Red Sox slam Braves as Altuve keeps going deep for Astros

Christian Arroyo's seventh-inning grand slam lifted the Boston Red Sox past the Atlanta Braves for a 10-8 victory Wednesday. 

The Red Sox (42-27) continued to gain ground on the first-place Tampa Bay Rays while digging an even deeper hole for the Braves (30-35), who are now tied with the Washington Nationals for third place in the National League (NL) East. 

Boston took an early lead and built a 6-3 edge by the fifth inning before home runs by Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman put Atlanta on top 7-6. 

But Atlanta's veteran reliever Shane Greene loaded the bases in the seventh before giving way to A.J. Minter with two outs, then watched as Minter surrendered Arroyo's 467-foot blast to left-center field. 

Altuve keeps going deep for Houston

Jose Altuve's home run swing carried over from Tuesday to Wednesday, as he opened the bottom of the first inning with a home run and added another in the eighth to lead an 8-4 Houston Astros win over the Texas Rangers. According to Stats Perform, Altuve is the first player in MLB history to hit a walk-off grand slam in one game and a leadoff home run in his team's next game. 

A 10th-inning single from Yasmani Grandal gave the Chicago White Sox an 8-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays and moved Chicago (43-25) ahead of Tampa Bay (43-26) for the best record in the American League. 

Charlie Blackmon's ninth-inning single scored Trevor Story to give the Colorado Rockies an 8-7 win and a three-game sweep over the slumping San Diego Padres. 

The St Louis Cardinals also walked off for a sweep as Yadier Molina's single down the left-field line in the ninth inning scored Paul Goldschmidt for a 1-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. 

More injury worries for deGrom

The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 6-3 but will anxiously await word on the status of star pitcher Jacob deGrom, who left the game with right shoulder soreness after striking out eight of the nine batters he faced in an abbreviated three-inning start. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers were held scoreless for the first time in 139 regular-season games, dating to September 2019, in a 2-0 home defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Another road game, another road loss for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who allowed five home runs in a 13-7 defeat against the San Francisco Giants. Arizona's 22nd consecutive loss away from home tied the 1963 Mets and 1943 Philadelphia Athletics for the most in modern MLB history. 

The Baltimore Orioles are right on Arizona's tail, as their 8-7 loss to the Cleveland Indians gave them 18 straight defeats away from Camden Yards. 

Baez makes it look easy

Chicago Cubs shortstop Javier Baez showed his Gold Glove form with a beautiful, sliding scoop-and-throw on a bouncer up the middle to get Mets catcher Tomas Nito at first. 

Wednesday's results

New York Mets 6-3 Chicago Cubs
Washington Nationals 3-1 Pittsburgh Pirates
New York Yankees 3-2 Toronto Blue Jays
Cleveland Indians 8-7 Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox 10-8 Atlanta Braves
Cincinnati Reds 2-1 Milwaukee Brewers
Detroit Tigers 6-5 Kansas City Royals
Chicago White Sox 8-7 Tampa Bay Rays
Houston Astros 8-4 Texas Rangers
St Louis Cardinals 1-0 Miami Marlins
Colorado Rockies 8-7 San Diego Padres
Oakland Athletics 8-4 Los Angeles Angels
San Francisco Giants 13-7 Arizona Diamondbacks
Minnesota Twins 7-2 Seattle Mariners
Philadelphia Phillies 2-0 Los Angeles Dodgers

Reds at Padres

Two teams headed in opposite directions square off in San Diego as the Padres (38-32), losers of nine of their last 11 games, host the Cincinnati Reds (35-31), who have won six in a row and 11 of 13.