Nationals Make Easy Work Of Rockies – MLB Roundup

UNDATED (AP)_Washington shortstop Ian Desmond went 5-for-5 to lead the Nationals past Colorado 7-2. Desmond had four singles and his 17th home run, a two-run shot in the fourth inning. Danny Espinosa had a double and triple and also drove in two runs. That helped Doug Fister win his ninth game.

The victory moved the Nationals into first place in the NL East.

In other baseball finals:

— The Atlanta Braves fell a game back of Washington in the NL East by losing 3-1 to Miami in 10 innings. Garrett Jones drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the 10th inning. — Milwaukee moved a half-game ahead of idle St. Louis in the NL Central by beating Cincinnati 5-2. The Brewers scored three runs on two misjudged balls in the outfield by Chris Heisey (HY'-see).

— Boston won its fifth straight by routing Toronto 14-1 as David Ortiz swatted his 452nd and 453rd career home runs and moved past Boston great Carl Yastrzemski (yah-STREM'-skee) into 36th place on the all-time list.

— Detroit opened an interleague series in Arizona by edging the D-Backs 4-3. Torii Hunter and Austin Jackson homered. Justin Verlander moved past Hal Newhouser into third place on Detroit's career strikeout list with 1,772.

— Seattle downed the New York Mets 5-2 in other interleague play. Catcher Mike Zunino hit his 14th homer. Willie Bloomquist added three hits for the Mariners.

— Baltimore stretched its AL East lead to four games by doubling up the L.A. Angels 4-2. Adam Jones connected on a pair of two-run home runs for the Orioles.

__ The L.A. Dodgers beat Pittsburgh 5-2. Hyun-Jin Ryu (hee-YUHN'-jihn YOO) improved to 11-5 by holding the Pirates to two runs and five hits over seven innings. Ryu joined Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw in making the Dodgers the first team in the majors with three 11-game winners. Adrian Gonzalez reached base five times as the Dodgers ended the Pirates' six-game home winning streak.

— San Francisco remained tied with the Dodgers for the NL West lead by beating Philadelphia 7-4. Adam Duvall hit a two-run homer to spoil Cliff Lee's return from the disabled list. Hunter Pence had three hits and two RBIs.

— The Chicago White Sox beat Kansas City 3-1 as Chris Sale improved to 9-1. Sale allowed seven hits and a walk in seven innings. Adam Dunn had two RBIs and scored a run.

__ Minnesota edged Cleveland 4-3. Josh Willingham cracked his ninth home run to break an eighth inning tie and scored twice.

— Texas doubled up the New York Yankees 4-2 as Miles Mikolas earned his first victory as a starter. That's only the Rangers' third win this month.

UNDATED (AP) — New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira (teh-SHEHR'-uh) will be sidelined for at least three games because of a strained muscle in his back, the latest injury to slow the team's leading run producer. Teixeira has been hampered by a left lower lat injury that was causing spasms in his back for about a month, and the pain escalated over the weekend.

In other baseball news:

— The San Francisco Giants have signed former All-Star second baseman Dan Uggla to a minor league contract. Uggla was released last Friday by the Braves after hitting just .162 and losing his starting job.

— The Colorado Rockies have placed first baseman Justin Morneau (mor-NOH') on the 15-day disabled list with a strained neck. The move is retroactive to July 14. Morneau is hitting .312 with 13 homers and 60 RBIs.