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Jordy saves the day

Mercer’s HR gives Tigers walk-off win over Royals

DETROIT (AP) — Jordy Mercer’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth gave the Detroit Tigers a 10-8 victory over Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.

Travis Demeritte led off the ninth with his third walk of the game and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jake Rogers.

Mercer then hit a 2-1 fastball from Richard Lovelady (0-2) into the right-field stands for his sixth homer of the season and the eighth of a game in which both starters struggled.

Joe Jimenez (3-6) got the win with a scoreless ninth inning.

Tigers starter Matt Boyd gave up five runs on six hits and three walks in a season-worst 2 2/3 innings. Boyd entered the game fourth in the American League with 187 strikeouts, but only had one against the Royals.

Hector Lopez, making his first start since May 25, only got four outs. He allowed five runs on two hits, three walks and a hit batter.

The Royals took a 2-0 lead in the first. Whit Merrifield led off the game with a double and scored on Hunter Dozier’s one-out homer to right.

Detroit, though, scored five runs on two hits in the second.

After a single and an error, Harold Castro’s three-run homer gave the Tigers the lead.

Lopez walked the next two hitters and, after a groundout, hit JaCoby Jones to load the bases. He then walked Niko Goodrum on four pitches to force in Detroit’s fourth run of the inning before being replaced by Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy walked Miguel Cabrera to make it 5-2 before getting out of the inning.

Dozier led off the third with his second homer of the game, and after Jorge Soler walked, Cheslor Cuthbert hit his eighth homer over the Royals bullpen in left-center field.

Boyd retired the next two batters but walked Nick Dini, bringing Matt Hall in from the bullpen.

Kyle Zimmer replaced McCarty to start the third and walked the first three batters he faced. Mercer struck out, but Victor Reyes bounced into a run-scoring force at second to give the Tigers a 6-5 lead.

Cabrera led off the fourth with his 473rd career homer to make it 7-5, but Gordon hit a three-run homer over the scoreboard in right-center to put the Royals ahead 8-7 in the sixth.

Demeritte hit his first major league homer to tie it in the seventh.

GORDON’S HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Gordon’s sixth-inning homer was his 15th at Comerica Park, the most by any active visiting player. He is tied with Joe Crede for fifth since the stadium opened in 2000. David Ortiz is the leader with 23 in 55 games.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Jones left the game after being hit on the left wrist in the second inning. X-rays were negative.

MEMORABLE

DEBUT

Dini, making his major league debut, singled to left in the sixth inning. The catcher is the 10th Royal to play his first game in the majors in 2019.

STREAK FINALLY ENDS

Hall pitched a perfect fourth inning, ending a streak of 43 straight innings where Tigers pitchers had allowed at least one baserunner.

UP NEXT

The teams play the second of four games on Friday evening, with Kansas City’s Brad Keller (7-11, 3.95) facing a Tigers pitcher who has not been announced.

Yankees 12, Blue Jays 6

TORONTO– Gio Urshela hit two home runs for the second straight game and the New York Yankees outslugged rookie Bo Bichette and the Toronto Blue Jays 12-6 Thursday night to extend their winning streak to a season-best nine games.

Playing in Toronto for the first time, Bichette became the first player in major league history to double in nine consecutive games. He also homered, giving him an unprecedented 13 extra-base hits in his first 11 career games. Bichette is the first rookie to have an extra-base hit in nine straight games since Ted Williams in 1939, according to STATS.

The Yankees have hit a record 19 homers over their last four games, including at least five in each win during a three-game sweep at Baltimore this week. Mike Tauchman also homered Thursday to give New York three connections.

The Yankees have homered in 12 consecutive games, hitting two or more in a season-high seven straight. New York is an AL-best 51-7 when hitting two or more homers this season.

Domingo German (15-2) pitched five innings to win his sixth consecutive decision for New York. The right-hander allowed four runs, three earned, and eight hits, improving to 9-0 against AL East opponents. He is unbeaten since June 7 at Cleveland.

New York improved to 76-39 and leads the AL East by 10 1/2 games for the first time since September 2009.

Urshela hit two-run homers in the first and third innings. Tauchman also had a two-run shot during the six-run third.

Both of Urshela’s homers came off left-hander Thomas Pannone (2-5), who matched a career worst by giving up seven runs in 2 1/3 innings. Tauchman connected off right-hander Zach Godley, who was making his Toronto debut after being claimed on waivers from Arizona on Wednesday.

Chad Green worked the sixth and Luis Cessa pitched the final three innings for his first save.

Blue Jays catcher Reese McGuire had a career-high four hits, including a solo homer off Cessa in the eighth. Derek Fisher also homered, his second in four starts since being acquired from Houston last month.

Red Sox 3, Angels 0

BOSTON– Chris Sale righted himself and struck out 13 over eight two-hit innings, Sam Travis hit a two-run homer and the Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-0 on Thursday night.

Sale (6-11) had allowed 14 runs over nine innings during his previous two starts, both against the rival New York Yankees. He carved up the Angels in his 13th outing with double-digit strikeouts this season.

The Red Sox had lost nine of 10 games, not including’s Wednesday’s contest against the Royals that was suspended in the 10th inning with the score tied at 4. Thursday’s game ran without issue and was over in a tidy 2 hours, 16 minutes.

Boston entered six games back of the second AL wild card.

Angels star Mike Trout went 1 for 4 with three strikeouts a day after his 28th birthday. Los Angeles, which began the day 9 1/2 games out in the AL wild card, suffered its season-high seventh straight loss.

Travis took starter Dillon Peters deep to dead center after J.D. Martinez singled to open the second inning.

Sandy Leon tacked on a solo homer against Peters to lead off the fifth.

Peters (2-1) gave up three runs and five hits and struck out eight over six innings.

Brandon Workman worked a clean ninth with two strikeouts for his seventh save.

Marlins 9, Braves 2

MIAMI– Brian Anderson homered twice to lead the Miami Marlins to a 9-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night.

Elieser Hernandez pitched six shutout innings as the Marlins snapped a six-game losing streak and beat the NL East-leading Braves at home for the first time this season after six previous losses. Hernandez (2-4) allowed two hits, struck out seven and walked two. The right-hander retired 11 consecutive batters before Ronald Acuna’s leadoff single in the sixth.

Hernandez also got his first career hit with a single in the fifth.

Starling Castro had two hits and drove in three runs, and Jon Berti went 3 for 5 with two RBIs for Miami.

The Marlins chased Atlanta starter Dallas Keuchel with a five-run fourth capped by Anderson’s second home run and 20th of the season for an 8-0 lead. Anderson’s drive landed in the walkway above the left-center wall for his first career multi-homer game.

Anderson is hitting .400 with four home runs and six RBIs in his last seven games.

Miami also got run-scoring singles from Berti and Jorge Alfaro, and Castro’s RBI double in the inning.

Keuchel (3-5) allowed eight runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings, his shortest outing since joining the Braves on June 10.

Berti’s RBI single off Atlanta reliever Jeremy Walker in the fifth put Miami ahead 9-0.

Castro hit a two-run homer and Anderson followed with a solo blast to give the Marlins a 3-0 lead in the first. Castro’s shot was his 10th, giving him double-figure home runs nine consecutive seasons.

Acuna hit his 30th homer, a solo blast off Miami reliever Tayron Guerrero in the eighth.

TRAINER’S ROOM:

Braves: OF Austin Riley (right knee) will be examined by orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews on Monday to determine if he will require surgery. Results of an MRI confirmed Riley sustained a partial tear of a ligament in a weight room workout earlier in the week.

Marlins: IF Miguel Rojas (strained right hamstring) underwent an MRI Thursday. Barring any setback, manager Don Mattingly expects Rojas to return before the end of the season.

UP NEXT:

Braves: RHP Julio Teheran (6-7, 3.46) will make his fourth start against Miami this season on Friday. Teheran has pitched 18 scoreless innings and allowed nine hits in his three outings against the Marlins in 2019.

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