Anthony Volpe produced an impressive return to the major leagues with three hits, including a grand slam during a six-run seventh inning, as the New York Yankees pulled away for a 10-3 victory over the visiting Colorado Rockies.
Volpe went 3-for-4 with a career-high five RBIs in his first game with New York since being supplanted at shortstop by George Lombard Jr. in early August.
The Yankees completed a three-game sweep and moved within three games of the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. New York opened a 4 1/2-game lead on the Boston Red Sox for the AL’s top wild card.
Volpe had a strong showing after getting called up to play second base while Jazz Chisholm Jr. recovers from a strained right thumb.
Luis Garcia Jr. hit a two-run homer off Colorado starter Ryan Feltner (5-10) and reached 30 homers for the first time in his career as the Yankees won for the eighth time in 11 games.
Kyle Karros homered for the Rockies (55-91) and Jake McCarthy had two hits, including an RBI triple. Ezequiel Tovar added two hits and a run as Colorado took its 10th loss in 13 games.
Braves 3, Rays 1
Ha-Seong Kim’s two-run single was the difference as Atlanta plated three runs in the eighth inning to break a scoreless tie and roll to a victory over Tampa Bay.
The rally came against Tampa Bay reliever Kevin Kelly (6-4) as the Braves scraped together five straight one-out hits after being held to two total hits through seven innings.
Didier Fuentes (6-2) worked a scoreless eighth inning to record the victory. Raisel Iglesias worked around one run in the ninth, a pinch-hit homer by Victor Mesa Jr., to earn his 32nd save.
Astros 2, Phillies 1
Cam Smith hit a tiebreaking homer off Jhoan Duran in the ninth inning to lift visiting Houston over Philadelphia.
Smith homered in every game of the series, helping Houston win two of three against Philadelphia. Bryan Abreu (6-3) struck out all three hitters he faced in the bottom half of the eighth, setting the stage for Smith’s heroics.
Zack Wheeler tossed seven strong frames for Philadelphia, allowing one run and five hits with nine strikeouts. The Phillies dropped four games behind the first-place Braves in the National League East
Mariners 4, Rangers 3
Julio Rodriguez hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the seventh inning as Seattle defeated visiting Texas to take two of three from its AL West rival.
Logan Gilbert (12-9) struck out 11 over seven innings for the win and Andres Munoz worked the ninth for his 27th save. The Mariners remained six games behind Houston in the division race. Texas fell three games back.
Texas starter Jacob deGrom retired the first 15 batters he faced before giving up an infield single to Cole Young to lead off the sixth. Jakob Junis (1-3) failed to retire a batter in relief of deGrom in the seventh. He gave up all four Mariners runs.
Joc Pederson hit a two-run homer off Gilbert in the third to give Texas a 2-0 lead.
Pirates 2, White Sox 0
Jared Jones pitched seven innings of one-hit ball and Oneil Cruz went 3-for-4 with a solo homer and RBI single as Pittsburgh shut out Chicago and earned its first sweep of a road series this season.
Jones (4-6) spaced two walks and eight strikeouts while throwing 61 of his 90 pitches for strikes. He allowed Colson Montgomery’s two-out double in the seventh. Pirates relievers Luke Weaver and Mason Montgomery (12th save) completed the two-hit shutout.
The White Sox lost for the sixth time in eight games as their American League Central lead dwindled to 1 1/2 games over the idle Cleveland Guardians. Chicago right-hander Erick Fedde (8-9) spaced two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings with one walk and one strikeout.
