»TIGERS STAR VERLANDER ON THE MOVE
HOUSTON — The Houston Astros have acquired Justin Verlander in a trade with the Detroit Tigers.
The right-hander joins the American League West leaders and a rotation that includes Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers.
Astros owner Jim Crane says: “He adds a boost to our rotation. He’s been pitching well. We think he’ll give us some leadership. He’s been in the playoffs before and adds a dimension we didn’t have.”
The 34-year-old Verlander, who won the Cy Young Award in 2011, is 10-8 with a 3.82 ERA this season. The Tigers will receive three minor league prospects.
• Houston 5, Texas 1 — At St. Petersburg, Fla.: Jose Altuve homered, the Houston bullpen pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings and the Astros beat the Texas Rangers on Thursday in the last game before they return to their flood-ravaged home city.
Josh Reddick added an RBI single for the AL West-leading Astros, who avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of their instate rivals at Tropicana Field, where the series was relocated because of Hurricane Harvey.
Houston will have a previously unscheduled day off Friday and play a doubleheader Saturday against the Mets at Minute Maid Park. The downtown Houston stadium escaped major flood damage. Astros president Reid Ryan has said he hopes the weekend games “can serve as a welcome distraction” for the city.
• Diamondbacks 8, Dodgers 1 — At Phoenix: Zack Greinke earned his major league-best 16th victory with six strong innings, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Los Angeles to complete the first series sweep of the Dodgers this season.
Chris Iannetta and A.J. Pollock homered for the Diamondbacks, who matched their season-best seventh straight victory and pulled 3 1/2 games ahead of idle Colorado for the National League’s top wild-card spot.
The Dodgers, still with by far the best record in the majors (91-40), have lost a season-worst five in a row.
• Twins 5, White Sox 4 — At Minneapolis: Max Kepler was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and Minnesota rallied to beat Chicago.
Trailing 4-3 entering their final at-bat at Target Field, the Twins came back to win their fourth straight and maintain their slim lead for the second AL wildcard spot. The Twins completed a threegame sweep with their first hop-off win since current Minnesota manager Paul Molitor was plunked in the 10th at the Metrodome in 1996 to beat Kansas City.
Pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza opened the ninth with an infield single off closer Juan Minaya (2-2). After a one-out walk, Eddie Rosario hit a tying single.
• Reds 7, Mets 2 — At Cincinnati: Joey Votto hit a home run, then gave a bat and jersey to a 6-year-old cancer patient as Cincinnati beat New York.
Votto homered in the seventh. He high-fived the young fan he knows through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
• Cubs 6, Braves 2 — Kyle Hendricks turned in his fourth straight quality start and the Chicago Cubs ran their winning streak to four with a victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Hendricks (6-4) allowed one earned run on five hits while striking out five and walking three in 6 2/3 innings as the reigning World Series champs maintained their 3 1/2-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central.
• Brewers 6, Nationals 3 — Zach Davies won his 16th game to tie Arizona’s Zack Greinke for the most victories in the majors, Jonathan Villar homered and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Washington Nationals.
Davies (16-7) scattered six hits, walked two, struck out four and lowered his ERA to 1.77 over the last nine starts, five of them victories for himself and the team.
• Phillies 3, Marlins 2 — At Miami: Ben Lively hastened Giancarlo Stanton’s slide into a slump, and the Philadelphia Phillies sent the Miami Marlins below .500 with the win.
Stanton failed to get the ball out of the infield in three plate appearances against Lively and finished 0 for 5 with two strikeouts. The major league home run leader (51) is 1 for 15 this week.
• Yankees 6, Red Sox 2 — CC Sabathia shut down the Boston Red Sox for the fourth time this season and the New York Yankees got homers from Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird on the way to a victory in the opener of a pivotal four-game series.
Bird drove in three runs and Sanchez had two RBIs as the secondplace Yankees shaved Boston’s lead in the AL East to 4 1/2 games. This weekend set in the Bronx marks the final meeting of the season between the longtime rivals — and perhaps New York’s last chance to make a serious run at its first division title in five years.
• Blue Jays 11, Orioles 8 — At Baltimore: The Orioles’ seven-game winning streak ended under a barrage of home runs by Kendrys Morales, who went deep three times and had a career-high seven RBIs to provide the Toronto Blue Jays with the win.
Looking to sustain its charge into the thick of the AL playoff picture, Baltimore bolted to a 5-2 lead in the third inning before the last-place Blue Jays stormed back behind Morales, who had four hits and scored four runs.