— Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning at Wrigley Field last night, but the rest of the game belonged to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Redbirds scored twice in the seventh and four more in the ninth to beat the Cubbies 6-0. Yadier Molina snapped the scoreless tie with a sacrifice fly and Randal Grichuk added a two-run double as the Cards improved to a major league-best 54-28. John Lackey scattered six hits in seven innings to help the NL Central leaders keep their six-game advantage over Pittsburgh.
— The Pirates pulled out a 2-1 win over San Diego on an RBI single by Pedro Alvarez with two out in the bottom of the ninth. A.J. Burnett had to settle for a no-decision despite holding the Padres to a run and five hits in 7 2/3 innings. The Pirates have the National League’s second-best record at 48-34.
— Eugenio Suarez hit a tiebreaking, solo homer in the eighth inning to push the Cincinnati Reds past the Nationals, 3-2 in Washington. Suarez also lined an RBI single and was 3-for-4 as the Reds ended a three-game skid. The Reds’ bullpen contributed 3 1/3 hitless innings after Cincinnati starter Anthony Desclafini gave up two runs and five hits.
— Johnny Monell lined a two-run double in the ninth to break up a scoreless deadlock in the New York Mets’ 3-0 win at San Francisco. Jon Niese gave up just three hits in eight innings as the Mets improved to 3-1 on their road trip and climbed within 3 ½ games of the NL East-leading Nationals. The Giants dropped their seventh straight despite Chris Heston, who held the Mets to three hits over 7 1/3 innings after tossing a no-hitter in his previous meeting with New York.
— Yasmani Grandal crushed a three-run homer and Jimmy Rollins singled home the tiebreaking run against his former team as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Philadelphia 10-7. Howie Kendrick was 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored as the Dodgers stretched their lead in the NL West to five games over the Giants. Ryan Howard socked a three-run homer and Freddy Galvis hit a two-run blast while the Phillies were building a 6-3 lead.
— Marwin Gonzalez and Preston Tucker hit solo homers, drove in two runs apiece and combined for seven of Houston’s 16 hits in a 9-4 rout of Cleveland. Tucker finished with four hits and Colby Rasmus delivered three hits and two RBIs in the Astros’ first victory in three games. Dallas Kuechel gave up three runs in six innings for his 11th win.
— Minnesota beat Baltimore 4-2 on Brian Dozier’s two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th. Torii Hunter and Aaron Hicks also homered for the Twins to counter round-trippers by Manny Machado and Adam Jones. The outcome gets the Twins within four games of the AL Central-leading Royals and drops the Orioles 1 ½ games behind the AL East-leading Yankees.
— Detroit clobbered Seattle 12-5 as Nick Castellanos went 4-for-5 with a solo homer and four RBIs. Victor Martinez also went 4-for-5 with a solo shot, and J.D. Martinez belted his team-high 24th home run of the season. Yoenis Cespedes added the Tigers’ final homer, and Alfredo Simon improved to 8-5 despite surrendering five runs in 5 2/3 innings.
— Melky Cabrera laced a tiebreaking, two-run double in a three-run eighth that lifted the White Sox past Toronto 4-2 in just one hour and 54 minutes, the shortest major league game in nearly four years. Chris Sale finished with six strikeouts, ending his major league record-tying string of eight starts with at least 10 K’s. Sale tossed a six-hitter and was more fortunate than Mark Buehrle, who gave up four unearned runs.
— Milwaukee’s eight-game winning streak is over after Kelly Johnson hit a two-run homer and had three RBIs in Atlanta’s 5-3 downing of the Brewers. A.J. Pierzynski had four of the Braves’ 15 hits, and Matt Wisler gave up three runs and seven hits over 5 2/3s for his third win in four decisions. Gerardo Parra smacked a solo homer for the Brewers.
— The Royals and the visiting Tampa Bay Rays were postponed with tornado warnings in the Kansas City area. The two clubs will play a day-night doubleheader on Tuesday.