Baseball Capsules

Baseball Capsules (Photo by TCtroi, Flickr/ CC BY-SA 2.0)

WASHINGTON— Max Scherzer pitched seven sharp innings in his first start since he was sidelined by neck spasms, and the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 3-2 on Monday night.

Bryce Harper homered for Washington, and pinch hitter Adam Lind singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning. The Nationals expanded their lead in the NL East over second-place Miami to 14 games.

Brandon Kintzler (4-2) worked the eighth and Sean Doolittle got three outs to earn his sixth save. Both pitchers were acquired shortly before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

Giancarlo Stanton hit his major league-leading 37th homer for the Marlins, matching his previous career high. Jarlin Garcia (0-2) got the loss.

Scherzer struck out nine and gave up two runs. The right-hander was coming off an abbreviated start against the Marlins six days earlier, when he was pulled after one inning with neck spasms.

PIRATES 3, TIGERS 0

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Trevor Williams pitched seven crisp innings, leading Pittsburgh to the win.

Williams (5-4) struck out five and walked two, giving up only a leadoff single to James McCann in the third. Williams threw a career-high 107 pitches and never allowed a runner to third base.

Juan Nicasio got three outs for his second save, completing Pittsburgh’s one-hitter. The Pirates have won three straight and four of five.

Francisco Cervelli put the Pirates in front with an RBI double off Jordan Zimmermann (7-9) in the second. John Jaso provided some late insurance with a pinch-hit two-run homer in the seventh.

Zimmermann struck out three and walked two in seven innings. The Tigers have dropped three straight following a four-game winning streak.

REDS 11, PADRES 3

CINCINNATI (AP) — Joey Votto homered for the third straight game and pulled into a tie with Ted Kluszewski on the Reds’ career list.

The Reds homered four times in all, with Patrick Kivlehan hitting his first career grand slam. Adam Duvall and Zack Cozart also connected.

Votto’s 251st career homer off Jhoulys Chacin (11-8) moved him into a tie for fifth place with Big Klu, the first baseman who cut the sleeves off his uniform to free his big upper arms. Votto’s 136th homer at Great American bumped him ahead of Jay Bruce for the ballpark record.

Jose Pirela drove in all of San Diego’s runs with his first career multihomer game. The first was a two-run shot off Tim Adleman, who went only 4 2/3 innings. Adleman hasn’t won since June 27, going 0-5 in seven starts with a 6.88 ERA. Blake Wood (1-4) replaced Adleman in the fifth and pitched out of a two-on threat.