Torres hits grand slam as Yankees beat Red Sox
>> NEW YORK: Gleyber Torres hit a first-inning grand slam, left-hander James Paxton cruised after that and the New York Yankees three-hit the Boston Red Sox in a 4-2 victory on Friday night.
Boston have lost five straight for the first time since 2015 and dropped 11½ games behind firstplace New York in the AL East.
Red Sox slugger JD Martinez hit a two-run homer during yet another rocky first inning by Paxton, but Torres bailed him out with his slam off Eduardo Rodriguez (13-5). Paxton (6-6) struck out the side in the second and completed six innings on 100 pitches, allowing two hits and two runs with six strikeouts.
Rookie Yordan Alvarez slugged the first of Houston’s season-high six home runs as the Astros bashed their way to a 10-2 victory over the visiting Seattle Mariners.
The Astros posted three runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings, all via the home run. Alvarez recorded a leadoff blast to centre field in the second to ignite the surge. Later that frame, Jake Marisnick clubbed the first of the Astros’ three two-run homers, extending the lead to 3-0.
Houston homered twice more against Mariners rookie lefthander Yusei Kikuchi (4-8), who is winless over his last six starts. The Astros followed the same pattern in the fourth inning, with recently acquired catcher Martin Maldonado slugging a solo home run the opposite way to right three batters before Jose Altuve lined a two-run shot to left.
George Springer tripled to rightcentre field with two outs prior to Altuve’s homer, the first of his four hits on the night.
Jose Abreu singled home Leury Garcia for the winning run in the top of the 15th inning to lift visiting Chicago past Philadelphia 4-3.
Abreu’s hit came against outfielder Roman Quinn, who entered the game to open the 14th. JT Realmuto’s attempted tag of Garcia at the plate was reviewed, but the call of safe was upheld.
Abreu also homered, while Eloy Jimenez, Tim Anderson and Garcia had two hits apiece for the White Sox.