Hoskins homers to help Phillies knock off Nationals

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rhys Hoskins hit a two-run homer, Vince Velasquez pitched five effective innings and the Philadelphia Phillies snapped Washington's sixgame win streak with a 3-1 victory over the Nationals on Saturday.

Velasquez (2-4) allowed one run and one hit in his first win since April 7. He also struck out four, walked four and hit a batter.

Edubray Ramos, Tommy Hunter, Luis Garcia and Hector Neris then combined for four innings of one-hit relief. Neris earned his sixth save.

Trea Turner led off the Washington ninth with a walk and was running when Matt Wieters popped out to short right field. Turner, who slid into second, lost track of the ball and was easily doubled off first.

Wilmer Difo homered for Washington. Third baseman Anthony Rendon went 0 for 2 with two walks after missing 19 games with what the team called a contusion to his toe.

Nationals right-hander Tanner Roark (2-3) tied his season high with nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. He was charged with three runs and six hits.

Andrew Stevenson accounted for Washington's other hit, a one-out single in the sixth. Pedro Severino followed with a walk, but Ramos induced a double-play grounder from Rafael Bautista.

Cesar Hernandez opened the game with a single off Roark and Hoskins homered to center on a 3-2 pitch. It was his fifth of the season.

Maikel Franco provided an insurance run when he followed Carlos Santana's one-out triple with a single in the sixth.

TIGERS 3, ROYALS 2.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — It was hot on the field, and Jordan Zimmermann had been sick for two days. And still the Royals were no match for the Tigers right-hander.

Zimmermann allowed two hits over five scoreless innings, Nicholas Castellanos had three extra-base hits and Detroit beat Kansas City 3-2 on Saturday.

Zimmermann (2-0) improved to 4-0 with a 1.48 ERA in seven appearances, including six starts, against the Royals. This shut-down performance came while battling flulike symptoms.

"Coming back from that took a lot out of me," said Zimmermann, who noted the 83-degree first-pitch temperature was the highest of any of his starts this year. "I was happy to be able to go five and pitch pretty well and give the team a chance to win."

Zimmermann did not give up a hit until Lucas Duda's two-out double in the fourth. He exited after 85 pitches, waking three and striking out five while battling flu-like symptoms.

"I think more than anything else, your energy just gets zapped when you're fighting those things all night long and not sleeping well," Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We knew it going in. His body was aching pretty good, but he wanted to go. He sucked it up there for almost 90 pitches. He gave us as many innings as he could give us. Pretty impressive."

Castellanos had an RBI double as the Tigers scored three runs in the first inning off Jason Hammel (0-4).

Detroit held on from there, even after Kansas City cut the lead to one in the ninth. Lucas Duda led off with a double and scored when center fielder Leonys Martin dropped Alex Gordon's line drive that struck him in the forehead. Shane Greene struck out Alcides Escobar and Jon Jay to strand Gordon and log his sixth save.

"You get in that situation where you're just one hit from tying it up and really a double away from winning the ball game," Yost said.

The Royals loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but Zimmermann struck out Mike Moustakas on four pitches to end the jam.

Zimmermann did not give up a hit until Duda's two-out double in the fourth.

The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after six hitters. Castellanos, Victor Martinez and John Hicks had RBI doubles in the first.

The Royals got on the board in the sixth when Abraham Almonte snapped an 0-for-12 skid with a home run off lefthander Blaine Hardy, who was called up Friday.

Hammel settled down after the first and pitched 6 2/3 innings. He gave up 10 hits, walked one and struck out five.

"It is tough to come out and give up three in the first inning," Hammel said. "I've got to do a better job setting the tone. Fighting from behind is not easy. The first inning, I was flat with the two-seam and a changeup to Castellanos I'd want back, just an 0-2 bad pitch. We got some length, but good enough length to lose."

The Tigers loaded the bases in the seventh, but reliever Brian Flynn retired JaCoby Jones on a foul pop up to third baseman Moustakas to end the threat.

Martinez, Martin and James McCann each had a pair of hits for Detroit.

Jorge Soler went 0 for 4, snapping his careerhigh 19-game on-base streak and 10-game hitting streak.

YANKEES 5, INDIANS 2.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sonny Gray has learned to just say yes when he sees Austin Romine behind the plate.

Gray made his second straight strong start and won for the first time in a month, boosting the New York Yankees over the Cleveland Indians 5-2 Saturday for their 14th win in 15 games.

"I trust that guy completely, knowing whatever he puts down, shake your head yes and throw it with conviction," Gray said.

Shortstop Francisco Lindor's double error led to a pair of runs in a fourrun fifth inning off previously unhittable Trevor Bauer.

New York is in its first 14-1 stretch since 1998 Yankees won 114 games during the regular season and then the first of three straight World Series titles. The Yankees have outscored opponents 91-33 in that span and have won eight straight home games for the first time since 2010.

Gray (2-2) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts , working with more poise and polish to Romine, the Yankees' backup catcher, than he has with All-Star starter Gary Sanchez.

"He had that look in his eye," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, "like he expected it."

Gray has a 3.72 ERA in five starts with Romine this year; his ERA is 15.63 ERA in two games with Sanchez.

"It's the biggest compliment when a guy rolls with you, doesn't shake much and really likes you when you catch back there," Romine said. "This is his career. He's throwing the pitches. It's his ERA."

Boone said before the game Romine will catch Gray "certainly for the foreseeable future" even though Boone does not like personal catchers. Reminded that Bob Boone, the manager's All-Star father, was displaced in Philadelphia when Steve Carlton started because the Phillies ace preferred to pitch to Tim McCarver, Aaron Boone quipped: "He didn't hit like Gary, though."

Gray has lowered his ERA from 8.27 to 6.00 in his last three outings.

"I'm a better pitcher than the first four, five starts," he said. "I think throwing the ball with conviction — I think mindset maybe has something to do with it."

While Romine doesn't have Sanchez's power at the plate, he's hitting .286.