Jake Burger homers for 4th straight game as the Marlins beat the Phillies

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jake Burger homered in the fourth straight game, Valente Bellozo gave up four hits in seven innings and the 75-loss Miami Marlins kept the Philadelphia Phillies in a summer swoon that has cost them the best record in baseball with a 5-0 victory on Tuesday night.

After spending much of the first three months of the season as the winningest team in baseball, the Phillies’ brutal stretch since June has raised serious concerns headed into the stretch run about a serious shot at winning a World Series championship.

Taijuan Walker (3-4) allowed three runs and walked three over four innings in his first start since June 21.

REDS 4, CARDINALS 1

CINCINNATI (AP) — Hunter Greene allowed one run through seven innings, Jeimer Candelario hit a two-run homer and Cincinnati beat St. Louis to secure a win of the series between the NL Central rivals.

The hard-throwing Greene (9-4) allowed four hits while striking out eight and walking one in notching his third straight win.

Spencer Steer had a two-out, RBI single in the first inning. Ty France led off the second with a homer off the roof of the Cardinals bullpen in right, his 11th of the season.

Candelario smashed his 19th homer with two outs in the sixth.

Cardinals starter Erick Fedde (8-6) went six innings, giving up four runs and six hits and striking out two. He allowed both of Cincinnati’s home runs.

NATIONALS 9, ORIOLES 3

BALTIMORE (AP) — Andrés Chaparro doubled three times in his big league debut, almost overshadowing another four-hit game by rookie James Wood as Washington beat Baltimore.

Chaparro became the fourth player in major league history with at least three doubles in his debut — the first since Nick Evans of the New York Mets hit three at Colorado on May 24, 2008.

The Nationals called up Chaparro before the game, and with the score tied at 2 in the fourth inning he came through with his first career hit, a double that left runners on second and third with nobody out. Ildemaro Vargas and Luís Garcia Jr. followed with sacrifice flies.

Washington then added three more runs in the sixth, again after a double by Chaparro put runners on second and third with no outs.

ASTROS 3, RAYS 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Alex Bregman and Jeremy Peña homered, and the AL West-leading Houston won their seventh consecutive game by beating Tampa Bay.

Yusel Kikuchi (6-9) allowed one run and three hits over 5 2/3 innings to go 2-0 in three starts with the Astros since being acquired from Toronto on July 29.

Josh Hader got three outs for his 26th save in 27 chances for the Astros, who increased their division lead to 1 1/2 games over Seattle.

TIGERS 15, MARINERS 1

DETROIT (AP) — Matt Carpenter homered twice in his return from a back injury, Jake Rogers drove in seven runs and pitcher Tarik Skubal earned his MLB-leading 14th victory as Detroit Tigers routed Seattle.

Rogers drove in two runs with a double in the third inning, added a slam in the fourth and hit an RBI double in the sixth to become the first Tigers players with seven RBIs in a game since Ryan Raburn accomplished the feat against the Chicago White Sox on July 25, 2007.

The Tigers scored a season-high in runs and banged out a season-best 21 hits in their second straight victory and fourth win in seven games.

Skubal allowed one run on three hits in six innings. The 27-year-old left-hander struck out nine — raising his season total to a majors-leading 180 — walked one and hit two batters.

GUARDIANS 2, CUBS 1

CLEVELAND (AP) — Jhonkensy Noel hit a solo homer in the sixth inning off Drew Smyly, providing the go-ahead run for Cleveland in a victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Noel’s 430-foot drive onto the left field porch was his ninth home run in 32 games since making his major league debut on June 26. He had his first two-homer game Monday in the series opener, a 9-8 win by Cleveland.

The Guardians took sole possession of the best record in baseball at 71-49 with their fourth straight victory. They also own the top home mark in the majors, going 37-20 at Progressive Field.

Pedro Avila (4-1) retired two batters for the win, while Emmanuel Clase earned his fourth save in four days to tie St. Louis’ Ryan Helsley for the major league lead with 37.

RED SOX 9, RANGERS 4

BOSTON (AP) — Kutter Crawford carried a perfect game into the sixth inning and Connor Wong highlighted a 12-hit attack with a three-run homer as Boston Red beat slumping Texas.

Rob Refsnyder and Nick Sogard each drove in a pair of runs as the Red Sox dealt Texas its third straight loss and its sixth setback in seven games. The defending World Series champion Rangers also dropped a season-worst 10 games below .500 at 55-65.

Texas manager Bruce Bochy was ejected in the middle of the sixth after arguing a called third strike that ended a four-run rally as the Rangers got back into the game.

Boston won for just the second time in six games despite some shaky relief after Crawford was lifted in the sixth.

ATHLETICS 9, METS 4

NEW YORK (AP) — Shea Langeliers hit a three-run homer off former batterymate Paul Blackburn and went 4 for 4 again, powering Oakland to a win over the skidding New York Mets.

Langeliers had two doubles and missed the cycle by a triple. It was the second consecutive four-hit game for the catcher, who was 4 for 4 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.

Seth Brown opened the scoring with a three-run double against Blackburn (5-3) in the first inning before Langeliers capped a four-run third with a 406-foot homer to left-center field. Miguel Andujar and Langeliers each had a run-scoring hit off José Buttó in the sixth.

The Mets, outscored 31-5 in losing their last four games, scored three times in the fifth off starter Joe Boyle, who gave up an RBI double to Jesse Winker before Pete Alonso snapped an 0-for-15 slump with a two-run single.

DODGERS 7, BREWERS 2

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit his National League-leading 37th home run and the Los Angeles Dodgers finished with four homers in a win over Milwaukee.

Gavin Lux and Andy Pages each hit a two-run home run during a five-run fourth inning that gave the Dodgers a 7-1 lead.

Will Smith also homered as the NL West-leading Dodgers improved to 71-49 and matched the Cleveland Guardians for the best record in the majors.

The Dodgers’ Gavin Stone (10-5) allowed one run on three hits in five innings, striking out six with no walks in an 86-pitch outing.

YANKEES 4, WHITE SOX 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Juan Soto had his first career three-homer game, Nestor Cortes tossed seven shutout innings and the New York Yankees held off the Chicago White Sox to take sole possession of the AL East lead.

Soto tagged starter Jonathan Cannon (2-6) for a two-run shot to left field in the third inning and went the other way again on a leadoff homer in the fifth. The four-time All-Star added his 33rd of the season in the seventh off left-handed reliever Fraser Ellard, pulling a drive to right that made it 4-0.

With a chance to match the major league record of four home runs in a game, Soto walked in the ninth after swinging and missing at a 3-0 pitch that was a little out of the strike zone.

Cortes (6-10), who gave up nine hits and six earned runs in a short outing against the Angels five days earlier, scattered three hits and equaled his season best with nine strikeouts.

TWINS 13, ROYALS 3

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Zebby Matthews threw five crisp innings to win his major league debut for the Minnesota, who hit Seth Lugo hard to hand the All-Star right-hander his worst start of the season and beat the Kansas City.

Matthews (1-0) allowed two runs on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts, the latest and most meaningful feat for the 24-year-old right-hander who started the season in Class A.

Matt Wallner and Jose Miranda led the barrage against Lugo (13-7) from the middle of the batting order, and Max Kepler had a three-run homer and Kyle Farmer hit a two-run shot once the Twins reached the bullpen. Minnesota kept pace with AL Central leader Cleveland, still trailing by 3½ games. Kansas City fell six games back.

The Twins (67-52) and Royals (65-55) control the second and third wild-card spots, respectively.

BLUE JAYS 6, ANGELS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Kevin Gausman tossed seven shutout innings, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 10th home run since the All-Star break and Toronto beat the Los Angeles Angels.

Will Wagner continued his strong start in the majors with two hits, including a two-run double in the first inning. Wagner, the son of former All-Star closer Billy Wagner, has five hits in eight at-bats in his first two games, including three doubles and three RBIs.

Willie Calhoun prevented the Angels from being shut out with a homer to right-center in the ninth inning.

DIAMONDBACKS 4, ROCKIES 3

PHOENIX (AP) — Jake McCarthy hit a two-out, two-run single down the left-field line in the ninth inning to lift Arizona to a win over Colorado.

The Diamondbacks continued their hot streak, winning five in a row and 17 of 20. Arizona secured its ninth straight series win.

Arizona started its ninth-inning rally with a one-out triple from Corbin Carroll, who ripped a liner into the right field corner and easily made it to third. Victor Vodnik (3-3) recovered to strike out Kevin Newman before Adrian Del Castillo and Geraldo Perdomo walked to load the bases.

That brought up McCarthy, who is among the hottest hitters in baseball. The left-handed batter smacked a two-strike fastball down the third-base line, which easily got past Ryan McMahon since he was shading McCarthy well off the line.

PADRES 3, PIRATES 0

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Michael King worked six scoreless innings, Manny Machado drove in two runs and David Peralta homered as San Diego beat Pittsburgh and sent the Pirates to their ninth straight loss.

The Padres won for the 18th time in 21 games since July 20 and claimed their eighth straight series. Conversely, the Pirates lost for the 11th time in 12 games.

King (10-6) struck out 10, allowed seven hits and didn’t issue a walk, throwing 70 of his 93 pitches for strikes. The 29-year-old right-hander won for the fifth time in six decisions since June 29.

Pirates starter Luis Ortiz (5-3) gave up two runs, one earned, and three hits with three strikeouts and two walks in five innings.

BRAVES 4, GIANTS 3, 10 INNINGS

Travis d’Arnaud homered early and hit an RBI single in the 10th inning that sent Atlanta past San Francisco.

Ramón Laureano also went deep and Austin Riley singled twice to lead Atlanta to its second consecutive win over San Francisco in extra innings.

Pinch-runner Luke Williams began the 10th as the automatic runner at second base. With one out, d’Arnaud hit a grounder toward the right side of the infield. The ball deflected off the glove of diving second baseman Brett Wisely into right field.

In the bottom of the 10th, the Giants attempted to bunt their automatic runner to third but Wisely was called for batter’s interference. LaMonte Wade Jr. and Heliot Ramos flied out to end it.

Miami Marlins' Jake Burger, left, celebrates his home run with Jesus Sanchez, right, during the third inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump claimed without evidence Monday that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' comments that he is a threat to democracy had inspired the latest apparent attempt on his life, despite his own long history of inflammatory campaign rhetoric and advocacy for jailing or prosecuting his political enemies.

With the election now just 50 days away and early ballots already being mailed out in some places, this year’s presidential campaign was among the most turbulent in American history even before Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt. Trump was safe after the incident in Florida and praised the Secret Service for protecting him but didn't shy away from blaming his opponents.

“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out,” Trump said in comments to Fox News Digital.

The Republican former president's statements are a sharp departure from how he reacted after an assassination attempt in July during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which a bullet grazed his ear.

Then, Trump called for national unity, saying in a social media post that “it is more important than ever that we stand United.” A few days later, though, the former president returned to his usual commentary where he has sharply criticizes Democrats and relishes political bombast.

While authorities continue to investigate the motives of both the gunman in Pennsylvania and the person arrested Sunday in Florida, Trump has made clear that he sees attempts on his life as politically motivated — and blames his rivals for them.

That's despite Trump himself drawing repeated criticism for his rhetoric. He has talked about prosecuting his political rivals and alleged without evidence that Democrats have brought the felony cases against him for political reasons.

In a post on his social media site on Monday, Trump again claimed that he had been the target of politically motivated attacks, writing that the left “has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust.” He said “it will only get worse” and then veered into comments about immigration, even though there is no evidence the person arrested in connection with the apparent assassination attempt was an immigrant.

That follows the former president during last week's debate and in the days after it amplifying false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are abducting and eating pets. The community days later evacuated schools and government buildings amid bomb threats, adding to the sense of an especially unstable and tense moment in America even before Sunday’s stunning development.

Biden, by contrast, sought to steer clear of politics. He decried the apparent assassination attempt and said on Monday that America must work to stop the scourge of political violence.

“America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet,” Biden said at the start of an address to the National HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia. “It solves nothing. It just tears the country apart. We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.”

Biden in his speech added that Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, was in Florida “assessing what happened and determining whether any further adjustments need to be made to ensure” Trump’s safety. The president later Monday spoke with Trump on the phone and conveyed his relief that the former president was safe, according to the White House, which described it as a cordial conversation.

Trump, in a statement released by his campaign, said: “We had a very nice call. It was about Secret Service protection.” His campaign did not offer more details.

After Trump's shooting in Pennsylvania, Biden initially called on the nation to lower the political temperature, though he, too, eventually pivoted back to criticizing Trump as a threat to the nation's founding principles.

Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley said Sunday's “deeply troublesome” event coming on top of an already dramatic year with an election looming has created “a kind of uncertainty across the land.”

Brinkley said, “2024 has just unspooled in a chaotic and frightful fashion. It’s impossible for anybody to get footing in their daily lives with a news cycle that is so constantly grim and absurd.”

Trump had already been scheduled to spend Monday at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, according to a person familiar with his schedule. In the evening, the former president was expected to speak about cryptocurrency on the social media site X for the launch of his sons’ crypto platform, followed by an expected return to the campaign trail on Tuesday for a town hall in Flint, Michigan. He has appearances later in the week in New York, Washington and North Carolina.

Harris, meanwhile, met with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the 1.3 million-member group’s headquarters in Washington. She's looking to lock up yet another labor union’s endorsement, but it wasn't immediately forthcoming.

The vice president was scheduled on Tuesday to campaign in swing-state Pennsylvania and planned later in the week to speak in Washington, Michigan and Wisconsin. Her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, was planning to attend campaign receptions in Washington and New York on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Their returns to the campaign trail are likely to be overshadowed by questions about the armed man engaged by Secret Service agents at the former president’s Florida golf course. The FBI was leading the investigation and working to determine any motive.

Beyond the first attempt on Trump’s life when he was grazed by a bullet at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the campaign was whipsawed over the past six months by Trump’s historic criminal trial and conviction; the crisis and eventual end of Biden’s reelection campaign after his floundering debate performance; and Harris taking his place, fundamentally shifting the race.

In August, Trump’s campaign disclosed it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. The Justice Department is preparing criminal charges in connection with the hack.

Trump's blaming the Democrats for saying he is a threat to American democracy is a theme his allies have also picked up on, seeking to link those arguments to Sunday's detention of a suspect. Investigators have not commented on the suspect's potential motives.

Republican strategist David Urban, a Trump ally, said it was too soon to know how that might affect the days and weeks ahead in the campaign, but in his conversations with those in Trump’s orbit, he was picking up a deep sense of shock and uncertainty.

“We’ve said unprecedented so many times this year," Urban said. “I don’t know if we can even say the word anymore.”

Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Ayanna Alexander in Philadelphia, Darlene Superville and Aamer Madhani in Washington, Steve Peoples in New York and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., contributed to this report.

A newspaper is displayed in a vehicle outside of the Mar-a-Lago estate after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Police officers direct traffic near Trump International Golf Club after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

FILE - The motorcade for President Donald Trump arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Feb. 15, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Photos that show an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club taken after an apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, are displayed during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Main Library, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephany Matat)