Laureano’s homer gives A’s road win
HOUSTON >> Ramón Laureano hit a two-run homer, rookie Seth Brown connected for his first big league home run and the Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros 7-3 to win the series.
The Astros won the opener 6-2 on Thursday night to give them five straight victories over the A’s after a four-game sweep to start the season.
But Oakland’s offense, which sputtered as the A’s limped out to a 1-7 start, got going on Friday night in a 6-2 win powered by three homers and kept it going in the series finale by piling up a season-high 11 hits. The A’s and Astros are scheduled off Sunday.
There were two outs in the fifth when the A’s got a single from Mark Canha. Laureano followed with his drive, which bounced off the train tracks atop left field, to push the lead to 4-0.
The bases were loaded with two outs in the seventh when Jed Lowrie knocked a single into shallow center field to stretch Oakland’s advantage to 6-0.
Brown sent a homer into the second deck in the eighth inning to give the Athletics five home runs in the last two games after they managed just three in their first eight.
Saturday’s victory was helped by a strong start by Frankie Montas (1-1), who struggled in his debut, allowing seven runs in less than three innings of a 10-3 loss to the Dodgers. He was much better against the Astros, yielding six hits and one run in six-plus innings to snap a career-long three-game losing streak dating to September.
Montas held Houston scoreless and retired seven in a row before Kyle Tucker’s solo homer to start the seventh ended his day.
Sergio Romo took over for Montas and plunked Aledmys Díaz before he was chased by Jose Altuve’s RBI double with two outs. Jake Diekman took over and he was greeted with a run-scoring triple by Michael Brantley that cut the lead to 6-3. But Diekman retired Carlos Correa to limit the damage.
Houston starter José Urquidy (0-1) allowed seven hits and four runs while striking out seven in six innings.
MARLINS 3, METS 0 >> Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a stunning homer off an otherwise dominant Jacob deGrom, Trevor Rogers beat the two-time Cy Young Award winner for the second time and Miami blanked New York.
DeGrom (0-1) matched a career best with 14 strikeouts over eight innings. RAYS 4, YANKEES 0 >> Austin Meadows and Randy Arozarena homered off Domingo Germán, helping Tampa Bay extend its mastery over New York. BREWERS 9, CARDINALS 5 >> Avisaíl García homered, doubled and drove in five runs and Milwaukee ended St. Louis’ winning streak at four games. MARINERS 4, TWINS 3 (10) >> Mitch Haniger homered and hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, lifting Seattle past Minnesota.
INDIANS 11, TIGERS 3 >> Aaron Civale allowed just three hits while dominating over 7 2/3 innings and was backed by five home runs, including Jordan Luplow’s three-run shot, as Cleveland pounded Detroit.
PIRATES 8, CUBS 2 >> Mitch Keller pitched five efficient innings and Pittsburgh used an early burst to chase Zach Davies in a win over Chicago.
BRAVES 5, PHILLIES 4 >> Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer and drove in the go-ahead run with a grounder in the seventh inning to lead Atlanta to a win over Philadelphia. PADRES 7, RANGERS 4 >> Trent Grisham hit a goahead homer for San Diego in the seventh inning and the Padres followed up the franchise’s first nohitter with another victory over Texas.
RED SOX 6, ORIOLES 5 (10) >> Rafael Devers homered and Boston scored twice in the 10th inning on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Christian Vázquez to beat Baltimore for its fifth straight victory.
DODGERS 9, NATIONALS 5 >> Chris Taylor hit a threerun homer and Zach McKinstry made big plays with his bat and glove in Los Angeles’ victory over Washington.. DIAMONDBACKS 8, REDS 3 >> Riley Smith pitched six effective innings in his first career start, Tim Locastro had four hits and Arizona cooled off Cincinnati.