Saturday's MLB roundup

Rich Hill's lingering blister made Dave Roberts sick.

Roberts made the decision to pull Hill after seven perfect innings in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 5-0 victory over the host Miami Marlins on Saturday night.

Hill (12-3) had thrown 89 pitches and struck out nine when Roberts replaced the 35-year-old lefthander with Joe Blanton at the start of the eighth.

"I feel sick to my stomach," said Roberts, trying to lead Los Angeles to the NL West title in his first year as Dodgers manager. "Rich had an opportunity of a lifetime. You take the personal aside. As a manager you are taking a lot of information.

"We have been dealing with Richie's blister and that caused him to miss a lot of time."

Hill didn't pitch in the majors between May 29 and July 2 because of a strained left groin and between July 17 and Aug. 24 because of a blister on the middle finger of his left hand. He has pitched 19 scoreless innings since joining the Dodgers after an Aug. 1 trade with Oakland.

Hill felt he could have continued pitching. "Obviously, I didn't want to come out of the game," he said. "But I think there is a bigger picture here and we all know what it is. Dave was in a very difficult position. You look at it and move on. That's all you can do."

On April 8, Roberts removed Ross Stripling with a no-hit bid after 7⅓ innings and 100 pitches in a game the Dodgers lost to San Francisco 3-2 in 10 innings.

Washington 3, Philadelphia 0: Bryce Harper hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Nationals over the Phillies. Harper struck out in each of his first three plate appearances, all against Jerad Eickhoff. He then provided the game's only scoring against Patrick Schuster.

St. Louis 5, Milwaukee 1: Randal Grichuk made two key plays in the eighth inning and Adam Wainwright pitched eight strong innings to help the host Cardinals beat the Brewers. St. Louis moved back into a wild-card spot, a half-game ahead of the Mets.

Atlanta 4, New York 3 (10): Adonis Garcia's 10th-inning single scored Dansby Swanson and the host Braves ended the Mets' six-game winning streak.

San Francisco 11, Arizona 3: Johnny Cueto pitched seven innings, Hunter Pence had four runs and the Giants had 19 hits against the host Diamondbacks.

San Diego 6, Colorado 3: Christian Friedrich struck out 10 Rockies in seven innings to win for the first time since June 23 for the host Padres.

New York 5, Tampa Bay 1: Gary Sanchez homered and almost hit another while the Rays were trying to intentionally walk him, leading Masahiro Tanaka and the host Yankees to their seventh consecutive victory. New York closed within three games of AL East-leading Boston and is a game behind Baltimore for the second wild card.

Baltimore 11, Detroit 3: Matt Wieters hit two of the Orioles' four home runs as they chased Jordan Zimmermann in the second inning and moved back ahead of the host Tigers in the AL wild-card race. Zimmermann, bothered by a neck injury, was making his first start since Aug. 4.

Kansas City 6, Chicago 5: Whit Merrifield hit a go-ahead two-run double in a three-run seventh inning and the Royals held on against the host White Sox. Wade Davis gave up a ninth-inning run, but with the tying run on third and one out, he struck out Jose Abreu and Justin Morneau for his 23rd save.

Toronto 3, Boston 2: J.A. Happ got his 18th win, Melvin Upton Jr. hit a two-run homer and the host Blue Jays stopped a four-game losing streak.