The Phillies’ Nick Castellanos celebrates with Edmundo Sosa after Sosa hit a two-run home run in the second inning on Friday.
Derik Hamilton | AP photo
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PHILADELPHIA — Edmundo Sosa homered, Bryce Harper doubled and singled and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Friday night for their seventh consecutive win at home.
Aaron Nola (7-2) pitched into the seventh inning for the Phillies, who entered tied with the Yankees for most wins in baseball. Philadelphia improved to 40-18.
Sosa put the Phillies up 3-0 with a 439-foot, two-run drive into Ashburn Alley in center field in the second inning against Miles Mikolas (3-6). It was the first ball to reach the walkway beyond the outfield seats since July 22, 2022, when Darick Hall hit a drive there.
Nola allowed a pair of home runs among his three hits while striking out six and walking two. Nolan Arenado and Brandon Crawford hit the homers for the Cardinals, who lost for just the fourth time in the last 16 games.
Philadelphia returned home after losing four of six on a road trip in Colorado and San Francisco. They were welcomed back to Philly by another sellout crowd, their largest of the season of 44,742, on a beautiful night for baseball. The Phillies improved to 23-8 overall at home and followed three-game sweeps over the Nationals and defending World Series champion Rangers by opening this three-game set against the Cardinals with a victory in a crisp 2 hours, 14 minutes.
Jeff Hoffman pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save in eight tries.
METS 10, D-BACKS 9
NEW YORK — Starling Marte ripped a bases-loaded triple in the first inning and drove in four runs, J.D. Martinez homered for the second consecutive game and New York held off skidding Arizona.
Trailing by five and down to their final out, the Diamondbacks got a three-run homer from Joc Pederson and a solo shot from Christian Walker on consecutive pitches from Reed Garrett before he struck out Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to end it.
Mark Vientos had three singles and two RBIs, hours after taking over the everyday job at third base when the Mets made a series of roster moves. Luis Severino (3-2) recovered from a rocky start and New York (24-33) won back-to-back games for the first time since May 6-7 in St. Louis.
ORIOLES 3, RAYS 1
BALTIMORE — Jorge Mateo hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the sixth inning and Baltimore beat Tampa Bay.
It was the first meeting of the season between the teams after the Orioles (101-61) edged the Rays (99-63) in a fierce race for the AL East title last year. Baltimore scored all three of its runs in the sixth after Tampa Bay’s Aaron Civale took a shutout into that inning.
REDS 5, CUBS 4
CHICAGO — Santiago Espinal hit a two-run homer while pinch hitting in the seventh inning and Cincinnati held on to beat sliding Chicago.
Espinal, who entered hitting just .195, batted for Will Benson with zero outs and Jonathan India on first after a walk. He sent Drew Smyly’s first pitch into Wrigley Field’s left-center bleachers for his third homer, giving Cincinnati its first lead at 4-3.
BRAVES 4, ATHLETICS 2
ATLANTA — Reynaldo López set a season high with eight strikeouts, Jarred Kelenic hit a two-run double and Atlanta handed Oakland its third straight loss.
López (3-2) raised both arms as he walked off the mound after closing the sixth with two strikeouts. The right-hander allowed only four hits and one run in six innings. Given an extra day’s rest before the start, López was still strong in his final inning.
MARLINS 8, RANGERS 2
MIAMI — Jesús Sánchez hit a three-run homer and doubled twice to help Miami beat Texas.
Sánchez homered off reliever Jesus Tinoco, who had given up consecutive one-out singles before Sánchez lifted his seventh pitch of the at-bat 417 feet to center to put Miami ahead 7-2 in the seventh.
GUARDIANS 7, NATIONALS 1
CLEVELAND — Tanner Bibee carried a shutout into the seventh and David Fry’s three-run homer in the bottom of the inning broke open a close game as Cleveland beat Washington.
Bibee (4-1) allowed one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. Eddie Rosario’s RBI double with one out in the seventh inning chased Bibee and drew the Nationals within 2-1.
RED SOX 7, TIGERS 3
BOSTON — Ceddanne Rafaela homered twice for his first multi-homer game and drove in five runs, Tanner Houck had a solid start and Boston beat Detroit.
Houck (5-5) went seven innings, giving up one run on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts. The right-hander was hit in his pitching arm by Zach McKinstry’s comebacker with one out in the fifth inning. Houck stayed with the play and threw out McKinstry at first base.