Urias strikes out 10, drives in three in Dodgers win

Julio Urias became the first pitcher in more than two years to drive in three runs and strike out 10 batters in the same game and Gavin Lux added his second grand slam in six days as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a three-day demolition of the host San Francisco Giants with an 11-5 victory on Sunday afternoon.Coming on the heels of 2-1 and 6-3 victories, the sweep-completing win pushed the Dodgers past the Giants in the National League West standings after San Francisco had overtaken the defending champions on April 30.Comforted by a huge lead that he had a big hand in building, Urias (7-1) breezed through six innings, allowing two runs and three hits. He struck out 10 and did not allow a walk.Meanwhile, Urias had the big blow in a three-run second inning against Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani (4-2), a two-out, two-run double after the Dodgers had already gone up 1-0 on an RBI single by Yoshi Tsutsugo.The visitors broke the game wide open with a seven-run third. Urias came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs after the Giants, down 5-0, had elected to walk DJ Peters.Urias kept the inning alive with an infield single, making it 6-0, before Lux ended DeSclafani’s day with a 413-foot blast over the wall in right-center field. Lux also had a grand slam Tuesday in a 9-1 home win over Arizona. Coincidentally, Urias also pitched that game.Urias finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and in doing so became the first pitcher with the three-RBI/10-strikeout combination since Zack Wheeler for the New York Mets against the Philadelphia Phillies in April of 2019. Zack Greinke also accomplished the feat earlier in April of 2019. Lux and Will Smith joined Urias in the two-hit column for the Dodgers, who won their seventh straight. Smith, Max Muncy and Matt Beaty scored twice for Los Angeles. Muncy had his 10th homer of the season, a solo shot, in the fourth inning. Austin Slater accounted for the Giants’ two runs off Urias with a sixth-inning home run, his fifth of the season. Slater scored twice in the game, as did teammate Mike Tauchman. Mike Yastrzemski later laced a two-run double in a three-run eighth inning that capped the game’s scoring for San Francisco, which had entered the showdown series on a five-game winning streak. DeSclafani, who was pulled immediately after Lux’s grand slam, was charged with 10 runs on nine hits in 2 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out three.Baez HR in 10th lifts Cubs over CardsJavier Baez’s two-run home run to straightaway center field in the 10th inning lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 2-1 victory over the host St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night.Baez’s 11th homer came off Cardinals’ reliever Alex Reyes (2-1), helping the Cubs win two of three games against their longtime rivals in their first series against one another this season.The Cubs, who now trail the Cardinals by two games for first place in the National League Central, did not have a runner in scoring position until Willson Contreras took his spot at second base to start the 10th inning.Anthony Rizzo moved Contreras to third with a ground out to first, setting up Baez’s 417-foot blast. The Cardinals answered with a run in the bottom of the 10th on a sacrifice fly by Nolan Arenado that scored Paul Goldschmidt, who started the inning at second base. Craig Kimbrel (1-2) walked Yadier Molina with one out, but recovered by striking out Harrison Bader and Justin Williams. St. Louis left 12 runners on base and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The Cardinals squandered a gem from veteran Adam Wainwright, who tossed eight scoreless innings, allowing only one hit – a Kris Bryant single in the first inning. Wainwright threw 101 pitches, struck out seven, walked one, and kept the ball on the ground the majority of the game, inducing 14 ground ball outs and only three fly ball outs.The Cardinals hit four doubles off Cubs starter Zach Davies over the first four innings, but failed to score. But Davies, who threw 76 pitches in five scoreless innings, struck out three and walked three, kept the Cardinals from scoring each time.