MINNEAPOLIS — Mitch Garver hit two of Minnesota’s five home runs, and the Twins held on for an 8-6 victory over the New York Yankees after a tone-setting triple play in the first inning of a series opener between AL division leaders Monday night.
Jorge Polanco, Nelson Cruz and Max Kepler also went deep, giving the Twins their eighth game with five or more homers this season. All but Garver’s second solo shot came off starter CC Sabathia (5-5), who lasted only four innings.
Martín Pérez was hit just as hard, serving up home runs to Gio Urshela, Luke Voit, and AL batting leader DJ LeMahieu, a two-run drive.
Nine of the last 13 batters against Pérez reached, with 14 total bases, and he left after failing to get an out in the fifth. LeMahieu went 3 for 4 to raise his batting average to .338, and the Yankees hit multiple homers for the 20th time in 29 games.
Rookie Lewis Thorpe (1-1) got his first major league win by working 2 2/3 scoreless innings.
Taylor Rogers earned his 15th save.
The Twins had lost four of their first six games on this homestand.
RED SOX 9, RAYS 4
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — J.D. Martinez homered and drove in four runs, including an RBI double in the ninth inning following Tampa Bay’s curious decision to put a position player on the mound, and Boston beat the Rays.
Eduardo Rodriguez (12-4) allowed two hits over seven scoreless innings to win his sixth straight decision. He limited the sputtering Rays to a pair of infield singles and four walks before being replaced by Nathan Eovaldi.
Eovaldi labored through two-thirds of an inning, yielding three run-scoring hits and allowing the Rays to cut the lead to five runs.
Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash sent out rookie infielder Mike Brosseau to pitch the ninth. Brosseau, who started the game at second base, allowed doubles to Xander Bogaerts and Martinez. He was the fifth player to pitch for the Rays in the game..
Martinez, Andrew Benintendi and Sam Travis homered in the third inning, when the Red Sox scored seven runs against former Boston prospect Jalen Beeks (5-1).
Tampa Bay has dropped six of seven.
INDIANS 7, BLUE JAYS 3
TORONTO — Mike Clevinger pitched seven innings to win his third straight decision, Oscar Mercado homered and tripled, and Cleveland beat Toronto to improve to 13-3 in July.
Francisco Lindor drove in a pair of runs and Jason Kipnis had two hits and scored twice for the Indians, who are a major league-best 29-11 since June 4.
Clevinger (4-2) allowed three runs and five hits. He walked two and struck out seven. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA in four July starts.
Tyler Clippard finished with two perfect innings. Kipnis ended the game with a spectacular leaping catch at second base on Cavan Biggio’s liner into shallow right field.
Making his first start of the season after being sidelined with a sore elbow, Blue Jays left-hander Ryan Borucki (0-1) allowed four runs, two earned, and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out three.
ASTROS 11, ATHLETICS 1
HOUSTON — Gerrit Cole pitched seven strong innings and Aledmys Diaz, Yordan Alvarez and Yuli Gurriel homered as Houston jumped on Homer Bailey for nine runs early and sailed to a win over Oakland.
Cole (11-5) yielded two hits and one run while striking out 11 to help Houston to its sixth straight win. Cole has won seven straight decisions, with his last loss coming on May 22.
Bailey (8-7), who was acquired from Kansas City on July 14, allowed a season-high nine runs and tied a season high with eight hits in just two-plus innings. It was the first loss since June 1 for the veteran right-hander, who had won four straight decisions capped by Wednesday’s win against Seattle in his debut for the Athletics.
Alvarez doubled in a run off Brian Schlitter with two outs in the inning to give him 35 RBIs, which is the most in major league history by a player in his first 30 games, surpassing the 34 Albert Pujols had in 2001.
Matt Chapman doubled for Oakland’s first hit with one out in the fourth and the Athletics made it 11-1 when he scored on a two-out double by Mark Canha.
Those were the only two hits as the Athletics ended a streak of 21 straight games with a home run.
CARDINALS 6, PIRATES 5, 10 INNINGS
PITTSBURGH — Paul Goldschmidt hit his fifth career grand slam in the top of the 10th and right fielder Jose Martinez threw out the tying run at the plate to help St. Louis beat Pittsburgh.
Goldschmidt took an offering from Clay Holmes (1-1) and sent it to the concourse that runs behind the wall in right-center field as the streaking Cardinals improved to 8-3 since the All-Star break. Goldschmidt’s 19th home run of the season was just enough after St. Louis closer Carlos Martinez nearly let a four-run cushion get away.
Matt Wieters hit his eighth home run for the Cardinals and added a sacrifice fly. Chasen Shreve (1-0) picked up the victory by escaping a two-on, two-out jam in the ninth.
Starling Marte had three hits for Pittsburgh. Bell, Colin Moran and Bryan Reynolds all drove in runs but the Pirates left 11 runners on base to fall to 2-8 since a 12-5 surge pulled them within 2½ games of first in the NL Central at the break.
WHITE SOX 9, MARLINS 1
CHICAGO — Ivan Nova pitched a four-hitter that led Chicago over Miami.
Jose Abreu hit a two-run homer and Yoan Moncada added a three-run shot, and James McCann and Ryan Goins later connected for back-to-back drives.
Chicago opened a 10-game homestand by winning for the third time in 11 tries. The Marlins fell to 0-4 on their current six-game road trip.
The White Sox became the first team in the majors to have protective netting in place from foul pole to foul pole, extending the safety measure for their first game at Guaranteed Rate Field since the All-Star break.
Nova (5-9) improved to 5-0 lifetime against the Marlins, striking out five with no walks.
Jorge Alfaro homered in the second inning for the lone Miami run.
Trevor Richards (3-12) allowed seven runs over five innings in his seventh consecutive loss. He walked one and struck out seven.
REDS 6, BREWERS 5
MILWAUKEE — Eugenio Suarez hit a pair of home runs, including a two-run, go-ahead shot in the ninth inning off Jeremy Jeffress as Cincinnati rallied past Milwaukee.
Suarez had given Cincinnati a 4-1 lead when he took Adrian Houser deep with two out in the seventh.
The Brewers took the lead right back an inning later when Tyler Saladino connected on a first-pitch fastball from Rasiel Iglesias for his second grand slam in as many days, snapping an 0-for-8 drought with runners in scoring position for Milwaukee.
Wandy Peralta (1-1) pitched a perfect inning to get the victory while Jared Hughes got the final out to earn his first save.
Right-hander Chase Anderson struck out six over 5 2/3 innings for Milwaukee. Jeffress (3-3) took the loss.
GIANTS 5, CUBS 4
SAN FRANCISCO — Joe Panik hit a go-ahead double with two outs in a three-run eighth inning, and San Francisco continued its winning ways since the All-Star break by rallying past Chicago.
Austin Slater doubled home the tying run, and Brandon Crawford hit an RBI single to help key the late comeback against Pedro Strop (2-4) as surprising San Francisco (51-50) won for the ninth time in 10 games and 16th in 19.
Robel Garcia and Kyle Schwarber each hit a solo homer for the Cubs, who couldn’t hold a 4-2 lead in the eighth.
Drew Pomeranz pitched two perfect innings in relief for the Giants, then Trevor Gott (7-0) worked the eighth. Sam Dyson finished for his second save, but issued a two-out walk and Addison Russell’s single to make it interesting until the final out. Schwarber popped up to end it.
MARINERS 7, RANGERS 3
SEATTLE — Marco Gonzales recovered from a shaky start to throw seven strong innings, Austin Nola hit a three-run homer to put Seattle ahead for good, and the Mariners handed Texas its eighth straight loss.
The Rangers’ swoon since the All-Star break continued as Texas was shut down by Gonzales (11-8) after the second inning. The left-hander finished seven for the second time in his past three starts, retiring 13 straight during one stretch and 17 of the final 18 batters he faced.
Nola hit his third homer in the second off Texas starter Adrian Sampson (6-7). Mallex Smith added a two-run single in the fourth and Kyle Seager homered leading off the eighth. Sampson (6-7) made his first start since July 5 after three straight appearances out of the bullpen and gave up six runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, ORIOLES 3
PHOENIX — Eduardo Escobar tripled twice, Adam Jones had three hits against his former team and Arizona beat Baltimore in the opener of a three-game series.
Robbie Ray (9-6) struck out 10 in six innings, allowing three runs and eight hits for his fourth win in four starts. All four of his 10-strikeout games this season have come against AL teams. Greg Holland pitched the ninth inning for his 17th save.
Hanser Alberto and Renato Núñez hit solo home runs for the Orioles in the fifth, Núñez with getting his team-leading 23rd homer of the season. Baltimore had won three of four but has the worst record in the majors at 31-68. Aaron Brooks (2-4) allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings.
