4 Astros join hands to no-hit Mariners
HOUSTON: Four Houston Astros pitchers combined to no-hit the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night in a 9-0 win in front of the home crowd, the second time the Mariners have been victims of a combined no-hitter this season.
Aaron Sanchez made his debut with the Astros a memorable affair, twirling six innings. Right-handers Will Harris, Joe Biagini and Chris Devenski each worked an inning to complete the nohitter, the 12th in franchise history. Houston improved to 11-1 against Seattle this season.
Sanchez (4-14) was winless over his previous 17 starts with the Toronto Blue Jays, who shipped him to Houston along with Biagini on Wednesday at the trade deadline. Sanchez walked two and recorded six strike-outs for his first win since April 27 against Oakland.
Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa each posted multi-hit games for Houston.
DJ LeMahieu homered twice as the New York Yankees battered Chris Sale again and cruised over visiting Boston 9-2 in the opener of a daynight doubleheader.
It was LeMahieu’s third career multihomer game and gave him a careerhigh 17 for the season. The Yankees beat Sale (5-11) for the fourth time this season, having scored 22 earned runs in 20 innings while hitting six homers off the left-hander.
New York’s Domingo German (14-2) won his fifth straight decision, allowing two runs on five hits in seven innings. He struck out seven and walked none and became the first Yankees starter to complete seven innings since CC Sabathia on July 6 against Tampa Bay.
Gleyber Torres homered in consecutive at-bats, and Mike Tauchman delivered the go-ahead two-run single as New York completed a doubleheader sweep over visiting Boston with a 6-4 victory.
In front of the largest paid crowd (48,101) of the season, the Yankees won their fourth straight and beat Boston for the 10th time in 14 meetings this season to move 13 1/5 games ahead of the third-place Red Sox in the AL East.
The Yankees swept Boston in a doubleheader for the first time since Aug 18, 2006, at Fenway Park. The Red Sox are on their longest losing streak — seven consecutive games — since July 2015, and their 54th loss matches their total from last season.
Eduardo Escobar had seven RBIs, and Arizona hit three home runs against Stephen Strasburg, ending his seven-start winning streak by smashing Washington 18-7 in Phoenix.
Strasburg (14-5) was staked to a 2-0 lead before he took the mound but then gave up a season-high nine runs. He gave up a season-high-tying nine hits, striking out seven and walking two.