Tim Lincecum made a winning return to the majors, restarting his career after nearly a year away with six sharp innings and several ovations as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-1, Saturday.
Sporting a bright red hat and Angels jersey that was in stark contrast to the black and orange he wore across the Bay Bridge for nine seasons with San Francisco, Lincecum gave up one run and four hits.
The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner and four-time All-Star struck out two and walked two.
The 32-year-old righty hadn’t pitched in the majors since last June 27. He had hip surgery in September, signed with the Angels in May and made three starts in the minors.
Mike Trout homered, doubled and drove in three runs to help Los Angeles to its third win in four games. Ryan Dull (1-2) lost in relief.
Diamondbacks 4, Phillies 1
Arizona ace Zack Greinke won his seventh straight start by pitching three-hit ball for eight innings.
Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb and Nick Ahmed homered for the Diamondbacks. Greinke (10-3) allowed one run, struck out six and walked one.
Arizona has hit nine homers in two consecutive wins over Philadelphia.
Odubel Herrera homered for the Phillies, who have lost five in a row and 22 of 28. Jerad Eickhoff (4-9) allowed three runs and nine hits in 5 innings.
Brad Ziegler closed for his 14th save of the season and 42nd straight dating to May 2015.
Giants 6, Rays 4
Joe Panik had four RBI, including a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the ninth inning that sent San Francisco to its seventh straight win.
Panik hit a two-out drive off Alex Colome (1-2) for the NL West leaders.
Hunter Strickland (3-0) won in relief. Cory Gearrin allowed Logan Forsythe’s solo homer in the ninth before getting his second save.
Evan Longoria, Brad Miller and Logan Morrison also homered for Tampa Bay.
Rangers 4, Cardinals 3
Ian Desmond hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, sending the Rangers to their fifth consecutive win.
Texas won its franchise-record ninth consecutive series – the Rangers beat the Cardinals, 1-0, on Friday to begin the three-game set. The Cardinals have lost four straight.
The Rangers scored twice in the eighth and ninth innings.
In the ninth, closer Trevor Rosenthal (2-2) hit Robinson Chirinos with a pitch to load the bases, and then Kevin Siegrist walked Shin-Soo Choo and allowed Desmond’s fly ball to left.
Shawn Tolleson (1-2) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Jake Diekman got his second save.
Orioles 4, Blue Jays 2
Jonathan Schoop homered, doubled and singled while Yovani Gallardo and the Baltimore bullpen helped end Toronto’s four-game winning streak.
Manny Machado got three hits for the Orioles, then dropped his appeal of a four-game suspension for charging Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura earlier this month. Machado’s penalty begins Sunday.
Gallardo (2-1) allowed two runs in five innings. He hadn’t pitched since April 22 because of shoulder tendinitis.
Zach Britton earned his 21st save, getting Josh Donaldson to ground into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded.
R.A. Dickey (4-8) fell to 0-5 against Baltimore while with the Blue Jays.
Yankees 7, Twins 6
Jacoby Ellsbury hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the ninth inning and New York, boosted by Alex Rodriguez’s 695th career homer, rallied past Minnesota.
The Yankees scored three times in the ninth for a 7-4 lead. Closer Aroldis Chapman gave up back-to-back homers to Eduardo Escobar and Kurt Suzuki with two outs in the bottom half before getting his 13th save in 14 chances.
Byung Ho Park homered and drove in four runs for the Twins.
Andrew Miller (4-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Fernando Abad (1-1) took the loss.
Indians 13, White Sox 2
Mike Napoli homered during a five-run first inning as the Cleveland Indians became the latest team to tee off on James Shields.
Rookie Tyler Naquin homered and drove in a career-high four runs, and Juan Uribe also connected for Cleveland.
Shields, making his third start since being traded from San Diego to Chicago, was tagged for eight runs and seven hits in 1 innings.
Shields is 2-9 overall this year. He is 0-2 for the White Sox, giving up a whopping 21 earned runs in just 8 innings.
Danny Salazar (8-3) won his fourth straight start, allowing two runs in 6 innings.
The AL Central-leading Indians are 6-2 against the White Sox this season, including five straight wins.
Marlins 9, Rockies 6
Giancarlo Stanton singled in his first three at-bats to give his lowly average a boost, and the Marlins totaled 17 hits in the win.
Stanton beat the shift with an opposite-field single in the first inning, setting up Miami’s first run. He singled and scored in the third and fifth, giving him five hits in the past two games to hike his average from .193 to .210.
Five Marlins regulars are batting over .300, among them J.T. Realmuto, whose four hits included a three-run homer that caromed off the home-run sculpture. Justin Bour hit a two-run drive for his 11th homer.
Colorado’s Tyler Chatwood pitched just 1 innings because of back spasms. Eddie Butler (2-4) replaced him and was rocked for six runs in 3 innings.
Dustin McGowan (1-2) pitched 2 hitless innings for the win.
Astros 5, Reds 4, 11 innings
George Springer hit an RBI single in the 11th inning to lift Houston to the victory.
Jason Castro and Colby Rasmus hit consecutive singles off Josh Smith (0-1) with one out before Springer’s grounder rolled just out of reach of diving shortstop Zack Cozart and into the outfield. Springer was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts before he made the most of his extra-inning opportunity.
Marwin Gonzalez and Evan Gattis each hit a two-run homer for Houston, and Adam Duvall tied it with a two-run shot for Cincinnati in the ninth. The series opener also went into extra innings, with the Reds winning 4-2 in 11 on Friday night.
Scott Feldman (4-3) allowed two hits in two scoreless innings for the win.