Bregman, Houston own Yanks, Mets
Astros’ stretch vs. NYC teams is 7-2
HOUSTON — Albuquerque native Alex Bregman hit a tworun double early and the Houston Astros held on for a 2-1 win over the New York Yankees on Thursday night.
Thursday’s game completes a stretch for the Astros of nine straight games against New York teams. Houston went 3-2 against the major league-leading Yankees and swept four games with the Mets, who had baseball’s second best record before being overtaken by the Astros.
The Yankees were in town for just one game to make up part of a series that was scrapped because of the lockout. They’ll complete the series with a doubleheader here July 21.
Houston starter Luis García (6-5) allowed three hits and one run with six strikeouts in 5⅓ innings for his third straight win. Ryan Pressly struck out two in a scoreless ninth for his 17th save.
Jake Meyers doubled with no outs in the third before Aledmys Díaz walked with two outs. Kyle Tucker walked to load the bases before Bregman’s double to put Houston up 2-0.
DODGERS 3, PADRES 1: In Los Angeles, Justin Turner homered twice, including a go-ahead two-run shot in the seventh inning, as Los Angeles beat San Diego in the opener of a four-game series between the NL West’s top teams.
The Dodgers have won 12 of 13 against San Diego dating to Aug. 24, outscoring the Padres 72-29 in that span. They extended their division lead to 2 1/2 games.
Turner was the lone offensive highlight for the Dodgers, going 3 for 3 while the rest of the team was 2 for 25.
PHILLIES 14, BRAVES 4: In Philadelphia, Kyle Schwarber finished off the month with another June homer, Darick Hall went deep twice and the Phillies avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of Atlanta.
Rhys Hoskins and Nick Castellanos also homered for the Phillies, who reached a season high in runs and were without injured star Bryce Harper in the lineup for the fourth straight game.
GUARDIANS 5, TWINS 3: In Cleveland, Andres Giménez blasted a two-run homer in the ninth inning as the Guardians walked off against the Twins again to move within one game of first place. Six of Cleveland’s last at-bat wins have come against the Twins.
BLUE JAYS 4, RAYS 1: In Toronto, Teoscar Hernández and Santiago Espinal each hit two-run home runs, and Yuseki Kukuchi struck out a season-high eight over six innings to snap a seven-start winless streak as Toronto beat Tampa Bay.
Hernández hit his eighth homer in the second, and Espinal went deep in the seventh, his sixth. Both homers came off Rays left-hander Ryan Yarbrough (0-4).
PIRATES 8, BREWERS 7: In Pittsburgh, backup catcher Michael Perez had three home runs, rookies Oneil Cruz and Jack Suwinski hit back-toback shots and Pittsburgh beat Milwaukee.
It was the first multihomer game of Perez’s five-year career. He hit a two-run blast in the fourth inning off Brent Suter (1-2) to break a 3-3 tie, added another two-run homer in the sixth to make it 6-4 then had a solo shot in the eighth to increase the lead to 8-4.
CUBS 15, REDS 7: In Chicago, Patrick Wisdom hit a grand slam and a solo homer en route to a career-high six RBIs, rookie Christopher Morel had a careerhigh five hits and Chicago beat Cincinnati.
The Cubs collected 23 hits off five pitchers, tying their season high from a 21-0 rout of the Pirates on April 23.
Notes
ALL-STARS: Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. were elected Thursday to start in the July 20 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium. The pair were chosen under new rules that give starting spots to the top vote-getter in each league in the first phase of online voting, which began June 8 and ended Thursday. Starters will be announced July 8, and pitchers and reserves on July 10.
A’s: The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission voted 23-2 Thursday to reclassify a 56-acre terminal at the Port of Oakland as a mixed-use area where a new $12 billion waterfront ballpark could be built for the Athletics.