Verlander, Astros shut down high scoring Yanks
NEW YORK: Justin Verlander tamed the Yankees again, slowing down the highestscoring team in the majors and pitching the Houston Astros past New York 5-1 on Monday.
Verlander exited in the seventh inning with a major league-best 1.11 ERA. JD Davis hit an early three-run homer and Jose Altuve had a solo drive, helping Houston win for the sixth time in eight games.
Davis hit his first homer of the season, connecting in the second off Domingo German (0-3).
Closer Ken Giles, tagged on Sunday as the Astros blew a five-run lead in the ninth at Cleveland, pitched the final inning and worked around a lead-off single.
Facing the only club in baseball that has not been shut out this season, Verlander (7-2) blanked the Yankees until Greg Bird hit a lead-off home run in the seventh.
As he left, Verlander took off his cap and waved it towards a solid contingent of Astros fans wearing bright orange behind the dugout.
In Baltimore, Anthony Rendon hit a three-run homer to back a sharp pitching performance by Gio Gonzalez, and surging Washington beat Baltimore 6-0.
Gonzalez (6-2) allowed six hits over 7 2/3 innings to end a six-game losing streak against Baltimore. The left-hander won his first start against the Orioles in 2009 before coming up empty in his next nine outings.
Shawn Kelley got four outs to complete the fifth shutout against the Orioles this season.
Matt Adams and Michael Taylor both had two hits and an RBI for the Nationals, who have won four straight and 13 of 18.
Though NL home run leader Bryce Harper went hitless, his leaping catch against the right-field wall in the fifth inning robbed Andrew Susac of a potential extrabase hit.
Alex Cobb (1-7) was undone by a horrific, 42-pitch third inning that featured Rendon’s sixth home run.
In Cleveland, Edwin Encarnacion homered and had four RBIs, and Cleveland took advantage of Chicago’s leaky defence to score five times in the fifth inning to win 9-6.
Encarnacion tied the game in the fifth with a three-run bloop double. Yonder Alonso’s double drove in the go-ahead run later in the inning and Encarnacion hit a lead-off homer in the seventh. Cleveland trailed 5-2 going into the fifth, but errors by catcher Alfredo Gonzalez, shortstop Tim Anderson and second baseman Yoan Moncada made three of the runs unearned.