Scuffed Balls

NEW YORK -AP- Gary Sanchez homered and matched a career high with five RBI, Luis Severino got right back on track and the New York Yankeesmade it a four-game sweep in the Subway Series with a 7-5 victory Thursday night over the Mets.

Sanchez hit a three-run homer off struggling starter Steven Matz in the first inning and a two-run single in the fourth. Brett Gardner broke his 3-for-29 slump with a two-run double, and the Yankees won twice at Citi Field just as they did back home in the Bronx earlier this week.

Four games behind first-place Boston in the AL East, the Yankees begin a three-game series Friday night at Fenway Park. The Red Sox took two of three last weekend when the longtime rivals played at Yankee Stadium.

Curtis Granderson hit his seventh career grand slam off Bryan Mitchell in the ninth, pulling the Mets to 7-5. Dellin Betances was immediately summoned and got three quick outs for his eighth save.

Since interleague play began in 1997, it was only the third time one team swept the season series between these New York counterparts. The Yankees won all six meetings in 2003, and the Mets went 4-0 in 2013.

Severino (10-5) was working on a two-hit shutout with one out in the seventh when Aaron Judge dropped a fly ball in the right-field corner for a two-base error. The All-Star righty never got another out, throwing a wild pitch and giving up two straight singles before he was removed.

In his previous outing Saturday, the 23-year-old Severino had the worst start of his career. He allowed 10 runs, eight earned, and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings during a 10-5 loss to Boston.

Before that, Severino was 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA in a span of six games.

Matz (2-7) was unable to turn things around, dropping to 0-6 in his last nine starts. The left-hander hasn't won since June 28 at Miami.

He was his own worst enemy Thursday, throwing away Gardner's comebacker for a two-base error to begin the game. Aaron Hicks walked and, after Judge struck out for the 34th consecutive game, Sanchez hit his third home run against the Mets this week.

Severino's bunt single in the fourth, his first major league hit, loaded the bases. Gardner doubled to left field off Matz, and Sanchez hit a two-run single on the first pitch from reliever Chasen Bradford later in the inning.

Matz gave up seven hits in 3 1/3 innings and allowed seven runs for the second time in a month. Six were earned.

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Corbin goes 8 1/3 innings, Diamondbacks beat Astros 4-0

On August 17, 2017, in Arizona, Houston

HOUSTON -AP- Patrick Corbin was kicking himself for one small mistake that led to his exit.

The Arizona pitcher came within an out of his first career shutout and first complete game since 2013 in the Daimondbacks' 4-0 victory over the Houston Astros on Thursday.

After allowing a two-out double to Yuli Gurriel in the bottom of the ninth, Corbin was pulled by Arizona manager Torey Lovullo. Archie Bradley took over and struck out Marwin Gonzalez.

"Just left the fastball up on the last guy -- just one of the few mistakes I had," Corbin said. "He hit it pretty good so that's the one thing I'm frustrated about. I wasn't able to finish. You don't get those chances too often. You try to do it every game."

Corbin (10-11) allowed four hits and one walk, struck out seven and threw just 105 pitches. He has 16 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, blanking the Chicago Cubs in 6 2/3 innings in his previous start.

"It's hard to take your starting pitcher out of a game in that moment and that time," Lovullo said. "I feel like it was the best thing for our time."

After scoring a combined 18 runs in consecutive wins over Arizona on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Astros' bats went cold in the final game of the four-game series, which was split between Arizona and Houston.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch vented frustration about the balls and strikes calls from home plate umpire Paul Nauert, focusing heavily on the final strikeout of Gonzalez. On a full-count pitch that appeared low and outside, Gonzalez struck out looking.

"We could have built an inning after that," Hinch said. "I'm tired of it. I'm tired of our guys getting taken to task for knowing the strike zone, and that's not the reason that we lost today. That's not the reason that we've had a tough week but it's garbage when you start getting at-bats taken away from you."

Astros second baseman Jose Altuve -- who leads the majors by a wide margin with a .361 batting average -- shied away from criticizing the umpires but stood by Hinch.

"A.J. is the manager of this team and if he thinks something is going wrong, it's because it's going wrong," Altuve said. "We're all in this together, and I'm going to support everything he said. I know, if he said it, it's because something is happening."

Gonzalez also balked at criticizing the calls.

"All I can say is that I shouldn't be the one talking about where the pitch was," Gonzalez said. "Everybody saw where the pitch was and where it wasn't, and in any case, it should be the guy behind the plate answering the questions."

Arizona second baseman Daniel Descalso hit an inside-the-park home run off Astros starter Mike Fiers in the fourth inning on a deep drive that sailed over the head of center fielder Jake Marisnick and bounced off the wall away from him.

It was the 14th inside-the-park homer in Arizona franchise history and the third this season. It hadn't happened outside of Arizona since Kelly Stinnett did it on Aug. 29, 2005, in San Diego.

Descalso's homer put Arizona up 2-0 after Jeff Mathis' single that scored Ketel Marte, who reached third following a walk and a two-base throwing error by Fiers. Jake Lamb made it 3-0 in the sixth with his 26th homer.

Fiers (7-8) allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings.

Fiers echoed Hinch's sentiment that the strike zone was inconsistent.

"It hurt us today," Fiers said. "I think it was one-sided. It was tough. We felt like we didn't get the pitches we should've got and it was the same way when we were at the plate. It's tough when the zone is that big for them and it shrinks for your guys."

The Diamondbacks added a run in the eighth when David Peralta scored on a wild pitch from Francis Martes and a throwing error by catcher Max Stassi. The Astros committed two errors in the game, and Arizona had three.

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Ervin, Votto lead Reds past Cubs despite Chicago’s 6 homers

On August 17, 2017, in Chi Cubs, Cincinnati

CHICAGO -AP- Phillip Ervin hit a two-run homer to snap a tie in the seventh inning and had four RBI in his first major league start as the Cincinnati Reds rebounded from blowing a nine-run lead to defeat the Chicago Cubs13-10 on Thursday.

Ervin, in right field in his fifth game, also had a single and double in four at-bats. On Wednesday, the 25-year-old homered as a pinch hitter for his first hit.

Joey Votto lofted a three-run homer in a nine-run, second-inning rally as Cincinnati raced to a 9-0 lead against Cubs starter Jon Lester on a warm day with the wind blowing out.

Ian Happ hit two solo shots and a sacrifice fly, and Alex Avila went deep and had three RBI for the Cubs, who used six homers to erase a nine-run deficit for the first time since August 1989 versus Houston.

Drew Storen (4-2) pitched a scoreless sixth for the win, then Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 23 chances. Justin Grimm(1-2), who gave up Erwin's homer and was the second of five Cubs relievers took the loss.

Happ, Avila, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez homered in the fourth as the Cubs went deep four times in an inning for the first time since June 2008 to cut it to 9-6.

Kyle Schwarber homered to lead off the fifth, then Anthony Rizzo and Avila drove in runs with doubles against Michael Lorenzen to tie it at 9.

The Reds sent 13 men to the plate in the second. Eugenio Suarez and Ervin each had a single and a double in the eight-hit outburst.

Lester was pulled with left lat tightness with two outs in the inning. The lefty was charged with nine runs, seven earned, and was replaced by Mike Montgomery after facing 11 batters in the inning and Cincinnati leading 8-0.

It was Cincinnati's biggest rally since scoring 10 runs in August 2015 versus Detroit. Lester gave up 10 runs in 2/3 inning at a start at Pittsburgh on July 9.

Bryant led off the fourth with a drive to left that bounced off the bleachers and onto Waveland Avenue. Avila's two-run homer was followed by consecutive solo shots from Happ and Baez off Reds starter Scott Feldman, who allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Cincinnati permitted four homers in an inning for the first time since September 2007 versus Milwaukee.

After Chicago tied it 9-all in the fifth, Ervin put the Reds back in front 11-9 in the seventh. Happ's sac fly in the bottom half made it 11-10.

The Reds added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth.

OFFENSIVE BUZZ

During the Reds' rally in the second, four of the Navy's Blue Angels fighter jets repeatedly buzzed Wrigley Field in formation at low altitude. They're part of the Chicago Air & Water show, which runs this weekend.

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Phillip Ervin’s go-ahead homer vs. Cubs (Video)

On August 17, 2017, in Cincinnati

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D-backs 4- Astros 0 Game Box Score 08/17/17

On August 17, 2017, in Game Box Scores

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
ARZ	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	4	10	3
HOU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2

Arizona Diamondbacks

BATTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Peralta RF	4	1	1	0	0	1	.302
Pollock CF	4	0	2	0	0	1	.273
Lamb 3B	4	1	1	1	0	2	.266
Goldschmidt 1B	3	0	1	0	1	0	.319
Martinez DH	4	0	1	0	0	1	.239
Descalso 2B	4	1	1	1	0	2	.240
Marte SS	3	1	2	0	1	0	.295
Herrmann LF	2	0	0	0	1	1	.158
Blanco LF	1	0	0	0	0	0	.238
Mathis C	3	0	1	1	0	1	.218
Totals	32	4	10	3	3	9	-

BATTING

3B: Marte (1, Fiers)

HR: Lamb (26, 6th inning off Fiers, 0 on, 0 out); Descalso (7, 4th inning off Fiers, 0 on, 2 out)

TB: Descalso 4; Lamb 4; Marte 4; Pollock 2; Mathis; Goldschmidt; Martinez; Peralta

RBI: Mathis (11); Descalso (40); Lamb (93)

2-Out RBI: Descalso

Game-winning RBI: Mathis

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Herrmann; Lamb

GIDP: Martinez 2; Mathis; Descalso

Team RISP: 1-for-7

Team LOB: 4

BASERUNNING

CS: Pollock (5, 2nd base by Fiers/Stassi)

FIELDING

Errors: Marte 2 (6); Lamb (10)

DP: (Lamb-Goldschmidt-Marte)

Houston Astros

BATTERS	AB	H	BB	SO	AVG
Springer RF	3	1	1	0	.307
Bregman SS	4	0	0	0	.272
Altuve 2B	4	0	0	2	.361
Gurriel 1B	4	1	0	1	.294
González LF	4	0	0	2	.311
Beltrán DH	3	0	0	1	.245
Davis 3B	3	0	0	1	.158
Stassi C	3	0	0	0	.286
Marisnick CF	3	2	0	1	.247
Totals	31	4	1	8	-

BATTING

2B: Gurriel (33, Corbin)

TB: Marisnick 2; Gurriel 2; Springer

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Bregman 2; Gurriel 2; González

Team RISP: 0-for-6

Team LOB: 5

BASERUNNING

CS: Springer (6, 2nd base by Corbin/Mathis)

FIELDING

Errors: Fiers (2); Stassi (1)

DP: 4 (Davis-Altuve-Gurriel; Bregman-Gurriel; Davis-Altuve-Gurriel; Davis-Gurriel)

Arizona Diamondbacks

PITCHERS	IP	H	BB	SO	ERA
Corbin W (10-11)	8.2	4	1	7	4.25
Bradley	0.1	0	0	1	1.33
Totals	9.0	4	1	8	-

PITCHING

WP: Corbin (7)

Pitches-Strikes: Corbin 105-71; Bradley 7-4

Ground Balls-Fly Balls: Corbin 13-8; Bradley 0-0

Batters Faced: Corbin 31; Bradley 1

Inherited Runners-Scored: Bradley 1-0

Houston Astros

PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Fiers L (7-8)	5.1	7	3	2	2	7	2	4.32
Liriano	1.2	2	1	0	0	0	0	5.73
Martes	1.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	4.87
Hoyt	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4.98
Totals	9.0	10	4	2	3	9	2	-

PITCHING

WP: Martes (6)

Pitches-Strikes: Fiers 92-60; Liriano 15-10; Martes 12-8; Hoyt 14-9

Ground Balls-Fly Balls: Fiers 7-6; Liriano 3-1; Martes 1-0; Hoyt 0-0

Batters Faced: Fiers 23; Liriano 5; Martes 4; Hoyt 3

Inherited Runners-Scored: Liriano 1-0; Martes 1-1

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Sanchez powers Yankees past Mets 7-5 for Subway Series sweep

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