WASHINGTON (AP) Washington pitcher Steven Strasburg extended his perfect start to the season by striking out 11 batters and steering the Nationals to a 7-4 win over the New York Mets on Tuesday, opening a 1-1/2 game gap between the National League East division’s top teams.
The NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs won comfortably at St. Louis, led by a strong performance on the mound and at the plate by Jason Hammel, while Boston claimed the lead in the American League East by defeating Colorado and Cleveland beat the Chicago White Sox to trim the gap at the top of the AL Central.
Washington’s Strasburg improved to 8-0. He gave up two runs over 6 2/3 innings in defeating opposing pitcher Matt Harvey for the second time in six days. Strasburg has five games this season with at least 10 strikeouts.
The Nationals hit three of their season-high five home runs off Harvey, who stumbled through a third straight ineffective start, allowing five runs in as many innings. He has yielded 16 earned runs over his past three outings.
Chicago’s Jason Hammel pitched 7-1/3 stingy innings and had a two-run double in a six-run first inning that set the Cubs up for a 12-3 win at St. Louis.
Hammel (6-1) bounced back from his first loss of the season in his previous start.
The six-run inning was a season-best for the NL Central leaders, who snapped their first three-game losing streak of the season.
Cleveland’s Josh Tomlin beat Chris Sale in a match of unbeaten pitchers, leading the Indians to a 6-2 win over the White Sox and trimming the gap between the teams to 1-1/2 games.
Tomlin gave up two runs in eight innings to become the first Indians starter to reach 7-0 since Dennis Martinez began 9-0 in 1995. Sale (9-1) was knocked out in the fourth, ending his bid to become the first pitcher to win his first 10 starts in a season since Andy Hawkins for San Diego in 1985.
It was baseball’s first matchup of 6-0 or better pitchers since 1988, and only the fourth time in major league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Francisco Lindor had three hits for the Indians.
Boston’s David Price pitched seven strong innings to guide the Red Sox past Colorado 8-3 and to top spot in the AL East.
Price gave up five hits and just one walk while striking out seven to earn his third consecutive win and improve to 7-1.
Jackie Bradley Jr. had two hits to extend his streak to 28 games.
Colorado lost for the fifth time in six games.
Detroit’s Justin Verlander struck out 10 in eight scoreless innings as the Tigers beat Philadelphia 3-1.
Verlander has allowed only four runs over his past four starts.
Francisco Rodriguez gave up one run in the ninth but held on to become the sixth pitcher in history to record 400 career saves.
The Tigers made it eight wins from nine games; a sharp reverse to the preceding sequence when they lost 11 of 12.
San Francisco’s Brandon Crawford drove in four runs to power the Giants past San Diego 8-2.
Jarrett Parker homered for the NL West-leading Giants, who have won 12 of 13.
The Padres fell to 0-8 against the Giants this season.
Texas’ Martin Perez finally got a win after another strong May start as the Rangers won 4-1 against the Los Angeles Angels.
Perez (2-4) was winless for the month despite an impressive 2.59 earned run average over four starts, and he dropped that number further, to 2.08, with six strikeouts in six scoreless innings.
Texas rookie Nomar Mazara homered in his home park for the first time, after six long shots on the road. He had three hits and reached base all four times.
Seattle’s Leonys Martin hit a game-winning, two-run homer in the ninth to complete the Mariners rally past Oakland to a 6-5 win.
The Mariners trailed 5-2 after seven innings but got a two-run homer from Robinson Cano in the eighth inning.
They were quickly down two outs in the ninth before Norichika Aoki punched a double down the left-field line. Martin then drove his hit deep over the wall in right-center field.
Pittsburgh’s Gregory Polanco hit a three-run homer and drove in a career-best five runs as the Pirates routed Arizona 12-1.
New York’s Nathan Eovaldi combined with his bullpen to restrict Toronto to just two hits as the Yankees won 6-0 to push their winning streak to six games and return to a .500 winning percentage for the first time since week two of the season.
Houston’s Carlos Correa drove in the winning run in the 13th inning to give the Astros a 3-2 victory over Baltimore.
Tampa Bay’s Jake Odorizzi pitched five scoreless innings and the Rays hung on to edge Florida rival Miami 4-3.
Los Angeles’ Joc Pederson doubled in the tying run and then scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error in the fourth inning as the Dodgers beat Cincinnati 8-2, sending the Reds to a season-worst ninth successive defeat.
Kansas City’s Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer as the Royals won 7-4 at Minnesota, making it five unanswered wins over the Twins this season.
Milwaukee’s Scooter Gennett hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning to lift the Brewers to a 2-1 win against Atlanta, spoling Brian Snitker’s home debut as the Braves interim manager.
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