Mike Trout homered twice and Johnny Giavotella singled in the tiebreaking run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Los Angeles Angels over the Colorado Rockies 3-2 Wednesday night for their fifth straight win. The start was delayed by rain for 2 hours, 7 minutes, and the teams played in 50-degree weather throughout. It didn’t bother Trout, who hit mammoth homers in the first and sixth to account for the Angels’ runs against starter Chris Rusin. It was the fifth multihomer game of Trout’s career and second this season. The reigning AL MVP has gone deep 24 times on the year, second in the league to teammate Albert Pujols (26).
Across the Major League Diamonds Wednesday:
— The St. Louis Cardinals are going to Pittsburgh for a four-game mid-summer showdown series starting tonight with a four-and-a-half-game lead over the Pirates in the tough NL Central — thanks to Jhonny Peralta. Peralta’s dramatic two-run, two-out homer in the top of the ninth gave the Cards another come-from-behind victory, 6-5 over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Miguel Montero cracked a three-run go-ahead double in the sixth inning to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead which they held until the ninth. That’s the Cardinals’ major league-leading 26th come-from-behind victory.
— The Pittsburgh Pirates completed a sweep of the San Diego Padres with a 5-2 win. That’s the Pirates’ 10th series sweep of the season to tie a club record. Gregory Polanco, Andrew McCutchen and Jung Ho Kang had RBI singles in a three-run eighth, all with two outs.
— Clayton Kershaw was brilliant in winning his first game in a month. Kershaw fanned 13 in snapping a five-start winless streak with an eight-hit shutout, and Jimmy Rollins hit a three-run homer against his former team to help the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0. It was Kershaw’s 10th career shutout and 18th complete game in his 227th start.
— All-Star slugger Mark Teixeira homered twice after Scott Kazmir left his start with triceps tightness and the New York Yankees held off the Oakland Athletics 5-4. CC Sabathia won for the first time in a month to improve to 4-8.
— Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson hit two-run homers, Alcides Escobar had four hits and the Kansas City Royals pounded Rays All-Star Chris Archer before holding off Tampa Bay 9-7. The Royals lost All-Star outfielder Alex Gordon to a strained groin in the fourth inning. He was hurt on Logan Forsythe’s inside-the-park homer.
— Cleveland doubled up AL West-leading Houston 4-2. David Murphy drove in two runs with a double in the eighth inning to help Trevor Bauer improve to 8-5.
— A.J. Pollock’s three-run home run sparked a five-run second inning that carried Arizona past Texas 7-4. Arizona reached the break-even mark (42-42) for the first time since April 24.
— Adam Eaton’s walkoff home run in the 11th inning lifted the Chicago White Sox to a 7-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
— David Ortiz hit a two-run homer and the surging Boston Red Sox won their season-high fourth straight, 6-3 over the Miami Marlins. Rick Porcello held Miami to two runs in six innings to snap a career-worst, seven-game losing streak. He’s 5-9.
— Carlos Gomez homered twice, including the go-ahead, three-run shot in the eighth inning that gave Milwaukee a 6-5 win over Atlanta. Gomez’s eighth home run came off reliever Luis Avilan who failed to hold the lead for starter Julio Teheran and Atlanta.
— Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer hit back-to-back home runs with two outs in the sixth inning, leading Minnesota past Baltimore 5-3 to complete a three-game sweep. The home runs came off of Orioles pitcher Bud Norris who came on in the sixth following five scoreless innings from starter Ubaldo Jimenez. Manny Machado and Chris Davis hit consecutive homers in the eighth for the Orioles.
— Jacob deGrom pitched eight shutout innings to pick up his ninth win as the Mets topped slumping San Francisco 4-1. Eric Campbell hit a two-run homer and scored twice to help hand the Giants their eighth loss in the last nine games.
— Detroit rookie Jefry Marte got an RBI double for his first major league hit, then added a solo home run that sent the Detroit Tigers over the Seattle Mariners 5-4.
— The Reds-Nationals game in Washington was rained out.