WASHINGTON: Washington overcame the early expulsion of star slugger Bryce Harper and manager Matt Williams to beat the New York Yankees 3-2 on Wednesday, taking the lead in the National League East division while costing the Yankees their own divisional lead.
The Nationals went top of the NL East above the New York Mets, who were beaten heavily at home by St Louis, while the Yankees dropped into a tie for the lead of the American League East along with Tampa Bay.
Among other results, San Francisco shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers to notch a fifth straight win, while Kansas City had a comfortable result against Cincinnati.
Washington’s Harper, the NL Player of the Week twice in a row, entered with 10 homers in his previous 12 games.
In his second at-bat, he got into an argument with plate umpire Marvin Hudson after a first-pitch strike call and was ejected. Williams then came out of the dugout to move Harper out of the way and get in Hudson’s face, leading to the second ejection.
After getting kicked out, Williams went over and kicked dirt on home plate — with one swipe by each foot.
The Nationals won the game when Denard Span hit a single with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
The Mets, who had led the NL East for five weeks, dropped down to second after a 9-0 loss to St Louis.
Matt Adams hit a long three-run homer and Jason Heyward also connected for the Cardinals, who have the best record in the majors at 27-13.
Mets starter Bartolo Colon (6-3), pitching four days before his 42nd birthday, was trying to be the first pitcher to notch seven wins this season but was hit hard all game and even walked two batters.
San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum continued his recent strong form by guiding the Giants to a 4-0 win against the Dodgers on a misty night by the bay.
Lincecum (4-2) won a fourth straight home start for the first time since 2009. He struck out four over seven innings to pass Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell for fourth place on the franchise all-time list with 1,680 strikeouts.
Buster Posey hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning for the Giants, who edged within two and a half games of NL Westleading Los Angeles.
Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie pitched six scoreless innings to steer the Royals to a 7-1 win against Cincinnati.
Guthrie (4-2) pitched out of a basesloaded, one-out predicament in the first inning and won his third straight start. He retired 13 on fly balls and two on grounders.
The Royals tied a club record with 24 consecutive scoreless innings, which was set in 1976. The streak ended in the seventh when Brandon Phillips’ two-out double off reliever Ryan Madson.
Kansas City improved to 26-14, the franchise’s best ever record after 40 games.
Chicago’s Tsuyoshi Wada struck out nine in 4 2-3 innings in his season debut as the Cubs edged San Diego 3-2.
Wada missed the start of the season with a groin strain and made six starts in the minors. Recalled to the majors, he struck out seven of the first nine Padres batters but gave up a two-run homer and the game lead in the fourth inning.
The Cubs retook the lead in the fifth. Wada drew a leadoff walk and scored on Dexter Fowler’s triple, just beating the relay throw to tie the scores. Fowler then came in on Kris Bryant’s sacrifice fly.
Houston pitcher Dallas Keuchel improved his winning streak to eight straight as the Astros beat Oakland 6-1.
Keuchel allowed no earned runs in seven innings to lower his ERA to 1.67. His 6-0 win-loss record this year is the best by an Astro since Roger Clemens opened the 2004 season at 9-0.
Evan Gattis hit a two-run homer for Houston, which improved to 27-14 and sit atop the AL West.