WASHINGTON (AP) — A few cheering fans caught the attention of Nationals manager Dave Martinez as he finally began his nightly debrief with reporters.
“Thank you for staying,” Martinez said.
They couldn’t have been blamed for leaving early. No doubt, they’re glad they didn’t.
Kurt Suzuki capped the largest ninth-inning comeback in Nationals franchise history with a game-ending, three-run homer, helping Washington score seven runs in its final at-bat to stun the New York Mets 11-10 Tuesday night.
“With the at bats everyone was putting on that inning, I didn’t want to kill the rally,” Suzuki said. “I wanted to come through just like everyone else was.”
Mets relievers Paul Sewald, Luis Avilan and Edwin Diaz pitched through the meltdown, retiring just one batter while Washington rallied for its 20th win in 26 games. The Nationals/Expos franchise had never won a game after trailing by at least six runs in the ninth or later.
“It’s been a crazy year,” said Nationals veteran Ryan Zimmerman, who hit a two-run pinch double during the rally. “That’s the only way to sum it up. For me, for the team, for everyone. It kind of fits into the narrative, I guess.”
New York led 10-4 after scoring five runs in the top of the ninth. Wilson Ramos extended his hitting streak to 26 games and Pete Alonso crushed his 44th homer to put the Mets in position for a win over the current leaders in the NL wild-card hunt.
Mets manager Mickey Callaway lifted reliever Seth Lugo after he retired all three hitters he faced in the eighth. Lugo routinely gets six outs per outing, but Callaway thought the lead was safe enough to go deeper into the bullpen.
“We had a six-run lead,” Callaway said. “Major league pitchers got to be able to hold that.”
Sewald allowed four hits to his five batters, including Trea Turner’s RBI double and Anthony Rendon’s RBI single. Avilan allowed a single to load the bases, and then Diaz (1-7) relieved and allowed a two-run double to Zimmerman followed by Suzuki’s blast.
“It kind of just seemed like a bad dream,” Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “I don’t know. That’s hard to do even in a Little League game I feel like, come back from [six] runs down in the bottom of the ninth against guys throwing 99 mph. I don’t really have words for it.”
Phillies 6, Reds 2
CINCINNATI — Bryce Harper drove in his 100th run with a single, J.T. Realmuto had a pair of hits and a sacrifice fly, and the Philadelphia Phillies won their third in a row, over the Cincinnati Reds.
The Phillies began the day 2¢ games behind the Cubs for the final NL wild card.
Harper’s fifth-inning single made him the first Phillie since Ryan Howard in 2011 to have 30 homers and 100 RBIs in the same season. Harper hit his 30th homer in the series opener, a 7-1 Phillies win on Monday. The last Phillies outfielder to have 30 homers and 100 RBIs in a season was Pat Burrell in 2005.
Harper’s single also gave him an 11-game hitting streak.
Left-hander Amir Garrett (4-2) walked a pair of batters and gave up Cesar Hernandez’s RBI single that put the Phillies ahead to stay. Scott Kingery homered in the ninth.
Nick Vincent (1-2) pitched an inning in relief of Vince Velasquez, who lasted three innings.
The fading Reds have lost nine of their last 13.
Dodgers 5, Rockies 3
LOS ANGELES — Russell Martin hit a go-ahead, three-run homer with two outs and pinch-hitter David Freese followed with a solo shot in the seventh inning, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Colorado Rockies.
The Rockies lost their eighth in a row overall, tying a season-long skid, and dropped their 12th in 13 games.
The Dodgers slugged seven homers — one off their season high — in beating the Rockies 16-9 Monday. They tacked on three more in the middle game of the series to give them 248 this season.
Caleb Ferguson (1-1) got the victory with two strikeouts in one inning of relief.
Colorado led 2-0 on solo homers by Daniel Murphy in the second and Nolan Arenado in the fourth. Arenado’s 38th homer was his fourth in his last six games at Dodger Stadium.
Marlins 5, Pirates 4, 10 innings
PITTSBURGH — Miguel Rojas hit a tying home run with two outs in the ninth and Garrett Cooper connected in the 10th as Miami rallied past Pittsburgh, ending their franchise-record 15-game road losing streak.
The Marlins were down to their final out when Rojas homered to center field off Felipe Vazquez, who had just his third blown save in 27 opportunities.
Cooper’s home run, a 444-foot shot to left-center, came with one out off Parker Markel (0-1).
Adam Conley (2-7) got the last out of the ninth when Pablo Reyes was thrown out at home while trying to score from second base on Adam Frazier’s infield single.
Jose Urena pitched a perfect 10th for his first save of the season and second of his career. He was Miami’s opening day starter this year.
Cardinals 1, Giants 0
ST. LOUIS — Jack Flaherty pitched one-hit ball over eight innings, Marcell Ozuna homered and St. Louis— with a fluky foul ball-turned-base hit — beat San Francisco.
Flaherty (9-7) carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and dominated with eight strikeouts and a walk.
Mike Yastrzemski had San Francisco’s only two hits.
St. Louis only had five hits, including one by Paul DeJong that looked like a trick pool shot. DeJong hit a ball that rolled about 10 feet foul of the first base line before spinning all the way back into fair territory roughly 3/4 of the way to the bag.
DeJong raced to first to load the bases with two outs in the first.
San Francisco right-hander Dereck Rodriguez pitched out of the inning.
St. Louis has won 20 of its last 25 games. San Francisco has lost seven of its last eight.
Diamondbacks 2, Padres 1
PHOENIX — Merrill Kelly pitched three-hit ball over seven scoreless innings, closer Archie Bradley stranded the bases loaded in the ninth and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres.
Arizona is five games over .500 (72-67) for the first time since being 25-20 on May 17. The club is 3 1/2 games behind the Cubs for the second NL wild card.
Kelley (10-13) is the fifth Diamondbacks rookie to win 10 games. The 30-year-old right-hander struck out nine and walked two, becoming the fourth rookie in team history to throw seven shutout innings with nine or more strikeouts.
Bradley struck out Nick Martini to wrap his 11th save after surrendering a run on two hits and two walks.
Wil Myers drove in San Diego’s run.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Twins 6, Red Sox 5
BOSTON — Nelson Cruz and Miguel Sano connected in the fifth inning to pad Minnesota’s record home run total in a victory over Boston.
Jake Cave added a two-run triple for the Twins, who won for the ninth time in 10 games. Minnesota extended its major league record to 271 homers with nearly four weeks left in the season.
Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi homered for the Red Sox, who struggled against a parade of relievers and couldn’t rally all the way back after falling behind 6-0.
Six Twins pitchers combined on a six-hitter, with only four hits allowed before Benintendi’s two-out homer in the eighth off Taylor Rogers.
Lewis Thorpe (2-1) got the win despite allowing three runs and two hits in 3 1/3 innings. Rogers returned for the ninth and got his 23rd save.
Rick Porcello (12-11) struggled from the start.
White Sox 6, Indians 5
CLEVELAND — Carlos Carrasco received a standing ovation in his first appearance at Progressive Field since being diagnosed with leukemia, but gave up home runs to James McCann and Eloy Jimenez in the eighth inning that lifted Chicago over Cleveland.
Carrasco entered the game with a 5-2 lead, but gave up a three-run homer to McCann, which was followed by Jimenez’s second homer of the game.
Cleveland missed a chance to move into a virtual tie with Tampa Bay for the AL wild-card lead. The White Sox ended a season-high seven-game losing streak.
Carrasco (4-7) entered the game after Roberto Perez’s three-homer in the seventh gave Cleveland a 5-2 lead.
Evan Marshall (4-2) got the win despite allowing Perez’s home run. Alex Colome earned his 26th save.
Francisco Lindor also homered for Cleveland.
Orioles 4, Rays 2, first game
Rays 2, Orioles 0, second game
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Austin Meadows homered, seven relievers combined on a five-hitter and playoff-contending Tampa Bay blanked Baltimore to split a doubleheader.
The Rays, who began the day with a slight lead atop the AL wild-card race, had their five-game winning streak stopped with a loss in the opener.
Diego Castillo (3-8), the third pitcher in a bullpen day, allowed one hit over two scoreless innings.
Meadows hit his 26th homer, a solo shot in the fourth. The Rays went up 2-0 in the seventh when Ji-Man Choi’s hit to right bounced over Anthony Santander’s head for a triple.
Avisail Garcia added an RBI single off Gabriel Ynoa (1-8), who gave up two runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings.
In the opener, Rio Ruiz and Anthony Santander homered and Mark Trumbo drove in a run with a pinch-hit double.
Ty Blach (1-2) went five innings in his fourth start for Baltimore. Oliver Drake (3-2) took the loss.
Travis d’Arnaud’s 16th home run accounted for the two runs off Blach.
Royals 6, Tigers 5
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jorge Soler broke the Kansas City home run record with his 39th of the season and Ryan O’Hearn hit a game-ending home run to beat Detroit.
O’Hearn sent the first pitch he saw from Zac Reininger (0-1) in the ninth inning over the fence in right field after a seesaw final three innings.
Tigers’ starter Daniel Norris grooved Soler a 2-2 fastball in the third inning and the Royals’ slugger didn’t miss. The three-run shot broke a tie with Mike Moustakas, who set the previous record with 38 home runs in 2017. The home run also gave Soler 100 RBIs on the season, becoming the first Royal to cross the century mark since Eric Hosmer in 2016.
Athletics 7, Angels 5
OAKLAND, Calif. — Seth Brown hit his second RBI triple of the game to break a sixth-inning tie in a special home debut, Matt Chapman hit a three-run homer, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels.
Brown followed Mark Canha’s single in the sixth with the go-ahead hit off loser Noe Ramirez (4-3). Brown’s first triple came in the second, and he tied Oakland’s single-game record that has been done 12 times. Chapman hit two triples on July 26, 2018, at Texas.
Albert Pujols hit his 654th career home run leading off the fourth, moving the 39-year-old slugger within six of Hall of Famer Willie Mays (660) for fifth on the all-time list.
INTERLEAGUE
Braves 7, Blue Jays 2
ATLANTA — Josh Donaldson doubled and drove in three runs, Mike Foltynewicz pitched five scoreless innings, and streaking Atlanta won its sixth straight game.
Ozzie Albies added an early RBI for the Braves, who are 14-2 since Aug. 16 and 32 games over .500 for the first time since the 2003 team finished 101-61.
Tyler Flowers’ three-run double in the eighth finished off the Blue Jays, who have lost 12 of 15 to fall a season-worst 30 games under .500.
Foltynewicz (5-5) allowed a baserunner in each of his innings, but none in scoring position. He walked three and struck out two.
Rowdy Tellez homered and Derek Fisher added an RBI double for Toronto. Wilmer Font (3-4) took the loss.
Brewers 4, Astros 2
MILWAUKEE — Zack Greinke lost his first game since joining Houston, giving up a three-run homer to Eric Thames as Milwaukee earned a split of the interleague series.
Greinke (4-1) stumbled for the first time in six starts since being traded from Arizona on July 31st. He allowed four runs on eight hits over six innings. He came in 4-0 in his five previous starts.
Jordan Lyles (10-8) made his first career start against the club that made him the 38th pick of the 2008 major league draft. The right-hander allowed two runs on six hits and struck out two over 6 1/3 innings for his fifth win in seven starts since being acquired on July 29th from Pittsburgh for right-hander Cody Ponce.
Josh Hader handled the ninth for his 28th save in 34 chances.
Alex Bregman hit his 33rd homer, a solo shot off Lyles in the sixth, extending his single-season career-best for home runs.
Cubs 6, Mariners 1
CHICAGO — Nicholas Castellanos homered and drove in four runs, and Chicago celebrated the return of Willson Contreras and Ben Zobrist by topping Seattle.
Jon Lester (12-9) escaped three bases-loaded jams while working six innings in his second straight win, helping Chicago stay three games back of NL Central-leading St. Louis.
Daniel Vogelbach’s pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth accounted for Seattle’s only run in its fourth loss in five games.
Felix Hernandez (1-5) lasted just three innings in his third start since coming off the injured list after being sidelined for more than three months with right shoulder stiffness.
