Friday's MLB roundup

Zach Plesac pitched impressively into the eighth inning, and Brad Hand worked out of a jam in the ninth as visiting Cleveland beat Detroit 1-0 on Friday night.

Francisco Lindor drove in the game's only run with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly, and Plesac (4-2) rebounded after allowing a season-high five runs at Minnesota in his previous outing. The righthander yielded five hits in 7⅔ innings, lowering his ERA to 1.85. He struck out 11 with one walk.

James Karinchak struck out Miguel Cabrera with two on to end the eighth. Hand allowed a one-out triple by Daz Cameron — the rookie was 1-for-27 in his career to that point — but struck out Jorge Bonifacio and Niko Goodrum to end it. It was Hand's 13th save in 13 chances.

Plesac is now close to teammate Shane Bieber's American League-leading ERA of 1.74, although Plesac doesn't have enough innings to qualify yet.

"[Plesac's] tempo's much better. His command is much better," Cleveland interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr. said. "Kind of simplified his mechanics. Last year was a little bit of a struggle with the way he set his glove — I felt like he was tipping his pitches."

While Plesac was keeping the Detroit bats quiet, Cleveland struggled to back him up. Jose Ramirez was caught attempting a straight steal of home for the third out of the fourth.

With one out in the fifth, Delino DeShields tripled to center — outfielder Victor Reyes was unable to cut the ball off and it went for three bases. Lindor lifted a fly ball to center, and DeShields scored.

Los Angeles 6, Texas 2: Angels slugger Albert Pujols passed Willie Mays for fifth place on the career home run list, hitting No. 661 in the fifth inning against the visiting Rangers. He hit No. 662 in his next at-bat.

New York 6, Boston 5 (12): Gary Sanchez hit a tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning, and DJ LeMahieu had a go-ahead double in the top of the 12th as the Yankees to beat the Red Sox for their ninth straight win.

St. Louis 6-7, Pittsburgh 5-2: Kolten Wong hit the second leadoff home run of his career, Tyler O'Neill added a two-run shot and the Cardinals held off the host Pirate in Game 1 of a doubleheader. St. Louis also won the second game. Rookie Dylan Carlson's three-run homer capped a six-run outburst in the sixth inning by the Cardinals.

Washington 5-3, Miami 0-14: Erick Fedde allowed one hit in six innings, and the visiting Nationals beat rookie Sixto Sanchez and the Marlins in the first game of a doubleheader. The Marlins, bidding for their first playoff berth since 2003, are in second place in the NL East but have lost three of their past four games, all at home against last-place teams. Brian Anderson tied a franchise record with three homers and drove in seven runs in the second game to help Miami earn a doubleheader split.

Atlanta 15, New York 2: Freddie Freeman added three more hits to his burgeoning MVP campaign, Ozzie Albies hit two of Atlanta's six homers and the visiting Braves battered Mets pitching. Max Fried returned from a brief stay on the injured list and breezed through five innings to win his seventh game.

Philadelphia 7-8, Toronto 0-7: Zach Eflin struck out nine in a four-hitter, Bryce Harper hit a homer and the Phillies shut out the Blue Jays in the first game of a doubleheader. Philadelphia was the road team in their home ballpark for the opener, a makeup game from earlier in the season. In the second game, Bryce Harper hit a tying, two-run double and scored the go-ahead run on an error following Alec Bohm's infield single, helping the Phillies rally for their first doubleheader sweep in eight years.

Cincinnati 7, Chicago White Sox 1: Slumping Jesse Winker hit a three-run homer — one of four off White Sox starter Jonathan Stiever — and the host Reds won their season-high sixth game in a row.

Arizona 6, Houston 3: Kole Calhoun hit two home runs to lead the Diamondbacks over former teammate Zack Greinke and the host Astros. Calhoun connected on Greinke's fastball in the fourth inning for an upper-deck shot to right. The three-run homer put Arizona ahead 3-2.

Milwaukee 9, Kansas City 5: Jacob Nottingham hit a grand slam and Orlando Arcia added a three-run shot as the host Brewers rallied from an early four-run deficit and beat the Royals.

Oakland 6, San Francisco 0: Matt Olson hit a three-run homer and Chris Bassit gave up only three hits in 6⅔ innings as the host A's beat the Giants.