Rain on the East coast washed out several games, but there was still plenty of baseball action on Friday night, including walk-off heroics from Aramis Ramirez and Nolan Arenado, big blasts from Paul Goldschmidt and Yasiel Puig and dominant outings from Chris Archer and Francisco Liriano.
Around the Bases: Friday’s scores and highlights
Here’s a look at what happened Friday in baseball.
Jennifer Stewart
Pirates 2, Cubs 0: Francisco Liriano dominated, keeping the Cubs hitless until the fifth and ending with a seven-inning shutout on two hits and five walk with eight strikeouts. Russell Martin's RBI double in the sixth was the only run against Cubs starter Travis Wood, but it was enough to give him the loss.
Blue Jays 6, Rangers 1: Spot-starter Esmil Rogers and four relievers held the Rangers to just one run. Melky Cabrera hit a solo home run and drove in two and Edwin Encarnacion provided the difference-maker with a two-RBI double in the sixth.
Rays 2, Orioles 1: Chris Archer bested Jason Hammel in this pitchers' duel. Archer went seven innings allowing just one run on two hits and two walks. Hammel had the narrow edge until the seventh when Desmond Jennings two-run home run put the Rays on top for good.
Tigers 7, Indians 5: Justin Verlander was solid, going seven innings and allowing three runs, but Ubaldo Jimenez and Jose Valverde can't say the same. Jimenez lasted three innings, giving up five runs, two of them unearned, and Valverde allowed two ninth inning home runs before shutting the door on the Indians. Victor Martinez homered and scored three runs to lead the Tigers offense.
Athletics 4, White Sox 3: Grant Balfour got the save, but it was Josh Reddick who saved Balfour's night, robbing Conor Gillespie of a game-tying home run with one out in the ninth. Josh Donaldson's grand slam provided all the offense Oakland needed behind Jarrod Parker, who went seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four.
Royals 4, Astros 2: Billy Butler's double in the eighth broke a 2-2 tie and David Lough followed it up with another to give them some insurance, but the runs didn't come in time to give James Shields his third win. Shields is now 2-6 in 12 starts despite a 2.83 ERA, the tenth-best mark in the American League. Salvador Perez provided a rare Royals home run with a two-run shot in the fourth.
Brewers 5, Phillies 4: Aramis Ramirez delivered the walk-off winner with a single that scored Jean Segura with one out in the ninth. Cliff Lee allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits and three walks over seven innings.
Rockies 10, Padres 9: Nolan Arenado was the walk-off hero in Colorado, leading off the ninth with a solo shot to end this back-and-forth slugfest. The Rockies shot out of the gate with three runs in the first and five in the second, but the Padres fought back, putting up five runs of their own in the seventh to tie things up until Arenado's blast.
Diamondbacks 3, Giants 1: Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run opposite-field shot against Jeremy Affeldt in the eighth to give Arizona the win. Starters Matt Cain and Patrick Corbin were both excellent. Both pitched into the eighth inning and allowing just one run while striking out four.
Dodgers 2, Braves 1: Yasiel Puig recorded his fourth home run and tenth RBI in just his first five games in the big leagues. It came at the right time, knotting the game at 1-1. The Dodgers won in ten innings when Skip Schumaker scored on a wild pitch by Atlanta's Anthony Varvaro.
Mariners 4, Yankees 1: Seattle scored four runs with two outs in the fourth inning off Hiroki Kuroda for all the runs they'd need. In the second game of his return after two seasons away from MLB, Jeremy Bonderman started a bit slow then put out 14 of the next 15 Yankees he faced to carry the bulk of the load for the Mariners. He picked up his first win since 2010.
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