Alvarez’s three homers guide Astros to rout of O’s
BALTIMORE: Yordan Alvarez hit three homers, including a grand slam, and drove in seven as the visiting Houston Astros finished with six homers overall and defeated the Baltimore Orioles 23-2 on Saturday night.
Houston now have won eight straight, the longest winning streak in the American League. Baltimore have dropped five in a row, and all have come on the present homestand.
Alvarez led the offensive charge, but the Astros also got homers from Alex Bregman (three RBIs), Jose Altuve (three RBIs) and Carlos Correa (two RBIs). The club finished with 25 hits.
The Astros scored eight runs in the first two innings and battered Baltimore starter Aaron Brooks (2-6) for nine runs and nine hits in just three frames.
Aristides Aquino became the second major league player to record a threehomer performance in the first 10 games of his career as hosts Cincinnati posted a 10-1 victory over Chicago.
Aquino homered to lead off the second inning against Kyle Hendricks (8-9) and again with two outs in the third before adding another solo shot off Dillon Maples in the fourth. The last homer gave Aquino seven in 10 games, matching Colorado’s Trevor Story for the major league record.
Sonny Gray (7-6) scattered two hits and struck out seven over six innings to improve to 2-1 in four starts against Chicago this season.
JD Davis’ sacrifice fly in the eighth inning capped another comeback win as New York beat visiting Washington 4-3.
The Mets have won eight straight games and 15 of their past 16 dating back to July 25 to move within a halfgame of the Nationals, who lead the NL wild-card race. The Nationals have lost six of 10.
Juan Soto’s second homer of the game in the eighth inning gave the Nationals a 3-2 lead, but Mets pinch hitter Luis Guillorme led off the bottom half with his first career homer.
RESULTS
Astros 23 Orioles 2; Reds 10 Cubs 1; Mets 4 Nationals 3; Twins 4 Indians 1; Padres 8, Rockies 5; Dodgers 4 Diamondbacks 0; White Sox 3 Athletics 2; Marlins 7 Braves 6 (10 innings); Blue Jays 5 Yankees 4; Angels 12 Red Sox 4; Cardinals 3 Pirates 1; Brewers 3 Rangers 2; Royals 7 Tigers 0; Giants 3 Phillies 1; A’s 5 Mariners 4