Ohtani passes Ruth in loss to Valdez, Astros
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Framber Valdez racked up 12 strikeouts over eight innings of three-hit ball and handed Shohei Ohtani his first loss of the season in the Houston Astros’ 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night.
Ohtani (4-1) passed Babe Ruth in career mound strikeouts while giving up six hits over seven innings, but the two-way superstar struggled through the fifth. He finished with seven strikeouts, but he has yielded at least three runs in three consecutive starts for the first time in his major league career.
Martín Maldonado hit a two-run homer and Yordan Alvarez had an RBI single in the fifth for the defending champion Astros, who snapped their three-game losing streak.
Valdez (3-4) was back in ace form after a few upand-down starts. He held Ohtani hitless at the plate, limited Mike Trout to one single and didn’t issue a walk while finishing one strikeout shy of his career high, also established against Los Angeles last July.
■ Dodgers 6, Brewers 2: At Milwaukee,
Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Miguel Vargas all homered for Los Angeles, which withsood Noah Syndergaard’s first inning exit because of a cut on the index finger in his pitching hand.
■ Marlins 6, Diamondbacks 2: At Phoenix, Jorge Soler hit two homers and had five RBIS. Soler’s first homer was a 468-foot shot in the second inning that landed on the concourse behind the left-center seats.
■ Yankees 10, Athletics 5: At New York, Gleyber Torres homered for the second consecutive game and drove in three runs as New York overcame three homers by Oakland rookie Jordan Diaz.
■ Phillies 8, Blue Jays 4: At Philadelphia, Nick Castellanos went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIS for Philadelphia, which has won two straight after snapping a six-game skid.
■ Padres 6, Twins 1: At Minneapolis, Austin Nola’s sacrifice squeeze bunt scored Ha-seong Kim with the go-ahead run against Twins reliever Griffin Jax (1-4) in the seventh.
■ Guardians 2, Tigers 0: At Cleveland, Amed Rosario had an RBI triple among his four hits to back Shane Bieber (3-1), who struck out a seasonhigh nine over six innings.
■ Rockies 10, Pirates 1: At Pittsburgh,
Jurickson Profar had his first multihomer game in four years to back Connor Seabold (1-0), who earned first major league win.
■ Mariners 5, Rangers 0: At Seattle, Tom Murphy hit his first homer in more than a year to back George Kirby (4-2), who struck out nine in seven innings.
■ Cardinals 6, Cubs 4: At Chicago, Paul Dejong, Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar homered for St. Louis, which won its third consecutive game.
■ Orioles 4, Rays 2: At Baltimore, Adley Rutschman homered for Baltimore, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
■ White Sox 4, Royals 2: At Kansas City, Mo., Andrew Vaughn’s two-run homer in the sixth inning broke a 1-1 tie.
■ Reds 7, Mets 6: At Cincinnati, Jonathan India drove in three runs to hand New York its 12th loss in 15 games.
■ Braves 9, Red Sox 3: At Atlanta, Matt Olson crushed a two-run homer in Atlanta’s four-run first inning.
■ Giants 4, Nationals 1: At San Francisco,
Casey Schmitt homered in his major league debut. PCL
■ Isotopes 9, Aviators 6: At Las Vegas Ballpark, Brian Serven hit two homers and had three RBIS for Albuquerque (15-19), which had 12 hits. Dermis Garcia homered for the Aviators (1519) during a five-run ninth innning. Adrian Martinez (0-1) took the loss.