Chicago
Hunter Pence ended Lester’s bid for a second no-hitter with a homer to left on a 1-2 cutter. Brandon Crawford followed with a double, and Lester (15-4) got Eduardo Nunez to line to third and worked around Trevor Brown’s one-out double in the eighth.
Lester allowed three hits and walked two. The Cubs have won five straight to improve to 87-47.
David Ross and Dexter Fowler had RBI hits in the second off Albert Suarez (3-3).
Pence’s second homer in two days ended a 12-innings hitless streak for the San Francisco. The Giants are a major league-worst 15-29 since the All-Star break.
Baltimore
Pedro Alvarez and Chris Davis hit two-run homers in the second inning and Manny Machado added a two-run shot in the fourth. Baltimore leads the majors with 213 home runs, including 117 at home.
When Alvarez went deep, the Orioles became the 19th team in big league history to have six players hit at least 20 in the same season. Alvarez joins Trumbo, Machado (33), Davis (33), Adam Jones (24) and Jonathan Schoop (21).
New York
Washington won its fourth in a row and increased its NL East bulge over the wild card-contending Mets to 10½ games.
Like a lot of teams, the Nationals came out running on Syndergaard (12-8), swiping four bases in the early innings. Tall and slow to the plate, he’s had 45 runners steal with him on the mound — the most against any pitcher since the Red Sox’s Hideo Nomo in 2001, ESPN Stats & Info said.
Cleveland
Carrasco (10-7) had the 10th double-digit strikeout game of his career and the third this season. The right-hander allowed six hits and walked one in 7 innings, leading AL Central-leading Cleveland to its fourth straight victory.
Cleveland scored three times in the first and once in the second off Andrew Cashner (4-11). Abraham Almonte’s two-run double pushed the lead to 6-0 in the fifth.
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Cobb, coming back from Tommy John surgery, allowed two runs and four hits in his first appearance since Sept 28, 2014, at Cleveland. He struck out seven, walked one and retired his final 10 batters.
Morrison put the Rays up 4-2 in sixth on his 12th homer off Marcus Stroman (9-6).
Luke Maile hit a solo homer and Kevin Kiermaier had an RBI triple off Francisco Liriano before Brad Miller added a two-run shot against Ryan Tepera in a four-run seventh that made it 8-2.
Cincinnati
Seung Hwan Oh (4-3) walked Zack Cozart on four pitches to open the ninth, and Brandon Phillips followed with a single. After Scott Schebler singled one out later to load the bases, Suarez got his first career game-ending hit. The Reds had loaded the bases in the seventh and eighth and failed to score.
Philadelphia
Ender Inciarte and Adonis Garcia started the ninth with consecutive singles off closer Jeanmar Gomez (3-3). Freeman then lined a double to left to put the Braves up 5-4.
Kemp followed with an RBI single past a drawn-in infield. Kemp’s three-run homer in the fifth tied it at 4.
Pittsburgh
Guerra left after 70 pitches over 3 innings in his first start since going to the disabled list with right elbow inflammation on Aug. 8. Milwaukee’s bullpen limited Pittsburgh to just two hits the rest of the way as the Brewers dealt the Pirates their fourth consecutive loss.
Minneapolis
Carlos Rodon (6-8) tied a season-high with seven innings pitched for his career-high fourth straight win as the White Sox ended a four-game losing streak.
Brian Dozier homered for Minnesota, which ended a 13-game losing streak Thursday.
The Twins have the majors’ worst record at 50-85.
