Seattle Mariners starter Vidal Nuno delivers a pitch during the first inning of a game against the Texas Rangers in Seattle.

The Sports Xchange
Seattle

Seattle Mariners left-hander Vidal Nuno threw seven shutout innings of one-hit ball, striking out a career-high 10 along the way, to beat the Texas Rangers 6-0 and earn his first win since June 27, 2014 on Wednesday.
After ending the long winless drought, Nuno did everything in his power to downplay his role in the game.
“A good win,” he told reporters after snapping an 11-decision losing streak, while winning for the first time in 21 starts and 45 appearances. “Everyone contributed.”
Manager Lloyd McClendon was a bit more enthusiastic.
“I was cheering in the dugout: ‘Nuno! Nuno!” McClendon joked.
Nuno (1-2) walked two in his 106-pitch outing before Seattle relievers Danny Farquhar and Carson Smith each threw a perfect inning to complete the one-hitter.
Texas (73-65) later fell two games behind Houston in the AL West standings when the Astros beat Oakland, after the Rangers had started the day with a chance to earn a piece of first place for the first time since Aug. 11 but were derailed by the loss.
“(Nuno) had terrific movement and we couldn’t find the rhythm offensively,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said.
First baseman Mark Trumbo and third baseman Kyle Seager each hit two-run homers to provide most of the Mariners’ offensive damage. That duo combined for eight of Seattle’s nine hits.
“It was really cool,” Trumbo said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something like that. It was really neat.”
Texas starter Martin Perez had a tough outing, allowing five runs on seven hits over five innings. Trumbo and Seager combined for six of the seven hits Perez allowed.
“I think the story was Seager and Trumbo -- (Perez) making a couple mistakes to both those guys,” Banister said. “Overall, I didn’t think he threw that badly.”
The win was Seattle’s first shutout victory since Aug. 28 and only the Mariners’ second since Hisashi Iwakuma’s Aug. 12 no-hitter.
Three of the Rangers’ past four losses were shutouts and designated hitter Prince Fielder had the Rangers’ only hit, a two-out single in the first.
Home runs by Trumbo and Seager helped the Mariners jump out to a 5-0 lead.
Trumbo gave Seattle a three-run cushion with his 12th homer as a Mariner, a two-run shot in the third inning that went 408 feet. Seager then added a two-run blast in the fifth to put the Mariners 5-0 ahead. Designated hitter Jesus Montero had Seattle’s other RBI on a bases-loaded fielder’s choice in the first.

Cardinals rally past Cubs, avoid sweep
Rookie left fielder Stephen Piscotty laced the first pitch from reliever Fernando Rodney to the centre field wall for a two-run double in the eighth to lead St Louis to a 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.
The Cardinals (88-51) increased their division lead over second-place Pittsburgh to five games and pushed the Cubs 7-1/2 games back. The Cardinals had been trailing 3-1 with six outs before      Chicago starter Jon Lester, who dominated St. Louis for most of seven innings, was replaced by manager Joe Maddon for a pinch hitter.
St. Louis then preyed on his three successors. Third baseman Mark Reynolds started the rally with a walk against reliever Pedro Strop. Pinch hitter Greg Garcia singled for the Cardinals’ first hit since an RBI single by right fielder Jason Heyward in the first, before Matt Carpenter followed with an RBI single off reliever Clayton Richard (3-1), scoring pinch runner Pete Kozma. Maddon hooked Richard and waving in Fernando Rodney, whose first pitched was ripped by Piscotty to the centre field wall on one hop to score pinch runner Peter Bourjos and Carpenter.
It was Piscotty’s fifth game-winning RBI since being called up from Triple-A Memphis on July 21, giving him 30 RBIs in his first 45 major league games.
As he stood on second, Piscotty pumped both fists to the dugout and yelled as the crowd of 43,557 exploded.
“I couldn’t resist that time,” Piscotty said. “The crowd was loud, it was exciting. It just came out of me.
“It was definitely good to get that one.”
First baseman Anthony Rizzo and second baseman Tommy La Stella had established a 2-0 first-inning lead for the Cubs with consecutive RBI doubles.
Center fielder Dexter Fowler grounded a run-scoring single an inning later to make it 3-1.
That was where the score stayed as Lester, who walked one and struck out seven, induced a variety of soft outs when he was not striking out the outmatched Cardinals.
“I felt good,” Lester said. “My cutter felt better today. I got some mishits with that, which helped. I got away with a couple of pitches because of what we established earlier.
“Obviously, with the lineup they have, you’re going to throw pitches. Every time, it seemed like I was in a 2-and-2 count.”
Lester allowed just two hits and a run, walking one and striking out seven.