Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run home run and Andruw Monasteiro added a two-run double in a five-run fifth inning as the visiting Boston Red Sox earned a 9-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.

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Jarren Duran drove in two runs one day after he caused a stir when he gestured toward third base after Willson Contreras did not tag up from third base on his fly ball. Boston interim manager Chad Tracy continued to downplay the incident.

The Red Sox saw Contreras depart for precautionary reasons in the third inning after he was hit in the side of the helmet on a 95.4 mph fastball from Dodgers right-hander Will Klein.

Boston improved to 4-1 on a seven-game road trip, 12-3 since the All-Star break and 21-4 in July, their best winning percentage (.840) in any month in franchise history.

Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run home run for the Dodgers one game after he sat out with left knee discomfort. Freddie Freeman and Eliezer Alfonzo each drove in a run, while new addition Cole Irvin (0-1) was tagged for six runs on eight hits over six innings in his Dodgers debut.

The Red Sox took the early lead when Duran delivered an RBI single to center in the second off Klein, who was replaced by Irvin after hitting Contreras to load the bases. Masataka Yoshida hit a ground ball to first base that Freeman misplayed for an error, allowing two runs to score for a 3-0 lead.

The Dodgers began to chip away in the fourth on an RBI single from Freeman.

Los Angeles took a 4-3 lead in the fifth when Alfonzo had an RBI single and Ohtani followed with a two-run home run, his 24th, off reliever Jovani Moran.

The Red Sox moved back in front for good at 5-4 in the seventh on Rafaela’s two-run home run off Irvin. It was Rafaela’s 12th of the season. Five batters later, Monasterio ripped his two-run double to left and Duran followed with an RBI groundout for an 8-4 lead.

Carlos Narvaez added a sacrifice fly in the ninth.

Twins ride 3 late home runs to
win over Mariners

Brooks Lee, Royce Lewis and Ryan Jeffers homered as the Minnesota Twins rallied for a 5-3 victory against the host Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

The Twins won for the seventh time in their past nine games to move into a tie with the Cleveland Guardians for the American League’s third and final wild-card spot.

Cole Young went deep for the Mariners, who lost their third in a row and for the eighth time in their past 10.

Twins reliever Kody Funderburk (2-1) tossed 1 1/3 perfect innings, and Yoendrys Gomez worked around two walks in the ninth for his 14th save of the season.

Trailing 3-2, the Twins took their first lead in the seventh inning.

Lewis led off with a 419-foot blast to left-center field off Mariners reliever Jose A. Ferrer (4-2).

Alan Roden reached on an infield single as Ferrer was late covering on a grounder to first baseman Josh Naylor and then couldn’t find the bag. With one out, Luke Keaschall greeted reliever Eduard Bazardo with a run-scoring double to left, putting Minnesota ahead.

Jeffers led off the eighth with a homer to left off Bazardo, providing the final margin.

The Mariners took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Randy Arozarena drew a one-out walk and Dominic Canzone doubled to right field. With two outs, Naylor walked to load the bases for Cal Raleigh, who hit a ground-rule double down the right field line off Twins starter Zebby Matthews.

Raleigh and Matthews both attended Smoky Mountain High School in Sylva, N.C.

The Twins tied it in the top of the second. Josh Bell lined a leadoff single, and two outs later, Lee went deep to right off Mariners starter Bryce Miller to make it 2-2.

Seattle regained the lead in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Young hit a liner just over the right field wall.

Neither starter factored into the decision after each having lost his previous three starts.

Matthews went five-plus innings and allowed three runs on four hits. The right-hander walked two and struck out a career-high 10.

Miller pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up two runs on three hits. The righty walked two and fanned three.

Brewers break
game open in fifth, shut down Angels

Brice Turang and Jake Bauers homered to highlight a five-run fifth inning and lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in the opener of a three-game series Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.

Bauers finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs, a walk and two runs, Garrett Mitchell doubled and had two hits and a walk, Cooper Pratt went 1-for-2 with two walks, an RBI and a run and William Contreras doubled, walked and also scored a run for Milwaukee.

Shane Drohan (6-4) allowed two runs on four hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out seven. Grant Anderson, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill finished up, combining to throw three innings of hitless relief.

Denzer Guzman hit a two-run home run for Los Angeles, which lost its fourth straight and for the seventh time in the last eight games. Ryan Johnson (2-6) gave up five runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out three.

Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead in the second when Bauers led off with a single, went to second on a single by Mitchell and scored on a two-out single by Pratt.

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The Brewers batted around while scoring five times and extending the lead to 6-0 in the fifth. Pratt led off with a walk and Turang followed with his 16th home run over the fence in left-center to make it 3-0. Jackson Chourio then lined a single and advanced to second one out later on a walk by Contreras. Bauers then belted his 19th homer, a towering 424-foot drive to right.

Los Angeles cut the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run home run by Guzman to right-center, driving in Vaughn Grissom, who had singled.

Ty France leads charge as Padres blank Giants

Jase Bowen belted his first major league homer Friday night, Ty France knocked in three runs and three San Diego Padres pitchers combined for a two-hitter in a 7-0 blanking of the visiting San Francisco Giants.

A night after San Francisco ended San Diego’s five-game winning streak with a 4-1 triumph to open the four-game series, the Padres banged out 12 hits and scored in four of the first six innings to enjoy an easy victory.

On the mound, San Diego got a 1-2-3 first inning from opener Bradgley Rodriguez, then three one-hit innings from Yuki Matsui in the longest outing of his three-year major league career. German Marquez followed that up with five one-hit frames. Matsui (2-1) got the win, and Marquez logged the first save of his 11-year big league career.

Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt (2-2) absorbed a beating in 3 1/3 innings, yielding seven hits and six runs while walking four and fanning three.

The Padres wasted little time coming after Whisenhunt, taking a 1-0 lead after six pitches as Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled, Luis Rengifo singled and Manny Machado rifled a sacrifice fly to left. Luis Campusano cashed in Rengifo with a two-out RBI single to left.

San Diego made it 3-0 after three innings via an unusual play. With runners at the corners and one out, Xander Bogaerts’ bouncer was fielded by first baseman Rafael Devers at the bag. He whirled and fired to second for a tag play on Campusano, but Jackson Merrill touched the plate before the tag, enabling the run to score.

Bowen cracked his homer with one out in the fourth into the second level of the Western Metal Supply building. The Padres blew it open later in the inning when France lined a two-run single that scored Tatis and Rengifo, who walked and then worked a double steal.

France capped the scoring in the sixth with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Rengifo.

Dillon Dingler’s slam highlights Tigers’ late
eruption vs. A’s

Dillon Dingler hit his first career grand slam and Kevin McGonigle and Ben Malgeri also homered to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 13-1 victory over the Athletics on Friday night at West Sacramento, Calif.

Javier Baez had three hits and three RBIs and Max Clark had three hits, two runs and an RBI in his major league debut for the Tigers, who broke the game open with 11 runs over the final two innings. Spencer Torkelson had three hits and scored three times while Dingler added two hits for Detroit.

With the trade deadline arriving Monday, the Tigers scratched right-hander Casey Mize on Friday and went with a bullpen game.

Tyler Holton was the first pitcher and gave up one run and one hit in two innings. Ty Madden (1-0) allowed two hits over three shutout innings, Drew Sommers struck out three in two perfect innings and Enmanuel De Jesus finished up with two scoreless frames.

Jonah Heim drove in the lone run for the Athletics, who have dropped six of seven games and 27 of 34.

Starter Jeffrey Springs (3-11) allowed two runs and four hits over four innings. He walked five and struck out two and is winless in his last 18 starts.

The Tigers tied the score at 1 with one out in the third when McGonigle smacked a 3-1 fastball over the wall in center, the 10th homer of his rookie season.

One inning later, Torkelson walked and Clark singled to left for his first big league hit. After Baez lined out, Malgeri walked to load the bases before McGonigle hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Torkelson.

The Tigers created distance in the eighth with a seven-run uprising.

Pinch hitter Eduardo Valencia doubled and Torkelson singled to start the inning. Clark doubled to the wall in left to give Detroit a 3-1 lead and end Brady Basso’s outing.

Luis Morales entered and Baez hit a blooper over the head of second baseman Jeff McNeil to knock in Torkelson. Malgeri hit a bouncer to third that was booted by Tommy White and Clark scored to make it 5-1.

Gabriel Moreno’s
go-ahead hit
lifts D-backs
over Guardians

Gabriel Moreno finished a fantastic July in style as his RBI single in the eighth inning lifted the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 4-1 victory over the host Cleveland Guardians on Friday.

The Diamondbacks catcher was 1-for-3 and also reached on a hit by pitch as he extended his on-base streak to 27 games and a franchise-record 46 starts. In 25 games during July, he batted .362 (34-for-94) with two home runs and 19 runs driven in.

Arizona did all of its damage in the top of the eighth, spoiling what was a masterful performance by Guardians starter Tanner Bibee (4-11). For the first seven innings, the right-hander limited the Diamondbacks to just two hits.

Bibee got Adrian Del Castillo swinging to start the eighth, then walked Tim Tawa. Ryan Waldschmidt (2-for-3) followed with a single to end Bibee’s night. The Progressive Field crowd gave him a standing ovation as he exited, but the bullpen could not preserve the lead.

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