nine to win his fifth straight decision.
Shohei Ohtani was 1-for-4 for Los Angeles.
Rays 4, Yankees 3
In St. Petersburg, Florida, Travis d’Arnaud hit a two-out homer off Chad Green in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Rays to a win over New York.
Aaron Hicks had tied it at 3 in the top of the ninth for the Yankees, homering on a 2-2, two-out pitch from Colin Poche (2-1).
D’Arnaud’s winning homer against Green (2-3) into the right-field seats got the Rays back within 7½ games of AL East-leading New York, which had won the first two games of a four-game series in extra innings. Tampa Bay is 3-9 against the Yankees this season.
It was just New York’s third loss in its last 19 games.
In Other Games.
Orioles 8, Blue Jays 1
Twins 7, Rangers 4
Red Sox 10, Tigers 6
Mariners 6, Athletics 3
Cubs 6, White Sox 3
Indians 7, Reds 2
Pirates 12, Brewers 2
Mets 6, Phillies 5
Giants 8, Cardinals 4
Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 2
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times