Alonso homers twice, McLean shines as Mets beat Tigers 12-5

By Canadian Press on September 2, 2025.

DETROIT (AP) — Pete Alonso homered twice, Juan Soto went deep again and rookie Nolan McLean pitched six solid innings as the New York Mets beat the Detroit Tigers 12-5 on Tuesday night.

McLean (4-0) recovered from a rocky start to set down his final 14 batters. He gave up two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out seven, becoming the first Mets pitcher to earn a win in each of his first four major league appearances.

Luis Torrens launched a three-run homer for the Mets, who won the series opener 10-8 on Monday. They moved five games ahead of Cincinnati for the final National League wild card.

The AL Central-leading Tigers have lost seven of nine.

Alonso’s first homer was a 435-foot drive in the first inning that landed between the first and second row of shrubs behind the center-field wall. Soto and Alonso hit back-to-back solo shots in a six-run seventh that gave the Mets a 12-2 cushion.

Soto has 37 home runs in his first season with New York — five in the past five games. Alonso’s second homer was his 33rd of the year.

Jeff McNeil drove in three runs and finished with three of New York’s 17 hits. Brandon Nimmo and Brett Baty also had three hits for the Mets.

RED SOX 11, GUARDIANS 7

BOSTON (AP) — Alex Bregman legged out an hard chopper down the third-base line for an infield single with two outs in the eighth inning to drive in the go-ahead run, and Boston beat Cleveland for its third straight victory.

Jarren Duran and Trevor Story followed with RBI doubles off Cade Smith (6-6) for Boston’s second four-run inning of the game. Justin Slaten (2-4) earned the win with a perfect eighth inning.

Ceddanne Rafaela had two hits, including a two-run homer to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth after Cleveland scored six in the top half to take a 7-5 lead. Masataka Yoshida had three hits, including a pair of doubles, to help the Red Sox to their 10th win in 13 games.

Jhonkensy Noel had three hits for Cleveland, including a homer.

Boston scored four in the second and took a 5-1 lead into sixth before Cleveland tagged Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet for six runs. Austin Hedges led off with a homer, David Fry added a two-run shot, and Brayan Rocchio hit a three-run homer to make it 7-5.

NATIONALS 5, MARLINS 2

WASHINGTON (AP) — James Wood hit a two-run home run, rookie Daylen Lile drove in a run and scored another, and Washington beat Miami.

Lile hit a bloop double in the second and an RBI single in the third. Lile scored on Riley Adams’ double after his own double.

Adams scored on an opposite-field single from Jacob Young. Adams knocked the ball out of the glove of Marlins third baseman Connor Norby on a tag attempt to reach third base on the prior play.

In the fourth, Wood drove home Young with his 27th home run of the season.

Young was removed from the game in the top of the sixth inning with back spasms. He was replaced in center field by Robert Hassell III.

Adam Mazur (0-2) gave up 10 hits and five runs, but finished six innings for Miami. The Marlins used five pitchers in the 2-0 loss to open the series on Monday night.

Jose A. Ferrer earned his sixth save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth inning to secure the series win. He was the fifth Nationals reliever after five innings of two-run baseball from starter Cade Cavalli (2-1).

PIRATES 9, DODGERS 7

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Tommy Pham and Jared Triolo each drove in two runs, and Pittsburgh spoiled a big night by Shohei Ohtani to beat Los Angeles.

Ohtani hit his 100th home run with the Los Angeles Dodgers and had a pair of doubles.

Ohtani hit a solo shot off top prospect Bubba Chandler (2-0) for his 46th homer this season. Playing his 294th game with the Dodgers, he became the fastest to reach 100 home runs in team history ahead of Gary Sheffield (399).

Teoscar Hernández then hit a two-out RBI single and Andy Pages led off the next inning with his 24th homer, tying it 4-all.

Henry Davis put the Pirates back ahead on an RBI single off Edgardo Henriquez (0-1) in the sixth. Triolo added a two-out, two-run double.

Chandler gave up three runs on six hits in four innings of relief. The 22-year-old has two wins and a save in his first three major-league appearances.

Dennis Santana walked Miguel Rojas and allowed Ohtani’s second double to start the ninth before retiring the next three batters for his 12th save.

CARDINALS 2, ATHLETICS 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Iván Herrera hit a go-ahead two-run home run, and Miles Mikolas pitched six solid innings to help St. Louis beat the Athletics.

Mikolas (7-10) gave up a run on five hits in six innings. He didn’t have a strikeout and walked one. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 6.04 ERA in five August starts.

Matt Svanson followed with two scoreless innings and JoJo Romero pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save.

Victor Scott II drew a leadoff walk from Hogan Harris in the sixth. Michael Kelly (4-3) replaced Harris with two outs and Scott on third and Iván Herrera hit his 12th homer three pitches later for a 2-1 lead.

Luis Severino left leading 1-0 after five innings and 61 pitches in his first start since Aug. 5. He allowed three hits and a walk. Severino followed five straight losses with four wins in a row before missing time with a left oblique strain.

JJ Bleday had a leadoff double in the third and rookie Nick Kurtz — batting .325 average with runners in scoring position — doubled to put the Athletics ahead. Bleday homered twice for the Athletics (64-76) in an 11-3 win in the opener.

BLUE JAYS 12, REDS 9

CINCINNATI (AP) — George Springer went 3 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs, Bo Bichette hit a three-run homer, and Toronto held on for a victory over Cincinnati.

The Blue Jays have 23 blown saves this season including Monday’s 5-4 loss in the series opener, but Jeff Hoffman allowed one hit in the ninth for his 30th save.

Louis Varland (4-3) allowed one hit in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Reds’ scheduled starter Nick Lodolo was scratched due to illness, so Scott Barlow (6-3) was called upon to make his first career start. Things didn’t go well for the 32-year-old right-hander.

Springer led off with his 25th homer of the season. Barlow then walked three straight batters to load the bases and Alejandro Kirk’s bases-clearing double made the score 4-0.

Brent Suter replaced Barlow in the second inning and didn’t fare any better. Bichette’s three-run homer, his 18th of the season, made the score 8-1.

Springer’s second home run, a two-run shot off Suter, made the score 10-6 in the fourth. It was his 29th multihomer game, second this season.

WHITE SOX 12, TWINS 3

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Andrew Benintendi went 4 for 5 with two homers and five RBIs as Chicago beat Minnesota.

Kyle Teel and Lenyn Sosa also homered and Brooks Baldwin had three hits for the White Sox, who have won three in a row. Davis Martin (6-9) won his third straight decision, giving up three runs on six hits in six innings.

Benintendi hit a solo homer in the second inning and added a three-run shot in the eighth.

Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson struck out seven and gave up two earned run in five innings.

With the score tied 3-3 in the sixth, Benintendi and Baldwin each hit RBI singles off Twins reliever Thomas Hatch (2-1) as the White Sox took a 5-3 lead.

Teel and Sosa hit back-to-back homers off Hatch leading off the seventh inning.

ANGELS 5, ROYALS 1

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mitch Farris pitched five effective innings to win his major league debut and Jo Adell hit a two-run homer that helped Los Angeles defeat Kansas City.

Adell finished with three hits and Oswald Peraza had an RBI double for the Angels, who scratched star slugger Mike Trout less than an hour before the game because of a skin infection.

Trout is considered day-to-day, and the Angels said they hoped to have more information after the game.

Kansas City remained 2 1/2 games behind Seattle for the last American League wild card.

Farris (1-0) walked his first batter but soon settled in. He allowed one run and three hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Royals starter Michael Lorenzen (5-9) permitted two runs and four hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out five.

Bobby Witt Jr. tripled for Kansas City in the third and scored on Vinnie Pasquantino’s sacrifice fly.

CUBS 4, BRAVES 3

CHICAGO (AP) — Kyle Tucker hit a three-run homer and added a single, Shota Imanaga pitched six solid innings, and Chicago beat Atlanta Braves.

Imanaga (9-6) allowed three runs on five hits in six innings for the win.

Nico Hoerner added two hits as Chicago won for the fourth time in five. The Cubs are five games behind NL Central-leading Milwaukee.

Daniel Palencia worked around two singles in the ninth for his 22nd save.

Tucker left the game in the seventh inning due to left calf tightness and was replaced in right field by Willi Castro.

Atlanta’s Joey Wentz (5-5) yielded four runs on seven hits in four innings, striking out a season-high eight.

Tucker hit his 22nd homer and Ian Happ’s RBI single made it 4-0 in the third inning.

Matt Olson tripled and scored on Imanaga’s wild pitch in the fourth and Ozzie Albies followed with a homer down the left-field line.

Eli White’s solo shot in the fifth cut it to 4-3.

RAYS 6, MARINERS 5

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Junior Caminero hit his 40th homer and later drove in his 100th run as Tampa Bay held on to beat Cal Raleigh and Seattle.

Raleigh hit his 51st homer, extending his major league record for home runs by a catcher, but he popped out with two men on base to end the game against Garrett Cleavinger, who earned his second save.

Caminero, who turned 22 in July, went deep in the sixth inning against Bryan Woo to tie the game at 3-all, and he reached 100 RBIs with a two-run double in the seventh off Gabe Speier (2-2) that made it 6-4. He became the fourth player in major league history to hit at least 40 homers in his age-21 season or younger, joining Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews and Ronald Acuña Jr.

The Rays have won five straight to climb back to .500 at 69-69.

Julio Rodríguez went back-to-back with Raleigh when he homered in the fourth, and Jorge Polanco added a two-out longball that inning — all against Drew Rasmussen, who gave up just three homers in August.

Kevin Kelly (1-3) pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

The Associated Press

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