Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill was removed after throwing seven perfect innings against the Marlins in a 5-0 victory on Saturday night in Miami.
Hill (3-0) had thrown 89 pitches and struck out nine when first-year manager Dave Roberts replaced the 35-year-old lefthander with Joe Blanton at the start of the eighth inning.
Blanton struck out Christian Yelich and retired Marcell Ozuna on a groundout before Jeff Francoeur singled to left. Grant Dayton gave up Dee Gordon’s two-out infield hit in the ninth that put two on, and Kenley Jansen retired Martin Prado on a grounder to complete the two-hitter.
Roberts said he understood why Hill, who was visibly upset in the dugout after being pulled, would be so emotional. “I feel sick to my stomach,’’ Roberts said. “I am going to lose sleep over it tonight.’’
Roberts said that Hill, who had spent time on the disabled list this year with groin and blister injuries, started to develop a tender index finger on his throwing hand.
After the game, Hill said he understood his manager’s rationale. “Looking at it from a team aspect, there is always something that is bigger than any player,’’ he said. “You have to understand that.’’
Hill, who said that his finger felt fine, didn’t pitch in the majors between May 29 and July 2 because of a strained left groin and between July 17 and Aug. 24 because of a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand. He has pitched 19 scoreless innings since joining the Dodgers after an Aug. 1 trade with Oakland.
Left fielder Yasiel Puig, brought back from the minors on Sept. 2, made an outstanding diving catch for the final out of the seventh. Prado hit a drive to deep left-center, and Puig sprinted and as he approached the warning track dived toward the wall to make the catch.
Joc Pederson made a sliding and diving catch on a drive to center by Ozuna in the second.
Hill entered a combined 11-3 with a 1.94 ERA in 16 starts this year. He has just three complete games in 91 big league starts over 12 seasons.
Pederson connected in the fifth and seventh innings, and Corey Seager and Justin Turner hit consecutive homers in the sixth, with Seager connecting for a two-run drive.
Pederson’s first homer of the night went into the upper deck in right field.
Tom Koehler (9-11) allowed four runs and six hits in five-plus innings, and Brian Ellington gave up Pederson’s second homer, Pederson’s 22d this season. Koehler is 0-3 in his last five starts and has not won since Aug. 9.
Yankees 5, Rays 1 — Gary Sanchez homered, leading Masahiro Tanaka and hard-charging New York past visiting Tampa Bay to its season-best seventh straight win.
The Yankees closed within three games of AL East-leading Boston, their closest to the lead since mid-April.
Tanaka (13-4) struck out 10 and took a shutout into the eighth inning. Chris Archer (8-18) tied the Tampa Bay record for losses in a season, set by Tanyon Sturtze in 2002.
It was scoreless in the sixth when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run homer and Sanchez followed with a long drive.
In the eighth, after Ellsbury’s double put runners on second and third with no outs, the Rays seemed set to intentionally walk Sanchez. Catcher Bobby Wilson moved wide as reliever Enny Romero lobbed in his first pitch at 52 miles per hour, but the ball drifted close to the plate and Sanchez socked it to the warning track for a sacrifice fly.
From the dugout, Rays manager Kevin Cash seemed to say, ‘‘What happened?’’
Sanchez connected for the second straight day, giving the 23-year-old rookie 13 home runs in 125 at-bats this season.
Tanaka won his sixth straight decision, giving up five hits and walking none. He left in the eighth after Bobby Wilson homered with one out and Logan Forsythe was hit by a pitch.
Archer fanned six and tops the AL with 217 strikeouts. Nolan Ryan is the only AL pitcher to ever lead the league in losses and strikeouts, doing it in 1976 with the Angels.
Orioles 11, Tigers 3 — Matt Wieters hit two of Baltimore’s four home runs, and the Orioles chased Jordan Zimmermann (9-6) in the second inning and moved back ahead of visiting Detroit in the AL wild-card race.
Adam Jones and Chris Davis homered in the first inning off Zimmermann, and Wieters connected in the second and sixth innings.
Baltimore is two games behind first-place Boston in the tightly bunched AL East and one game back of wild-card leader Toronto. The Orioles are one game ahead of the Tigers and New York Yankees for the second wild card.
Ubaldo Jimenez (7-11) allowed two runs, four hits, and three walks in seven innings.
Zimmermann, bothered by a neck injury, has been on the disabled list three times and was making his first big league start since Aug. 4 and his second since June 30. He allowed six runs and four hits — including three homers — and two walks while getting three outs. He threw 42 pitches and faced 10 batters.
Astros 2, Cubs 1 — Rookie Alex Bregman homered and Collin McHugh combined with his bullpen on a two-hitter to lift host Houston.
Marwin Gonzalez drove in a run with a third-inning squeeze bunt for the Astros.
Bregman put the Astros ahead with a home run to right-center against John Lackey (9-8) in a two-run third. After starting 1 for 34 following hus July 25 callup, Bregman has eight homers — all since Aug. 16. He went 2 for 4 and raised his average to .274 with 31 RBIs.
McHugh (10-10) allowed one run and two hits in five innings. Chris Devenski, Will Harris, Luke Gregerson, and Ken Giles combined for hitless relief.
Lackey gave up two runs in five innings for the NL Central leaders, who are a MLB-best 90-51.
Twins 2, Indians 1 — Joe Mauer’s single off Joe Colon (1-1) scored Brian Dozier from second in the 12th inning to lift host Minnesota.
Giants 11, Diamondbacks 3 — Hunter Pence had three hits, including a solo homer, and Johnny Cueto (15-5) pitched seven solid innings as San Francisco beat host Arizona.
Pence has seven hits in eight at-bats in the first two games of the three-game set. He has also scored seven runs.
Cueto allowed two runs and three hits while improving to 6-1 in eight career games at Chase Field. He struck out six and walked two in his fifth start against Arizona this season.
Cardinals 5, Brewers 1 — Adam Wainwright (11-8) pitched eight strong innings to lead St. Louis past visiting Milwaukee.
Randal Grichuk made a perfect throw to the plate to cut down Jake Elmore trying to score from second in the eighth. Then he doubled in the bottom half, helping clear the way for a five-run rally. Matt Adam drove in the tying run with a grounder to second and Grichuk scored on Kolten Wong’s single, giving St. Louis a 2-1 lead.
Wainwright struck out seven and allowed six hits in his most impressive outing since a shutout against San Diego on July 21. He was helped by double plays in the second and seventh innings.
Nationals 3 Phillies 0 — Bryce Harper hit a three-run home run off Patrick Shuster in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift host Washington over Philadelphia.
Nationals ace Max Scherzer gave up four hits in 6⅔ scoreless innings, and struck out eight to increase his NL lead to 251.
Harper struck out in each of his first three plate appearances, all against Philadelphia starter Jerad Eickhoff. He then provided the game’s only scoring against Patrick Schuster, who threw a wild pitch, issued a walk and gave up the homer without recording an out after replacing fellow reliever Luis Garcia (1-1).
Shawn Kelley (2-2) recorded the final out of the eighth and Mark Melancon pitched ninth for his 40th save as Washington won for the fifth time in six games.
Mariners 14, Athletics 3 — Felix Hernandez (11-5) pitched six scoreless innings for Seattle in its rout of host Oakland.
Nelson Cruz had three hits and three RBIs, Nori Aoki also had three hits and two RBIs, and Kyle Seager hit his 28th homer to help the Mariners to their seventh win in eight games against the A’s this season. Seattle batted around twice and had seven players with two hits or more.
Hernandez gave up four hits and a walk in the first two innings then settled in for his second consecutive win. He walked one and struck out two for his seventh win since coming off the disabled list.
Kendall Graveman (10-10) took the loss.
Braves 4, Mets 3 — Adonis Garcia’s tiebreaking single in the 10th inning scored Dansby Swanson from third base as Atlanta snapped visiting New York’s six-game winning streak.
Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis homered for Atlanta.
The Mets’ winning streak was their longest since late April, when they had won eight a row in late April. New York dropped one-half game behind St. Louis for the second NL wild-card spot.
Chris Withrow (3-0) faced the minimum in the 10th to earn the victory.
Royals 6, White Sox 5 — Whit Merrifield hit a go-ahead two-run double in a three-run seventh and Kansas City held on to defeat host Chicago.
Royals closer Wade Davis gave up a single to Tyler Saladino and a double to Adam Eaton to lead off the ninth before Melky Cabrera’s infield single cut the deficit to one.
With the tying run on third and one out, Davis struck out Jose Abreu and Justin Morneau for his 23d save as the Royals remained four games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card.
Reds 8, Pirates — Joey Votto celebrated his 33d birthday with four hits, including a home run, and Cincinnati beat host Pittsburgh.
Votto led off the ninth inning with his 23d homer, a drive to right off Juan Nicasio that gave the Reds a two-run cushion. Votto is hitting .427 in 51 games since the All-Star break and could become the first major leaguer to hit .400 in the second half since Ichiro Suzuki had a .429 average in 2004 with Seattle.
Padres 6, Rockies 3 — Lefthander Christian Friedrich (5-10) matched his career-high with 10 strikeouts in seven innings to lead host San Diego over Colorado.
Friedrich, the Rockies’ first-round draft pick in 2008, allowed two hits and walked one. He retired his final 13 batters and 19 of 20.
