ATLANTA — Wandy Peralta retired Freddie Freeman with the bases loaded for the final out, and the New York Yankees held off the Atlanta Braves 5-4 in a thriller Tuesday night to extend their longest winning streak in 36 years to 11 games.

DJ LeMahieu’s two-run homer in the fifth inning gave New York the lead. Giancarlo Stanton and Roughned Odor also went deep for the Yankees.

New York closer Aroldis Chapman, trying to preserve a 5-3 lead, gave up two hits and two walks in the ninth. Chapman’s bases-loaded walk to Jorge Soler cut the margin to one, and Manager Aaron Boone pulled Chapman for Peralta.

He fell behind 3-1 in the count before throwing five straight change-ups to Freeman, last year’s NL MVP. The slugger fouled off four in a row, then hit a game-ending flyout to deep left field that gave Peralta his third save for the Yankees and the fifth of his career. The other two came earlier this season with San Francisco.

The Yankees remained four games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East.

The 11-game winning streak is New York’s longest since Aug. 31 to Sept. 10, 1985.

Chapman gave up a one-out single to Adam Duvall before striking out Guillermo Heredia. Chapman walked Ehire Adrianza before Ozzie Albies beat out a grounder to third base for an infield hit, loading the bases. The left-hander walked Jorge Soler on a full-count pitch to force in a run.

LeMahieu broke a 2-all tie by pulling Charlie Morton’s curveball into the Yankees’ bullpen behind the left-field wall. The homer drove in Andrew Velazquez, who singled.

With New York leading 4-2, Austin Riley’s single up the middle off Joely Rodriguez in the fifth drove in Albies, but a close play at the plate denied the Braves’ attempt to tie the game. Freeman was thrown out on Velazquez’s relay from shortstop, a call that stood following a review that lasted 1 minute, 40 seconds. The Braves believed Freeman’s left foot touched the plate before the tag from catcher Gary Sanchez.

Stanton also hit a hanging curve from Morton for a homer in the second. Stanton homered on back-to-back days as New York swept the two-game interleague series.

Odor’s seventh-inning drive off Chris Martin landed deep in the right-field stands.

RAYS 3, PHILLIES 1: Nelson Cruz returned from the COVID-19 list, played first base for the first time in his career and hit a tie-breaking two-run double in the eighth inning as the Tampa Bay won at Philadelphia.

The 41-year-old Cruz, Tampa Bay’s designated hitter who had never played first in the majors or the minors, handled all his chances cleanly in his first action anywhere on defense since he played right field for Seattle in 2018. With two on in the first, Didi Gregorius hit a grounder that shortstop Wander Franco threw from the outfield grass, and Cruz made a nifty pick of a short hop to end the inning.

Cruz had missed the Rays’ victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday while on the COVID-19 list but was reinstated before the game.

TIGERS 4, CARDINALS 3: Miguel Cabrera and Robbie Grossman hit back-to-back home runs to lead Detroit to a win at St. Louis.

Two days after hitting his 500th homer, Cabrera connected on No. 501. He crushed a 79-mph slider by starter Jack Flaherty into Big Mac Land, which is name of the upper left field deck, in the third inning. At 423 feet, it was his second-longest home run this season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

MARINERS 5, ATHLETICS 1: Luis Torrens hit a tie-breaking two-run single, Chris Flexen pitched neatly into the seventh inning and visiting Seattle swept a quick two-game series against Oakland.

The A’s managed three straight singles in the first against Flexen (11-5), who settled in and struck out five over 6 2/3 innings. He allowed six hits and walked one, and the Mariners improved to 17-7 in his outings.

Seattle wrapped up an eight-game, three-city trip 6-2.

Mitch Moreland hit an RBI single for Oakland in the first before Jarred Kelenic tied it at 1 with a single of his own in the second. Kelenic also doubled home Tom Murphy in the eighth and scored on Dylan Moore’s single.

Elvis Andrus hit a two-out double in the seventh and Mark Canha walked to chase Flexen, but Oakland came up empty. Starling Marte hit a high fly against Drew Steckenrider, who earned his sixth save.

The A’s lost their fourth straight game – all but Tuesday’s result by two or fewer runs – and eighth in 10 following a 12-3 stretch.

A day after he was a late scratch because of a bruised left foot, Oakland third baseman Matt Chapman got hit by a pitch in his left wrist area in the fourth but stayed in the game.

A’s lefty Cole Irvin (9-12) was done after three innings, tagged for three runs and seven hits with two walks.

Oakland reliever Yusmeiro Petit, 36, made his 500th career appearance.

WHITE SOX 5, BLUE JAYS 2: Dylan Cease pitched seven effective innings, Jose Abreu hit a three-run homer and visiting Chicago stopped a three-game slide.

Cease (10-6) retired his first 11 batters, fanning six, before Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined a single to right in the fourth. Cease allowed one run and four hits, matching his season high in innings. He has 177 strikeouts, third-most in the AL.

RANGERS 7, INDIANS 3: Nathaniel Lowe was 5 for 5 with a three-run homer in the first inning, and visiting Texas beat Cleveland.

Lowe homered in the first, singled in the third, seventh and ninth, and doubled in the fifth. DJ Peters also hit a three-run homer in the ninth and drove in four runs.

ANGELS 14, ORIOLES 8: The Baltimore Orioles staggered to their 19th consecutive loss, allowing 19 hits and falling behind visiting Los Angeles by 11 runs early in the game.

Baltimore trailed 5-1 in the second inning, 8-1 in the third and 13-2 in the fourth while limping to another lopsided defeat in the major leagues’ longest skid since Kansas City dropped 19 straight in 2005.

The Orioles have yielded at least eight runs in 12 games during the streak and been outscored 163-55. Winless since Aug. 2, Baltimore now stands just two losses short of matching the franchise record for successive defeats (set in 1988) and is within striking distance of the modern-day record of 23 in a row, held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PIRATES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 2: JT Brubaker pitched five scoreless innings for his first win in nearly three months, and Pittsburgh beat visiting Arizona.

Brubaker (5-13) allowed four hits with six strikeouts, stranding five runners in scoring position. The 27-year-old right-hander got Diamondbacks starter Madison Bumgarner to line out with the bases loaded in the second and ended a threat with runners on second and third in the third by striking out David Peralta. In the fifth, Pavin Smith was stranded on third when Carson Kelly flew out to center.

Since last winning May 29, Brubaker went 0-9 with a 7.08 ERA in 12 starts.

Pittsburgh, which is 0-9 with a chance to sweep this season, has won 4 of 5 after taking the first two of the three-game set against Arizona.

NATIONALS 5, MARLINS 1: Tres Barrera had three hits, including a homer, and visiting Washington beat reeling Miami.

Yadiel Hernadez singled and tripled, and Ryan Zimmerman also went deep for the Nationals.

The Marlins struck out 15 times and have lost eight straight.

GIANTS 8, METS 0: Brandon Belt hit two of San Francisco’s four home runs to push his career-best total to 19, rookie Sammy Long pitched into the sixth inning and the visiting Giants trounced slumping New York.

After using late-game homers to steal consecutive victories from Oakland on Saturday and Sunday, San Francisco powered up early at Citi Field. LaMonte Wade Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski also connected in the first four innings as the Giants jumped to a 7-0 advantage against rookie Tylor Megill (1-3).

The lone concern for the Giants: seven-time All-Star catcher Buster Posey was removed with right knee discomfort in the fifth, one inning after being visited behind the plate by Manager Gabe Kapler and a trainer.

The Mets had hoped for a jolt in shortstop Francisco Lindor’s return after five weeks away with a right oblique strain. Instead, they managed five hits and lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

NOTES

DIAMONDBACKS: Left-hander Caleb Smith has been suspended 10 games and fined an undisclosed amount for having a foreign substance on his glove during a game last week.

Smith’s suspension is the second this season as Major League Baseball cracks down on pitchers using sticky substances to get a better grip on the ball. Seattle’s Hector Santiago had his 10-game suspension issued last month upheld after an appeal.

Smith has elected to appeal his suspension, which was scheduled to begin when the Diamondbacks played at Pittsburgh Tuesday night.

“For me, of course I’m frustrated,” Diamondbacks Manager Torey Lovullo said. “I’m hurt when the player hurts. That’s how I wear it. I’m emotionally attached to these guys. With Caleb, I think he’s extremely frustrated. He’s frustrated because he’s been accused of some wrongdoing that he thinks is not justified. That’s why I think he wants to appeal. He wants to be heard. He wants to get his story out there.

“Everybody wants to be heard. I think Caleb just wants to talk to Major League Baseball, tell them what was going on. Obviously, that will happen through the appeal process.”

Smith had his glove confiscated after he came off the field in the eighth inning against Philadelphia last Wednesday and was ejected. The Diamondbacks will not be able to fill his spot on the 26-man roster during the suspension.

All pitchers are being checked by umpires during games for illicit grip aids since the crackdown started on June 21.

The 30-year-old Smith is in his his fifth big league season with his third team. The left-hander is 4-8 with a 5.20 ERA this season, his second with Arizona after being traded by Miami last year. He also pitched for the New York Yankees.

CARDINALS: Yadier Molina is staying with the St. Louis Cardinals, agreeing to a one-year contract that covers what could be his final season in 2022.

Molina, 39, broke into the majors with the Cardinals in 2004 and never left. The 10-time All-Star helped the team win the World Series in 2006 and 2011.

Molina’s 2,080 career games behind the plate are the most for any catcher with just one team. He is a nine-time Gold Glove winner.

Molina was selected by St. Louis in the fourth round of the 2000 amateur draft.

PHILLIES: A federal magistrate judge has decided that changes by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Phillie Phanatic mascot last year were sufficient to allow its continued use by the club.

In a 91-page decision on Aug. 10, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan decided that creators of the Phillie Phanatic had demonstrated the mascot had been registered as an artistic sculpture under copyright law.

Netburn recommended that Harrison/Erickson, the New York company that created the Phanatic, be credited as sole authors of the Phanatic and said the company had the right to terminate the Phillies’ 1984 agreement to acquire rights to the fuzzy creature, which H/E did on June 15, 2020.

The Phillies unveiled the redesign of the green mascot in February 2020, a new look featuring flightless feathers rather than fur-colored arms, stars outlining the eyes, a larger posterior and a powder blue tail, blue socks with red shoes, plus a set of scales under the arms.

“H/E argue that P2 is not original because it is the `same old Phanatic’ or a `slavish copy’ of P1,” Netburn wrote. “If the Phillies had designed something so dissimilar from the Phanatic that it would no longer be recognizable as the Phanatic, then, by extension, it would not be a derivative of the Phanatic, and instead would be a completely different mascot.”

Netburn cited a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Company Inc.

“To be sure, the changes to the structural shape of the Phanatic are no great strokes of brilliance,” she wrote, “but as the Supreme Court has already noted, a compilation of minimally creative elements, `no matter how crude, humble or obvious,’ can render a work a derivative.”

Lawyers for Wayde Harrison and Bonnie Erickson said in a statement “if left uncorrected this low bar for a derivative work will thwart the very purpose and intent of the copyright termination provisions established by Congress to fairly compensate original creators for their works 35 years after they have licensed or granted rights in their creations, as Bonnie and Wayde did in 1984. The fight of the original creators for their just due will continue.”

The Phillies declined comment, citing the ongoing litigation, spokeswoman Bonnie Clark said.

RANGERS: The Texas Rangers added catcher Jonah Heim to COVID-19 injured list, and pitchers Spencer Howard and Dane Dunning – their scheduled starters for Wednesday and Thursday – are not with the team because of health and safety protocols.

The Rangers opened a three-game series at Cleveland on Tuesday night with Howard and Dunning scheduled to start the final two games. Left-hander Jake Latz, who is pitching at Triple-A Round Rock, will be added to the roster and start Wednesday. Right-hander Jordan Lyles, who was scheduled to start Friday against Houston, will pitch Thursday.

The Rangers have five players on the COVID IL, including Heim, who was a late scratch from Monday’s lineup. Infielders Charlie Culberson and Brock Holt, and right-handers Drew Anderson and Mike Foltynewicz were previously placed on the list.

Infielder Ryan Dorow and left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang were added as replacements from Round Rock. Center fielder Leody Taveras was recalled from Round Rock and batted leadoff against the Indians Tuesday. First baseman Curtis Terry was optioned to Triple-A.

Copy the Story Link