NEW YORK — DJ LeMahieu homered on the first pitch in the bottom of the 11th inning and the New York Yankees beat Oakland, 4-3, on Saturday for their first victory in five tries against the Athletics this season.
Aaron Judge hit a tying homer for New York with two outs in the eighth, his 19th of the season and sixth in eight games. The 6-foot-7 Judge also took a potential home run away from Matt Chapman in the 10th, barely needing to leave his feet for a grab at the right field wall.
Gary Sánchez went deep twice for the AL East leaders, and Cory Gearrin (1-2) got his first win with New York.
Lou Trivino (4-6) was beginning his third inning of work when he surrendered LeMahieu’s 24th homer.
ST. LOUIS — Dakota Hudson pitched a career-high 7⅔ innings, and St. Louis beat Cincinnati in the opener of a doubleheader.
Dexter Fowler and Yadier Molina homered as St. Louis won for the seventh time in eight games. Molina, Kolten Wong and Paul Goldschmidt each had two hits and two RBIs.
Hudson (14-6) gave the Cardinals a lift after the series opener was postponed by rain, setting up doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.
Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer (10-12) pitched just four innings in his fourth straight loss.
Eugenio Suárez hit his 39th homer for Cincinnati, and Tucker Barnhart had two hits and three RBIs.
CHICAGO — Manny Piña drove in two runs with a first-inning single and Josh Hader finished a strong performance by Milwaukee’s bullpen.
Ben Gamel added three hits as Milwaukee pulled within four games of Chicago for the second NL wild card.
The Brewers used five pitchers in the six-hitter. Junior Guerra (8-4) worked 1⅔ innings for the win, and Hader earned his 27th save by recording five outs on just 12 pitches.
TORONTO — Cavan Biggio and Teoscar Hernandez each hit a two-run homer, leading Toronto to the victory.
Biggio drove in three runs and scored twice against the team his Hall of Fame father Craig starred with for 20 seasons.
Clay Buchholz (1-3) allowed two runs in 5⅔ innings in his first win since Aug. 22, 2018, for Arizona against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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PHILADELPHIA — Wilson Ramos matched his career high with four hits and extended his hitting streak to 24 games, helping New York beat Philadelphia.
Todd Frazier had three hits, two RBIs and made a stellar, run-saving catch in the sixth inning for the Mets, who pulled within four games of the Cubs for the second NL wild card. Ramos had three singles and a double, upping his average to .446 (41-for-92) during the streak. He drove in one and is hitting .299 for the season.
The Mets will go for the series sweep Sunday night.
Bryce Harper homered and drove in two for Philadelphia, which remained 3 ½ games behind the Cubs.
Steven Matz (9-8) continued his strong second half, allowing two earned runs over five-plus innings. Matz didn’t retire a batter in the sixth, but the lefty got a big lift from New York’s bullpen and defense.
After a leadoff homer to deep left-center by Harper, an error and a pair of singles loaded the bases and ended the 28-year-old’s day, Cesar Hernandez lined Luis Avilan’s pitch toward left field. Frazier made a leaping grab at third base for the first out to save at least one run. After walking home a run to make it 5-3, Avilan got Adam Haseley to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Matz is 4-2 with a 2.73 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break. He earned his first career win in his seventh start in Philadelphia, where he had been 0-4 with an 8.18 ERA — including a 27.00 ERA this season — prior to Saturday.
Seth Lugo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two, for his fourth save in nine chances.
Former Mets lefty Jason Vargas (6-7) gave up five runs and nine hits in four-plus innings. Vargas was making his first start against the Mets since April 7, 2006 — a span of 257 starts between outings against them.
Ramos extended his hitting streak with an RBI single in the first. After the Phillies tied it in the bottom half on Harper’s RBI groundout, New York went up 2-1 in the third on Michael Conforto’s RBI double. Vargas escaped a bases-loaded, no-out situation without further damage. But the 36-year-old lefty couldn’t retire any of the four batters he faced in the fifth, and the Mets went ahead 5-1 thanks to an RBI double by Frazier and a two-run double by Joe Panik.
Phillies’ Rhys Hoskins, who entered leading the NL in walks, was ejected for the first time in his career in the third inning by home-plate umpire Will Little for arguing after being called out on strikes.
New York’s Pete Alsonso extended his on-base streak to 26 games with a walk in the first inning.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: INF Robinson Cano, who tore his left hamstring on Aug. 5, had a hit and played second base for Class A Brooklyn in his first rehab game.
Phillies: RHP Seranthony Dominguez (elbow) will be re-examined next week to determine whether he will be able to return to the mound this season. Dominguez last pitched on June 5.
UP NEXT
RHP Marcus Stroman (7-12, 3.29), making his sixth start for the Mets since being acquired from Toronto, opposes Philadelphia RHP Zach Eflin (8-11, 4.50) on Sunday night.
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