Red Sox’s Sale overwhelms Blue Jays
Beltran homers for Astros; Bauer a spark for Indians
TORONTO — When his first pitch of the day was driven to the edge of the warning track, Chris Sale was concerned he might be in for a long afternoon.
Turns out he had nothing to worry about. Sale struck out 13 over eight shutout innings, Mookie Betts hit a three-run double in the 10th and Boston beat the struggling Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Thursday.
“Powerful, a lot of strikes,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “All three pitches working. He had such good swing and miss to his fastball up and away.”
At 3-12, Toronto is off to the worst start in team history and has lost its first five series for the first time.
“You look at the names on the back here and it’s like ‘How is this happening?’” Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada said.
Sandy Leon drew a one-out walk from Jason Grilli (0-2) in the 10th, and Brock Holt singled to stop an 0-for-12 slide. Andrew Benintendi walked with two outs, and Betts, who was 0 for 3, pulled a 2-0 fastball down the left-field line.
Mitch Moreland hit a two-out double in the ninth off Roberto Osuna and scored on Xander Bogaerts’ single, but Kendrys Morales homered against Craig Kimbrel (1-0) leading off the bottom half. ASTROS 2, ANGELS 1: In Houston, Carlos Beltran hit his first home run this season and Jake Marisnick also homered to help the Astros over the Angels.
Beltran’s shot came with one out in the first inning off Matt Shoemaker (0-1), and Marisnick’s second homer this season made it 2-0 in the fifth.
Albuquerque’s Alex Bregman doubled for the Astros, who are off to their best start since 2006 at 11.5.
Lance McCullers (2-0) scattered three hits and struck out eight over 6⅔ scoreless innings as Houston won for the seventh time in eight games. Chris Devenski allowed home run to Mike Trout starting the ninth inning and back-to-back singles with one out before fanning Cameron Maybin and Danny Espinosa for his first save. INDIANS 6, TWINS 2: In Minneapolis, Trevor Bauer struck out seven in 6⅓ innings and Carlos Santana had two doubles and two RBIs to lead Cleveland.
Bauer (1-2) gave up two runs, three hits and three walks, lowering his ERA from 8.44 to 6.35. Andrew Miller pitched 1⅓ innings of scoreless relief and the Indians took all three games in a series that included a rainout Wednesday night.
Ervin Santana gave up one run, four hits and three walks over six innings for the Twins, who are 1-5 in a 10-game homestand.
RAYS 8, TIGERS 1: In St. Petersburg, Fla., Steven Souza Jr. came within a single of hitting for the cycle, Erasmo Ramirez and two relievers combined on a five-hitter, and Tampa Bay earned a three-game sweep of the Tigers.
Souza doubled in the first, hit a two-run triple in the second and added a solo homer in the eighth. Ramirez (2-0) allowed one run and two hits in five innings with five strikeouts and no walks.
PHILLIES 6, METS 4: In New York, Maikel Franco homered and doubled while breaking a career-worst 0-for-22 hitless streak, and Philadelphia defeated the Mets.
Mets closer Jeurys Familia struck out two and walked two in a hitless ninth inning of his season debut after serving a 15-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.
Philadelphia took two of three at Citi Field after losing six straight series to the Mets.
ORIOLES 2, REDS 1: In Cincinnati, J.J. Hardy singled home the tiebreaking run off Blake Wood (0-2) in the 10th inning, and the Orioles took two of three in the series. Three pitchers limited Cincinnati to two hits for the second night in a row.
Darren O’Day (1-1) fanned two of the three batters he faced in the ninth. Brad Brach
retired the side in the 10th for his second straight save, filling in while closer Zach Britton recovers from a sore forearm.
NATIONALS 3, BRAVES 2: In Atlanta, Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run homer in the sixth that erased a 2-1 deficit against R.A. Dickey (1-2), and Washington completed a three-game sweep.
Stephen Strasburg (2-0) struck out 10 in seven innings
BREWERS 7, CARDINALS 5: In Milwaukee, Jett Bandy, Eric Thames and Travis Shaw each hit home runs to help the Brewers beat St. Louis.
Shaw’s three-run blast in the first made it 12 consecutive games going yard for the Brewers, who lead the majors with 32 home runs.
Zach Davies (1-2) allowed four runs on eight hits in 5⅓ innings. He needed Thames’ NLleading eighth home run and seventh in the last eight games for his first win in four starts.
PADRES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1: In San Diego, Clayton Richard pitched into the seventh inning and Wil Myers and Austin Hedges homered to lead the Padres to a win over Arizona.
Richard (2-2) gave up a run on nine hits in 6⅔ innings and struck out a season-high eight.
RANGERS 1, ROYALS 0 (13): In Arlington, Texas, Delino DeShields hit an RBI single with one out in the 13th inning to score Joey Gallo from second base and the Rangers beat Kansas City.
Gallo had pulled a one-out double into the right-field corner, the Rangers’ first hit since Jonathan Lucroy’s leadoff double in the fifth.