Pirates win marathon, Rangers snap streak in MLB

Omnisports

July 16, 2016 4:57 AM

It took 18 innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates to defeat the Washington Nationals in Sunday's MLB action.

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There was plenty of free baseball in Washington when the Nationals hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates, but there were not a lot of runs as the visitors needed 18 innings to find a win.

The Pirates had a one-run lead heading into the ninth inning only for Daniel Murphy to tie the game for the Nats with a two-out homer.

But it was Starling Marte who won the game when he went deep to left field off left-hander Oliver Perez.

The Texas Rangers shook off Chicago in a 4-1 win as Cole Hamels fanned the first six Cubs he faced to help his side snap their four-game losing streak.

Both teams now have 55 wins for the season.

Elsewhere, the Toronto Blue Jays scored their 52nd win of the season but they left it late as Josh Donaldson proved the hero once again, with his two-run double breaking the tie in the ninth inning to seal a 5-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

The Tampa Bay Rays saw off the Baltimore Orioles 5-2, the Detroit Tigers were 4-2 winners over the Kansas City Royals, the Cincinnati Reds beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 and the New York Mets accounted for the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0.

The Atlanta Braves shut out the Colorado Rockies for a 1-0 win, the Cleveland Indians crushed the Minnesota Twins 6-1, the Miami Marlins beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3, the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Chicago White Sox 8-1, which was the same scoreline the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners by.

Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Dodgers went down 6-5 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Diego Padres were 5-3 winners over the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 3-1. DEGROM FIRES

Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom threw his first complete-game shutout in his career in impressive fashion. He allowed only one hit on 105 pitches while striking out seven with one walk in the 5-0 Mets victory over the Phillies. DONALDSON WINS IT

They were chanting "M-V-P" in Oakland as Blue Jays star Donaldson broke the deadlock and sealed the win for his side against the Athletics with a crucial ninth-inning, two-run double.

NATS MARATHON

It took 18 innings, but the Pirates beat the Nationals, 2-1 to avoid a sweep. It was the longest regular-season game for Nationals since 1989 and took five hours and 48 minutes.

Meanwhile, on May 15, the White Sox had the largest division lead in the American League (five games). Since then, they have the second worst record in the league (21-32) and sit nine games back of the Indians in the Central Division after getting swept by the Angels. METS TAKE ON CUBS

A pair of southpaws take the mound as two National League contenders open a three-game series at Wrigley Field. Steven Matz (7-5, 3.38 ERA) takes the hill for the Mets, while Jon Lester (9-4, 3.01 ERA) looks to bounce back from the worst and shortest outing of his career against the Mets on July 3.

Omnisports

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