Abreu leads White Sox HR parade in rout of Mariners
CHICAGO (AP) — Jose Abreu hit the first of four White Sox home runs and Jose Quintana threw 7 2/3 solid innings to lead Chicago past the Seattle Mariners 9-3 on Saturday night.
Avisail Garcia and Alex Avila hit consecutive homers during a fourrun fifth and Tyler Saladino added a two-run shot in the seventh, all off struggling reliever Vidal Nuno.
Abreu extended his hitting streak to 10 games and his on-base streak to 23 with a solo shot during a tworun first against Ariel Miranda (1-1).
The left-handed Miranda pitched four innings, allowing three runs and five hits while throwing just 47 of 90 pitches for strikes.
Quintana (11-9) allowed a run and five hits, struck out eight and lowered his ERA to 2.77 in Chicago's fifth win in seven games.
After a hot August start that got them into playoff contention, the Mariners have lost four of five.
Quintana allowed a leadoff double to Leonys Martin in the first, and he scored an unearned run thanks to Avila's passed ball. But Avila made up for it in his first game off the disabled list with a solo shot in the fifth.
Left fielder Melky Cabrera, back after missing two games with an illness, added a first-inning sacrifice fly and threw out Robinson Cano trying to stretch a single to help squash Seattle's best rally off Quintana.
Justin Morneau's first triple of the season in the fifth scored Todd Frazier. Garcia followed with a two-run shot off Nuno. Garcia also doubled twice.
OOPS
Seattle's Chris Iannetta took ball three, tossed his bat and jogged all the way to first in the fifth before realizing he didn't walk. Quintana struck him out on the next pitch.
NEW FACES
Ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte, a reliever acquired from Toronto this month, joined Seattle with his special glove after a stint in Triple-A.
"Splits have said I'm a little bit better from the left side," Venditte said. "So I would imagine that's how I'll be used here."
Also arriving in a flurry of moves were INF Dae-Ho Lee from Tacoma and reliever Dan Altavilla, who was wide-eyed after getting called up from Double-A Jackson.
Altavilla hit 100 mph in a perfect eighth and struck out Frazier in his major league debut.
RED SOX 8, ROYALS 3
BOSTON (AP) — Dustin Pedroia had four hits to extend his streak to 11 straight at-bats before bouncing into a double play with a chance to tie the major-league record and the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3 on Saturday night.
Pedroia's streak, which stretched over three games, ended in the eighth inning. The big league mark of hits in 12 straight official at-bats is shared by Walt Dropo for Detroit in 1952, Pinky Higgins of the Red Sox in 1938 and Johnny Kling of the Cubs in 1902.
Xander Bogaerts homered and drove in three runs, and Mookie Betts and Hanley Ramirez hit consecutive homers for Boston, which snapped a three-game losing streak with its 11th win in 16 games.
David Price (13-8) won his fourth straight start, giving up two runs in six innings to lower his ERA to 3.97, the lowest it's been since after his first start of the season.
Danny Duffy (11-2) gave up three homers and seven runs in five innings, halting a personal 10-game winning streak.
Salvador Perez hit two solo homers for the Royals, who lost for just the fourth time 20 games.
Duffy had allowed two or fewer runs in five straight starts — and six of seven — before Boston took care of that string with two each in the first and second innings.
Two batters in, the Red Sox jumped ahead 2-0 on Bogaerts' 16th homer, a drive that completely left Fenway Park over the Green Monster after Pedroia singled.
In the bottom of the second after the Royals had tied it, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Pedroia had consecutive RBIs doubles, pushing Boston in front 4-2.
Perez homered and Alcides Escobar had an RBI double in the top of the inning.
Pedroia collected his 10th consecutive hit with a run-scoring single to make it 5-2 in the fourth. His 11th was a ground single to center in the sixth. He then bounced in the double play in the eighth.
Betts hit his 29th, a solo shot, in the fifth and Ramirez followed with his two pitches later to nearly the same spot, two rows into the Monster seats about three fans apart. After watching Ramirez's drive land in the seats, Duffy just smiled in disbelief as he waited for a new ball from home plate umpire Adrian Johnson.
ASTROS 6, RAYS 2
HOUSTON (AP) — Rookie Alex Bregman homered and had three RBIs to back seven solid innings by Dallas Keuchel and lead the Houston Astros over the Tampa Bay Rays 6-2 on Saturday night.
Bregman connected off fellow rookie Blake Snell (4-7) in the third inning to make it 4-0. It was Bregman's fifth homer.
Keuchel (9-12) allowed nine hits and two runs for his first career victory over the Rays. He entered 0-4 in six starts against them.
Yulieski Gurriel added two doubles for Houston and collected the first two RBIs of his career. It was the fifth game for Gurriel, who played in Cuba for 15 seasons before signing with the Astros in July.
Bobby Wilson hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning for the Rays, and Tim Beckham had three hits.
Snell allowed a season-high nine hits and five runs — four earned — in three-plus innings for his third loss in four starts. He exited with a bruise on his lower left leg after being hit by a sharp grounder from Marwin Gonzalez to start the fourth.
Snell didn't walk a batter after walking 13 combined in his last three starts. But that was about the only good news for the lefthander, who ended his streak of nine straight starts of allowing two earned runs or fewer.
The streak was a franchise record for a rookie.
Carlos Correa and Evan Gattis hit consecutive doubles with no outs in the second to give Houston a 1-0 lead. A third straight double, this one by Gurriel, made it 2-0.
George Springer singled to start Houston's third and scored on Bregman's homer.
Bregman's single in the fourth inning pushed the lead to 5-0.
Corey Dickerson singled with no outs in the fifth before Wilson's home run, which smashed off the wall above the seats in left field and cut the lead to 5-2.
The Rays didn't take advantage of a scoring opportunity in the sixth. Beckham singled with one out but was caught in a rundown when he tried to go to third on a single by Mikie Mahtook. Keuchel then struck out Steven Souza Jr. to end the threat.
Gurriel's second RBI double made it 6-2 in the seventh inning.