ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell took a perfect game into the sixth inning and Tommy Pham hit his first career grand slam, leading the Tampa Bay Rays over the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-1 on Monday night.
Snell (3-3) rebounded from allowing a career-high seven runs over three innings of an 8-2 loss at Kansas City last week to hold the Diamondbacks without a hit until Ildemaro Vargas singled with two outs in the sixth. Snell got out of the inning and finished with nine strikeouts in an 83-pitch outing.
Chaz Roe relieved to start the seventh and Casey Sadler allowed an unearned run in the ninth to finish a two-hitter before 8,124, the lowest at Tropicana Field since September 2017.
Pham’s grand slam off Merrill Kelly (3-3) finished a five-run second inning that put the AL East leaders up 6-0.
PADRES 4, METS 0
SAN DIEGO — Pumped-up rookie Chris Paddack struck out a career-high 11 to outduel NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, and Hunter Renfroe homered for San Diego against New York.
Paddack (3-1) was impressive in his sixth big league start, allowing just four singles over 7 2/3 innings.
He struck out Pete Alonso, the season’s first NL Rookie of the Month, in his first two at-bats. The right-hander showed some emotion, pumping his fist after fanning Alonso on a 98 mph fastball in the first.
Craig Stammen got four outs for his second major league save.
The slumping Mets lost their fourth straight and were shut out for the second time in six games. They’ve mustered only seven runs in their past six games — one of which went 18 innings.
DeGrom (2-4) allowed two runs and four hits over seven innings in a game that took just 2 hours, 14 minutes. He struck out seven.
Eric Hosmer had a two-run double in the eighth.
DODGERS 5, BRAVES 3
LOS ANGELES — Walker Buehler shook off a rough playoff start against Atlanta last year, matching a season high with eight strikeouts while pitching Los Angeles to victory.
Chris Taylor had two RBIs as the Dodgers extended their home winning streak to eight games.
Buehler (4-0) started the only game the Braves won in last season’s NL Division Series matchup, giving up a grand slam to Ronald Acuña Jr. The right-hander allowed homers this time to Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis, but limited the damage to three runs over seven innings.
With closer Kenley Jansen getting a rest, Julio Urias worked a perfect ninth for his first career save.
Braves starter Kevin Gausman (1-3) was able to pitch after appealing a five-game suspension for throwing at Miami’s Jose Urena on Friday. Gausman gave up five runs, three earned, over 4 1/3 innings.
MARLINS 6, CUBS 5
CHICAGO — Pedro Strop walked three batters in the ninth inning and Miami took advantage, rallying for three runs to halt Chicago’s winning streak at seven games.
Jon Berti hit his first major league homer, a solo shot off Cole Hamels in the sixth to tie it at 3 after the Cubs had jumped ahead 3-0 against Sandy Alcantara in the first.
Chicago led 4-3 entering the ninth, but Strop (1-2) walked Rosell Herrera to force in the tying run with nobody out. The last-place Marlins got two more runs on a grounder and a comebacker with Kyle Ryan on the mound.
Adam Conley (1-3) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Sergio Romo worked around a solo homer by Kris Bryant and a single by Anthony Rizzo to earn his sixth save.
Rizzo lined a two-run shot in the first for his 200th career homer.
WHITE SOX 9, INDIANS 1
CLEVELAND — Tim Anderson chased Trevor Bauer after the All-Star tweeted a playful message to Anderson earlier in the day, Yoán Moncada had a two-run homer and four RBIs, and Chicago routed Cleveland to stop a three-game losing streak.
Bauer (4-2) matched career highs by allowing eight runs and seven earned runs in five-plus innings, and his ERA rose from 2.45 to 3.42.
Anderson chased Bauer with a two-run single in the sixth.
Iván Nova (1-3) allowed one run and eight hits in seven innings for his first win since beating Milwaukee for Pittsburgh on Sept. 21.
REDS 12, GIANTS 4
CINCINNATI — Nick Senzel hit a leadoff homer after a swarm of bees finally left home plate, and the rookie connected again his next time up, leading Cincinnati past San Francisco.
The wild game included a record-tying four Reds getting plunked in one inning. Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval pitched the eighth and also hit a batter.
The first pitch was delayed 18 minutes as bees swarmed above the backstop screen, prompting umpires and players to keep a safe distance before the bees flew away.
Senzel connected on the second pitch by Drew Pomeranz (1-4) and homered again in the second inning for a 6-0 lead.
Anthony DeSclafani (2-1) gave up four runs, including Sandoval’s three-run homer, in six innings.
YANKEES 7, MARINERS 3
NEW YORK — New York pounced on Seattle’s Félix Hernández, building a big cushion for CC Sabathia in a showdown of acclaimed veterans.
Luke Voit, Brett Gardner and Thairo Estrada homered off Hernández while New York gave Sabathia a 6-0 lead after two innings and held on for its 12th win in 16 games. Hernández (1-3) settled in after that, completing five innings of seven-run ball.
Domingo Santana and Dee Gordon homered off Sabathia (2-1), but the oversized lefty limited Seattle to three runs over five innings.
BREWERS 5, NATIONALS 3
MILWAUKEE — A long night and day of travel for Washington got even worse when it wasted a pair of leads, made four errors and lost to Milwaukee.
The Nationals’ charter flight was delayed eight hours as the plane sat on the tarmac at Philadelphia because of mechanical problems Sunday night. They finally got off the plane about 3 a.m. and returned to their hotel, then headed to Milwaukee on Monday and arrived after noon.
Ben Gamel, Christian Yelich and Yasmani Grandal hit consecutive singles off Dan Jennings (0-2) starting the seventh, with Grandal driving in the tying run.
Álex Claudio (1-1) won despite allowing a home run by Adam Eaton that put Washington ahead 3-2 in the seventh.
Junior Guerra struck out two in a perfect ninth for his second save.
TWINS 8, BLUE JAYS 0
TORONTO — Martin Perez and two relievers combined on a three-hitter, Eddie Rosario hit his AL-leading 12th home run and Minnesota blanked Toronto.
Jason Castro homered and had three RBIs before leaving with a sore right elbow after he was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning.
Perez (5-0) won his fourth straight start. The left-hander allowed two hits, both singles, in seven innings, his second straight scoreless outing.
Rosario chased Marcus Stroman (1-5) with a two-out solo drive in the fifth.
CARDINALS 6, PHILLIES 0
ST. LOUIS — Miles Mikolas pitched seven stellar innings and Yadier Molina hit one of three home runs as St. Louis beat Philadelphia.
Matt Carpenter and Paul DeJong also went deep as the Cardinals snapped a four-game skid. Mikolas (4-2) allowed only three hits in his second-longest outing this season.
John Brebbia and Jordan Hicks finished the five-hitter.
The Cardinals chased starter Vince Velasquez (1-2) in the fifth when he gave up two homers sandwiched around a single. He allowed five runs on four hits and five walks.
ORIOLES 4, RED SOX 1
BALTIMORE — Jonathan Villar hit a grand slam, John Means handcuffed Boston’s torrid offense over seven innings and Baltimore beat Boston.
Villar connected in the second inning off Josh Smith (0-1), who was making his first start with Boston. The drive came after Villar was robbed of a first-inning double when a fan reached over the 7-foot wall and interfered with left fielder J.D. Martinez’s effort to make a catch.
Villar’s second career slam was more than enough support for Means (4-3), who allowed one run and three hits, striking out four and walking none.
ASTROS 6, ROYALS 4
HOUSTON — George Springer, Carlos Correa and Robinson Chirinos each homered to lead Houston past Kansas City.
Springer opened the first with his 11th home run of the season, including three leadoff drives. He added an RBI double in the eighth.
Gerrit Cole (3-4) yielded four runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
Roberto Osuna pitched the ninth for his eighth save.
Jakob Junis (3-3) allowed five runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
