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Lavarnway drives in winning run, Pirates top Royals in 11

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pinch-hitter Ryan Lavarnway drove in the winning run with a single in the 11th inning, Jameson Taillon struck out a career-high 11 and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 on Tuesday night.

It was just the second at-bat of the season for the 30-year-old Lavarnway, the Pirates’ fourth-string catcher. He hit .288 in 77 games in with Triple-A Indianapolis.

Starling Marte led off the 11th with an infield single off Burch Smith (1-6). Josh Bell walked and Burch struck out Francisco Cervelli before Adam Frazier was intentionally walked to load the bases, setting up Lavarnway’s walk-off hit to shallow center.

Phillies 5, Reds 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jorge Alfaro hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the sixth inning and Philadelphia Phillies rallied past the New York Mets to boost their faint playoff hopes.

Philadelphia overcame an uneven outing from ace Aaron Nola and a home run by starter Steven Matz that made him the third Mets pitcher to homer in consecutive appearances.

Wilson Ramos and Justin Bour delivered pinch-hit RBI hits in a five-run sixth before Alfaro drilled a curveball from Drew Smith (1-1) to left-center for his 10th homer.

Indians 5, White Sox 3

CLEVELAND (AP) — Corey Kluber struck out 11 in eight innings to record his career-high 19th win as Cleveland beat the Chicago White Sox.

Kluber (19-7), who allowed three runs, topped 200 strikeouts for the fifth straight season. Kluber won 18 games in three of the previous four seasons, including his two AL Cy Young Award-winning years, 2014 and 2017.

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