NEW YORK -- Yasiel Puig hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and the thundering Los Angeles Dodgers went deep five times, rallying past the New York Mets 7-4 on Saturday to extend their incredible surge.
Chris Taylor, Justin Turner, Corey Seager and rookie Cody Bellinger also connected for the Dodgers, who are 43-7 since June 7. That's the best 50-game run by a big league team since the 1912 New York Giants compiled the same mark from May 14 to July 3.
Los Angeles has won all but one of its last 13 games, upping the top record in the majors to an astounding 78-32. That puts the Dodgers at 46 games above .500 for the first time since they were 98-51 on Sept. 15, 1962.
That team -- led by Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and NL MVP Maury Wills -- didn't even win the pennant after dropping a best-of-three playoff to rival San Francisco. This year's Dodgers are looking to end a World Series drought that dates to the franchise's last championship in 1988.
"It's a wave that we're riding," manager Dave Roberts said. "I know our players and they realize that we haven't done anything yet." (see full recap)
Contreras, Avila homers lead Cubs over Nationals 7-4
CHICAGO -- Willson Contreras homered and drove in three runs, Alex Avila homered for his first hit with the Cubs and Chicago beat the Washington Nationals 7-4 on Saturday to even the series between division leaders.
Kris Bryant and Jon Jay each added a run-scoring hit as the Cubs snapped a three-game losing streak.
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Bryce Harper hit his 28th homer and threw out a runner at third base for the Nationals.
Saturday was supposed to be a day off for Contreras -- with Avila making his first start after being acquired on Monday -- but manager Joe Maddon started Contreras in left field to keep his hot bat in the lineup. He entered batting .429 with two homers and eight RBIs in the first four games of the home stand.
John Lackey (9-9) allowed three runs (two earned) and six hits in five innings to win his fourth straight start. Wade Davis got the final three outs -- striking out Harper, the potential tying run, to end it -- for his 23rd save (see full recap).
Yankees defense saves Chapman in 2-1 win over Indians
CLEVELAND -- Brett Gardner and Ronald Torreyes made sensational defensive plays in the ninth inning to save Aroldis Chapman from another late-inning meltdown in Progressive Field, and the New York Yankees hung on to beat the Cleveland Indians 2-1 on Saturday night and stop a four-game losing streak.
Chapman (4-2), making his first appearance in Cleveland since Game 7 of last year's World Series for the Chicago Cubs, allowed a leadoff single in the ninth before Jose Ramirez hit a fly to deep left that Gardner grabbed with a jump on the warning track. Edwin Encarnacion then hit a blooper toward right that Torreyes ran down with a dive.
Chapman went to a full count on Carlos Santana before striking him out with his 21st pitch of the inning for his 14th save.
The defensive gems were a nice change for the Yankees, who made three errors in the series opener and had another error, passed ball and two wild pitches on Friday.
Chase Headley homered with one out in the eighth inning off Zach McAllister (1-1) for the Yankees, who have been anything but Bronx Bombers lately (see full recap).
Brewers shut out Rays behind Davies
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Zach Davies gave up one hit in seven innings and the Milwaukee Brewers remained a half-game behind the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs with a 3-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night.
It was the second straight shutout for the Brewers, who have given up only one run while winning three straight.
Davies (13-5) walked two and struck out two. Two relievers helped the Brewers stretch their streak of shutout innings to 22.
Lucas Duda's single to center with one out in the sixth was the only hit off Davies, who is 6-1 with a 2.38 ERA over his last eight starts.
Keon Broxton scored the game's first run after a leadoff single off Rays starter Alex Cobb in the third. Broxton stole a base and scored on Orlando Arcia's double (see full recap).
