Baseball Roundup: Amazin’ Matz Leads New York

New York — Steven Matz pitched seven sharp innings to win his sixth consecutive start, Michael Conforto hit a two-run homer and the New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 on Friday night.

After skipping a turn in the rotation last weekend because of a sore elbow, Matz (6-1) picked up right where he left off in his previous outing May 9 at Dodger Stadium. The rookie left-hander held the Brewers to three hits.

Matz struck out eight and walked none as the Mets won for the second time in eight games.

The only real hiccup for Matz (6-1) came when Chris Carter connected for his 13th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the first inning. After that, Matz retired 15 straight batters.

Pirates 2, Rockies 1

Pittsburgh — Starling Marte and John Jaso had two hits each and made fine defensive plays to help Gerrit Cole navigate through seven shaky innings as Pittsburgh beat Colorado.

Cole (5-3) scattered 10 hits and a walk while not recording a strikeout as he won his second straight start. He pitched eight scoreless innings last Sunday to beat the Cubs at Chicago after failing to get past the sixth inning in his first six starts.

Nationals 4, Marlins 1

Miami — Tanner Roark finally beat the team that kept beating him, pitching 6 innings to help Washington past Miami.

Roark (3-3) came into the game 0-3 in three starts versus the Marlins this season with an ERA of 8.40. Against the rest of the majors he’s 2-0 in five starts with an ERA of 0.79.

Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Taylor homered to help the Nationals score all their runs in the second inning.

Braves 7, Phillies 1

Philadelphia — Freddie Freeman homered twice and drove in four runs and Nick Markakis also hit a home run to lead Atlanta over Philadelphia.

It was a rare power surge for the Braves, who entered last in the majors by a wide margin with just 15 homers. Philadelphia’s 31 homers entering Friday were second from the bottom in the big leagues.

The Braves hit three homers in a game for the first time this season, and have nine in their last five games.

Rangers 2, Astros 1

Houston — Colby Lewis pitched seven scoreless innings and Prince Fielder provided the offense with a two-run double to lead Texas over Houston.

Lewis (3-0) allowed four hits and struck out six in his first scoreless outing this season to pick up his first win since April 29. He had pitched well in his previous three starts but didn’t factor into the decision in any of those games.

Jake Diekman struck out two in a perfect eighth and Sam Dyson gave up an RBI single to Colby Rasmus with two outs in the ninth before striking out Evan Gattis for his third save.

Rays 7, Tigers 5

Detroit — Steven Souza and Steve Pearce homered to help Tampa Bay beat Detroit.

Miguel Cabrera homered twice in losing effort for the Tigers, who snapped a four-game winning streak.

Matt Andriese (3-0) picked up the win despite allowing four runs in 5 innings. Four relievers followed, with Alex Colome pitching the ninth for his 11th save in 11 chances.

Mariners 8, Reds 3

Cincinnati — Dae-Ho Lee’s bases-loaded single completed Seattle’s late rally against the major leagues’ worst bullpen, and he later added a solo homer as the Mariners pulled away.

Seattle opened a weekend dedicated to Ken Griffey Jr. by getting four runs in the seventh inning against a bullpen that has blown 10 of its 14 save chances. Overall, the Mariners piled up seven runs and two homers against Reds relievers over the last three innings.

Blue Jays 9, Twins 3

Minneapolis — Jose Bautista hit a three-run home run to break open the game in the sixth inning and the Blue Jays slugged their way over Minnesota.

Josh Donaldson, Michael Saunders and Darwin Barney also went deep for Toronto. Aaron Sanchez (4-1) gave up two runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings to give the Blue Jays their second straight win after a five-game losing streak.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons returned from a three-game suspension for his role in a brawl with the Texas Rangers.

Royals 4, White Sox 1

Chicago — Omar Infante, Paulo Orlando and Lorenzo Cain all doubled in a three-run sixth inning off Jose Quintana to lead Kansas City over Chicago.

Orlando added an RBI single an inning later and Dillon Gee (1-1) allowed a run over five innings for his first victory since 2014. The Royals won for the fifth time in seven games and moved within 3½ games of the AL Central-leading White Sox.

Quintana (5-3) who entered with an AL-best 1.54 ERA, gave up one hit while facing the minimum 15 batters through five. He retired 11 straight until Infante had the first of four straight one-out hits.