Detroit: Justin Verlander struck out 10 batters, including the 2,000th of his career, to help the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 6-3 on Wednesday while Chicago pitcher Travis Wood delivered on the mound then at the plate to lead the Cubs to a 13-inning victory over Milwaukee in Major League Baseball.
Verlander (3-4) allowed six hits and three runs over 7 1/3 innings while matching his season high in strikeouts. He joined Mickey Lolich as the two pitchers in franchise history with 2,000 career strikeouts.
“Personal accomplishments are nice, but what I take the most pride in is being out there every fifth game,” Verlander said. “Numbers come with time.”
Wood ended a Brewers rally with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 12th inning. Then an inning later, he forced in the go-ahead run after drawing a two-out walk in a 2-1 victory.
With the Cubs out of position players, manager Joe Maddon had Wood hit with two outs after the Brewers intentionally walked Miguel Montero to load the bases. Wood drew the walk when Carlos Torres missed on a 3-1 cutter, forcing Ben Zobrist home with the go-ahead run.
“When he came in the game, I said, ‘Understand one thing: If you get out of this, you’re getting an at-bat.’ So, that kind of jacked him up,” Maddon said. “That’s just how we operate.”
In New York, Daniel Murphy drove in two runs against his former team as the Washington Nationals beat the Mets 7-1 to hold on to first place in the NL East while Brett Gardner hit a two-run homer as the Yankees beat the Diamondbacks 4-2 in Arizona.
Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer to lead San Francisco to its seventh straight win with a 4-2 victory over San Diego while Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts homered as Boston beat Kansas City to salvage a split of their day-night doubleheader.
The Royals won the opener 3-2 behind a strong performance by Ian Kennedy and their bullpen but the Red Sox rebounded to win Game 2 5-2.
Adam Wainwright had his best start of the season and Matt Holliday had a two-run double as St. Louis ended the Colorado Rockies’ five-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory while Mike Trout homered as the Angels broke the game open with five runs in the fifth inning to beat the Dodgers 8-1 in the Freeway Series.
Colby Rasmus and Jason Castro each had solo home runs as Houston beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 and Francisco Lindor’s lead off homer in the 12th inning gave the Cleveland Indians an 8-7 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Atlanta beat Pittsburgh 3-1 to hand Brian Snitker his first victory as interim manager and Mark Trumbo and Matt Wieters hit back-to-back homers for the Orioles in their 5-2 victory over the Mariners.
Kevin Kiermaier hit a two-run homer as Tampa Bay beat Toronto 6-3 to complete a three-game sweep. Khris Davis hit his fourth home run in two games as Oakland completed a three-game sweep of Texas with a 8-1 thrashing and Tyler Goeddel hit his first career homer as Philadelphia beat Miami 4-2.