Jon Lester struck out 14, one shy of his career high and the most for a Cubs pitcher in more than a decade, leading Chicago over the Colorado Rockies 3-2 Wednesday. A day after he was acquired from Toronto, Jose Reyes was 1 for 3 with a walk and a stolen base in his Rockies’ debut. The four-time All-Star, obtained in a trade that sent Troy Tulowitzki to Toronto, batted second and singled in his first at-bat for Colorado, then was caught stealing. Lester (6-8) struck out seven of his first eight hitters and nine of the first 14. He allowed two runs, five hits and one walk in eight innings. His strikeout high was set for Boston on May 3 last year against Oakland. He became the first Cubs pitcher to strike out 14 since Mark Prior had 16 on Sept. 30, 2004.
Across the Majors Wednesday:
— Bryce Harper cracked a tiebreaking three-run home run in the fifth inning and added a solo shot in the eighth to help the Washington Nationals beat Miami 7-2. Harper has 29 homers, including five career homers off Marlins starter Tom Koehler. Michael Taylor also homered for the Nats. Doug Fister earned his first victory since June 27 to improve to 4-6.
— Justin Upton homered and drove in three runs and Yonder Alonso also connected as the San Diego Padres beat the New York Mets 7-3 despite three homers from Lucas Duda. The loss drops the Mets two games back of NL East leader Washington.
— Cincinnati blanked NL Central leader St. Louis for the second straight night, 1-0. Jay Bruce homered in the second to back Anthony DeSclafani’s seven innings of three-hit ball. He is 6-7.
— Adam Eaton opened the game with a home run, Jose Quintana pitched 6 1-3 solid innings and the Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox 9-2 for their seventh straight win.
— Houston moved one game ahead of the L.A. Angels for the AL West lead by beating the Halos for the second straight night, 6-3. Rookie Lance McCullers pitched seven solid innings for the win. Preston Tucker and Jon Singleton homered.
— The Texas Rangers beat the AL East-leading New York Yankees 5-2. Colby Lewis improved to 11-4 with six strong innings.
— Detroit’s Justin Verlander has his first win of the season. He outlasted Tampa Bay loser Chris Archer in a 2-1 win. Verlander retired his first 14 batters before Asdrubal Cabrera homered with two outs in the fifth. The Tigers starter gave up one run, four hits and had 10 strikeouts. Archer took a perfect game into the seventh inning before giving up RBI singles to J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos.
— Chris Tillman took a three-hitter into the ninth inning, Jonathan Schoop and J.J. Hardy homered and the Baltimore Orioles beat the skidding Atlanta Braves 2-0 for a three-game sweep. The Orioles moved within one game of Minnesota for the second AL wild card.
— Welington Castillo homered twice off Seattle ace Felix Hernandez, including a two-run shot in the first inning, and the Arizona Diamondbacks won their fifth straight beating the Mariners 8-2. Castillo is just the sixth player to homer twice in the same game off Hernandez, who fell to 12-6.
— Andrew McCutchen hit a home run and had three RBIs to help Pittsburgh beat Minnesota 10-4. McCutchen had an RBI single as part of the five-run sixth inning that put the game away for the Pirates. Jung Ho Kang homered for the second straight day for Pittsburgh.
— Corey Kluber took a shutout into the ninth and rookie Francisco Lindor hit a three-run homer and had a career-high four RBIs as the Indians beat Kansas City 12-1. Prior to the big offensive spurt against the Royals the Tribe had been outscored 37-10 in losing the first six games of the homestand.
— The L.A. Dodgers rallied with five in the seventh to beat Oakland 10-7 in interleague play. Enrique Hernandez drove in two runs with a go-ahead pinch-hit double.