MIAMI — Luis Arraez had two hits to raise his major league-leading batting average to .401 and help the Miami Marlins beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Tuesday night.
Second in the NL East, the Marlins have won five straight to improve to 34-28 — the first time they’ve been six games over .500 since August 2016.
After Arraez flew out to left in his first two at-bats, he hit consecutive singles to finish 2 for 4 with an RBI. Jesús Sánchez homered and Bryan De La Cruz drove in three runs.
PHILLIES 1, TIGERS 0: Kyle Schwarber hit a leadoff homer, Taijuan Walker threw seven scoreless innings and host Philadelphia won its fourth straight.
Walker (5-3) allowed two hits, Seranthony Dominguez worked the eighth and Craig Kimbrel completed the three-hitter, striking out the side in order for his ninth save in as many chances. The defending NL champion Phillies pulled within three games of .500 (29-32).
ATHLETICS 11, PIRATES 2: Jace Peterson homered twice on a five-hit night and drove in five runs, and Oakland ended a 15-game road losing streak.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
RAYS 7, TWINS 0: Zach Eflin pitched into the seventh inning and earned his eighth win, Luke Raley tripled and homered, and MLB-best Tampa Bay beat visiting Minnesota.
Eflin (8-1) scattered three hits and struck out nine over 6 2/3 innings. Only teammate Shane McClanahan (9-1) has more wins in the majors.
BLUE JAYS 5, ASTROS 1: Kevin Gausman matched his career high by striking out 13 over seven innings, George Springer, Bo Bichette and Daulton Varsho all homered, and Toronto beat visiting Houston.
WHITE SOX 3, YANKEES 2: Liam Hendriks earned his first save since returning from cancer, Lucas Giolito pitched six hitless innings and visiting Chicago won its fourth straight.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa ended Chicago’s combined no-hit bid with a two-out RBI double in the seventh off reliever Joe Kelly on a ball that fell between center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and left fielder Andrew Benintendi, allowing Willie Calhoun to score.
Josh Donaldson hit his third homer in three games on the first pitch from Hendriks in the bottom of the ninth. Hendriks then finished the three-hitter by getting three straight groundouts, and punctuated the final out with a loud scream and a fist pump.
The All-Star reliever returned to the mound May 29 from stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. At first, the White Sox eased him in prior to the ninth inning, but he’s back in the closer role now and got his first win of the season Sunday.
Seby Zavala homered in consecutive at-bats off Clarke Schmidt (2-6), driving in all three White Sox runs as they won for the fifth time in six games.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
DIAMONDBACKS 10, NATIONALS 5: Pavin Smith homered and drove in three runs and visiting Arizona rallied against Washington’s beleaguered bullpen to beat the Nationals,
Josh Rojas also had three RBI for Arizona, which has won seven of nine to improve to 36-25.
NOTES
BLUE JAYS: The Toronto Blue Jays demoted struggling right-hander Alek Manoah to the Florida Complex League, one day after the 2022 All-Star and AL Cy Young finalist couldn’t get out of the first inning against the Houston Astros.
Manoah was booed by Toronto fans after allowing six runs and seven hits in 1/3 of an inning Monday, his seventh straight losing decision. He’s 1-7 with a 6.36 ERA in 13 starts after going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA in 31 starts last season.
Manoah has allowed 45 runs in 58 innings. He allowed 55 in 196 2/3 innings in 2022. He went 9-2 with a 3.22 ERA in 20 starts as a rookie in 2021.
Blue Jays Manager John Schneider said “everything is on the table” when asked about Manoah’s status after Monday’s loss.
Toronto is the only big league team to use no more than five starting pitchers this season. The Blue Jays are 33-28, fourth in the AL East.
Previously the Gulf Coast League, the Florida Complex League is a rookie-level league with most games played at spring training facilities.
The Blue Jays also activated right-hander Chris Bassitt off the paternity list, and activated infielder Santiago Espinal (right-hamstring) off the 10-day injury list.
Toronto selected right-hander Bowden Francis from Triple-A Buffalo, and optioned right-hander Jay Jackson and infielder Ernie Clement to Triple-A. Minor league right-hander Zack Thompson was designated for assignment.
RANGERS: Ace Jacob deGrom will have season-ending Tommy John surgery, cutting short his first season after the oft-injured right-hander signed a $185 million, five-year contract with the Rangers.
General Manager Chris Young said the decision on surgery came after an MRI on deGrom’s ailing right elbow.
The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner hadn’t pitched since April 28, when he exited early against the the New York Yankees because of injury concerns for the second time in a span of three starts. The announcement of surgery came a day after deGrom was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
BRAVES: The Atlanta Braves recalled right-hander Roddery Muñoz from Triple-A Gwinnett and outrighted left-hander Lucas Luetge to Gwinnett.
The Braves also acquired right-hander Ben Heller from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for international bonus pool money. Heller, 31, who was 2-0 with a 2.59 ERA in 31 games with the New York Yankees from 2016 to 2020, was optioned to Gwinnett.
Heller, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2020, was designated for assignment by the Rays on June 2.
REDS: The Cincinnati Reds are promoting 6-foot-5 shortstop Elly De La Cruz to make his major league debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Reds announced they were calling up the 21-year-old from Triple-A, giving one of the minor league’s most enticing talents his first big league test.
De La Cruz takes infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel’s roster spot. Senzel was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a right knee injury. Senzel was a late scratch on Monday.
Baseball America ranks De La Cruz as the sport’s third-best prospect, citing a tantalizing power-speed combination. He is hitting .298 with 12 home runs, 11 stolen bases and a 1.031 OPS with Triple-A Louisville this season.
Signed out of the Dominican Republic as a teenager, De La Cruz hit 28 homers and stole 47 bases across Class A and Double-A last year.
UNION: Silvia Alvarez was appointed acting communications director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Alvarez takes over from communications director Chris Dahl, who shifts to senior adviser for communications and intends to retire on Jan. 1.
Alvarez, 48. joined the union in 2019 after working in the campaign and government offices of Senator Cory A. Booker and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. She was senior vice president and director of corporate communications for First Horizon National Corp. and director of multicultural and charitable communications for Major League Baseball.
Dahl, who turns 65 on June 23, joined the MLBPA in June 1997 to oversee the launch of its first website and became director of communication in June 2019, 11 months after Greg Bouris resigned. A former sportswriter for The Associated Press, he spent two years as secretary-treasurer of the Wire Service Guild, representing AP and United Press International employees. He worked for Pinnacle Brands in baseball and football trading card marketing from 1991-96.
YANKEES: Aaron Judge’s spectacular catch in Dodger Stadium resulted in a bruised right toe, and the Yankees held their slugger out of the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox.
The Yankees did not announce results of testing for Judge, who was scheduled to meet with team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad later Tuesday.
“He’s getting treatment and yeah, the swelling’s better today and he feels a little bit better today,” Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said. “So we’ll get with Dr. Ahmad tonight and we’ll kind of see what we have and see where we are tonight or tomorrow.”
Judge banged his right toe while making a running catch in right field during the eighth inning of Saturday’s 6-3 win over the Dodgers. He sat out Sunday’s 4-1 victory.
Judge knocked open the door of the visiting bullpen while making the catch on J.D. Martinez’s liner into the right field corner with Max Muncy on first base and nobody out.
Judge is hoping to avoid going on the injured list for the second time this year and eighth time since making his debut on Aug. 13, 2016. .
The Yankees also said Tuesday they will place Nestor Cortes on the injured list with a shoulder issue. Cortes is expected to miss at least two starts. Randy Vásquez will start Wednesday.
TWINS: Minnesota Twins star Byron Buxton was placed on the 10-day injured list with a bruised left rib.
To replace him on the roster, outfielder Trevor Larnach was reinstated from the IL.
Twins shortstop Carlos Correa, slowed recently by plantar fasciitis, was in Tuesday’s lineup. The last time he had played was Thursday.
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