Tempers flare as Astros beat Rangers
HOUSTON >> Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel each hit RBI doubles in a five-run seventh inning that lifted the Houston Astros to a 6-2 win over the Texas Rangers on Monday night in a game that included a benches-clearing tussle.
Chris Devenski (2-1) struck out two in 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win. Ken Giles pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save.
Andrew Cashner (0-3) had already plunked both Altuve and Gurriel when Lance McCullers threw behind Mike Napoli with two outs in the sixth. He took a couple of steps toward McCullers while yelling at him and McCullers did the same. Astros catcher Brian McCann quickly got in Napoli’s face and, after a few seconds, players from both benches began spilling onto the field. Players from both teams did some pushing and shoving, and Springer held back McCullers as he continued to bark at Napoli.
Order was restored after a couple of minutes and both teams received warnings, but no one was ejected before play resumed and McCullers struck out Napoli. BLUE JAYS 7, YANKEES 1 >> A rare two-run sacrifice fly. Plenty of pop and pitching. Plus, a three-game winning streak for the first time in what’s been a rugged season.
It all had Toronto manager John Gibbons feeling pretty frisky — so much so, he phoned into the team’s fan reaction radio show after the Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 7-1 Monday night.
“First time caller,” he said from his office, without giving his name. But he did ask the host: “Is it the same bozos every night?”
OK, maybe it wasn’t such a surprise. Smiling, Gibbons said the host inquired, “Is this John from the Bronx?”
Ryan Goins hit the first two-RBI sacrifice fly in the team’s 40-year history to go along with his two-run homer, backing a strong start from Marco Estrada.
A pair of runs scored when center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury caught Goins’ deep drive before running face-first into the padded wall. It was the first such play in the majors since Wil Myers knocked in two runs with a sac fly for Tampa Bay against the Yankees in 2014. TIGERS 7, INDIANS 1 >> The Detroit Tigers have figured out how to beat the Cleveland Indians after failing miserably against them last year.
Tyler Collins hit a threerun homer and Daniel Norris gave up only one run, helping Detroit beat Cleveland 7-1 on Monday night.
The Tigers took two of three in Cleveland last month and if they win Tuesday, they’ll match the number of wins they had against the AL Central champions in 2016. Cleveland was 23 games above .500 within the division in part because they beat the Tigers 14 out of 18 times.
“It’s nice that we’ve played so far, but we’ve got a lot of games against them,” Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said.
Detroit’s Nicholas Castellanos and Victor Martinez hit RBI doubles on consecutive pitches in the first inning. Collins sent a fullcount pitch in the second over the right-center fence to put the Tigers up 5-0. Alex Avila’s two-run single in the fifth inning gave them a sixrun cushion.
That was plenty support for Detroit Daniel Norris. REDS 4, PIRATES 3 of run starter
>>
Billy Hamilton hit an RBI double in the 10th inning to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.
Tucker Barnhart walked with one out in the 10th. Arismendy Alcantara pinchran for him and went to second on Daniel Hudson’s (0-1) errant pickoff attempt.
After a groundout, Hamilton lined a double to right, giving the Reds consecutive wins for the first time since completing a four-game winning streak on April 12.
Michael Lorenzen (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.
Adam Duvall had a threerun home run for the Reds.
Josh Harrison homered twice and Andrew McCutchen also went deep for Pittsburgh.
Harrison tied it at 3-3 with his second homer of the game, a two-out solo shot into the left field seats off Drew Storen in the eighth inning.
Reds starter Amir Garrett allowed just two hits — solo homers by Harrison and McCutchen in seven innings.
Harrison’s second home run of the game got Gerrit Cole off the hook. The Pirates starter went into the game 0-6 with a 5.44 ERA in eight starts against Cincinnati, including 0-3 with a 4.55 ERA in five starts at Great American Ball Park. METS 7, BRAVES 5 >> Robert Gsellman wanted to pick up an injured teammate. Jose Reyes wanted to show that the Mets still have winning talent.
Michael Conforto homered and drove in three runs, and New York scored five times in the fourth inning off Julio Teheran before holding on to beat the Atlanta Braves 7-5 on Monday night.
Reyes also homered for the Mets, who regrouped quickly following Sunday’s 23-5 loss at Washington. The score was bad, but losing ace Noah Syndergaard for an undetermined was worse.
It was only the first day of May, but manager Terry Collins said it was “very important” to win following the devastating loss and injury to Syndergaard.
“Yesterday was an ugly, ugly day,” Collins said. “The injury was bigger than the score of the game for me. It just goes to show you, it’s only one game and you’ve got to move on.”
On the day the Mets placed Syndergaard on the 10-day DL with a partial tear of his right lat muscle, Gsellman (1-2) almost blew an early 6-1 lead. Gsellman allowed five runs in five-plus innings.
“You always want to pick up your teammates in any way you can,” Gsellman said.
Five Mets relievers combined for four scoreless innings. Jeurys Familia pitched the ninth for his second save.
Conforto led off the game with his seventh homer and period of time added a two-run single in New York’s five-run fourth inning off Teheran (2-2). With New York’s lead down to 6-5, Reyes added a homer off Ian Krol in the eighth. BREWERS 7, CARDINALS 5>> Travis Shaw and Jonathan Villar each hit a tape-measure home run, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 in 10 innings on Monday night.
Shaw’s three-run shot off Seung Hwan Oh (0-2) traveled an estimated 451 feet and broke a 4-all tie with two outs in the top of the 10th. Villar’s two-run drive in the third soared 450 feet to right-center and gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead.
Jedd Gyorko hit two late homers for the Cardinals and finished with four hits. Aledmys Diaz and Matt Carpenter connected back-to-back in the fifth.
Oliver Drake (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth and Neftali Feliz earned his seventh save.
Milwaukee starter Zach Davies allowed at least one runner in every inning. He gave up two runs and seven hits in five innings, stranding six.
Domingo Santana led off the fourth with a double and scored his fifth run in two games on Manny Pina’s single to make it 3-0.
Eric Thames doubled home Villar in the fifth to make it 4-0. Thames has reached safely in 23 of 24 games this season.
Diaz and Carpenter homered in the fifth to cut the Brewers’ lead to 4-2. It was the first set of back-to-back home runs for the Cardinals this season.
Gyorko led off the eighth and 10th with home runs to give him six this season — all solo shots.
Cardinals starter Michael Wacha gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings.