Springer hurts ex-team twice, spurs Jays’ win

TORONTO — George Springer homered twice against his former team, leading Jose Berrios and Toronto over Houston 2-1 on Saturday and snapping the Astros’ season-long win streak at four.

Springer’s first-inning homer was his 46th leadoff home run. He connected again in the third for his 19th multi-homer game. In his next plate appearance, Springer was hit by a pitch and stole second.

Of Springer’s six home runs this season, three have come against the Astros. He was the MVP of the 2017 World Series when Houston won its lone title. Both of his homers Saturday came off Luis Garcia (1-1), who allowed five hits in six innings.

Berrios (2-0) gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked two. The lone run against him came on Yordan Alvarez’s homer in the fourth.

Adam Cimber pitched one inning, Tim Mayza went 1⅓ innings, and Jordan Romano threw a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances as the Blue Jays improved to 8-2 in one-run games.

Toronto hasn’t lost back-to-back games since Sept. 24, 2021, a majors-best 29-game stretch.

■ Tigers 5, Dodgers 1: At Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw became Los Angeles’ career strikeout leader, passing Don Sutton, and allowed one run while fanning seven in six innings. Javier Baez had a tying RBI single in the Detroit third and a go-ahead RBI double in the Tigers’ threerun seventh.

■ Diamondbacks 2, Cardinals 0: At St. Louis, Ketel Marte and Nick Ahmed homered in the eighth to back Merrill Kelly (2-1), who allowed two hits in seven shutout innings.

■ Rockies 4, Reds 3: At Denver, Chad Kuhl (3-0) shook off Tyler Naquin’s first-pitch homer to last into the eighth, and Ryan McMahon hit a go-ahead two-run triple in the Colorado sixth.

■ Orioles 2, Red Sox 1: At Baltimore, Jorge Mateo scored the winning run in the 10th on reliever Hirokazu Sawamura’s throwing error. Baltimore was hitless until the eighth.

■ Twins 9, Rays 1: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Kyle Garlick hit a two-run homer and a solo shot off Shane McClanahan (1-2), who struck out 11 in five innings.

■ Pirates 7, Padres 6: At Pittsburgh, Ke’Bryan Hayes singled home the tying run in the 10th and then scored the winning run from first base on an error.

■ White Sox 4, Angels 0: At Chicago, Tim Anderson and Luis Robert homered to back Vince Velasquez (1-2), who pitched 5⅔ shutout innings.

■ Yankees 3, Royals 0: At Kansas City, Mo., Gerrit Cole (2-0) shut out Kansas City on five hits over six innings in New York’s eighth straight win.

■ Marlins 3, Mariners 1: At Miami, Jesus Luzardo (2-1) held Seattle to one run on two hits over six innings in Miami’s seventh straight win.

■ Giants 9, Nationals 3: At San Francisco, Jason Vosler homered for a second straight day to spark San Francisco’s five-run sixth.

■ Rangers 3, Braves 1: At Arlington, Texas, Dane Dunning (1-1) allowed one run over 7⅔ innings in his first win since Aug. 2.

■ Brewers 9, Cubs 1: At Milwaukee, three homers backed Eric Lauer (2-0), who allowed one run and struck out 11 in seven innings.

■ Guardians 3, Athletics 1: At Oakland, Calif., rookie Richie Palacios had a pinch two-out, tworun double in the ninth.

■ Phillies 4, Mets 1: At New York, Kyle Schwarber hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh off Adam Ottavino (1-1).

The Associated Press Jon Blacker George Springer connects for a leadoff home run Saturday in the Blue Jays’ 2-1 win over Houston at Rogers Centre. The former Astros All-Star also went deep in the third inning.