Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper is hit by a pitch from Atlanta Braves’ Spencer Strider during the first inning.
Matt Slocum | AP Photo
PHILADELPHIA — Ranger Suárez struck out eight over six shutout innings, and the Philadelphia Phillies survived an injury scare to slugger Bryce Harper to beat the Atlanta Braves 2-0 on Tuesday night.
Harper left in the first inning after he was hit near the right elbow by a 95.3 mph fastball from Braves starter Spencer Strider (0-3). Harper sustained a bruise, and an X-ray was negative, the Phillies said.
A two-time NL MVP, Harper took a few steps from home plate, dropped to a knee and gripped his arm in pain. Phillies athletic trainers came out to check on Harper, and the slugger soon headed to the clubhouse.
Without their star first baseman, the National League-leading Phillies still won for the 10th time in 11 games.
Suárez (4-0) played a big role in this one, and continued to shine since his return from an early season back injury. He allowed seven runs in his first start of the season, and since then he has made three starts with at least six innings of shutout ball.
He allowed just four hits and threw 103 pitches. Suárez pitched out of his biggest jam after loading the bases with two outs and the Phillies leading 1-0 in the fourth inning. He got Matt Olson to strike out swinging on his 88th pitch, a 92.8 mph four-seam fastball that got a rise out of the crowd.
Phillies fans were a bit louder in their voracious boos for Strider after he drilled Harper. Strider — who had been 8-0 with a 2.06 ERA in the regular season against the Phillies — heard jeers again after he trudged off the mound after 4 2/3 innings.
Max Kepler’s drove home Trea Turner with an RBI double in the second inning. J.T. Realmuto, bumped to eighth in the order after a prolonged slump, walked with the bases loaded in the eighth to make it 2-0.
Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm each tossed a scoreless inning. Jordan Romano earned his seventh save.
Tigers 3, Giants 1
DETROIT — Wenceel Pérez homered in his first at-bat in his season debut, Jack Flaherty worked six scoreless innings and Riley Greene had three hits and two RBIs as the American League-leading Detroit Tigers beat the San Francisco Giants.
Pérez, who had missed the entire season due to a lower back injury, hit a 2-0 pitch 351 feet to right field in the second inning for his first homer since Aug. 7.
Greene has 22 RBIs in May, the first time in a calender month he has knocked in 20 runs, and has 38 RBIs overall. He is hitting .270 with six homers.
Flaherty (3-6) gave up two hits and a walk while striking out eight as the Tigers won their third straight and improved to 36-20. He retired the last 11 batters he faced. Will Vest pitched the ninth for his seventh save.
Giants starter Logan Webb (5-5) allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk in six innings, striking out 10. San Francisco fell to 2-3 on their current nine-game trip.
Greene gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the first. After Pérez homered in the second, Colt Keith led off the third with a triple and scored on Greene’s second hit. He added another double in the fifth before striking out in the eighth.
Dodgers 9, Guardians 5
CLEVELAND — Shohei Ohtani hit his major league-leading 20th home run of the season aa the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Cleveland Guardians.
Michael Conforto and Max Muncy also went deep for the Dodgers. Dustin May (3-4) won his second straight start. The right-hander had a season-high nine strikeouts and allowed three runs in five innings.
Daniel Schneemann had a three-run homer in the fourth inning as the Guardians dropped their third straight. José Ramírez extended his hitting streak to 20 games — the longest active run in the majors — with a base hit in the frame.
Ohtani drove a cutter from Tanner Bibee (4-5) into the left-field stands to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 4-0 in the fourth inning.
It was the second time this season and 10th since Ohtani came to the majors from Japan for the 2018 season he has homered in three straight games.
Cardinals 7, Orioles 4
BALTIMORE — Nolan Arenado hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals topped the Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles were on a season-high three-game winning streak, but they reverted to old habits, going 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position. The lone hit was a three-run homer by Ryan O’Hearn that gave Baltimore a 4-3 lead in the fifth, but the Cardinals responded with a run in the seventh and three in the eighth off the Orioles’ bullpen.
Bryan Baker (3-1) gave up Arenado’s solo shot with one out in the eighth, and then Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker followed with consecutive triples that eluded Baltimore outfielders. Masyn Winn’s RBI single made it 7-4.
St. Louis took a 3-0 lead in the second inning on Lars Nootbaar’s two-run homer off Tomoyuki Sugano. The Orioles finally scored on Cardinals starter Andre Pallante in the fourth.
Defensive sloppiness in that inning allowed Baltimore to load the bases with nobody out. The Orioles nearly came away with nothing when Jorge Mateo struck out and Heston Kjerstad hit a potential double play ball to second, but first baseman Alec Burleson couldn’t handle Winn’s bouncing throw and Kjerstad was safe with an RBI fielder’s choice.
O’Hearn put Baltimore ahead in the fifth, but the Orioles failed to score in the sixth after Mateo singled and stole second and third. Chadwick Tromp struck out for the second out, and Steven Matz (3-1) came on and retired Jackson Holliday on a grounder to end the inning.
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