Ramirez homers as Rays beat Pirates in matchup of top teams

Tue, May 2, 2023
MLB News (AP)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -

Harold Ramirez homered and drove in two runs to lead the Tampa Bay Rays over the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Tuesday night in a matchup of teams with the top two records in the major leagues.

Ramirez drove in the game's first run with an RBI single in the fourth and boosted the lead to 4-1 with a solo homer in the sixth against Roansy Contreras (3-2). Contreras allowed four runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Tampa Bay left-hander Josh Fleming left in the fifth after taking Ke'Bryan Hayes' hard-hit single off his left foot. The Rays said initial images didn't show a fracture.

Colin Poche (3-0) replaced Fleming in the fifth and gave up a double to Bryan Reynolds and Carlos Santana's tying sacrifice fly. Hayes called safe on a close play at the plate that stood after a video review. Jason Adam worked the ninth for his first save this season.

BRAVES 6, MARLINS 0

MIAMI (AP) - Bryce Elder outpitched NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara by throwing seven innings of three-hit ball and Atlanta shut out Miami.

Ozzie Albies homered and doubled, while Ronald Acuna Jr. doubled, drove in a run and stole his NL-leading 14th base for the Braves. Elder (3-0) struck out six and induced 10 groundouts in his longest start of the season.

MLB

Alcantara (1-3) has a 7.40 ERA and lost three of his four starts since throwing a complete game shutout against Minnesota on April 4.

The Braves chased Alcantara after five innings and 103 pitches. Alcantara gave up three runs, six hits, walked three, struck out five and hit two batters.

RED SOX 7, BLUE JAYS 6

BOSTON (AP) - Connor Wong hit two homers, including a tie-breaking solo shot in the eighth, to help Boston rally past Toronto.

Masataka Yoshida and Christian Arroyo also homered for Boston and the Red Sox tied a season-high for hits with 14, including four by Wong.

Wong also had a double in the second that bounced just below the yellow line at the top of Fenway Park's iconic left-field wall.

Reliever Richard Bleier (1-0) got the win and Josh Winckowski picked up his first save. Erik Swanson (1-1) took the loss.

Daulton Varsho hit a three-run homer for the Blue Jays in the sixth and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. finished with a pair of singles and two RBIs.

WHITE SOX 3, TWINS 2, 10 INNINGS

CHICAGO (AP) - Andrew Benintendi robbed Carlos Correa of a homer and hit a game-ending single in the 10th inning, and Chicago earned its second straight win after a 10-game losing streak.

Hanser Alberto opened the 10th on second as the automatic runner and advanced on Elvis Andrus' sacrifice. Tim Anderson bounced to shortstop and Benintendi lined a clean single into left against Caleb Thielbar (0-1).

Eloy Jimenez homered and Michael Kopech pitched six effective innings for the White Sox.

Jimmy Lambert (2-1) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win, which came hours after the White Sox made 11 roster moves.

Minnesota wasted another stellar performance by Joe Ryan, who pitched six scoreless innings. Ryan allowed one hit, struck out seven and walked two, lowering his ERA to 2.37.

NATIONALS 4, CUBS 1

WASHINGTON (AP) - Alex Call hit a two-run double during a three-run seventh inning, and Washington beat Chicago.

CJ Abrams had the tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh off Keegan Thompson (1-2) as part of a 3-for-3 night. Victor Robles followed with an infield hit and Call doubled to the gap in left-center to make it 4-1.

Trevor Williams, a former Cub, pitched into the sixth inning for Washington and departed with a 1-0 lead. Hunter Harvey (1-1) got the final out of the seventh, then allowed two baserunners in the eighth but got out of the inning when he caught Wisdom looking with a 98 mph fastball. Kyle Finnegan finished for his sixth save.

Cubs right-hander Hayden Wesneski allowed one run on five hits over six innings.

YANKEES 4, GUARDIANS 2

NEW YORK (AP) - Willie Calhoun snapped a seventh-inning tie with his first home run for the New York Yankees, who beat Cleveland to stop a four-game slide.

Gerrit Cole settled down after a rocky start and rookie Anthony Volpe homered in the sixth to begin New York's comeback from a two-run deficit.

Cole struck out eight in six innings and remained unbeaten in seven starts this season with a 1.35 ERA. The right-hander needed 69 pitches to get through the first three innings but threw only 39 over the next three.

With one out in the seventh, Calhoun lined an 0-2 curveball from James Karinchak (0-4) to right field for his first major league home run since April 11 last year with Texas.

Wandy Peralta (2-0) got two outs and Michael King worked 1 2/3 hitless innings for his second save, striking out three.

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