Yangervis Solarte provided power from both sides of the plate to help
the Toronto Blue Jays end a record stretch of futility against
left-handed pitchers.
Solarte hit two home runs Authentic Ronnie Harrison Jersey ,
Devon Travis also connected and the Blue Jays beat the Washington
Nationals 6-5 on Friday night, their fifth straight home victory.
Washington has lost five of seven on the road.
Justin
Smoak broke a 3-3 tie with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and
Solarte, batting left-handed, followed with a two-run shot off
right-hander Justin Miller. Solarte was batting right-handed when he
homered in Toronto’s three-run third, a solo blast off left-hander Gio
Gonzalez (6-3).
”I was lucky enough that I had good opportunities and we took advantage of it,” Solarte said.
The victory snapped Toronto’s team-worst 11-game losing streak against lefty starting pitchers.
”We’re better than that,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. ”That shouldn’t happen like that.”
Solarte
is the ninth player in Blue Jays history to homer from both sides of
the plate. The last to do it was Kendrys Morales against Oakland on July
27, 2017. The homers were Solarte’s 13th and 14th of the season,
extending his team lead and coming a year after his career high of 18.
It’s
the second time Solarte has achieved the feat, having done it also
against Arizona on May 27, 2016 while with the San Diego Padres.
”It’s hard but it’s my job,” Solarte said.
Travis hit a two-run home run in the third, his third.
Seunghwan
Oh (2-2) pitched one inning for the win and Ryan Tepera stranded the
potential tying run at third base in the ninth to earn his fourth save
in seven opportunities.
Wilmer Difo hit a leadoff single
in the ninth, then stole second and advanced on a fly ball. Tepera
escaped by getting Adam Eaton to ground out and striking out Trea
Turner.
Gonzalez allowed season-worsts of five runs and
nine hits in six-plus innings. The left-hander has allowed four or more
earned runs in consecutive outings.
Travis singled to
begin the seventh and Teoscar Hernandez followed with a fly ball that
right fielder Eaton lost in the twilight.
”I had it off the bat but as soon as it goes up, it’s a pretty helpless feeling,” Eaton said.
After
the ball dropped for a ground-rule double, Miller came on and
surrendered Smoak’s sacrifice fly and Solarte’s two-run blast.
”We had one fly ball that we didn’t see that kind of changed things real quick,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said.
The homer was the first earned run allowed by Miller in nine appearances this season.
”I was trying to throw a fastball away and it just kind of cut on me,” Miller said. ”Hats off to him, he hit a good pitch.”
Aaron Sanchez allowed three runs and six hits in six innings for Toronto.
GREEN LIGHT
The
Blue Jays have hit an ML-leading six home runs on 3-0 counts this
season. No other team had more than two entering play Friday.
FIRST OF THE SEASON
Washington’s Daniel Murphy singled in the eighth, snapping a 0-for-10 stretch since he returned from right knee surgery Tuesday.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals:
1B Matt Adams took a pitch off his left hand while squaring to bunt in
the second. Mark Reynolds replaced Adams on defense an inning later. ”I
knew from the get-go it was bad,” Adams said. He is day to day. Murphy
will DH against the Blue Jays this weekend and return to the infield
Monday when Washington returns home to face the Yankees.
Blue
Jays: One week after he became eligible to be activated off the
disabled list, 3B Josh Donaldson (left calf) has yet to run at full
speed. Donaldson may play at least one minor league rehab game with
Triple-A Buffalo before rejoining the Blue Jays. … RHP Marcus Stroman
(shoulder) will make a second rehab start Monday, this time at Double-A
New Hampshire. Stroman pitched 4 1/3 innings at Class-A Dunedin
Wednesday. … OF Steve Pearce (oblique) will begin a rehab assignment at
Buffalo Saturday. Pearce has not played since May 3. … RHP Deck McGuire
was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers.
UP NEXT
Nationals RHP Max Scherzer (10-2 Authentic Logan Cooke Jersey ,
2.00) faces Blue Jays RHP Marco Estrads (3-6, 5.09). Scherzer is 4-1
with a 2.15 ERA in eight career starts against Toronto. His June 10 loss
against San Francisco snapped a streak of nine straight winning
decisions. Estrada beat Baltimore on June 10, ending an eight-start
winless stretch.
—
After a slow start, Giancarlo Stanton has been on a roll for the Yankees.
But he also said there’s another gear he can kick into, too.
Stanton
hit a three-run homer, CC Sabathia pitched six effective innings, and
the Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves 6-2 on Wednesday.
Rookie
second baseman Gleyber Torres left the game in the top of the fifth
inning because of tightness in his right hip and afterward was placed on
the 10-day disabled list with a right hip strain.
”We’re
hoping it’s a short stint. But we think we’ve got to deal with it this
time because there is a small strain there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone
said outside the home clubhouse after the game.
”Hopefully it won’t be something that it’s too long. Probably take us up to the All-Star break.”
After
struggling in his first two months of his debut season in the Bronx,
including three games at the end of March, Stanton managed just 11
homers and hit .245.
He settled in and improved in June with eight homers and a .298 average.
”Yeah
I can always get better. So yeah, I got to put it together but there’s
some balls that I’ve hit hard that could have been in the air, been
better,” said Stanton, who’s 6 for 18 (.333) with two home runs and five
RBIs through the first four games of July.
”But that’s talking millimeters of (a) difference here. But in terms of in the box, I feel very close.”
Aaron Judge added his 24th homer of the season in the seventh inning. He’s now homered in three of his past four games.
Catcher
Kyle Higashioka also homered for the Yankees, becoming the ninth player
since 1920 whose first three hits were home runs. Colorado’s Trevor
Story homered for his first four big league hits on April 4-6, 2016.
The
28-year-old, who’s spent most of his first 10 professional seasons in
the minors, except for a nine-game hitless stint last season, was
surprised at what he’s been able to accomplish since his promotion June
25.
”I wouldn’t have thought that my first three hits in
the major leagues would be homers, but the most important thing here is
winning,” Higashioka said.
Sabathia (6-3) followed his
impressive showing last Friday against Boston, the team with the best
record in baseball, working out of a couple of jams for the Yankees Authentic Armani Watts Jersey , who have won six of their past eight after getting swept in three games at Tampa.
National
League East-leading Atlanta loaded the bases with two outs in the
first, but the 37-year-old struck out 20-year-old phenom Ronald Acuna
Jr. on an 88 mph cutter.
”That’s a good lineup. They have a
very good team, some good hitters,” Sabathia said. ”Even when I felt I
was in control I still had to make pitches. They made me work today.”
The Braves have lost their past two games.
New
York took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Greg Bird’s RBI single off
Atlanta starter Julio Teheran (6-6), who lasted just five innings,
allowing five hits and five runs. He walked four and struck out 10.
The Yankees got to Teheran again in the third.
With
a runner on first and two outs, Aaron Hicks walked. Stanton then fell
behind 0-2 before hitting a line drive to the right field bleachers for
his 21st homer of the season to make it 4-0.
After
retiring the first two batters in the fourth, Teheran fell behind 2-0
against Higashioka before the rookie connected to the left field stands,
extending the lead to 5-0.
”You can’t make mistakes to
this team,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. ”The way that ball flies
around in right center and over, it’s just dangerous. That’s why they
are who they are. In spurts, he threw the ball really well.”
The
Braves cut the deficit to 5-1 on an RBI grounder from Danny Santana
with one out in the fifth. Johan Camargo hit his ninth home run of the
season with two outs in the sixth that made it 5-2. But Sabathia limited
the damage by retiring Dansby Swanson on a grounder to second with a
runner aboard.
Atlanta failed to take advantage in the
seventh inning against reliever Chad Green when its first two batters
reached on a pair of singles. Green then got three fly outs to end the
threat.
PUT ME IN COACH
With New York set to
play 11 games in 10 days, beginning Friday at Toronto, Yankees manager
Aaron Boone said he wanted to be ”greedy” with Thursday being their only
day off, and held Austin Romine out of the starting lineup for the
fourth consecutive day. Higashioka started for the fourth straight time
behind the plate.
The Yankees have been short-handed at
catcher since Romine left the game on June 29 against Boston in the
seventh inning because of a tight left hamstring. Gary Sanchez has been
on the 10-day disabled list since June 25 because of a strained right
groin.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Braves: 1B Freddie
Freeman, who was hit by a pitch in the third inning, left the game after
the fourth because of a contusion in his right upper arm. He expects to
be back in the lineup Thursday in Milwaukee.
”I tried to
go down in the cage and swing and pretty much topped the ball off the
tee,” Freeman said. ”I couldn’t really extend the arm going through the
zone. I had no strength. It just kind of swelled up and it looks like a
baseball on my tricep right now.”
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