Monday 11 August 2014 08:06, UK
The Milwaukee Brewers gave themselves a 2.5-game cushion at the top of MLB's National League Central as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and their nearest pursuers stumbled.
The Brewers struck two home runs off their former pitcher Zack Greinke thanks to Khris Davis and Carlos Gomez, setting up a 4-1 win as Mike Fiers earned the success while starting in place of the injured Matt Garza.
Better still for the Crew, both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St Louis Cardinals failed to match their result and lost ground in the division.
Pittsburgh went down 2-1 to the San Diego Padres, all the runs coming in the first inning, while St Louis were hammered 10-3 by American League East leaders the Baltimore Orioles.
Nelson Cruz, Delmon Young and, for the fifth straight game, Caleb Joseph hit home runs to lift Baltimore six games clear of the New York Yankees, who lost 3-0 to the Cleveland Indians.
The one bright spot for the Yankees was Derek Jeter's 3,431st career hit, moving him sixth outright on the all-time MLB list.
The Toronto Blue Jays are alongside New York in the divisional standings after Nolan Reimold's walk-off double earned them a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in 10 innings.
The Kansas City Royals cut Detroit's lead of the AL Central to 1.5 games with a 5-0 win over the San Francisco Giants, James Shields with a complete-game shutout to ensure the Giants could not close the 3.5-game deficit to the Dodgers.
Derek Norris' three-run homer led AL West leaders the Oakland Athletics to a 9-4 win over the Minnesota Twins while the second-placed Los Angeles Angels sneaked a 5-4 victory against the Boston Red Sox in a game which went to 19 innings.
The Houston Astros beat state rivals the Texas Rangers 8-3 and the Chicago White Sox enjoyed a 4-1 win over the Seattle Mariners while city rivals the Cubs lost 4-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Washington Nationals strengthened their grip at the top of the NL East standings with a 4-1 victory over nearest challengers the Atlanta Braves. The start of the game had been delayed by almost four hours by rain and it took 11 innings to separate the teams, but Kevin Frandsen drove in two runs to help secure the win.
There were wins for divisional rivals the Miami Marlins, 4-3 over the Cincinnati Reds, and the New York Mets who beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1.
The Arizona Diamondbacks scored nine in the eighth inning to seal a 14-4 win over the Colorado Rockies, rounded off by David Peralta's grand slam.
