Tampa Bay Rays first baseman James Loney (right) is congratulated by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning against the New York Mets in Florida. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

Reuters/St. Petersburg, Florida

Grady Sizemore hit another home run for the Tampa Bay Rays while the New York Mets were left swinging at air on Saturday at the Major League Baseball.  
Sizemore hit a two-run homer, his second home run in two games, while the Tampa Bay pitching staff combined for 15 strikeouts in a 5-4 win over the Mets. Rays starter right-hander Austin Karns recovered from a slow start to post his seventh win of the season before Xavier Cedeno, Steve Geltz, Jake McGee and Brad Boxberger did not give up a hit in four innings of relief.
Boxberger picked up his 28th save of the season. Mets starter Noah Syndergaard (6-6) gave up four runs and threw 38 pitches in the first inning after being handed a three-run lead. The loss snapped New York’s seven-game win streak.
“Great win, unbelievable comeback for our guys after the 3-0 deficit early on,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Karns was able to settle down to his credit and the guys bounced back from a tough loss (Friday). It was good to see.”
The Mets took a 3-0 lead, which included lead-off home run from Curtis Granderson, in the top of the first against Karns. “We had chances to win this one, but we couldn’t pull it out in the end,” Granderson said.
“They made some good swings with the bat. We did too. I didn’t think I hit the home run as well as I did. It was a great way to start the game, but even with all that being said, it wasn’t over and they proved it at the end.”
The Rays regained the lead by scoring four in their half of the first when Sizemore hit a two-run homer off Syndergaard and right fielder Kevin Kiermaier had a two-run double. The Mets tied the score 4-4 in the top of the second when Granderson hit his second home run of the game off Karns.
The Rays took a 5-4 lead in the fourth when Evan Longoria’s infield single scored designated hitter John Jaso. Syndergaard was done after four innings, giving up five runs and eight hits and striking out six. “After warming up in the bullpen, I thought I was going to go nine scoreless,” Syndergaard said.
“First inning, I thought I got a little too fastball heavy. They put some good swings on good pitches. Disappointing outing. Offense did their part, I just wasn’t able to uphold my end of the bargain.”


Blue Jays 6, Yankees 0
Left-hander David Price allowed three singles in seven innings while Justin Smoak hit his first career grand slam as the Toronto Blue Jays ran their winning streak to seven games with a 6-0 victory over the New York Yankees.
Price (11-4) struck out seven and walked three as Toronto (60-52) moved to within 2-1/2 games of the Yankees (61-48) and won for the 10th time in 11 games.

Athletics 2, Astros 1
Right-hander Jesse Chavez pitched seven solid innings while designated hitter Danny Valencia hit a two-run double to lead the Oakland A’s to a 2-1 victory against the Houston Astros.
Chavez (6-11) allowed one run on six hits, striking out four and walking four.

Cubs 8, Giants 6
Addison Russell went 3-for-4 and Kris Bryant hit a two-run homer as the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants.
San Francisco fell 2-1/2 games behind the Cubs in the chase for the National League’s second wild card playoff spot.

Pirates 6, Dodgers 5
Pitcher Francisco Liriano hit the first home run of his 10-year career while Andrew McCutchen went 3-for-3 as the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Los Angeles Dodgers. Liriano hit a three-run shot in the second inning in his 160th career at-bat to put the Pirates ahead 4-2.

Rangers 11, Mariners 3 (11 innings)
Josh Hamilton’s RBI single in the top of the 11th inning drove in the go-ahead run and opened the floodgates as the Texas Rangers recorded an 11-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
The Rangers led off the eight-run 11th with seven consecutive hits. Designated hitter Prince Fielder then delivered a two-run homer to put Texas ahead 11-3.

Nationals 6, Rockies 1
Stephen Strasburg struck out a season-high 12 batters with no walks in his return from the disabled list and added a career-high three hits as the Washington Nationals beat the Colorado Rockies. Strasburg (6-5) allowed three hits and one run in seven innings. It was the 17th time he reached double digits in strikeouts in a game. His career best is 14 in his major league debut in 2010.

Royals 7, White Sox 6
Jeremy Guthrie survived into the sixth inning while Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain each drove in two runs as the Kansas City Royals held off the Chicago White Sox. Guthrie picked up the victory, although he yielded six runs and 10 hits in 5-2/3 innings. Jose Abreu homered twice for the White Sox.

Cardinals 3, Brewers 0
Jaime Garcia and a pair of relievers combined on a two-hit, 3-0 shutout of the Milwaukee Brewers.
St. Louis’ pitching staff extended their scoreless streak to 36 innings. The streak began with the fifth inning of a 4-3, 13-inning victory over Cincinnati on Wednesday.

Braves 7, Marlins 2
First baseman Nick Swisher had a two-run double in his Braves debut while right fielder Nick Markakis stretched his hitting streak to 15 games while going 3-for-5 with an RBI in Atlanta’s win over Miami. Rookie Mike Foltynewicz (4-3) worked 5-2/3 innings for the Braves and allowed two runs and five hits.
The right-hander walked four, hit a batter and struck out three, with almost as many balls (48) as strikes (56) in his 104 pitches.

Tigers 7, Red Sox 6
Victor Martinez cracked a two-run home run into the right-field seats with two outs in the seventh inning to give the Detroit Tigers a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
Blaine Hardy (4-2), who gave up a two-run single to David Ortiz in the top of the seventh that gave Boston a 6-5 lead, gave up two hits and a walk while getting four outs to gain the win.
Bruce Rondon pitched the ninth to earn his first save of the season.

Indians 17, Twins 4
Jerry Sands’ pinch-grand slam capped a five-run fifth inning as the Cleveland Indians rolled to a 17-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Right-hander Trevor Bauer (9-8) pitched into the seventh inning to get the win. Center fielder Abraham Almonte, recalled from Triple-A Columbus before the game, went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and two RBIs.

Reds 4, Diamondbacks 1
Eugenio Suarez, Brandon Phillips and Marlon Byrd homered while Cincinnati right-hander Keyvius Sampson recorded his first major-league victory in the Reds’ 4-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Suarez’s two-run homer gave the Reds a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning before Phillips hit a solo homer in the fifth. Byrd added his homer in the ninth. Sampson (1-1) gave up one run on four hits and struck out four in six innings. He was making his third major-league appearance and his second start.

Philies 4, Padres 2
Rookie left-hander Adam Morgan held the Padres to two runs over six innings and center fielder Odubel Herrera drove in two runs and scored on a wild pitch to lead Philadelphia to a 4-2 win over the Padres.
Chase Utley had two doubles and scored two runs for the Phillies while shortstop Cesar Hernandez had two hits including a RBI triple. Morgan allowed six hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

Orioles 5, Angels 0
Ubaldo Jimenez and Darren O’Day combined on a five-hit shutout to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
The win keeps the Orioles 2-1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the race for the American League’s two wild-card spots. Los Angeles remains 1-1/2 games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West.