Astros.After getting six solid innings from CC

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SAN DIEGO (AP) — Consecutive losses to the last-place Padres had some people wondering what was going on with the Colorado Rockies.Just as quickly http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-brandon-guyer-jersey , consecutive wins have the Rockies feeling pretty good about themselves.“We feel as though we’re a contending team,” manager Bud Black said after the Rockies beat the last-place Padres 7-3 Sunday to salvage a split of a four-game series. “We feel as though we can play with anybody in the National League. We’ll see how these next few weeks go. This is good stuff. This is where we want to be. We know we’re in a dogfight with the Diamondbacks and Dodgers. We’ve just got to keep doing it.”About an hour after the Rockies won, Los Angeles beat Arizona 3-2. The Dodgers have a one-half game lead over Colorado, with the Diamondbacks another half game back in third.Chris Iannetta hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the seventh inning for the Rockies, who came into the series one-half game behind Arizona before losing the first two games. They snapped San Diego’s four-game winning streak on Saturday night and then beat rookie Jacob Nix (2-3) on Sunday.Colorado, which lost to Arizona in the NL wild-card game last year, won for the third time in seven games.With the score tied at 3, Nix faltered opening the seventh by allowing a leadoff single to Ian Desmond and walking Gerardo Parra before being lifted for fellow rookie Trey Wingenter. Desmond and Parra pulled off a double steal and Iannetta brought them both in with a double to the base of the fence in center.The double steal “takes the double play out of order, gives them a base open and they’ve got to pitch to you,” Iannetta said. “He made a mistake over the plate and I was able to get the barrel to it. I was just trying to hit a ball to the outfield and score one, and was able to hit a line drive and score two.”Charlie Blackmon singled with one out to bring in Iannetta.That made a winner of Kyle Freeland (13-7), who allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out three and walked two.The Rockies return home for a 10-game homestand that starts with three games against San Francisco and finishes with three against the Dodgers and four against Arizona.“Splitting the series certainly wasn’t what we were hoping for but we’ll take it,” Freeland said.The seventh inning “was huge,” the lefty added. “They were obviously seeing me pretty well and barreling-up balls. To get through six and then have the offense explode there in the seventh inning and throw some runs on them and kind of step on their throats, that was really great to see.”David Dahl homered in the eighth, his eighth.The double steal was big for the Rockies.“The Rockies have never historically really run on us,” San Diego manager Andy Green said. “They ran all over us this series. It’s a bunch of young guys on the mound that have come up not realizing how important that is. We’ve got to drill that into them that those are free bases, and they turn into runs Erik Gonzalez Jersey , and they turn into losses.”Nix allowed five runs and five hits in six-plus innings, struck out four and walked two.“I take pride in not walking guys. Nothing frustrates me more than walking a guy and having him score,” Nix said. “Especially like if I ever walk a guy and he steals second then I give up a double, it’s like, that guy shouldn’t have been on base.“The ball that Story hit, I put that ball right where I wanted. About six inches off the plate, wanted him to chase. He did, got it down the line. Good hitters get hits sometimes.”Freeland got into early trouble when he walked leadoff batter Freddy Galvis and allowed a single to left by rookie Luis Urias. He walked Eric Hosmer with one out and then allowed rookie Franmil Reyes’ two-run single to center for a 2-1 lead.Colorado got a sacrifice fly from Nolan Arenado in the first and a sac fly from Dahl in the fourth, and then tied the game in the sixth when DJ LeMahieu walked with one out and scored on Trevor Story’s double to right.UP NEXTRockies: LHP Tyler Anderson (6-7, 4.79) is scheduled to start Monday in the opener of a three-game series against San Francisco. The Giants will counter with LHP Madison Bumgarner (5-5, 2.6.Padres: RHP Bryan Mitchell (0-3, 7.0 is scheduled to start Monday night in the opener of a two-game series at Arizona, marking his return to the rotation for the first time since early May. He was moved to the bullpen after struggling in his first seven starts and then missed 2 ½ months with an elbow impingement. Arizona is set to counter with RHP Zack Godley (14-7, 4.42). NEW YORK — The New York Yankees are inching closer toward clinching a wild-card spot for the second straight season. They also want to be the home team for the one-game playoff while giving certain players some rest.With those things in mind, the Yankees continue a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.“Our guys know what time it is,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said. “Not that they’ve ever slacked off or cut back. We know all eyes are on us — always — and at the end of the day, it’s postseason baseball in front of us and we’ve got to secure that first and foremost, and we want to host the wild-card game if at all possible.”Article continues below ...The Yankees (94-59) enter with a magic number of two to clinch their second straight wild-card spot. They hold a 1 1/2-game lead over Oakland (93-61) for home field.“We want to play here. We feel like we have a home-field advantage, but I also don’t want to get caught up in driving that home so much http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-tomlin-jersey ,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We feel like we can beat anybody, anyplace.”Mindful of keeping players rested for the wild-card game, the Yankees opened the series by holding on for a 10-8 victory on a night when Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez and Miguel Andujar rested. Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks homered and Aaron Judge contributed an RBI double in his fourth game back in the starting lineup from a fractured right wrist.“Just trying to be wise here down the stretch,” Boone said. “Obviously, these games are really important and now that we’re whole we feel like we have really good options every day to keep guys in the fold.”The Yankees will be looking to add to the major league home run total as well. They are up to 249 — and 14 games from the major league record set by the Seattle Mariners in 1997.The Orioles (44-109) own 15 losses in their last 19 games after dropping their fifth straight to the Yankees. They nearly erased deficits of 6-0 and 9-4 by getting homers from rookies Austin Wynns, Renato Nunez and DJ Stewart but were done in by allowing at least 10 runs for the 20th time this year.“A lot of young players did some good things, but it’s just the pitching is not quite, I don’t know if you want to say mature enough,” Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. “We did some good things, but we can’t put together a lot of sequences.”Chris Davis went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and is hitless in his last 16 at-bats. He is batting .170 with 189 strikeouts.“He can’t string it together consistently,” Showalter said. “It’s been a challenge for him most of the season.”The Orioles are two losses from matching the franchise record set by the 1939 St. Louis Browns, who finished 64 1/2 games out of first place. They are playing the rest of the season against the Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros.After getting six solid innings from CC Sabathia on Friday, Lance Lynn makes his ninth start and 10th appearance with the Yankees. He last pitched in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Toronto when he allowed one run and three hits in five innings.Lynn is 2-1 with a 4.37 ERA in five career appearances (three starts) against the Orioles.David Hess, making his 18th start and 20th appearance for the Orioles, owns a 5.20 ERA. Since getting his last win on Aug. 27 vs. Toronto, Hess is 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA.Hess last pitched in an 8-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday when he allowed four runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings.Hess is facing the Yankees for the first time.
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